Along the Coast of Uruguay

After Iguazu, we decided to explore the often forgotten little country of Uruguay…and boy was it fantastic. If anyone wants to do a ‘South American vacation’, I would highly recommend Uruguay. It has so much diversity and culture, yet it is contained in a relatively small area- it was great! . Here is a brief summary of our wonderful trip through this country:

Day 1: We took a ferry from Bs. As., across the Rio Plata, and landed in Colonia after only 1 hour. This waterfront city looked like it was straight out of the colonial era (hence, the name.) The cobblestone streets, old churches, and city gate (complete with moat and drawbridge) really made this entire city seem like a postcard. We spent the day exploring the city, and taking lots of pictures. For dinner we had some delicious seafood paella, but the best part was that we ate in an old-fashioned car! It looked kind of like an old Model-T, except the inside had been gutted and replaced with a table and floor pillows.- pretty cool.

Day 2: We took a bus to the capital, Montevideo. We rented antique red bikes (complete with wicker baskets) and biked around the historic city center and along the sea wall. It was a perfect day- bright sun shining, cloudless blue sky, breeze off the ocean…totally picturesque. That evening we bused onto Punta del Este, found our hostel, and settled in for the night.

Day 3: Today we rented scooters and motored around the city and surrounding areas. We went north and crossed a ‘wavy bridge’, which was literally like going on a roller coaster- fun! We visited a sweet museum (Museo del Mar) and saw giant whale skeletons, dolphin skeletons, lots of shells, some big turtle shells, and a pirate exhibit too! It was a pretty amazing collection, considering it all belonged to just one guy! (He said he started collecting shells when he was little, and then ended up spending his whole life traveling the globe, snorkeling and scuba diving, amassing this incredible collection.) After the museum, we had ‘chivitos’ for lunch- a really yummy steak sandwich of sorts. After feasting we drove south of the city to “CasaPueblo” (you might have to Google image this one.) It’s an incredible house built by the artist Carlos Paez Vilaro. It was originally his home, and is now a museum and hotel. The structure is 9 levels, built right into the hillside- it’s painted all white and has no straight lines…kind of like a giant adobe castle. It was a fantastic place to watch the sunset on the ocean, which we did.

Day 4: Bused onto a little town called Cabo Polonio. We had intended to stay just for the day, but learned upon arrival that there were no more buses leaving that day…no choice but to stay over night! It’s hard to explain the remoteness of this town…our bus dropped us off literally in the middle of nowhere. There was a little ticket booth and a few trucks- that was it. We bought a ticket for a truck ride into town- this is the only way to get into town! We rode in the back of the truck through some forests, which gave way to huge sand dunes (no roads, only sandy paths!) and finally to the huge beach. In the distance, you could see some ‘houses clumped on the hill’. Turns out these houses are more like shacks, and there really isn’t much more to the town than that.- no internet, no electricity, no nothing…just LOTS of wind. As soon as we got off the truck, we were approached by a guy named “Pancho” (which means hotdog in Argentine slang, haha) who offered us a place to stay in his ‘hostel’- which turned out to be a bright orange shack right on the beach. “We’ll take it!” we said J After settling in, we explored the rocky shores, the lighthouse, and visited the sea lion colony (2^nd biggest in the world!) On the way back, we passed a group of ‘hippies’ (for lack of a better term) playing drums, gourd instruments, and dancing. They invited us to join in, and we did! We had a great time jamming and drinking mate with the locals, but after awhile we headed back to our hostel. That night we feasted on shark (tastes like chicken) and had crepes with dulce de leche for dessert- yum! And the stars that night were incredible…it felt like you could just reach out and touch them…

Day 5 & 6: Left Cabo Polonio and bused back to a small town called Nueva Helvetica, which is a small village with a very strong Swiss heritage. We stayed at a small country house/hostel called “El Galope”. We had intended to go horseback riding, but it was so incredibly windy that we decided to pass. Instead we got to brush and feed the horses. We also played with the dog (named Tupac), bottle fed the baby sheep (named Dorothy) and took a few nice walks in the countryside. We also tried ‘cow stomach’ for the first time…actually quite tasty. It was a really relaxing visit, and a nice ending to our Uruguay trip.

Day 7: Caught the ferry back to Bs. As., with a few souveniers and some awesome memories of an incredible little country J