Tour de Puntas in Uruguay

Our welcome to Uruguay was warm in the truest sense of the word. Hot even. Within 2 minutes of checking into our hostel, the air filled with smoke as a car out front burst into flame. We watched the chaos unfold then ducked under the smoke and headed for the iconic Old Town.

During our hunt for a dinner deal in the new town later that evening, the streets were stormed by a marching parade of rhythm and dance. Candombe apparently was the occasion. Endless waves of dancers and drummers passed us by as we ate our protein heavy chivitos.

The following morning we made off on a bus for Punta del Este. Soon after arriving, we realised our hostel was far from the town centre (and where we were dropped). These legs are made for walking though, so that’s what we did. To the hostel to drop our bags then back into town to explore the coast.

The local culture is a 9pm dinner which means restaurants don’t open until late. This is no good for hungry kiwis at 6pm, but it is good for thirsty ones! The typical happy hour is 5-7pm which is prime cocktail hour by our standards. We found 2 for 1 caipirinhas on the waterfront and couldn’t say no. To sweeten the deal we soon discovered there was a government funded VAT tax discount for tourists on all food & drink!

I quickly squandered my share of the savings though by miscalculating the price of Doritos at the local supermarket. To recoup my losses, dinner would be a cucumber and 2 bananas.

Casapueblo was the target the next day, an impressively unique (and large) house and hotel built by the late artist Carlos Páez Vilaró. Moulded by hand with a “rebellion against straight lines”, filled with all forms of his art inside. Getting there required 1 hour of walking, a 20 minute bus, and some optimism we would find a way home. In hindsight it required more sunblock too.

Getting home without a pre-booked bus proved to be easy though. We found a bus stop with a man waiting and used our limited Spanish to establish he too was headed for Punta del Este without a boleto (ticket), only dinero (money). We waved down the next bus and for half the price of a pre-booked ride took the scenic route home through Maldonado.

Dinner that night well and truly made up for the night before. We had the Focaccia de la Día from La Focaccia de Nico in Box Garden. It was the tastiest meal we’d had so far by my standards and big enough to fill us both with just one each (not to mention unbelievable value in a usually expensive country).

As did Punta del Este, our next destination Punta del Diablo too made us work for its hospitality by placing the bus terminal 2km inland of the coast, main strip, and our hostel. At least this time we were walking towards the action and the allure of the ocean.

We spent the first afternoon here scoping out the three adjacent bays before hunting down the cheapest drinks in town, followed by the cheapest dinner.

The morning after, Kenzie’s keen enthusiasm for capybaras led us to the nearby Parque Nacional Santa Teresa which allegedly had a resident population. The plan was to the catch the 10:30am bus.

We arrived at the terminal sweaty and dusty to discover there was in fact no 10:30am bus. We turned to hitchhiking instead and got a ride faster than we could stick out our thumbs. The driver was a friendly local on his way to Chuy. With our limited Spanish (and a bit of Google translate assistance) we managed to fill the 10 minute drive with some form of conversation.

Capybaras we found plenty and Laguna de Peña was stunning. We were underwhelmed by the aviary though and found the areas beyond the first felt more like a wildlife park than wilderness. Cool but didn’t feel as authentic. We passed by the fortress too on our way out which appeared to be closed though wasn’t on our list anyway.

We left Punta del Diablo the following morning, wishing we could have stayed longer. There was plenty more swimming, surfing, eating, and relaxing to be done here. Was easily our favourite spot so far on our (albeit short) travels to date.

A brief night in Montevideo followed by a bus to Colonia saw us back on the boat to Buenos Aires. A single night there and we’d be in the air to Ushuaia - our gateway to Patagonia.

Been lugging around this tent and mat long enough, time to put them to use!

We’ll see you there.

Lucas

Dec 12, 2024