3 days turned into 4. It easily could have been an entire
summer. Punta del Diablo truly is Uruguay’s best kept secret. I literally was
having so much fun from the minute I woke up until the second I went to bed,
there wasn’t even any time to update the blog. Here is a summary of the last 3
days. Sorry if I ramble on too much, but there is SO MUCH to say about this treasure of a place!!!
Diablo Tranquilo Hostel. Located 10 min walk from “town”
which is the main strip full of markets and greasy spoon restaurants that serve
everything from pizza to chivitos (popular Uruguayan sandwich made of goat
meat, ham, bacon, fried egg, cheese, etc. DID NOT TRY THIS… = heart attack. And
eeew goat??). Also located 2 min walk to the main beach and a short bike ride
from the more secluded/scenic Playa Grande. The staff are super friendly. My
favorite is Danielle from Ashlan, Oregon. She visited this town last summer for
a couple weeks, fell in love, and came back to work at the hostel for the
summer. I asked her how she managed to pull that off, and she said she quit her
job back home and moved in with her mom for a couple months to save money.
Danielle is crazy tan and has a keen affinity for mate. They serve an optional dinner
at the hostel every night for $10, but I never ate it because I ate at an
amazing French place every single night – will talk about that later. The roommates:
at first it was just me and 2 middle-aged ladies, one from Brazil who liked to
keep to herself and put the only fan in the room directly pointing at her bed, and a sprightly little one from Germany who talked constantly
in her high pitched voice. At first I didn’t like the German woman, because the
first morning she spent an hour organizing her storage bin very loudly and
stomping around at the ungodly hour of 10 am. But the last night, a bunch of us
went out to dinner and invited her. She was actually really cool! She’s a
teacher back in Germany and took the 4-month summer off to travel. I really
admire her spirit of adventure and courage to explore South America on her own.
The 2nd night, a beautiful 22 year old Aussie girl – Sophie –
arrived and we hit it off smashingly. She’s been traveling 4 months also and
will continue on until the money runs out. The stories she told me from Chile
and Paraguay made me green with envy. The 3rd night a couple other
girls joined, one of whom was a yoga teacher from New York. I don’t really know
much about them, other then that the girl from New York got upset when one of
the Uruguayans tried to steal her bottom bunk bed…. AND was sitting on it in
her thong. Oh, and she was also constantly high, asked me the same questions
over and over again, and was always on a mission to find weed. The last night I
camped, and got obliterated by mosquitos. But it was worth it to be out in the
middle of nowhere, surrounded by nature and nothing else!
Biking. I did some more exploring the 2nd morning
on my gearless beach cruiser, which meant I pushed it up the hills and charged
down them. Although a mountain bike would have been much better, I very much
enjoyed seeing parts of the village that I wouldn’t have been able to get to on
foot. Like I said before, the houses are mostly jewel-toned beach huts with
thatched roofs. I kept my eye out for ones I liked to rent next summer when I
come back ;)
Santa Theresa National Park. This is a rich wooded area full
of brilliantly colored but loud parakeets that squak constantly. It’s gorgeous.
The hostel offered a 3-hour horseback tour of the park that ended with a glass
of wine for sunset on the beaches’ large sand dunes. I opted out of this since
I had a horse for a while and it’s nothing new to me.
Playa Grande. Pristine beach that’s off the beaten path and
not nearly as crowded as the main beach. There aren’t even any beach bars or
anything. Locals bring their fishing poles and surfboards and just chill here.
On one side are large sand dunes to climb up where you have pretty amazing
views of the coast. I liked this beach so much I went back the 2nd
day.
French Restaurant called “Aquarella”. They hooked my very
first night with their perfectly grilled salmon, soft bread with olive oil,
salad, and unbelievable cocktails. And for not much more than what it would
cost to eat at the hostel! The restaurant was opened two weeks ago by 4 French
guys who all know each other from when they worked restaurants in New York.
Francois is the owner, Bibou the main chef, Nico the bartender, and another who
does everything else in between and I for the life of me cannot remember his
name. I had the salmon 2 nights, but also tried their local white fish with
pesto, a bite of Sophie’s garlic prawns and salmon tartare, French fries with
mushroom sauce, and onion lasagna made with fresh noodles from a local Italian
place. Nico’s cocktails are ridiculously tasty and creative, featuring the
freshest local ingredients: mint, ginger, melon, apple, basil, strawberry…
Sophie and I joked that they were “peligroso” – dangerous! He says that in life there are no problems, only solutions. Brilliant, eh? So yea, ate there 3
nights in a row – always with at least a few friends from the hostel – and
everyone always raved about the food. On Wednesday evening, they had a local
swing band come in and play, which brought a huge crowd in. They were awesome!!
