Our own shack

Trip Start Jan 17, 2008
Trip End Jun 30, 2009

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Flag of Uruguay  ,
Friday, December 26, 2008

So we left Punta Del Este, and headed east to Punta Del Diablo, the journey took about 4 hours and took us through miles and miles of Uruguayan countryside, which was only interspersed with a few small towns on the way. When we arrived, we found a shop where apparently there was a guy who knew all about rentals of cabanas (ranging from shacks to more upmarket places), he was a big fat guy smoking a cigarette out of one corner of his mouth, whilst talking to him I was worried that ash would drop onto his chest and burn him, anyway we asked him what he had available for a couple of days, he gave us 2 choices, by the beach with no electricity or further from the beach. In the end we went for the closer to the beach option, which was only about 15 metres walk from the beach. Our accommodation could be described as simple and rustic, but that would be stretching it even for the most creative estate agent, it was a bit of a hole, but for the 2 days, it was our hole!  There was a gas lamp to provide light but we both thought it looked a bit dodgy, so we bought some candles instead to provide light at night. One of the drawbacks was the beds, basically the mattress on the bed was filthy, Daniella has cleverly kept her silk liner so she was Ok, but I had to lay my towel on the bed to avoid lying on it, that first night neither of us got much sleep because we were so irritated by the scabby bed, the next night we tried to solve the situation by moving up to the mezzazine, and sleeping there, unfortunately it did not improve our sleep, we were boiling hot until about 2am, I kept waiting up throughout the night due to annoying mosquitos, then at about 3am it got really cold and remained like that till we woke up!

Punta Del Diablo is a very small  fishing village not far from the Brazil-Uruguay border, it is a very rustic and simple place, nevertheless when we arrived (around Xmas time) it was jampacked with tourists, lots of Brazilian accents can be heard around the town, there are lots of restaurants, cafes and other services catering for tourists, but it still has kept its rustic charm. Its major attraction is the beach, it stretches for miles and miles, nearly as far as the eye can see right up to a headland on the horizon where there is a lighthouse. The waves here, like in Punta Del Este, are very strong, not so good for swimming, great for surfing, but it was fun to get in among all the waves. The current and long shore drift ( i think this is what the effect is  - its been a long time since school Geography lessons), mean that you always get pushed about 30 metres up the beach when you hit the shore again after swimming out into the waves

On the first evening, we did not cook (our kitchen was very basic and the utensils themselves  - well, daniella point blank refused to use them! a few feet away from our des res was a restaurant called, el viejo y el mar, named after the Hemingway novel, specialising in fish and seafood (well....this is a fishing village after all), the restaurant was very quaint, traditional and atmospheric, Daniella had the squid, whereas I had it the fish, it was a bit of splurge, even though the village is quaint, the prices are unfortunately high, especially during the peak season, which is xmas and new years eve, however she prounounced the squid to be the best she has ever tasted, so it was defintely worth it, and the fish was very good to, after we ate their was a band playing, which added to the nice atmosphere.

We started mulling over what would be our next move, whether we would continue with our original plan and return to Buenos Aires for new years, or carry on up the coast staying by the beach, after much thought we opted for the former, as we still wanted to visit Paraguay, so 2 days later we were heading back to Colonia, crossing the whole country of Uruguay in one day, its not that big, but it still took 6 hours.
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