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Today we went on a tour of Punta del Este, Uruguay which is a beach resort area on a peninsula which is pretty much the Southern-most part of Uruguay. In a nutshell, it is sort of like the Miami Beach of Argentina and Brazil…without the “cool” factor.
We had high hopes for Punta (as the local’s call it) but, in the end, we came away a bit disappointed. Our tour was a bus tour of the primary beaches and high end neighborhoods. And, their are plenty of them including one called Beverly Hills! Another where one house took up an entire city block and many condo complexes where the lowest price unit is $1 million and the highest over $10 million. Clearly, there are people in Argentina and Brazil that have some dough to buy vacation homes. Rents for reasonable sized houses go for around $15,000/month and higher in the prime months of January through March. This place is packed with vacationers during prime time (which is now).
We decided to skip the museum which, it turns out was quite good with a lot of Dali’s work. Oh well. We got off the bus in the shopping area and walked about 12 blocks in the heat to the port. Margaret didn’t find much and didn’t buy anything but there are plenty of stores here.
In the harbor the fishing boats had come in and there were stands set up right on the water to sell their wares. There were some kids helping their parents clean fish and shrimps and there were several sea lions hanging out to eat the spoils! I got some interesting pictures of a few of them.
After a bit of a wait we took that long tender ride back to the ship and our home away from home. I don’t think we will be moving to Uruguay anytime soon. While it has a lot of positive things it seems just too far away from our comfort zone and our friends. But it has been nice to learn more about a country that seems to be doing a lot of things right in an era where many have lost their way.
Thanks for keeping up with us!
Picture Gallery for Punta del Este: http://travelwithdm.smugmug.com/Travel/South-America/Punta-del-Este-Feb-19-2010/25177036_KnnnbJ#!i=2065023200&k=s6jBbwv