Uruguay

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I bet, reader, that you probably dont know a huge amount about Uruguay...
It is a relatively small, but affluent country on the Atlantic coast, nestled in between Brazil and Argentina.
It´s mainly agricultural, and produces huge amounts of wheat and beef.. Fray Bentos is actually the name of a cow town here!
It was also a banking and touism centre for rich argentinians, until the Argy currency crashed a few years back.

Still, it is pleasant, without being spectacular, and with good roads, clean hotels, and great food all costing not a lot, a really nice place to travel through.

We arrived on a windy morning on an overnight bus from southern Brazil, at a place called Punta Del Este. Now this place, basically is the Monte Carlo of south america.. A mixture of high rise apartment blocks, luxury hotels, stunning beach houses and a "my yachts bigger than yours marina".
In January and February, summer down here, it is packed with the glamourous set from Buenos Aries who decend here on mass to pose and party.

Things dont get busy here until around Xmas, so it was fairly quiet, but the weather was ok, and the beaches deserted, so it made a nice place to stay for a few days, particularly as we were staying in a fantastic beach house belonging to an ex-client of mine that I am friendly with..
As befits an international banker of some repute, his beach house was quite a spectacle. On a deserted south facing beach a few miles out of town, it was like something out of a Hamptons style magazine. A garden that ran down to the beach, an open plan, wooden floored living room with huge sofas, stunning bedrooms with huge windows out to see, en suite jacuzzis, a lovely swimming pool sunk into the sun deck...
It also had, rather less remarkably, a kitchen, and after months of eating out at restaurants, it was good to actually go to the supermarket and cook for ourselves again..
We didnt really do a lot in Punta, but I can just imagine what a stylish, party city it would be at the height of summer..

Anyway, after a few days of chilling out, we then hoped on a bus through Montevideo (no time), to Colonia Del Sacremento. This is a lovely town on the banks of the Rio Plata, with the skyscrapers of Buenos Aries just visible over the water.. This town was originally set up by the Portugese to smuggle stuff into Buenos Aries, and what remainas is a charming town of pastel coloured houses, cobbled streets, atmoshperic cafes, tree lined boulevards etc etc.. it really is the prettiest colonial city I´ve seen in South America. We ate out well, and cheaply, and then relaxed in a bar watching Wayne Rooney prove his chavness against Spain, and the vastly more entertaining World Cup qualifyers here in South America. Uruguay beat Paraguay, and the Argies beat Venezuala...

Anyway, on sporting matters, as of tomorrow, I´m back in rugby country.. Tonight we take the ferry over to Buenos Aries for a few exotic evenings of wine, steak, and Tango!!

Oh, and if anybody thinks that, on occassion, my journals arent particularly interesting, you may well have a point.. but at least I dont believe that you might be interested in the contents of my breakfast... unlike this particularly dull diarist...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/international/4020263.stm

Christ on a bike.. granary toast and marmite -how fascinating..

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Photos

Sunset on our deserted beach, Punta del Este

Nice pad...

Wierd Hand Sculpture, Punta Del Este

Playground for the Buenos Aries smart set..

Colonia del Sacremento