Tourism is next to Beef ?

We decided to rent a car for a few days so we could drive up the east coast of Uruguay. We rented a compact car which cost us $35 a day. Most of the cars available in Uruguay are compact cars due to the fact that gas is really expensive .We loaded into our tiny, Chevy Classic, husband who is 6'4+ , baby car seat and two teenagers who are both 5'10+ (and growing an inch a day)and set off. It was a nice, cozy trip to say the least. We saw many beautiful beach resorts with high rise apartments, lavish "holiday" homes and colorful, little fishing cottages. As we drove through most of the towns, they appeared as if they were ghost towns. It is winter here and evidently tourism is in hibernation. During the summer months they say that the total population almost doubles. Restaurants were closed and boarded up, hotels were empty, beaches were dotted with very few people. We were quite surprised at the desolation. We ended up in a beach town called "Punte Del Diablo": point of the devil. I was wondering why they called the town such a name and a local told us the reason. She said that at the point of the peninsula there are three very large rocks separated by water which forms what looks like the devil's horns. Many ships would come in and get caught in these rocks. We rented a cabana right on the ocean, with 2 bedrooms and a kitchen. The cabana cost us $60, which was a good deal since it was off season.  The cabana was heated by fire. This kept my husband very busy because it was rather cold near the Atlantic. It was actually cold all night long. It never got as warm and cozy as we had hoped. It was kind of like we were camping, in a very large tent.

 The next morning we traveled to a town called Chuy. The interesting thing about Chuy is that there is a street with duty free shops on both sides . One side of the street is Uruguay and the other side of the street is Brazil. Unfortunately , the shops were filled with cheaply made clothing, shoes and various household items. When I say cheaply made I mean shoes that look like leather, but are definitely plastic.The clothes were knockoffs of Gap, DC Skate wear, and various other name brands. There was not one thing that we wanted to buy. They also had a department store filled with REAL imported name brand items from the US and Europe that were three times the price we would pay at home. It was kind of like the stores you see in the airport. After two hours of scouring the streets of Chuy, we decided to move on to better things. We drove off the beaten path and drove through cute little towns with beaches and town squares. We particularly liked this one town called Rocha. It had a town square with trees,fountains and a public art exhibit of reproduction paintings from the Louvre. It would be a great background for a movie. We even found our favorite  neighborhood restaurant . We stopped at it twice, once on the way east and once on the way west. Dinner cost us around $30 for all five us. We had steaks, pizza and pasta. What a great deal for some real good food!


Back to Montevideo.

Atlantida

Punte del diablo

La paloma

Hand Sculpture in Punte del este

 

 

  Montevideo Beaches