After a disastrous night at the hostel in Colonia we decided on a mini beach break in Punta del Este.
Arriving in town was like arriving in the Gold Coast (in Aus) 20-30 years ago. Glamour but a little like from the early 80’s. Souveniers shops mixed with Fendi, Prada and Ralf Lauren.
(Mum making friends with the less glamorous inhabitants…)
Across from Argentina it’s on the south east coast of Uruguay at the mouth of the river between the two countries. Though, the river is so big they just call it a beach. On one side if the peninsula is the surf and the other is the quiet family beach. Best of both worlds.
(Looking towards the peninsula)
(Beach club Uruguan style)
(The hand coming out of the sand sculpture)
(The millions and millions of mussel shells washed up on the beach)
While quite small, we decided to do a bike tour around town to find out more about it.
(Safety first!)
We checked out the beaches, the harbour, the old lighthouse and best of all, we saw sea lions!! Yep, they were just playing around in the harbour waiting for fish scraps. Unfortunately they were too quick for my camera.
(Posing!)
(The mermaids who came out of the sea to remind us to be kind to the oceans)
(The beautiful blue church)
(This still gets turned on every night for the ships)
Clearly we hadn’t done enough riding as we hired bikes and headed out to visit Casa Pueblo, house of famed Uruguayan artist Carlos Paez Vilaro. To be honest I wasn’t that fussed about visiting an artists house, however when we got there I discovered why it was so famous….
It had taken him more than 30 years to build this incredible building.
Inside his art – paintings, sculptures, bronze carvings and more – were exhibited throughout the house.
And then it was time to say farewell to Uruguay. It had been amazing and I am very glad that we were lucky enough to see it.
