Our Uruguayan Beach Trip

Punta del Diablo
After traveling by ferry and bus for about 12 hours, we finally arrived at Punta del Diablo at noon and were ready to spend the remainder of the day napping on the beach. We spent 1.5 days here with our friend Bliss and really liked:

● Seeing the ocean from almost any point in town because it is built on a hill
● Lying on the beach all day, only interrupted by a walk along the water or a walk into to town to buy some food or beer
● Friendly dogs we temporarily adopted (but really they adopted us).
● Cold Pilsen on the beach, Uruguay's cheap beer that is, in our opinion, markedly better tasting then Argentina's Quilmes.
● Fried seafood empanadas filled with fresh fish, mussels and cheese (yum!).
● Watching surfers ride the waves (or at least attempt to).
● Clerico, an Uruguayan white sangria filled with lemons, grapes, peaches and bananas.
● Chivito, an Uruguayan special sandwich that has beef (surprise!), egg, panceta (kinda like bacon), ham, lettuce, tomato, onions, and mayo.





Cabo Polonio
Getting to Cabo Polonio was a bit of an adventure since there are no paved roads to access it. We took a bus to the "puerta" of Cabo Polonio and from there took a 4X4 that we liked to call a "dune buggy". When the woman who sold us the tickets said 4X4 we were picturing a small ATV and wondering how we would ever get our bags on one of those. But what we got instead was a big truck with benches that could barrel right through the sand dunes. Some highlights were:

● Our nighttime dune buggy ride under the stars. With zero light pollution and a clear sky it was like seeing the sky for the first time, completely filled with stars.
● Eating dinner, brushing our teeth and doing all other nighttime activities by candlelight, since there wasn't electricity.
● Waking up in the morning to play with puppies and sit on the porch of our hostel that was literally on the beach.
● Taking an early morning walk on the beach and once again being flanked and befriended by the local stray dogs.
● Hearing the the constant calls and barks from the sea lion colony on an island just off the shore from Cabo Polonio. It sounded like a stadium of people cheering and screaming.
● Spotting a few sea lions on our side of the water, who were basking in the sun and fishing in the water by the lighthouse.
● Eating fresh Corvina (local whitefish) and Cazón (dogfish shark!) a la plancha (grilled with a spritz of lemon) for about $5USD apiece
● Being on very unpopulated beaches and having giant stretches of sand all to ourselves.
● Running into another juggler on a virtually empty beach and Sara getting to pass clubs with him.
● Meeting the famous Condor, the man featured in Anthony Bourdain's Uruguay episode on our first night.





Punta del Este and Jose Ignacio
We met up with our other friends, Elana and Jill B., from BA to spend out final 1.5 days at Jose Ignacio and Punta del Este. Punta del Este is the more ritzy of all the places we went to, as it is a big vacation spot for Latin America's rich and famous. It was certainly a different feel than Cabo Polonio and Punta del Diablo with it's skycrapers creeping up towards the beaches. Jose Ignacio, a 40 minute bus ride from Punta del Este, was a quieter beach with beautiful beach homes (Shakira apparently owns a home here) and a lighthouse that reminded us of beaches in Cape Cod. We enjoyed:

● Walking the boardwalk at Jose Ignacio along the rocks, sand, and past the lighthouse to find the perfect beach spot.
● Admiring the beautiful beach homes (mansions)and watching for Shakira sightings.
● The famous "La Mano" sculpture at Playa Brava in Punta del Este, that looks like a giant stone hand coming out of the sand. We all took turns climbing onto the thumb.
● Watching the sunset over Playa Mansa.
● Spending our last morning on the beach, Sara juggling and Jill getting sunburned!
● Just making our bus to Montevideo by about 2 minutes because we just couldn't pull ourselves away from the beach, and of course we had to stop to buy some sweet and savory emapanadas (raisin-pork and hawaiian ham-pineapple).
● Befriending an Argentine man on the boat ride home who was also graciously our temporary Spanish teacher.
● Watching the sunset from the boat and getting a quick glimpse of the light reflecting off the distant skyscrapers in BA from across the water.
● Our constellation lesson led by the captain of the ship to keep us entertained on the top deck during the 3 hour boat ride.