a day in Punta del Este, Uruguay

We enjoyed a nice day in Uruguay today. Punta del Este is a beautiful seaside city on the Atlantic coast of southeastern Uruguay. It has a population of 12,4000 but in the summer its residents average 450,000! Our guide told us that it’s a completely different place in the winter as it is in the summer. Thankfully this is their winter because it was busy enough today.

We tendered in and had a little time to pass before our excursion so we ate in an open air restaurant right off the beautiful beach. I wasn’t hungry because I had eaten a late breakfast, but agreed to share some of Ronnie’s burger. Good thing I didn’t order one myself!

our view as we tendered in

the beach at Punta del Este

looking the other direction

Insignia in background

now THAT'S a burger!

our view at lunch

clothes hawkers selling on beach

 

Our excursion was basically just a ride around the city, hitting some of the high points and stopping a couple of times for photo ops, then visiting an antique car museum. It was hot in the museum (no AC) so after a quick run through, we walked up and down the main street a bit until time for our bus to pick us up. All in all, a very nice day.

 

 

lots of yachts

flag of Uruguay

Atlantic Ocean from Punta del Este Peninsula

 

Punta Del Este is known as a resort for Latin and North American jet set and tourists. It is beautiful with a fairly mild climate. And to think I was wearing layers just days ago and posing with a snowman, but today I wore sunscreen and was sweating!

 

It has been called the “Monaco of the South”, “The Pearl of the Atlantic”, The Hamptons of South America”, the Miami Beach of South America” or the “St. Tropez of South America.” In other words, it’s a place the rich and famous go to hang out. Supposedly it is a very safe city, but just about everything is legal. She said that each family can grow 5 marijuana plants but if they don’t want to grow their own, they can just buy it at the pharmacy. Most of what you see are these huge skyscrapers and condominiums. Our guide told us that many of them are unoccupied. She said it's a city full of casinos and people who want to launder money and buy up these huge condos but don’t live in them.

 

La Mano sculpture by Chilean artist Mario Irarrázaba

"The Hand" is located on Brava Beach

the "drowning hand" serves as a warning for swimmers

She told us that if you live in Uruguay, you MUST do 3 things. You must love football (we call it soccer), you must eat lots of beef and you must drink mate* (pronounced ma-te). As for the football, it is the most popular sport and teachers will even stop class in order for the students to watch a game. As for meat, she says they eat it at every meal and even between. There are 4 times as many cows as there are people in Uruguay! As for the mate, she said even if you don’t want it, you must take it when offered. They drink it communally and you are considered antisocial if you refuse to take it or share. She also said it was really weird when Covid hit because everyone had to drink out of their own cup! She admitted that it tastes bad but told us that everyone walks around with the smaller insulated cup with straw and the matching thermos that holds it. She said that it’s addictive and gives you lots of energy. She demonstrated how one carries the cup and thermos together on one side of the body and with the other arm carries a baby, books or whatever else one needs to carry. We saw lots of these cup/thermos combos for sale in the stores.

*I googled it and it is made by steeping dried leaves from the yerba mate plant in hot water. Some say it has health benefits but it can increase risk of cancer if consuming 4 to 8 cups per day.

There are various colors and designs of mate cups in the gift shops. I'm not so sure about the one attached to cow hooves.

 

mate cups to suit your taste

in case you forget what's in your cup