So for our last full day in Uruguay, the Dutch girl and I headed out to a Shipwreck and Maritime Museum. One of the great things about Colonia is that it was an enormous strategic stronghold way back in the colonial days. Not only is Colonia right across the bay from Buenos Aires, but it is also immediate access to the Rio de Plata and waterways further inland. For that reason, the town changed hands between the Spanish and the Portugese no less than 8 times. A walk through the historic district shows off the two very distinct styles that the colonists left behind. The Spanish built square buildings of cement with flat roofs while the Portugese used a more stucco material with sloped, tiled roofs. Naturally, there were plenty of battles between the warring nations during their centuries of colonization, so a maritime museum showing actual material from the ancient wrecked ships sounded just up my alley.

The helpful lady at the reception of our hostel directed us to which bus we needed to use to get there which made our arrival to the museum quite simple. We got off the bus right next to a sign pointing down the street to the museum. Perfect! We walked up to the museum – could even see a giant ship with all it’s masts outside – to see the large red sign “Cerrado”. Closed? On a Wednesday afternoon? There were no opening hours or any indication that life existed beyond the gate, so instead we walked to a little shop selling sodas and bread and had a very meager lunch.