Our time in Uruguay continued with a tour of the coastline. We spent a little over a week hopping from one beach town to the next. It was a wonderful way to enjoy the relaxed Uruguayan culture.
Our first stop was Punta del Este. It was the largest of the beach towns we visited and was known for its glitz and glamour. We, however, were traveling during the off season so the busy and flashy reputation didn’t seem to fit with the quiet city we found ourselves in. We spent a lot of time walking along the coast where they had a boardwalk that provided a nice path leading up the beach.
The beach along the eastern side of Punta del Este
Downtown Punta del Este
La Mano (the hand) sculpture, by Chilean artist Mario Irrarazabal
At the intersection of Miami and California?
One of the foods that Uruguay is known for is the Chivito which is thinly sliced beef with mozzarella, tomatos, black or green olives, bacon, ham, and egg. We went in search of the best Chivitos in Uruguay and we found our favorite in Punta del Este where they even had a soy patty sandwich for Lisa to try.
The lighthouse on the hill of Punta del Este
We caught the beginning of the Palm Sunday service while on one of our walks
Just another sunset in paradise for us
A look at the harbor on the western side of Punta del Este
From Punta del Este we caught a bus heading east to the town of La Paloma. We had arranged to stay in an AirBnB for a few nights while we were there. The owner of the house offered to pick us up from the bus station but as we didn’t have a functional cell phone we were unable to get in touch with her. We didn’t think this would be a problem until it started pouring shortly before we arrived at the bus terminal. We only had a general location on a map and the knowledge that she had a thatched roof to guide us to her house. After a few wrong turns and knocking on the door of the wrong house we finally showed up drenched on her doorstep. The rest of our stay in La Paloma was pleasant and we really enjoyed our AirBnB hostess.
The thatched roof house where we stayed, our room was the one on the second floor whose window you can see
Slaving over the stove
Downtown La Paloma
The beach at La Paloma, we still have yet to try our hands at surfing
N for Norlander (Lisa is below the arrow if you can’t find her in the picture)
Our sunset in La Paloma had beautiful shades of pink and purple with an almost full moon rising on the horizon opposite the sun
The next stop on our tour was Barra de Valizas. The hostel itself was build piece by piece by the owner directly on the sand. This caused the structure to be a bit quirky and full of character. Our room was directly above the kitchen, slightly larger than our mattress, and barely tall enough to sit upright. We also had a small balcony outside our room that was accessed by crawling to the window and then gracefully wiggling your way outside.
Some shots of the piecemeal built hostel where we stayed, on the top right of the photos you can just make our our deck
Kevin enjoying the view from our deck and Lisa peeking out of the window from our crawlspace bedroom
We chose to stay in Valizas because it was walking distance from Cabo Polonio, a remote beach town and national park that was only accessible by crossing the dunes either on foot or in a 4×4 transport vehicle. We decided to walk the 3+ hours along the beach and over the dunes. The coastline was beautiful but walking in the soft sand was more of a workout than we anticipated.
A view from the top of the dunes, with Cabo Polonio in the distance. Unfortunately, the uniform color of the sand makes it difficult to see the contours of the dunes.
The beachfront and downtown Cabo Polonio
The town of Cabo Polonio was tiny with one main street, several restaurants, and no electricity. Even walking both the perimeter and along the only street through the middle of town, the tour of the whole area didn’t take very long. We enjoyed the peaceful nature of the waves and rocks before deciding to take the 4×4 back out to the park entrance. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize buses heading to Barra de Valizas were few and far between when we planned our excursion to Cabo Polonio. After a few minutes of deliberation we opted to walk the 13km back to Valizas in lieu of waiting 3 hours for the next bus. By our calculations we arrived before the bus would have and enjoyed a scenic walk back to Valizas. Ok, we’ll be honest, we had to walk down the side of the freeway… it wasn’t very scenic but it was good exercise.
“Main Street” in “downtown” Cabo Polonio
The 4×4 trucks that transported people to Cabo Polonio from the park entrance
The last stop on our tour of Uruguayan beach towns was Punta del Diablo. This was a very relaxed town that draws a large number of Brazilian tourists every summer. We enjoyed our final few days at the beach before heading back to Montevideo.
We were very impressed with the driver of the horse drawn cart that you can see in the surf. He maneuvered the horse and cart from the promenade down onto the beach and then reversed back into the surf so that the workers could unload the days catch into his cart.
The promenade of Punta del Diablo was full of bars and restaurants
We enjoyed watching locals sandboard on the dunes, this young man was ok after his spill. He popped up and ran back to ride his board down the dunes again.
We decided to spend a few more days in Montevideo before heading back to Buenos Aires to meet up with Kevin’s parents. We splurged a bit and rented a nice AirBnB apartment with a balcony and views of a park and the waterfront. We spent our time hanging out with a friend we had made while in the lake districts of Argentina and meeting new friends at a wine bar near the harbor. We also had the opportunity to go on several long walks all around town.
Some sculptures in Parque Rodo
Evidently Uruguayans are big into the video game Oregon Trail, at least that is what we believe that the artwork represented
The beautiful apartment that we rented
The view from the balcony in our apartment
We have loved our time in Uruguay. Before we arrived we knew very little about the country, besides that it was the often forgotten neighbor sandwiched between the two South American giants of Argentina and Brazil. Over the past couple weeks of traveling here we have become very impressed with this progressive country. It is incredible safe and friendly. It has a poverty rate of less than 10% (lower than the US) and a literacy rate of greater than 98%. The government provides a laptop for every child and every household can have free internet access. Education is free up through university. The current ruling party has pushed through a very liberal agenda over the past few years, legalizing gay marriage, marijuana, and early abortion. Regardless of political stance, the country feels very different than the rest of South America.
lkviajando2 
Looking forward to seeing you both soon. You sure have had an adventure of a life time.
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