Up the coast

Valisas, Rocha, Uruguay – 10/01/2009

My last day of beach in Uruguay and probably my last day of beach until the sun and the heat com back to the Iberian coasts. In a single day, several hundreds of kilometres to find and visit 3 beach towns in the province of Rocha. Each one with its specific mood.

First stop: Cabo Polonio. After many kilometres, countless mates and a lot of uncertainty we finally arrived at the Cabo Polonio access point. Carefully hidden behind a sea of dunes, you can only get to “El Cabo” through a truck service that carries the beach-starving people from the parking to their desired destination. The beach, of course.

Cabo Polonia has 2 beaches, Calavera y Sur, it has an enviable sandstrip, it has a lot wind, it has a little market laden with hippy stuff for sale, it has a lighthouse that I didn’t visit, it has an amazing colony of sea lions, it has a few dozen shacks with no light or running water where a few lucky people get to spend a few days, weeks or even the whole summer. As far as beaches go, by far the most beautiful beach I saw in Uruguay. Not sure if I could spent 3 months here, as some do, but I would certainly spend a few days enjoying the rest, the sun and the sea.

Unfortunately, the clouds and the wind decided to come to Cabo Polonio for lunch so we decided to take off to Punta del Diablo, 40 km to the North, to have some lunch ourselves. Punta del Diablo could be an incredibly beautiful place, and I’m sure it once was, but nowadays it’s so absolutely saturated with commerce, cars which are nearly parked in the sand and beer-drinking teenagers that a few minutes after I arrived I already wanted to leave. On thing is for sure though, you have to go the market and try the fish and shellfish “empanadas” and the original seaweed “buñuelos”.

Last stop before going back to Montevideo: Valisas. Quite similarly to Cabo Polonio it has no electricity or running water, except for those who have their own generators, but it is a lot easier to get to. Anyone with a car can get there from Ruta 16. Some mate with some excellent company to end the day and now the 3 hour drive back to Montevideo.

Piriapolis, just another beach town?

Buquebus, somewhere in Mar de la Plata between Uruguay and Argentina – 01/01/2009

The beach town, or “Balneario” as they call them here, of Piriapolis is a touristy city living off the beaches that surround it like many others. The Rambla, the street that runs along the seaside, which is laden with restaurants, casinos, gift shops, bars, cybercafés, supermarkets, entertainment centres, etc; and the amount of people walking around in bathing suits and sandals, even though the high season truly hasn’t started yet, leaves no room for doubt: it is a tourist destination by excellence.

To be perfectly honest, the town of Piriapolis itself didn’t impress me too much. It is a perfect carbon copy of a dozen other beach towns I’ve visited in Portugal, Spain, France, Brazil, etc. However, as you soon as you take the wheel of the car and drive up north it is a wholly different story. The beaches which lie between Piriapolis and Punta del Este, another huge tourist destination, are spectacular to say the least. Wide, clean, shoring a beautiful and very familiar Atlantic Ocean. All in all, beaches with undoubted quality which are definitely worth the visit.

For me it is always a bit complicated to talk about such destinations as I have lived all my life with one foot on the beach and, because of that, there are not that many beaches that can truly impress me. The ones in Piriapolis might not enter my Top 5, but they are still highly recommendable.

What makes Piriapolis truly special though, is that, besides the beach, you can find 3 “cerros” or mountains just a few minutes from the town centre. El Cerro del Pan de Azucar, the third highest point in Uruguay with its natural reserve, El Cerro del Toro, flaunting an impressive bronze statue of a bull whose testicles you should touch for good luck (yes, I did) and El Cerro de Santo Antonio, with a wonderful view of the town and of the beaches all the way to Punta del Este. The tour through the 3 Cerros is beautiful and eclectic, but I would’ve liked to have more time to do some trekking and explore them a bit further.

On the whole, Piriapolis is a beach tourist destination as many others and if for me it was a truly special stay which has left a huge smile on my lips it was thanks, once again, to the excellent company and spirit of my Uruguayan surrogate family. Priceless.

One final note, not to miss: La Rinconada, a disco with an excellent mood and fiery environment despite the not-so-brilliant music. The place to go if you want to dance, have fun and, obviously, hook-up.