With the height of the tourist season now finished and the fall weather still sunny and pleasant, we decide to take a day trip to Colonia del Sacramento, located 177 kilometers northwest of Montevideo The bus ride takes two and a half hours, following a route that passes through a factory zone in the industrial east end of the city and gradually becomes scenic as green hills dotted with dairy farms replace billowing smokestacks.
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Porton de Campo, the gate to the old town, built in 1745
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At noon we arrive in Colonia del Sacramento, the oldest city in Uruguay, settled in 1680 by the Portugese governor of Rio de Janeiro, Manuel Lobo. For the early inhabitants, this area represented a strategic bit of coastline on the Rio de la Plata, located near the mouth of the Parana River and directly opposite the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. Prosperous Colonia, an active port and center of contraband trading, changed hands many times in the course of history, in military disputes between the Portugese and Spanish. The Spanish eventually succeeding in making claim to the area following a siege in 1777.
Today, the Barrio Historico is classified as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Once you cross the wooden drawbridge and go through the massive stone Porton de Campo, the rough cobblestone streets lead to a central plaza surrounded by a living architectural museum that's often compared to old Lisbon.
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| Cobblestone street next to the ramparts lead to the waterfront |
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| Early Portugese colonial house on Calle de los Suspiros |
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| Patina on a stucco wall |
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| Ruins of the 17th c. convent of San Francisco, and the lighthouse, completed in 1857 |
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| View of Rio de la Plata from Colonia |
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| Fishing on the rocky shore |
We visit several museums in Colonia - the Portugese Museum, the Tile Museum, the Indigenous Museum - all within walking distance of the Plaza Mayor. The collections are small with precious groupings of ceramics, weaponry, furniture and maps displayed in buildings that were once private houses. Wandering around the old town, we find a sharp contrast between Montevideo streets (dirty, noisy, full of traffic and graffiti) and those in Colonia del Sacramento (clean, quiet, well-maintained, pedestrian-friendly.)
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| At the top of De Portugal, the Basilica de Sanctisimo Sacramento, 1808 |
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| The church interior - stark white, undecorated |
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| Virgen de Treinte y Tres displayed inside the church |
Just opposite the old church, we stop at a restaurant that has tables set out on the sidewalk. With roasted chicken and green salad, we enjoy a glass of
G Sauvignon Gris, a wine from
Casa Filgueira bodega.
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| Uruguayan Sauvignon Gris - a crisp patio wine |
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| Waiter at the Viejo Barrio restaurant |
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| Ceramics in an antique shop |
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| 1717 Fine Arts Cafe features black and white photography |
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| The beautiful terrace and courtyard at 1717 provide a relaxing spot for ... |
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| espresso coffee! |
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| Typical streetscape in Colonia, with stone construction |
On the way back to Montevideo, we notice that almost every farm in the area surrounding Colonia is marked with a
"For Sale" sign. A friend who owns a small apple farm offers an explanation as to what is happening in rural communities. The government approval of a cellulose plant, a project funded by a conglomerate of Chilean, Finnish and Swedish companies operating as
Montes del Plata de Uruguay, has caused the sudden glut of farms offered for sale. At 1.9 billion U.S. dollars, this is the largest foreign investment that the country has ever seen. The plant and industrial port will be located at Punta Pereira near Conchillas, within a free trade zone on the bank of Rio de la Plata, just north of Colonia del Sacramento. To provide enough trees for continuous production of pulp and paper, Montes del Plata is intent on acquiring property for planting forests - in fact, they already own 250,000 hectares of land in Uruguay! And they're not alone: UPM-Kymmene from Finland owns 225,000 hectares, and the U.S. company Weyerhauser owns 140,000 hectares. The large-scale foreign ownership of prime land will mean that smaller food producers are squeezed out of operation, just like our apple orchard friend, who is seriously considering a forestry company's attractive offer to purchase. Goodbye to his annual harvest of Granny Smith, hello to fast-growing eucalyptus and pine.
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| Ad running in the national newspaper, "El Pais" |
One hopes that the heritage sites in Uruguay will be preserved, with each stone intact for future generations to appreciate. One hopes that industrial growth will not destroy the sustainable, small-scale farms that feed the population. One hopes that the environment will remain pristine, that water resources will be protected, that soil quality will be maintained, that the air will stay clean. One hopes that Uruguay, with its rich human history and natural resources, will remain distinctly Uruguayan.
