I'm going to...Argentina?!!!: Colonia de Sacramento, Uruguay

I was recently telling a coworker, who grew up in el campo (the sticks), about how Argentina seems to have a lot fewer rules and regulations than the U.S. No one thinks twice about drinking alcohol in public, traffic is virtually unregulated, you start a gym membership by paying the month's fees, not by signing a 15-page waiver. He disagreed, having moved from the country to the city, he felt there were a lot of regulations. We finally agreed that there's a lot of regulations, but a) in the U.S. there's more, and b) in Argentina, they're not exactly enforced/logical. Of course, not being logical makes them hard to enforce. Case in point:

There are thousands of expats living in Buenos Aires. Visa regulations make it very difficult and expensive to obtain a visa to live in Argentina, so the majority (myself included) enter the country on a 90-day visitor's visa, and plan to leave the country every 90 days, then re-enter (typically the same day, the ferry tickets cost about $150 pesos) to restart our 90-day count. An alternative is to pay $100 pesos ($30 dollars) to extend your visa an additional 90 days, then leave the country. (Uruguay is a short boat ride from Buenos Aires and the convenient option for leaving.)

While this is inconvenient and awkward, it is a system that works most the time. The issue comes up if you overstay your 90 day window. Being a relatively open country, which loves tourism, Argentina has a fairly simple solution for this. On your exit, you fill out a form stating you overstayed, pay a $50 peso fine, and go on your way. (Police rarely or never ask for identification, and if they do, they're more concerned with your name and identifying information than your entry stamp dates.)

Hmmm...so, you have the choice to make a trip out of the country every 90 days (or pay an extension)...or just wait until you're ready to leave and only pay $50 pesos? Staying for a year legally could cost you $500 pesos and hours of travel/bureaucratic time, or just $50 pesos (10%!) for an illegal stay. ¡Bienvenido a Argentina!

So far, I've looked forward to my required exits—first, I had never been to Colonia (the Uruguayan border town on the other side of the La Plata River), then I had summer vacation, and wanted to go see the Uruguayan beaches of Punta del Diablo. This last time, another friend had never been to Uruguay and wanted to come, so we returned to Colonia, continuing my Argentina stay in the legally clear zone. Next time...???

My friend, Martín on the Buquebus ferry, as we head to Colonia.

Welcome to the city of Colonia (old city gates).

Colonial architecture. Very similar to what we saw in Cuba and the Dominican Republic, colorful and square.

The original Portuguese street, cobbled with stones in 1745.

There were signs posted to refrain from leaving flowers in the church in order to preserve its austerity. Additional plaques referred to the desert-like nature of the church, and Jesus' time in the desert. This side of Catholicism was new to me.

Martín, the old city walls, with the La Plata River in the background. The river is an unsavory rusty color due to its high mineral content, not pollution.