Punta del Este, Uruguay

Punta del Este has the reputation for being a Cancun-type location, but with the summer season over it is actually a laid-back, very nice city, although comparatively expensive. The main part of the city is on a narrow peninsula surrounded by ocean, so pretty much anywhere you go you are at the beach, which is very nice. I used Punta del Este twice as a stopping point between other destinations. One of my rooms almost had an ocean view. Well, it did have an ocean view. It was a real hotel room which I considered to be somewhat of a luxury, and for $50 I thought it was a good deal. The hotel's elevator, like many other elevators I have used during this trip, had an old fashioned metal gate which you have to open and close yourself before the elevator will move. Feels a little rickety, but its kind of fun to do it for yourself instead of having one of those elevator operators there.

The night before returning to Buenos Aires, I happened to run into Rocio, Naty, & Gaby, and we would travel back to Argentina together.

Hotel view:

The infamous "Fingers":

More photos from Punta del Este:

I've never seen so many people sunbathing facing away from the ocean:

Happily trapped in Punta del Diablo

From Montevideo I headed to Punta del Diablo, a fishing city with a very small, low key beachside center area (not pictured.) I stayed in Hostel de la Viuda, a couple of blocks (read: dirt roads) from the center, with the plan of taking it easy for a few days. A very nice place to stay, although I don't think the staff smiled once; they brought the good vibe down a little. I did relax a little, but what ended up happening was far more fun. The place was filled with vacationing Argentinians, Chileans, Brazilians, and Spanish-speaking Germans. We talked, cooked, partied, and just had a great time. When cooking, it was interesting to see the different regionalisms and cooking styles they had. One time we made an anchovy sauce pasta which was quite good, and different from food I am used to. I played chess against a guy who five years ago was ranked #14 in all of Chile, of course I was easily defeated. There was one night in particular when everyone was in a good mood and went down to the beach together, there was little bit of phosphorescence, these little microscopic creatures in the sand that glow neon green when you touch them. We had with us candles in 2-liter soda bottle lanterns, and carried on for hours. They all wanted to play a drinking game, and had a hard time coming up with one, so I suggested one which was a big hit. The rest of the stay there people kept on talking about the game and how much fun it was. I had a poignant moment of diplomacy when I was told by Argentinians that when their friends are saying bad things about Americans they would use me as an example of one they met who was genuinely a good person and that Americans can be good people too (I'm kind of used to hearing this kind of talk, but this time they were especially enthusiastic about it.) This next picture is me in front of the hostel with a Chile-Argentino group who I would visit Piriapolis with:

These are some pictures of the hostel and area:

That structure to the left there houses a pool table:

This happy fellow joined me for a walk to the beach. Instead of being an annoyance like most stray dogs, I  was actually glad to have this one around.

Unfortunately, there was very little bus service to and from Punta del Diablo. Buses would pass through at 5am, 4:30pm, or 6pm, not very convenient times for me to make a trip. I prefer to travel around the noon time. I kept on making plans to leave, and then kept on getting sidetracked for various reasons and ended up staying. One more night.. One more night.. I was glad to have been there though. Next I would make a quick stop in Punta del Este and stay in Piriapolis for a night.

Days 7-8: Montevideo, Uruguay

Upon my arrival in Montevideo, I was disappointed. The guide book says that it is a beautiful place, but I thought it was kind of run down, although it is nice that it is on the beach, and it does have some nice architecture. I settled on this hotel, from my balcony I had a nice view of the principal plaza:

I went to see an art exhibit of a famous Uruguayan painter, Joaquin Torres Garcia. The exhibit was about a trip he made to New York and the art which it inspired. It was interesting to see something about New York from a different perspective. 

His work was quite good, but my favorite exhibit I have seen on this trip is still The Benito Quinquela Martin museum in Buenos Aires.  

After I got a bite to eat I met two Chileans at my hostel, Kenny & Daniel, who were backpacking through Uruguay. They are pictured here:

We got along well and they brought me to a heavy metal show they were going to see at a bar called "Living." Living is an English word which in Spanish has been adopted to mean living room. The metal show was short lived, but the bar was a lot of fun, it had couches set up so the place looked like a couple different living rooms in one place. They had a couch just sitting on the sidewalk out front, and most of the people at the bar were outside drinking in the street. Just in the street, not in an outdoor section of the bar, something which of course would not be allowed in the states. It was a lively, fun crowd, and my impression of Montevideo improved after talking with the locals and having fun in this setting. We left right before the sun rose, and it was still open. Somehow during the course of the night I was assigned the nickname "El Maestro." I'm happy to say this is not the only time I have been referred to as such (the first time was when I was a professor at a university in Mexico, but that's a whole other story.) Unfortunately, later in the weekend  "El Maestro" changed to "The Master," which has nowhere near the same ring to it.

I got up "early" the next day and wandered around taking pictures, a lack of sleep being a constant theme on this trip. At night I headed out with Kenny and Daniel again, we started the night by going to drink beer down by the beach. You have to descend a staircase to get to the location, it is a spot which would be highly inadvisable if not accompanied by non-yanquis. Of course, a local shady individual approached us and he must have been able to tell I'm foreign because he kept asking me questions. I always responded with head nods or murmurs, and for more complicated questions Daniel or Kenny would jump in and answer. It actually turned out he was very friendly, and most likely approached us just to try and sell us drugs.

Later in the night we took a 20-30 minute bus ride to a suburb of Montevideo, where there was a house party/rave:

It was obviously the house of a very wealthy Uruguayan, they had a DJ, lights, a bar, and even an artist painting a canvas, an abstract painting which one can assume was intended to capture the energy of the party. Again we left very early in the morning, it was a long walk to the bus stop, and luckily as the others started to fall asleep I was alert enough to make sure that we got off at the right stop and made it back safely to the hostel.

Here are some pictures of Montevideo:

The next day I would be headed to a new adventure in Punta del Diablo.

The ferry to Uruguay

The ferry from Buenos Aires to Colonia, Uruguay, was very cool. The ferry crosses the Rio de la Plata. Boarding it felt like getting on an airplane since there was a border crossing involved. The ship is huge and is like a floating city with food, bars, shopping, mini-arcade, and other features. It takes a couple of hours to get to Colonia. I spent most of the trip with two Argentinians who at one point shared some ma-te with me. My guidebook says that you should feel honored if people share ma-te with you, but I think that statement is overblown because they drink it constantly. 

Pictures:

Pictures from the ride: