From Colonia, we took a side trip to Carmelo, a small town along the Rio de la Plata which borders Argentina and Uruguay. The trip itself was quite the adventure. Picture this, six foreigners piled into two small rental cars with a set a vague directions and a sketchy map (at best). The trip had its high moments and its “did that really just happen” moments.
The High Moments…
The Uruguayan countryside is beautiful with its rolling green hills and roaming cows, sheep and horses. After the long drive, we stopped for lunch at a small winery/cheese shop/posada (small inn) that had been recommended to us called Narbona. Set on an old farm, it was absolutely beautiful. The restaurant was housed in an old farm building and had a small country kitchen, three small dining rooms with tables dressed in white lace-trimmed linens, a long wooden bar and a room for cheese storage. The cheese they make is a wonderful parmesan cheese that they served with our pasta. Our lunch was a set menu of starters, entree, dessert, coffee or tea. The first course was a platter of parmesan, meats, sliced turkey and olives. For our second course, we had the choice of pastas and then for dessert there were several options of apple tart, banana crepes, flan, or rice pudding. It was a wonderful, peaceful lunch, set in the Uruguayan countryside.
The other side of the story…the “Did That Really Just Happen” Moments…
Our drive to Carmelo itself was fairly uneventful, which would have led us to believe that we would have no further issues. We had directions to the winery which were to follow Route 21 past Carmelo 5 km. Considering we had just driven about 80 km without a problem, this should be easy, right? Not in this case. These 5 km took us one hour total in drive time. It hardly seems believeable, but let me go back to thost vague directions, that sketchy map and the six foreigners. We took wrong turns, went down winding dirt roads and we lost Route 21 for a short period of time. At one point, as I was in a car with 3 other people, we all had a different idea of what we should do - one said left, one said right, one said straight ahead and the other said turn around!!!! We did find it, but as I said those 5 km took one hour.
So, we arrived at the winery and, as I mentioned, lunch was amazing. Since we did not have reservations, the option available to us was the set menu, costing $30/each. No problem. At the beginning of the meal, we asked the waitress (in Spanish), do you take credit cards? She said that they took Visa. Of course, “it’s everywhere you want to be.” We enjoyed our lunch and our wine and prepared to pay the bill and indulge in purchasing additional bottles of wine with our Visas. Six foreigners, six visas. When we approached the woman, she looked at us and said that they did not take credit cards….hmmm…something must have been lost in translation. We asked her what the conversation was about previously and she had no idea but that they did not take credit cards. With a bill of 5,000 pesos (U$S250) and a combined 4,000 pesos (U$S 200) amongst us, we had issues. So, while a few of us stayed behind hostage, a couple of the guys drove back to Carmelo (thankfully it did not take an hour this time) to get more pesos to pay the bill. A lesson learned…Visa is not always where you want to be…
Posted on October 23rd, 2007 by katiejocannon
Filed under: Entertainment, Food, Language, Travel, Uruguay
Sounds like being short and leaving behind a hostage runs in the family.
Okay, Susie. Fess up - what’s the story behind your comment?
Maybe she means when the whole family left me behind at Benihana of Tokyo in Chicago when I was about 6. Still haunts me.
Dad had to leave me in a Mexican restaurant in Chicago, being endlessly seranaded while he retreived his wallet, which he forgot in the hotel.