It was my last day in Buenos Aires and I had booked a ferry ticket to leave to Uruguay in the evening. Before I left Buenos Aires I went walking for 6 hours; I wanted to see many things, some attractions I wanted to see for a second time. I took the ferry to Colonia del Sacramento, a beautiful little town 2 hours across the plata river from Buenos Aires. The boat arrived at 9:30PM in Uruguay local time, it was one hour ahead of Argentinian local time. It was dark, so right away I started to walk towards the first hostel I had on my list, which was few blocks from the terminal, there was no vacancies. I thought I will probably find the one on the block next to it, but neither that one had any availability. The owner of one of the hostels have me a list of all the accommodations in Colonia that has almost 20 hotel/hostels and I started to try one after the other, by the time I checked the 4th hostel, the guy at the front desk told me, he checked many hostels and hotels tonight and they don’t have any availability. But I kept going, I went and saw another 3 or 4 hostels before I gave up and realized there’s no way to find an accommodation.
It was the carnival, a celebration that takes place on that week in every country of Latin America and many people come to Colonia from other parts of Uruguay and Argentina to enjoy and relax from the big cities. I went to the bus terminal to see if I can take a bus to another city that might be easier to find an accommodation, but the bus station was closed. So now I have to think of a plan, it’s either to stay up all night or to sleep somewhere on the street. I was tired and wanted to sleep so I started to try to find a place where I could sleep and hide my backpack. Good thing the weather was nice and warm. I didn’t have any mattress or sleeping bag not even a blanket, I found a place that has some bushes where I could hide myself and my bag at the same time. I wore my long pants and my hoodie to minimize the uncomfortable feeling of the grass and the little breeze that started to make it feel a little chilly. I tried to sleep but I couldn’t, it wasn’t comfortable especially when I could hear people walking around and many people passing by in scooters. But I kept trying and then while trying to sleep there was this man walking his dogs, one of these dogs spotted me, and started to bark, so I got busted hahaha. I came out of my hiding, the man was calming his dogs and he looked at me asking if I was okay. I said yes, I didn’t like to tell him that his dog didn’t let me sleep in peace.
It was time to try to find another place but I was really thinking about the homeless that sometimes I see sleeping in the street and I started to wonder how can they do it, it’s very uncomfortable, I then decided to find another place and I found a place that doesn’t have a lot of light, it was the entrance to the bus terminal, and it has a roof, the floor was cement and between two walls which I figured will make it easier and minimize the breeze that started to make it more uncomfortable. I slept there and it felt a little more comfortable than the first spot. I woke up few times because of the cold or because sleeping direct on a hard surface wasn’t easy, not to mention the noise from the street. It was close to 5AM when I heard the security guard trying to open the door behind my head at entrance to the terminal where I was sleeping. I woke up and then went inside the terminal to the toilet to clean up and brush my teeth, then I went to the ticket agent to try to buy a bus ticket to Montevideo. I got the times and then I asked him what time the stores open and he told me around 9AM because of the carnival. I waited on buying the ticket because I thought I will just wait so I could go and walk around to see the town. I stayed inside the terminal and slept on the chair for a little. when the sun rose up I went outside to have breakfast and walk around the town.
Then I returned to the bus terminal and took the bus towards Montevideo. I happen to sit next to a very nice lady, her name is Sonia. We started chatting and she asked me where I was from and where I stayed the night before. I didn’t like to scar her telling her that I slept on the street, I just told her I stayed up all night. She told me they have an organization that can arrange for people to be hosted with local families, but I should have asked for it which I didn’t know. We started to chat and she started to explain to me about the many places we were passing by, she was very kind. She was sitting by the window and she offered me her seat so I can get a better view and I declined and thanked her telling her I can see things pretty well. Shortly after, I fell asleep and didn’t woke up till we arrived close to the outskirts of Montevideo. The lady smiled when I woke up she said you had a good siesta. She asked me where I would be staying in Montevideo, and she offered to give me a ride in the same taxi she was taking on her way to her sister’s house. I agreed and when we arrived at the terminal, we found her sister and her friend waiting for us at the terminal. They drove me to the hostel and gave me a hug and invited me to visit her in Colonia on my way back. I thanked them and walked across the street towards the hostel but later found out the hostel was closed down 2 months ago. I had few other hostels on my list so I asked few people and directed me to take the bus to go downtown where many of the hostels on my list are located, it wasn’t long before I could find another hostel.
After reflection on that day, I thought of the kindness of Sonia, the last I met on the bus, and for her to trust me by offering me a ride and inviting me to visit her, it’s easy to say that people like Sonia who make the difference and make my travel more enjoyable.
I also reflected on the night before and realized how we take things for granted, how blessed I am and many of the people I know that we can sleep well at night on soft mattress away from many disturbances. A lot of times, I as many others, don’t think of all the blessings we have, but there ate numerous things to be thankful for, and this experience just taught me one more thing about this amazing, beautiful and blissful life.
