Tag: Coast

Forgotten coast

When the summer ends and all the millions of tourists go away, everything that is possible is taken away (even ATMs because in the winter nobody needs money) and the rest is closed, the coast of Uruguay seems abandoned and forgotten. But in its peace we find our joy. Endless kilometers of sandy beaches, blue water, seals and pinguins all of that is for us.
Here we found Punta Rubia, a small village that didn't sound like anything special but we didn't find a place in nearby La Pedrera so we decided to stay there. To our suprise it was our favourite place up till now. Surrounded by forest, dunes and beaches with no roads just dirt ones, it was a perfect place to stop and relax. And we did that at La Casa De la Luna, a really extraordinary hostel run and owned by extraordinary woman- Paula. Not everyday you meet people that love what they do and are full of joy and energy. She took her time to show us around, gather mushrooms with us, take us for a ride through the whole coast and talk endlessly by the fireplace. For us to get to know people like her, makes this trip totally worth it because the people are the most amazing part of the world not places.
Afterwards we hit the road to famous Cabo Polonio. And it was a bumpy ride. There is no road going there so you can either walk (good luck with 7 km walk through dunes) or take a truck that will survive it all: beach, dunes, grass you name it. Back in the days Cabo Polonio was a fishing village, nowadays it is an alternative piece of the National Park where (as we thought) mostly artists and fishers live with no electricity. Unfortunately we felt a bit like in a coffee shop in Amsterdam as the aroma of weed was filling our hostel, central part to the beach and many other places. Obviously just like in Amsterdam everyone was proposing us marihuana. But forgetting about that it was a truely beautiful place with it's interesting, colourful architecture, huge colony of seals and sea lions and the charming lighthouse. And there was plenty of space for everyone to feel in the end if the world as only 50-60 people live there. Strolling through the beach we were wondering how is it possible that this peaceful place with no electricity*(1) swells up to 10 000 people in the summer....
We end our journey through the Uruguayan coast in yet another charming town that is Punta del Diablo. Remarkable how gorgeous this coast is...

*(1) Not totally true as they do have it but only for the lighthouse, but with LED lamps, solar panels and wind energy you don't feel the lack of it to much

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Montevideo, Uruguay

Our first steps in Uruguay

It's incredible how a year ago we knew nothing about Uruguay and now we are here! This country, when compared with other South American countries, has only 3 mln people from which almost half lives in Montevideo. And what suprised us the most: the people of Uruguay. They are really genuinly kind, well educated, proud of their country and curious about others. Everywhere where we go and look lost even for a split of second someone always comes and asks if we want some help or advice. We have even met an older man who stopped just to find out something about us and recommend us places to go, wine to drink and offered help if we needed it. And they all seem to have time to talk, to explain, to laugh, to enjoy life.
Speaking about places, we were not impressed by Montevideo even though it's safe, clean and not that busy. Also Punta del Este was not our favourite, actually we really did not like it. The beauty of coast was absolutely ruined by huge apartment blocks, hotels, resorts all with fancy names (Trump Tower, Gold Tower), all different but all equally ugly. But then everything changed as soon as we saw small coast villages. Truely charming with the views of the sea, mostly wooden architecture and peace which is disturbed only in the summer for two months. Art is a great part of the Uruguayan coast, many of the houses here are pieces of art: colorful, full of imagination and smart usage of materials that we Europeans would throw away. Talking about art we couldn't skip Casapueblo. This massive white building was created without previous plans and against straight lines by Carlos Paez Vilaro, famous Uruguayan artist, taking almost 40 years of his life since 1960. Now a big part of it is a fancy hotel, mostly by its price, 200 euro for a double room because the inside of the rooms are not really impressive (investigated via booking.com:)). In the remaining part there is a museum and the house of the family, where the wife and children of the artist live even after his death in 2014. Vilaro was very passioned about the sun which he expressed not only in his paintings but also in Casapueblo where everyday at sunset a ceremony in honour of the sun takes place. It's accompanied by music and a poem written and read by the artist himself and most importantly stunning views of the house changing colors as the sun goes down.