Prairies to Ocean

From the flat prairie like interior of Uruguay we turned SouthEast to the border with Brasil and the town of Chuy. The weather in the morning was thick fog that reminded us of riding in the high cloud forests of the Andes. We just passed through Chuy and turned West along the coast and after passing through the customs checkpoint we got our first look at the Atlantic Ocean. Taking inventory we have seen the Carribean Sea, the Pacific Ocean and now the Atlantic Ocean, nice...

Rice Paddy

Hotel Fort Miquel

 The coast is peppered with small fishing villages and beach towns, some are more popular for surfing if the waves are good and Punte del Diablo is one of them. Diablo is about 170km East of Montevideo and this allows it to be a popular cottage town. The only paved street is the main access in from Rt.9, the rest of the town has sand streets that criss-cross through the sand dunes. The houses are all different design so it is fun to just walk around and look at all the designs, most have a room or two for rent which indicates a strong tourism industry, and possibly some negotiating room on price. 

We got a room in what is rated as the nicest hostel in town “Hostel El Diablo” $50/night for a nice room with bike parking in the courtyard in front of our door. The hostel has the usual coffee and bread breakfast, good free wifi, A/C, and a nice pool overlooking the ocean. The hostel was also within a short walk of the beaches so the bikes could be left alone while we walked everywhere. The surf beach was popular as the waves were fairly consistent for the beginner to intermediate surfer, and then there would be a big set for advanced people.

Between the two beaches the street is crowded with restaurants, bars, surf shops, souvenir stores, and fresh fish markets. There is literally something for all tastes here. The other beach is not popular with the surfers but is still spectacular, it must have been 3 miles long and mostly vacant, I guess it is a little less convenient than the surf beach but well worth the extra 5 minute walk over the huge sand dunes that are swallowing some houses.

The nightlife is lively and as we found out much later in the trip, the bars in Uruguay do not have a “last call” or closing time. If you want to sit in there all night and drink they stay open to accommodate. How nice is that, of course this means some late night/early morning music playing and of course the occasional drunk yelling at the stars.

Along the way to Pte. Del Este we pass some large estates and ranches that are dispursed between beach towns and beach views. When we met a Porshe on the gravel road we knew that the area was home to some upper income people. Shortly thereafter we seen the entrance to a Polo Club, that was another first.

The road was connected across an estuary by a small ferry, four cars total, or in our case 3 cars and two bikes. The ride across was less than five minutes, then we were back onto pavement the rest of the ride into the city. 
Punta del Este is considered the playground for the rich citizens and tourists alike, it can be seen quite clearly that this is true. Lets see, Ferrari F430, S500 Mercedes, X6 BMW just to name a few of the cars. The highrise buildings are adorned with names like Hilton, Trump, Four Points, Marriot and the like. This is a drastic change from street vendors and $4 rooms. 
We were happy to get out of the rain and into our little boutique hotel, the desk clerk spoke English so that made it even more comfortable. The rest of the afternoon was spent walking around in the huge shopping centre down the street where again it reminded us of home. All similar stores, all similar prices, we could have been in West Edmonton Mall or Chinook Centre.