Definitely was unique to listen to Uruguayan boys sing old tunes like “Dream a
Little Dream of Me” in English, complete with trumpet, trombone, and violin!!
After the show was over, the violinist and I jammed together for a bit. They
gave me a CD which I’m stoked about.
Pink shack beach bar, main beach. Sophie and I went down to
this little shack the 2nd night to watch the sunset and sip on
caipirinhas. The couple who run the place are as sweet as the drinks they
serve! They very patiently gave Sophie and I an impromptu Spanish lesson as we
swung in the hammocks and enjoyed their delicious concoction of rum, sugar,
and lime. They have the best deal in town too – 2 for 1oo pesos.
DJ Fernando. A local, in his 50’s, who totes an antiquated
laptop and speakers around for his many gigs. They were right, he was
terrible haha!!! We were joking about it at dinner one night, he’s not really a
DJ. He just presses “stop”, “play”, and “next” buttons. But he is very beloved
by everyone and is full of life and energy. He frequently leaves his “DJ booth”
to dance with all the pretty young girls… but that doesn’t affect the music at
all! It just keeps playing on without him :D One night he threw a party on the
beach which was really fun. Well, it was fun until someone accidentally flung
grapefruit soda on me. With a sticky face and half blinded eyes, I decided
that the party for me was over and headed back to the hostel.
Live music on the beach. Every evening before sunset, a young
group of Hawaiian-shirt-clad locals plays at one of the beach bars. I love the
variety of instruments, even including a saxophone expertly played by a girl!
The music is lively and entertaining – something you definitely don’t want to
miss. There’s an old calico boxer dog who likes to stand in front of the stage
or even random couples, barking at them. It does this every day.
Body surfing. You can rent surfboards, but the surf honestly
isn’t that great for boards. It’s perfect, however, for body surfing. We would
do this for hours, seeing who could go the farthest and throwing a few tricks
in the mix. If you’ve never body surfed backwards, try it.
Mala Vida. The food truck and hippie hangout I visited my 1st
day. I went there one more time, and ordered the same exact thing. It was just
too good!! Victor said their French fry machine broke, and that had
unfortunately deterred a lot of the all-night partiers returning to their
hostels in the morning. People here looooove their fries.
The bus. The only reason I am mentioning my bus ride back to
Montevideo, is because I said next to a lovely Uruguayan girl named Rosio,
which means “dew”. She is a 26 year old school teacher with uncommon strawberry blonde curly hair who just moved in with
her boyfriend 2 months ago. Most people don’t get married in Uruguay, she
explained. It’s more of a common-law type thing. I had the best time talking
with her! How lucky to sit next to someone fluent in English. She gave me a
sort of culture tour. Factoid #1: I learned that education is free, even for
outsiders. Factoid #2: kids start drinking mate when they are in high school,
and by the time college arrives, every student will be sitting at their desk
with the mate in hand – even the professor! Factoid #3: it’s not uncommon for people in their 20’s and early 30’s to live with parents, the same as Brazil. But
if their 40 and still at home, something is wrong with them. We had a good
laugh over this. Factoid #4: customer service for things like buses is
terrible. No one would be receiving any refunds or vouchers for the bus
breakdown. This isn’t a factoid, but I pointed out to her that Spanish-speaking
people love to use the term “for example” when talking to me. It’s just kind of
amusing to me, since they say it every other sentence. Rosio said she thinks
it’s funny how we all say “like” so much. And then I caught myself saying that
during the rest of our conversation and realized how much of a habit it’s
become. I can see how it would sound weird to someone learning English, since
it has nothing to do with the actual content of the sentence. The bus broke
down 30 min from Montevideo, and we had to wait an hour for another to come get
us. When the other bus finally did come, the 2 bus drivers were switching the
luggage from the one bus to the other all by themselves. The mostly teenage
crowd of passengers just stood there in the dark watching. “What’s up with
this??” I asked Rosio. “Why is no one helping?” So we jumped in and started
hauling suitcases. Within minutes a large group of strapping young lads pitched
in and we were able to transfer all the luggage really quickly. A lot faster
then the 2 bus drivers could have done it. See, it just takes one! I was
starving so I made myself a peanut butter sandwich. Rosio couldn’t believe I
had peanut butter – “Where did you find that??” she asked. I told her Buenos
Aires, and she said that makes sense because you simply can’t buy it in
Uruguay. Only dulce de leche.
And that, my friends, is my summary of Punta del Diablo. If
you’re ever in Uruguay, skip the built up tourist trap Punta del Este and go
straight to this beautiful quaint little beach town!
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