Blogs from Punta del Diablo, East, Uruguay, South America

Chao Buenos Aires, bienvenido Uruguay! Checked out of our apartment in the early morning, and after a harrowing taxi run, caught our BusqueBus ferry to Colonia. Heard this place is pretty amazing, but we were already heading to Punta del Este by bus. Although pretty tired, we passed along some gorgeous countryside, with vast green fields, eucalyptus and pine trees, and quaint villages using horse and trailer carriage to get around. Dosing in and out, we made it to Punta del Este by early afternoon. As we approached the city, I noticed some of the pijo qualities we were bound to encounter. All the billboards had ads promoting beautiful people, high class accomodations, and other ritzy elements. Ballers on a budget, we knew we could make it work... On arrival, equipped with an address and minimal ... read more

After leaving our hostel in Buenos Aires we headed for the port to catch our ferry. Luckily we left plenty of time because we showed up to the wrong one to begin with. Some minor problems later and our voyage to Uruguay had begun. Our first stop was Colonia where, impressed by its laid back feel, we intended to rest and spend the following day enjoying the sights. However a shortage of beds and a glut of other tourists meant that we ended up traveling on to Montevideo a day earlier than expected. During our short stop in Montevideo we went to have a look at the plazas and buildings of the Ciudad Vieja (old city). Unfortunately we didn’t find all that much to hold our interest and soon travelled onwards to Punta del Diablo on ... read more

One of the things I am learning about travelling on your own (and there are many!) is that every risk is your own but on the other side of the coin every triumph is also your own. Every decision I make ultimately I have deal with the consequences entirely myself and to be honest this is quite a scary prospect for me. So the decision to head to this small fishing town of Punta Del Diablo came with slight apprehension. I had only read a small paragraph about it in the Lonely Planet, hadn´t met anyone who had been there and on the map it looked as though it was in rural Uruguay away from bright lights and big cities. After catching the ferry over to Uruguay from Buenos Aires a 3 hour ride in which ... read more

Im sitting in a dingy, dark, windowless room with an overhead fan whirring and clunking above me in the town of Carmelo in Uruguay. I have left the security of Pepe in Buenos Aires and ventured across the muddy waters of the Rio Plata to yet another South American country. The place I am in, the Hotel Orientale is a dive…the cobwebs in the corner of the room are fluttering in the fan’s paltry breeze and I am unaware of any other guests. This hotel could be in The Shining! In fact, Hotel is an overly ambitious term for this establishment but the sheets are clean, there is nothing crawling (that I can make out) and having arrived in Carmelo from Tigre at dusk, I didn’t want to travel onwards into the night alone with no ... read more

Punta del Diablo So, after Dan left, I was feeling a bit daunted and quite honestly, pretty frightened... the real adventure had begun. It snuck up on me because the 3 and half weeks I had with all the boys flew by and suddenly I was to start my solo trip, so I felt somewhat unprepared haha. Especially since I had really been struggling to understand the Spanish in Argentina, their pronunciation is so different to anything I had heard and they speak soo quickly, I couldn't even understand basic things like 'hablas espanol' (do you speak Spanish!). Luckily, Reece still had over a week before he had to fly home, and was kind enough to let me tag along with him to Uruguay... another country to tick off the list we both decided. We checked ... read more

El diablo... read more