Blogs from East, Uruguay, South America - page 4

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

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

I spent this past weekend in Punta del Diablo, Uruguay, a sleepy beach town close to the Brazillian border. I had planned on leaving last Tuesday and getting back on Monday to spend a night in Montevideo...but the tickets sold out and I would have had to end up going by myself. I left on Friday morning with Susana, Thy and Heather, which was nice becasue I had the rest of the week to work on homework and get a few things done. I called a remise to take us to the ColoniaExpress port in La Boca because our boat left at 8am and we still needed to check-in. We could have take the bus but we just wanted to make sure that we got there on time and didn't miss our boat because Susana got ... read more

it's been a few days, but we are now well into our trip to south america. it was quite the long haul, starting in pittsburgh, and road tripping it down to d.c. to catch our flight. from here, we hit el salvador, peru, and finally arrived here in uruguay on sunday. uruguay was the place in our trip where we really had no plans, and no expectations. we hoped for nice weather and a little warmth, but really nothing else. thankfully for us, our expectations have been blown away! we arrived in montevideo at the carrasco airport, grabbed our bags after grabbing loads of duty free bebidas, and searched out europcar. keeping in mind we arrived around 5:30 in the morning, we had no idea how long we'd have to wait for them to open. luckily, ... read more

I didn't know very much about Uruguay before we arrived here a couple of days ago. The country has a funny name. Its capital is Montevideo. There's lots of cows there. And that's just about it - truthfully! I don't think it's just me, though. With the exception of Uruguayans and perhaps of porteños across the River Plate, it seems that Uruguay is well below most people's radar. Our guide to Argentina "also includes Uruguay" - the country reduced almost to a footnote. If I were Uruguay I'd be a bit annoyed. Most visitors to the region, it would seem, leave this little country - little by South American standards, of course, since it's a fair bit larger than England and Wales combined - off their itineraries. Reason enough for us to pay a visit, then! ... read more