back in Uruguay

After much anticipation, Nick and I packed up our backpacks and said goodbye to Buenos Aires. Nati and Mauricio (our roommates) walked us to the subte, Mauri carrying my backpack and joking that he was going to come with us (or was it to leave the women behind and he continue on with Nick?) Nick and I were able to leave a lot of our unneeded things packed up at SAE which will make the next month of traveling much lighter and enjoyable.

Today Nick and I are in Manantiales, Uruguay, a costal town near Punta del Este. Well spend the day here checking out the town and Bikini Beach before taking the bus another 2 hours up the coast to where our volunteer project will take place.

Note: I said we are ¨traveling light¨ and unfortunately the laptop didn´t make the cut. So the blogs will probably be shorter and full of weird symbols (see my attempted quotation marks above) as I struggle with Urugayan and Brazilian keyboards!

Punta del Este

Punta del Este is a swanky little beach town on the coast of Uruguay, 2 hours from Montevideo. It’s most well known landmark is the sculpture in the sand “hombre emergiendo a la vida” (man emerging to life) or in English popularly called “the hand”. Guidebooks point out that many celebrities vacation here, and that Shakira has a nearby estancia. We didn’t see any celebrities, but I can see why they would flock to this upscale South American destination. These beautiful white sand beaches span practically the whole coast of Uruguay, and since Punta del Este is a peninsula it makes the scenery particularly spectacular. There were times when Nick and I would come to a cross street near the tip of the peninsula and see the road end at the sea in all four directions!

Though Nick and I were a little ahead of the high season, January and February, there were still people around town and at the beaches. Vendors walked along the beach sell anything beach related, including bathing suits, sun dresses and beach towels! The guys selling the large pieces of fabric to layout on where my favorite. The breeze took hold of the beach blankets tied to long poles displaying their beautiful colors and patterns. The vendedores were quite a sight to see trudging up and down the beach laden with fabric.

Check out more pictures here!