A travel blog of a journey that I started in 2010 and I don't know when it will end ...

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Uruguay ... Punta del Diablo, La Paloma, Punta del Este, Montevideo and Colonia del Sacramento

The bus from Porto Alegre arrives at Chuí town(BR) at the Brazilian border. Once we pass the customs border office, we walk to the bus stop on the Uruguayan Chuy ...

The line of the border is defined in the middle of one wide street..., it's curious because the telephone cabins, taxis and the signs are different on each side of the street.
I withdraw Uruguayan pesos and I take another bus to Punta del Diablo.

The landscape I see from now on is without large buildings, only small houses a certain distance from the coast, and Virgin Beaches. A magic place.


Now it is low season and there are not many people (for me much better) and prices are cheaper than "normal". We stayed at the Diablo Tranquilo hostel, beach front and very comfortable.
Here you can see all the acomodation options in Punta del Diablo

Once installed, we go by bus to Santa Teresa National Park to visit the Fortress of Santa Teresa, and we walk back along the coast and making some stops to swim at the sea even though the currents are strong.
Relax and sun ...




In the morning, I walk along the beach before catching a bus to La Paloma, we stop at Rocha (the capital of the region) to change buses.

At La Paloma, we stayed at Hostel Cuatrovientos, an old house converted in a hostel. Very nice and cheap. Here you can see all the acommodations in La Paloma

We visited the village, the lighthouse of Cape Santa Maria and the coast.


I'm willing to go on the road, slowly, but keep moving.

The next day it rains, and we arrive at Punta del Este, where you can see the La Plata River flowing into the sea.
I do not dislike, but I didn’t love it. I must also say that because the rain I did not go around much, but I had enough.



The next day I arrive at Montevideo. I visit the Old City with Christina and then I meet up with Andrés (Montevideo), who is the boyfriend of Nanu (from CouchSurfing), theoretically to watch Real Madrid - FC Barcelona Match in a bar. At the end we go to watch a real match of the cup Closure in Uruguay between River plate and the National (Andres team) at the historic Centenario stadium.

Final result ... 4 to 2 in favor of the River ... ESPN review
The Real Madrid - Barça, 1-1...

After the match we meet with Nanu and went to a friends house to have a Fernet and cola with a pizza.
The next morning with Andrés we go to the market Feria de Tristán Narvaja to buy vegetables for his week.



The first intention was staying in Montevideo a couple of days, but I decide to go to Colonia de Sacramento.

Bus to Colonia del Sacramento, a city with a beautiful old town with Spanish and Portuguese influences. The cobbled streets and trees, full of restaurants, shops and bars.
I really Liked!
Walk and walk. Time to read (The salesman of dreams, Augusto Cury), to listen to music and to just hear the sound of the sea.



At the evening, I have dinner with Christina and go for a walk the old town at night. Also very nice.

I don’t want to break the rhythm (which I put myself), and the next morning I take a bus to Carmelo, and from there I take a ferry to Tigre (in Argentina, near Buenos Aires).


Some photos
2011-04-Uruguai (URU) https://photos.app.goo.gl/FJ59B9CDf7M8CjBx5

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Versió catalana
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