My alarm rings at 5:30 AM but doesn’t wake me. It’s playing bird songs, and Melissa thinks it’s birds outside. She turns on her Merlin bird ID app but can’t seem to identify the birds. She’s confused, and wakes me up. I tell her the birds are my alarm. She’s not amused, but I am.

We’re taking the Buquebus ferry to Colonia, Uruguay this morning and will have to get there two hours before departure to go through security, customs and immigration. Or so we are told. In fact, we get there two hours early then wait an hour before the security line opens for our boat. So we have a cappuccino and sit. Then it’s the usual security, customs and immigration. We are face scanned, fingerprinted and finally OK’d to leave Argentina. The Uruguayan border guard takes a brief look at us and stamps the passport.

Colonia, full name Colonia del Sacramento, is a historic town across the river Plata from Buenos Aires founded by the Portuguese in 1680. It is the oldest town in Uruguay. Today it entertains tourists with stone walls, cobbled streets, restaurants and tchotchke shops. Most are day visitors from Buenos Aires who take the ferry across in just over an hour.

As we walk through the town, I am reminded of St. Augustine, Florida, which was founded in 1556 by the Spanish, and has the same walls, cobblestones and stucco buildings. And also the same restaurants, hotels and tchotchke shops. Colonial history in a bottle.

We have a nice lunch at Charco, then visit the shops again. Melissa finds a wooden tango carving. The day is hot and we buy some water. Currency can be an issue, and the shops won’t take Argentine pesos, but I have been using the Wise App, and can quickly get some Uruguayan pesos on my phone. Transaction approved. This is travel in the 21st century.

We head back to the ferry terminal to get our boat, once again through customs and immigration and security. Back to Buenos Aires. Tomorrow we’re going to Iguazu Falls.