Final few days in South America

On Monday we got up early (6.15 am) to catch the 8.30 am Buquebus fast ferry to Colonia (Uruguay). We had to check in at 7.30 am. We got the subway from Lima station to Retiro, then walked.
The ferry took one hour to cover the 60 odd km's, so we arrived in Colonia around 9.35. The day was sunny and warm.
Colonia was established by the Portuguese as a port town and fort. For many years it competed with Buenos Aires as the important port. It was used as a smuggling base to get materials into Argentina. This resulted in the Spanish often laying siege to it over the years. Eventually it was ceded to the Spanish and its importance as a port declined. Brazil tried a few times to capture it.
The old part of the town still has remnants of the fort, plaza and houses. We spent about 5 hours looking around and through the 5 or 6 museums. It was a very quiet, laid back town. Something we enjoyed.
Had lunch at a great eatery "El Drugstore", sitting outside under the trees.
After lunch we did a little shopping. The leather work was of a very high quality.

We caught the 5 pm sailing back to Buenos Aires. Got back in time to witness peak hour traffic (foot and car/bus) incredible experience.

In the evening we went to a cafe "36 Billares" (on Ave de Mayo, just down from the restaurant "Plaza Espana") to take in a tango show (with a meal). The show went for about 1 hour and included music, tango singers and dancers. Very enjoyable. Lynley was given a rose but declined to dance with the male tango dancer.
After that we took a walk around the House of Congress before turning in for the evening (around 11.30 pm).

The next day, Tuesday was to be our last as we left for the airport around 3pm. The morning we spent shopping for gifts for the kids. It was cold and very wet. Spent time down in Calle Florida and Lavelle, before returning to Maggie's B&B to pack.
Luis ran us out to the airport, the check in was quick and easy, we got boarding passes all the way to Auckland.
The flight to Santiago took about 2 hours, we then had a 3 hour wait before leaving for NZ. The flight took 13 hours, but it seemed to go very quickly. Arrived in Auckland around 4.15 am. Customs and immigration was all over in 10 minutes (very few people got off the airplane in Auckland, the majority were travelling through to Sydney).
We had to wait around Auckland airport until our 9.30 flight to Wellington, arrived at 10.30. Karla picked us up, we dropped her off at work, then paid a quick visit to Regan to drop off a few things. Coming over the Rimutuka Hill we hit a little bit of a snow fall. The temperature was below 3 degrees. It was cold and wet the rest of the day. So it was fire time. Lit a fire, showered then slept for the rest of the day.

Our 4 week adventure was over.