Uruguayan Weekend
Clear skies. Warm sand. Blue water. On Thanksgiving? Nah.
I speak the truth.
Last weekend a group of us traveled to Punta del Este, Uruguay for the Thanksgiving holiday. 80-degree weather on Thanksgiving is ridic for me. I mean I've had all of my past 19 Thanksgivings in Oregon, so this is a huge change! Oh, but what a good change it was!
Punta del Este is an upscale beach town very much like Pepperdine's Malibu. Even though it is in Uruguay, most of the people that travel there and/or have beach houses there are upper class Argentineans. We stayed at a resort that was 15 km away from the city, but that was ok with us because it gave us the opportunity to rent a car! After three months of being car-less and dependent on taxis, subways and buses this was a definite JOY! And I didn't even drive the car (I can't drive sticks)! Our car was a trusty 5-seat Fiat hatchback. What's that you say, we had six people?? Not a problem, we were efficient and used the trunk as seat #6! Dangerous perhaps, but this is South America, isn't everything dangerous??
Because finals are just around the corner and all of our other trips had been action-packed, this weekend was reserved for RELAXATION. So basically, that is all we did: tanned on the beach, lounged by the pool and drove to our hearts' content. The beaches in Punta del Este are beautiful, we went to Playa Brava, which is the surfing beach located on the eastern part of the peninsula and faces the Atlantic Ocean. This is where the famous "Mano" (Hand) is located (look at my pics if you're not familiar!). In contrast the beach on the western side, Playa Mansa, is a lot quieter because it faces the Rio de La Plata (River Plate).
On one of the nights we decided to drive to Uruguay's capital, Montevideo. It was only an hour away and we decided we had a lot of gas to burn. Oh you should have seen me in the trunk of our little car! There I was, comfortable with a pillow and blanket and all tech'd out with my laptop for "GPS" use.
Well, we got to Montevideo safely...but frankly, Montevideo did not have much to offer. We ended up going to a super sketch carnival and then (as a highlight) had dinner at a great restaurant. No, I'm not being sarcastic...it really was great. Later, in search of some nightlife, we asked the waitress to point us in the right direction. We followed her directions and yeahhhhh, we got pretty creeped out by the desolate surroundings and high-tailed it back to our home away from home in Punta del Este.
The rest of the weekend went superbly. Even though Montevideo was a bit of an upset, I can now say I’ve been to the capital of Uruguay in the trunk of a car!
Oh, and I have decided that when I am old and rich I will be in the market for a beach house in Punta del Este.
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