Here in Argentina, the week leading up to Easter goes by two names: semana santa and semana turística (holy week and tourist week).With most Argentines having both Thursday and Friday off from work and/or school, the long weekend that falls at the end of summer/beginning of fall (in the southern hempisphere) is one of the most popular times of the year to travel. Instead of joining the record number of tourists that took to the roads this semana santa, I did my first bit of traveling here in South America the weekend before, crossing the Río de la Plata to venture into Uruguay.
*Warning* This post is rather lengthy and is simply a retelling of what we saw and did. However, its my hope that it can give you a picture of the Uruguayan coast. If uninterested, at least look at the pictures and read about Cabo Polonio, which was the highlight.
Traveling with two other American students from our program here in Buenos Aires, we started off our ambitious self-made itinerary by taking an overnight ferry/bus combination to the capital city of Montevideo. Upon arriving we hesitently withdrew 1000s of Uruguayan pesos from our bank accounts via ATM. With the exchange rate being close to 20 Uruguayan pesos to the dollar it wasn’t really that much money-but nonetheless we felt a little nervous tacking on the few extra zeros.
Having the city almost entirely to ourselves at 7am we visited the main plaza in the city and the old part of town, checked out the city’s coastline and found our way to the small rental car agency where we had made a reservation. After figuring out that dirección asistida, which literally translates to assisted direction (what we assumed was GPS), actually meant power steering-we quickly upgraded to a car that included that vital feature and were on our way.
Uruguay’s main tourist attraction is its beaches on its Atlantic coast, with Punta del Este, being the biggest tourist city with a lot of nightlife and pristine oceanfront. Looking for a more low key and authentic Uruguayan experience, we decided to go further up the coast, making the small fishing towns along the coast of Rocha our end destination. After about a three hour drive through some gorgeous green countryside that was almost excuslively grazing ground for cattle, we made our first stop at a small coastal town called La Paloma. Our first glimpse of the ocean was gorgeous, and the trip to the top of the local lightouse (which also claimed to be the world’s largest sundial) only made the view even better. On our way out of the town we stopped to look at the skeleton of a huge right whale that the town had found beached some years back.
Making our way further up the coast, La Pedrera was the next stop, with the town sitting atop a small bluff that looked out over the ocean. En route to our last stop in Punta del Diablo, where we had planned to stay the night, we made a quick detour at one of about the many little roadside farmer stands that had popped up in about a 10 kilometer stretch of highway. Stepping away from his work in the field to meet us at the street, a farmer started explaining all of his homemade products which ranged from fresh dulce de leche to a liquor fermented from the local fruit, butia, which he eagerly had us sample. Convinced, we walked away with a bottle and a small container of butia jam.
Finally, arriving in our town as dusk was falling we quickly found the cabanas that we had reserved, but finding the owner was a different story. After asking about a dozen people and wandering all over the town of less than 1,000 people with no luck- we finally figured out the correct way to dial cell phone numbers in Uruguay and got a hold of the right guy.
Opting to pass the gorgeous night outside on the sand dune outside the cabana, I climbed out of my sleeping bag early the next morning to go for a run and explore the coast. Getting about two miles outside of town I had a gorgeous beach all to myself and went for a quick morning swim in the warm water.
Later in the day we backtracked on the coast to make our way to Cabo Polonio, which proved to be the highlight of the trip for me. The coastal fishing town and recently formed national park lies about 5 miles off of the nearest road, seperated from the rest of civilization by a series of sand dunes that can only be trasversed by huge four wheel vehicles. The town has no real roads, but is rather an eclectic collection of tiny huts and houses scattered about a small stretch of land. Boasting the largest population of sea lions in South America, it was a hunting outpost until it became illegal in the early 1990s. The town now serves more as a quirky local tourist spot and the home of an important lighthouse. The year round permanent population is about 70 some people.
Taking the four wheel vehicles on a bumpy and slow going trip over the sand dunes, we arrived in town and quickly made our way down to the beach hoping to spot some sea lions. They numerously dotted the nearby islands, their squeals mixing pleasantly with the sound of the waves gently crashing against the nearby rocks. A few had made their way to the main shore to sunbathe on the warm rocks, sitting only about 40 or 50 feet away from where we could get to.
Climbing the lighthouse that was built in 1881 to warn ships of the numerous rocks and islands that dot the coast gave us a great view of the isolated village.
We would return to our cabana in Punta del Diablo that night where at dinner all three of us went for the Uruguayan creation that is the chivito. Ground beef, ham, bacon, egg, cheese, lettuce, tomato, peppers, onions, and whatever else you feel like putting on it if you’re still not satisfied. While assuredly not the best thing for your arteries-it tasted wonderful.
Sitting out on the beach that night under the starry sky and enjoying the local butia liqour was especially enjoyable and when it came time to head back to the capital the next morning it was hard to tear ourselves away from the calm coastal lifestyle that we had quickly adapted to over the last few days. Back in Montevideo we had another feast for lunch, trying four different delicious cuts of beef in the famous Mercado del Puerto, one of which was the cow’s lymph glands. We wrapped up our trip in picturesque Colonia, which is an old colonial town on the coast that also is a UNESCO world heritage site. After a beautiful sunset on the river and a nice palm sunday mass in the local church we climbed back aboard the ferry to Buenos Aires. If you had asked me before coming to Argentina what my main hopes were for traveling; town hopping along the Uruguayan Atlantic coast probably wouldn’t have made the list. However, the weekend was one of the best trips I’ve taken in a while and left me a huge fan of all things Uruguay.
Congratulations if you’ve made it through this whole post, and for the credits section I’d like to give a big shout out to my two traveling partners, Adriel and Melissa, who did almost all the planning for this amazing weekend and all of the driving since I didn’t know how to drive manual. Thanks!!
