Blogs from East, Uruguay, South America - page 9

I arrived at La Paloma yesterday. The hostel is great, across the street from the beach. Yesterday was St. Patrick's day and a couple from Ireland made Sheppard's pie for everyone. A bonfire in front of the deck was the focus point for travelers from Australia, Ireland, Canada, Germany, Sweden and the U.S. The staff here are wonderful, making the fire, running the bar, passing out cake at midnight. It felt as if we were on an all inclusive holiday package at a resort, rather than a group of weary travelers. The chatter around the fire was filled with travel tales, politics, weather and 'best moments' on the road. There were three Australians traveling along the coast in a rented car. They were going to Coba Polinio the next day and offered to take me. 'Hippie ... read more

Oh my trip to uruguay was amzing i dont even know where to start. we left on thursday from buenos aires, took a 1hour ferrry to colonia, i very old colonial town, super cute. we stayed here for only a couple hours, we wanted to get to our final destiniation of small beach town Cabo Polonio, Cabo Loconio by the time we left, by nightfall. We hopped on a bus to montevideo(the biggest city in uruguay). when we got to montevideo wewere told we would have to go to the next city south of polonio, a beach town called La Paloma(pigeon in spanish, there were no pigeons in town though). we made friends with the guy that worked on the bus, he wanted to practice his english with us. We had planned to camp that night ... read more

After the excitment of BA we decided we needing some quiet time to relax and work on our tans as the end of our trip approached. We headed to the beaches in Uruguay and after a night in the expensive and holiday-resort feel of Punta del Este we were up in the morning to take the local bus to Punta del Diablo an old fishing village where we rented a cabana, beach hut, with 2 of the Irish lads we had met previously. We had our own hut with kitchen and bbq out the front and after so much time in Hostels it was great to have our own house and our days were spent wave surfing, tanning, and preparing for the nightly bbq we prepared out the front and washed down with cask wine. We ... read more

Uruguay har siden 1700-tallet på grunn av sin geografiske plassering mellom folkerike områder i Brasil og Argentina alltid hatt ikke-vennligsinnede gjester i landet. Jesuittene "misjonerte" fra 1600-tallet, og portugiserne etablerte Colonia for å smugle varer inn i Argentina. Spania bygde fort i Montevideo og på kysten mot Brasil. Engelskmennene ville ha Uruguay, det ville Brasil og Argentina også. Fra 1850-årene var de fleste kastet ut, og det var kun Argentina og Brasil som kjempet videre om Uruguay. Hovedindustriene var kjøtt og ull. Tidlig på 1900-tallet ble det innført pensjoner, arbeidsløshetsordninger, 8-timers dag og kredittordninger til farmerne. Store deler av landbruket ble nasjonalisert for å få til disse velferdsordningene. Ettersom som fryseteknikkene stadig ble bedre, skaffet kjøttproduksjonen store inntekter til Uruguay. Landet var et av de rikeste i Sør-Ame... read more

As you move south from Brazil into Uruguay the land changes from verdant, hilly country to gently rolling land of dry, brown grass that's been grazed short. A few islands of dark, green trees, occasional groups of cattle nosing the ground - this is the pampas. Apparently they're having a very dry year, with dead livestock (now there's an oxymoron) lying here and there in the fields. Punta del Este is an international destination, like Marbella in Spain, or Ibiza or Cannes. Magazine people (not journalists but those who wind up as the subjects of articles in the scream sheets) - the rich and famous - come here. I didn't see anyone I recognized, but that's okay. I wasn't too disappointed. Punta del Este is white high-rise lining the ocean. It's about consumption, sunbathing and partying. ... read more