The Beaches of Uruguay

Uruguay made a fitting last country for us. We decided to head there some months ago when we realized that a few days at the beach would be a nice way to end this crazy year. Luckily it is extremely easy to get to, a quick 1-3 hour ferry ride (depending on the cost of your ticket) from Buenos Aires. We bought our tickets a few weeks in advance online, and were able to get a great deal. The great deal meant we were on the 3 hour ferry, but it was very nice, including onboard entertainment which reminded us how extremely uncomfortable we would be on a cruise ship. We were told that Americans had to pay a $40 entrance fee for Uruguay but we exited the boat with no questioning or passport stamps. We made a feeble attempt at finding immigration and then decided, why press our luck?, and headed quickly out the front doors with $80 still in our pockets.

The ferry arrived in the beautiful waterfront city of Colonia. There seems to be a nice beach in every coastal city of Uruguay, and Colonia was no different. We checked into our B&B and headed to the beach for what would be our first of eight straight days in the sand. The city was extremely laid back, with not much to do but wander the old town, go to the beach and pet stray dogs. Needless to say, it was right up our alley.

Uruguay is currently in the highest of their high seasons. Hotel prices are double or even triple what they are in low season and everything is booked solid. We spent a few hours searching the internet trying to find a place to stay at the multiple beachside towns further up the coast but to no avail. We finally decided to throw our beach hopping plans out the window and head to the town of Punta del Este, about 5 hours north of Colonia. Punta del Este is what they call an “international beach town”. People come from all over South America and the World to party at the famous clubs and show off their new plastic surgery on the many beaches that surround the city. Nope, doesn’t sound like us at all, but it was the only place where we could find a private room for less than $100 a night and we ended up very happy with our decision.

After a morning on buses we arrived in the downtown of Punta and caught a local bus out to the tiny village of Manantiales, about 15 km away. Here we had reserved a room at what we thought was just a beat up old hostel but was really a full fledged hippy commune, complete with a tent city in the back yard. Are you familiar with the movie “The Beach“? The people looked like extras straight out of the movie and I think every material utilized to build the place was recycled and taken from another building. There were no signs to mark the place, just some indiscriminate bird drawings carved into local telephone poles to lead you there. Let’s just call it interesting, but it did start to grow on us as we spent each day at the beach, playing in the waves and watching the surfers. Every night we sat on the deck and watched the sunset and the stars come out over a bottle of wine. It was beyond relaxed there and the beaches were absolutely beautiful. After two nights we bid farewell to the commune and traveled back to downtown Punta to stay in a hostel. The beaches in town were just as spectacular as the ones outside, and we spent another two days lounging on the beach there. We tried to enjoy every single second of the warm weather, knowing that in a few short days we will be arriving in the freezing cold Midwest.

We finally tore ourselves away from Punta to head to our last stop in Uruguay, the capitol of Montevideo. Carnival was upon us and we had read that there would be some good celebrations in the city. Well it turns out that most people from Montevideo head north to the beaches (where we just were) for Carnival. The city was empty. A parade did pass our hostel on the first night, with floats and lots of drumming, so we ran outside to watch the action from the streets and finished off the viewing from our roof.
With the city empty and most shops closed as it was the weekend and Carnival we spent our time doing the exact same thing we did in Punta, running and going to the beach. Montevideo’s beaches are nothing spectacular, but they are a great way to pass some time. This morning we caught a bus to the fast ferry (1 hour!) back to Buenos Aires and entered back into Argentina for our fourth and final time. Tomorrow we begin our long journey (via Brazil and London) back to the USA.