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

This next segment of the cruise was a busy one. We went to 10 ports in 11 days. It is hard to study up on each one when the ports are back to back. But we would do our best. The ship is full as about 490 new passengers boarded in Buenos Aires. It takes a while for everyone to get settled in. We see newbies at the stern of the ship when they are trying to get to the Observation Lounge at the bow and vice versa or wandering up and down the hallways looking for their stateroom. It’s the joy of discovery. After another nice day in Montevideo we cruised up to the resort town of Punta Del Este. This is the vacation escape place for wealthy Argentinians and Uruguayans. It was the first ... read more

Punte Del Este Figgy So we had an epic journey – 18 hours to Buenos Aires, followed by a walk to the port to get on our boat for 3 hours, then 4 hour bus to Uruguay. The boat was pretty nice really although we did basically just sleep. On arrival in Punte del Este we found our hostel and went out to eat – to discover Punte Del Este is the most expensive place ever! It was our first and last meal out there! Our hostel was nice but the guy seemed intent on overcharging us. They also had the best dog ever –although I’m pretty sure it was actually a lion disguised as a dog as he had a mane. The first day we went to the beach, which was really nice. The peninsula ... read more

The resort town of Punta del Este is the Cancun/Cannes of Uruguay and Argentina. The rich and thin jet here for hot days on the beach and hotter nights in the discos during the summer holidays from Christmas to Carnival. Huge high rises litter the beach and mansions are tucked into more isolated cliff tops and parks away from the center of the madness. Gypsies in gaily-colored layers, roam the main street, offering, "Let me read your palm, my love." I arrived on the cusp of the chaos. All along the coast, workers were fervently painting and getting rentals and restaurants ready for the season. I generally avoid these types of places, opting for the funky backpacker Isla de Mujeres rather than Cancun on the Yucatan Peninsula, and tiny Antibes and genteel Nice over the swanky ... read more

Talk about glamour and glitz. Punta del Este offers both in abundance. Never in my life have I seen such brazen displays of wealth and power. Punta del Este is a series of beaches of which we have been staying near one called Bikini beach. On our first day we basically spent our time recovering from our nocturnal activities in Buenos Aires. The following day, after some much needed sleep I went on a run taking in some of the coastline near where we are staying. It was a fairly nice stretch of coast with the main point of interest for me being the 10 or so dead seals I saw stranded upon the beach. After getting my exercise fix me, Andrew and Rana went down to the beach and spent the day looking at probably ... read more