Jan 14, 2012 - Punta Del Este

Jan 14 to 15 Punta Del Este Not such a fun day. We flew out of Iguacu Falls to Buenes Aires, hopped on a ferry to Colonia, caught a bus to Montevideo and caught another bus to Punta Del Este arriving at midnight. Jan 14 was a very long day of travelling and rushing around. 1 flight, 2 bus, rides, 1 ferry ride, 3 currencies, and 3 countries in 24 hrs. As the travel book would say "Get it tanned, get it waxed, get it buffed, and get it out to Punta Del Este where the rich and famous are". This town is loaded! We saw lots of very nice cars,...

Jan 27, 2010 - Uruguay

I know I haven't written this for ages (sorry Em!) but it has been difficult to get to internet. Ummmm where was I.... Saturday spent most of the day in the park by the massive tulip sculpture, sunbathing. Went out to dinner with Anna (Toby's lovely friend who lives in BA) to a restaurant that was rather posher than we had been expecting. But we decided to treat ourselves and had insane Patagonian lamb- the meat here is incredible. We then went on to a Mexican themed party where they had made tonnes of fajitas (which we were too stuffed to...

Dec 15, 2009 - Punta del Este - Beach holiday

We have checked ourselves in for four nights in hostel El Viajero 30 minutes bus away from central Punta del Este to take advantage of their special offer (four nights in the price of three). Considering that we haven’t had a beach holiday yet in this trip, we thought it would be a good time to stay at one place for a bit longer simply to relax. The hostel was located in a very expensive neighborhood surrounded by villas and swanky apartments. The famous Bikini Beach was only 5 minutes away. The place felt very newly built with lots of...

Dec 6, 2009 - Punta del Este--The Beach in Winter

Ok, so it's not actually winter here, but it sure felt like it the day we arrived--cold, rainy, the beaches empty except for a family in heavy coats. We came to Punta del Este expecting a beach vacation, three days tanning and relaxing on one of the area's many sandy beaches. What we got instead were the Hamptons in April--an expensive beach resort still waiting for the summer crowd, and the summer weather, to arrive. It's kind of classic South America, actually: nothing is quite as good as promised. Beaches? Sure, but the water is...

Mar 11, 2009 - Punta del Este, Uruguay

March 10th was a full transit day from BA, across the inlet by ferry to Colonia, passing through Montevideo (the capital) all to arrive at the vacation spot for the rich Brazilians and Argentines. I´m excited to have an exclusive ´beach day´. I´ve been in South America for months, with very little beach time. Unfortunately, it rained for most of the day. I set out on a bicylcle to explore the coast and next town of Maldonado. Great fun riding along bike routes until the wind whipped up and the rain started pelting. I enjoyed a picnic lunch...

Jan 11, 2009 - Uruguay - Beach Time

We spent the second week of our trip in Uruguay. We checked out of our apartment on Sunday morning and then took a taxi to the car rental agency. When we arrived it was closed and the sign on the door showed that they were closed on Sunday. Standing in the centre of Buenos Aires with our luggage we were both a bit at a loss for what to do next. We didn´t have a lot of time to contemplate because within five minutes a car came screeching to a halt in front of us and out jumped the car rental staff of two coming in just to give us our car. We...

Feb 22, 2008 - Punta del Este

Gisteren op weg van Montevideo naar Punta del Diablo een tussenstop gemaakt van een 5 tal uur in Punta del Este. Dit is veruit de belangrijkste badplaats van Uruguay en is bekend in heel de wereld. Je ziet er toeristen van overal en de aanwezigheid van een jachthaven en ook van cruiseschepen is een teken aan de wand. De prijzen die er gehanteerd worden zijn dan ook europees te noemen. Buiten de honderden hotels langs de kilometerslange zandstanden is er echter niet veel te beleven, alles is afgestemd op het strand toerisme en de aanverwante...

Dec 11, 2007 - Christina Kircner is the new president of Argentina

Hola Amigos, First of all we would like to say thanks for the comments, they're fun for us to read. If we don't get a chance to write back to everyone, know that we are thinking of you. We have decided to go to Uruguay today in search of some sand and Sun. We were hoping for 80's, however, it's only in the mid-seventies (I kid, I kid). We have to take a boat to the city of Colonia and then take a bus to the capital city of Montevideo. From Montevideo we'll take another bus North up the coast to Punta del este. From there we'll take another...

Nov 14, 2007 - Punta Del Este

Now please someone tell me why everyone says this is the most beautiful place in South America. I was so disappointed, ok the weather was rubbish, nevertheless. Noone from my group was interested, so I made my own way there. After about 2 and a half hours and a couple of coach changes, which was hilarous trying to explain in my non existing spanish where I wanted to go, but hey I got there. Ok all Punta Del Este is a place, I guess for the rich to hang around, but that is about it. The penisula has shops, high rise buildings and a bit of...

Oct 27, 2007 - Seeing Red (and white)

Thursday 25.10.07 Between the hostel recepcionista opening emails at 5am and a snoring roommate, my sleep patterns were sufficiently disturbed to ensure i overslept, to be frantically woken by my English travelling buddies an hour late and hurried to the ferry terminal. We were leaving Argentina for Uruguay, just across the Rio de la Plata. The drab blue painted ferry looked like a huge prison transport from the rear, and what transpired for the next few hours was tantamount to torture in comfortable chairs when the football hooligans...

Nov 21, 2006 - Punta del Este

We arrived yesterday around noon via the bus and were sunburnt by 4:30. God I hate being sunburnt. This is a tourist town that caters to the beach goers. They have so much beach here, I think the city is surrounded by beach. On one beach there is a hand coming out of the sand, looks pretty cool. Our hotel is 1 block from the ocean beach and 1 block from the river beach. Lots of stores are closed until Dec. as that is when high tourist season starts. Well we need to go and put more aloe on as the burn is starting to feel bad again. Most of...

Mar 7, 2006 - URUGUAY - San Marcos, Maldonado

San Marcos, it turned out, was a fairly small town but well connected for Maldonado and Playa Del Este - popular locations for Brazilian and Argentinian tourists in Uruguay. We arrived around 1.5 hours late, after about 18 more hours on buses. The service was much better on this EGA double decker semi Leito bus, than any of the Brazilian buses. We were given food and alcohol. Need I say more?! Also, Elese and I shared the downstairs portion of the bus which has only 12 seats as opposed to the 40 or so upstairs, so it was much quieter. The...