Two weeks ago, I traveled to Uruguay with the group of HWS students here in Mendoza. Before going, I never thought much about Uruguay or what it might have to offer. For a country that was seemingly irrelevant at first, it turned out to be absolutely amazing.

We took at fourteen-hour bus ride from Mendoza to Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. The ride, which of course had meals and reclining chairs, was well worth it once we arrived. Our hotel overlooked the beautiful Río de la Plata, so a few steps away from our hotel was a long walking path parallel to the water.

We spent the first few days of the trip exploring the bustling city filled with markets and fairs with vendors selling everything from churros to scarves and antiques. We sat at the central plaza in the city, which is essentially equivalent to Central Park in New York. I listened to the live music of a woman playing the guitar at a nearby café and people watched as the Uruguayans and the tourists strolled in and out of the park.

Although Uruguay does not differ tremendously from Argentina, it was exciting to see how much more European-looking Uruguay was. I would have never thought of Uruguay as resembling a European country, but there were sidewalk cafes and cobblestone streets everywhere, which the tour guide told us, were a direct result of Portuguese control over the area during colonial times.

Our first adventure of going out at night happened to be one for the memories. Without knowing anything about the city, we told our cab driver to take us to a street that turned out to be non-existent. We ended up walking along the water and getting a great tour of the city’s nightlife even though we ended up completely lost. Just like in Argentina, the Uruguayans eat dinner as late as 11:30 p.m., which we quickly learned while walking past the crowded restaurants.

After Montevideo, we headed two hours west to visit Colonia del Sacramento, a small, quaint city that also overlooks the Río de la Plata. This city was even more European and practically resembled a small Italian city along the coast. It was breathtaking.

We explored the markets there, devoured some Uruguayan asado (which, yes, included blood sausage and intestines, although I did not try the intestines). We climbed the never-ending winding stairs of the lighthouse until we stood at the top, overlooking the Río and the capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires, in the distance. A few girls in my group rented a golf cart and we rode around the cobblestone streets alongside the water, looking at the beautiful boats lining the shore.

Tourists were all over Colonia, as we noticed travelers from Spain, New Zealand, Germany, and of course, Argentina. I wondered why I never heard of this place, which was teeming with people by the time we left for our ferry ride home at 3 pm. I am extremely thankful we had the opportunity to travel to Uruguay, which is a place I wouldn’t think to visit on my own, but is now a city I know I will most definitely be visiting again.