Kiribu

After a few interruptions on the night bus for security checks, pit stops and bumpy roads I arrived really early with the luxury bus from Porto Alegre to Punta del Este, a peninsula on the East Coast of Uruguay popular with rich Argentines and Brazilians for the summer.

As it was not even 6am in the morning it was not light yet, it was pretty chilly. I actually had to put my fleece on for the first time since leaving home, outside of an air-conditioned bus! Luckily there was a nice waiting area in the bus terminal. I hadn’t booked a hostel and the tourist office wasn’t opening until 10 am so I had a scan through my guide-book and picked one out that was close to the bus station. I only had Reals on me so needed to get to a cash point. After 5 weeks of the Brazilian Reals, Uruguayan Pesos were confusing, Uruguay is meant to be cheap but I didn’t have a clue about the exchange rate. I didn’t know how expensive anything was going to be including the hostel so I just went and took out a few thousand pesos from the ATM.

On my way to the ATM there was a faint glow of orange and lighter blues on the horizon over the ocean, the sun was coming up and it looked stunning, sadly my pictures didn’t do it justice. I headed to Hostel 1949 a cute little hostel with a sea view and luckily they were open. The streets were deserted and all was really quiet, but everything looked really modern and developed, and organised, quite the opposite of Brasil.

It is off-season and so there was hardly anyone in the hostel, maybe 10 people max. I got an entire dorm to myself. I wanted to see other parts of Uruguay than just Montevideo, so I was advised to head to Punta del Este, and Colonia as well. I thought 1 or 2 nights in each should suffice.

Punta del Este appears to be like a large retirement home or holiday resort. Despite the fact it is over developed with high-rise condominiums and expensive houses, there was almost no one there. It had a nice marina and a high-class shopping street too. Very upmarket. Apparently most people just have a weekend or summer-house here and it stays empty maybe 8 months of the year.

I met an Irish guy who was staying in BA and had a week before his spanish course started so came out here to relax. He booked 4 nights but only stayed 2. If you don’t like beach and don’t surf, it’s quite dull place off season. I knew it was probably going to be my last beach before I headed down south and back up to the other side of the continent in Chile. So I took full advantage and got a bit sunburned, even after a few doses of factor 30.

In the afternoon I headed out for a walk to tour the area a little. There was a walking map which was recommended and so I followed most of it round the peninsula. I passed the marina and there were fresh fish vendors. I then heard a strange noise coming from the water and some splashing around. On closer inspection I saw about ten sea lions. I have never seen them in the wild and they are truly huge animals the biggest male was at least 2 to 2.5 meters long and had a huge round head and teeth the size of a thumb. I now know why they are called sea lions because the males have a mane around their necks. They were occasionally fed scraps of fish and shrimps from the vendors.

The boats were also impressive and were clearly owned by wealthy individuals. Some were from the United States and others from Argentina. A little further on the point of the peninsula you could see where these people lived. Custom built houses with probably at least ten rooms each, all surrounding the main lighthouse on the island. There is also a remote island just off the coast which apparently was visited by Drake and Magellan among others. My time here was short so I had to be selective and simply took it easy with a little walking and beach time. Next stop Montevideo.