We left Montevideo in the morning and had to cut the conversation short with Stephanie who engaged us in a discussion about the fruits in her native Nicaragua. We headed straight to Punta del Este and the Bed and Breakfast “ La Casa” where we had found a last minute deal online. It was surprisingly nice, an old Villa from the 60’s or 70’s but very clean and well organized.

Punta del Este or Punta as the locals call it is the THE place to be on the coast. We were certainly not overwhelmed but the main reason to visit was the fact that Laurence’s grandmother was voted Miss Punta del Este back in the 30’s. She used to love the place and we imagined that back then, it was not the forest of skyscrapers that it is today.

It is amazing how much the city has expanded. Even Donald Trump is building his tower there and the construction comes complete with a huge picture of him. The place is vast and seems to be ever expanding. We were told that all year round, the city has a population of 8,000 but during the summer that swells to 600,000.

We hit the beach in the afternoon and walked along the seafront. We noticed that just about everyone would arrive with a parasol, under which they would position their beach seat and, of course, their Mate kit! Apart from Uruguayans, Punta attracts a lot of Argentines (more than half the cars on the streets), some Paraguayans and lots of Brazilians (they actually accept Reals in most places).

At the end of the day, we headed to Casapueblo in Punta Ballena to check out the most spectacular sunset in Uruguay (everybody says so) and visit the house of Carlos Paez Vilaro, who is probably the most international of Uruguayan artists. He started building his house in 1958 and it took him 40 years to finish it. We truly enjoyed this visit, enjoyed exploring the beautiful museum and learning about Carlos.

We arrived before sunset and noticed that slowly but surely, the house was getting absolutely packed. Instead of battling with 300 people (most armed with selfie sticks) and fighting for a view, we decided to escape to the hill next door. We sat on a rock with a bottle of “Sol” (Sun) and had a lovely time.

Later on, we walked around the city center and found a cosy little restaurant for dinner, which served some excellent fish.

The next day, we went back to town to properly check out the list of tourist attractions, including the “Beach of the English” and the famous “Hand in the Sand”, which was sculpted in iron and cement by Chilean artist Mario Irarrazabal and won first price in the “monumental” art contest in 1982. It has remained a firm Punta del Este fixture ever since. It was hard to get a proper shot as everyone was posing next to each and every finger.

Mid morning we packed-up the car and headed east along the coast to La Paloma, which was going to be our base for the next three days. We stayed at a place called “La Balconada Beach Hostel” which was great, and literally 20 meters and single sand dune away from the beach.

We’re almost three weeks in and it’s slowly sinking in that this is not a ‘holiday’ but our life for the next three months (deep), so picnics and homemade cooking have become normal practice (and the only affordable way to try to eat vaguely healthy). Dare I say it but we are slowly becoming used to the delights of the backpacker lifestyle!

The next day, we headed to Punta del Diablo, which has a beautiful beach. On the way, had it not been for a friendly policeman and a 30km detour, we would have run out of fuel. Petrol stations evidently dry-up the further east you go. Indeed, the further we drove along the coast the more remote and isolated the communities became. Punta del Diablo was no exception.

All year long this little town has 1,500 inhabitants but the population grows to 25,000 in January. This town had a very hippy vibe, maybe due to the fact that all the clubs used to be based there so it also attracts a rather young crowd. We do not have dreadlocks or juggling clubs, so fortunately the distributors of disco flyers on the beach did not think we were worth bothering. However, it seems that the spot we had chosen on the beach was quite popular amongst the dogs, which came to rest right next to our towels.

Later on that night, we decided it should be date night, so we wandered into town in search of something good to eat. Unfortunately, all we could find were huge milanesas, fries, pizzas and bread, all covered with a thick layer of muzza (mozzarella).

The following day, we decided to go to an even more isolated beach in Las Valizas, a small town which seemed to be far too hippie for Ed’s liking – every second person carried a guitar and every bar played the same Bob Marley tunes. Cliché. As impressive as his beard is fast becoming, you only really cut-it here if you have dreadlocks…

Shortly after settling on the sand, we were caught in the middle of a mini electric storm (lots of lightning and mini sand typhoons). The fact that the beach had emptied should have been warning enough. We scampered off, back to the car and further east to perhaps the most isolated place of our trip to date.

Cabo Polonio is a natural reserve that you can only reach via sand bus. You park-up and then board one of the many ex-military service vehicles that slowly plough (noisily) through the sand to the coast. Upon reaching the beach, the views open up to present a small cluster of houses to the left and miles of unchartered beach to the right. It was quite an amazing view.

What was really exciting about Cabo Polonio was its colony of sea lions. Unfortunately our camera battery died and we had left our phones in the car, so we only managed to scramble a few pictures. They were noisy (you could hear them from across their island) and very smelly! It was also quite surprising to bump into a few dead sea lions that had washed-up on the beach – we imagined the defeated male rivaling for mating rights – a very sad sight.

We arrived back at the car under torrential rain and smug with ourselves that we had taken the decision to be less cool and avoid the top of the sand truck – many wet dreadlocks.

Our last night in La Paloma was spent at the hotel mingling with the other guests and plotting how to avoid the center of Montevideo the next day when driving back to Colonia del Sacramento.

We arrived back to Colonia del Sacramento just in time for lunch and round II of chivots – when the police turn up, you know you’re eating in the right place!

Our last afternoon in Uruguay was spent on a Rio de la Plata (River Plate) beach, which was delightful. The bar overlooking the beach was playing a thrilling (according to Ed) selection of 80s tunes, so we retreated to the safety of the shade and sat for hours, drinking beer and mojitos. We stumbled home and collapsed into bed (or in Ed’s case, safely navigated the ladder to the top bunk!).

Next stop: El Calafate, Argentina

Highlights:

• The Sunset at Casapueblo in Punta Ballena
• Our Picnic in La Barra. Laurence dropped her pear in the sand but what a view!
• The wonderful beaches that the coastline has to offer

Gasto highlights:

• Ice cream flavor of the week: Dulce de leche granizado (with chocolate chips). Drool.
• Our last diner where Ed “borrowed” fresh herbs from the hostel garden and made the most delicious Bolognese.