The Traveling Martens

Punta del Este, Uruguay

From Montevideo, we rented a car and drove two hours to Punta del Este. It's an easy drive and the roads in Uruguay are in great condition. Much of the countryside is rural farmland, mixed with hills and forests. As you start to drive into Punta del Este, you come down from a cliff along the ocean and start to see the beaches, buildings and peninsula on which the port and main town sits. The beaches on the west side of the peninsula, which face back towards mainland South America are calm, while the "brava" beaches facing the ocean waves are popular surf spots. Punta del Este is crowded in December and January, during the South American summer. Many families will rent homes or condos there for a whole month, marking the longest annual vacation. We stayed at the Hotel Amsterdam right on the peninsula, and had an ocean and beach view from our window.

Especially popular with wealthy Argentineans, Punta del Este is a sophisticated city with modern condos, beautiful oceanfront homes, amazing restaurants and boutique stores. The Conrad Hotel is a popular meeting spot for vacationers, with the only casino in town and shows such as Julio Iglesias playing while we were there. The Conrad Dolls are a topless show at the main bar in the casino and is apparently a popular thing to brag that you have been to. The town has a boardwalk that stretches for miles around the the beaches on both sides of the pensinsula. Late morning and early evening, the boardwalk is packed with people just enjoying the stroll along the water. In the evening, everything stops for the sunset. Since Punta del Este is on this peninsula, the sunset is still over the water in the West. Especially popular is the area near the port, with its sailboats and numerous yachts.

We rented bicycles for a couple days, allowing us to ride up the coast, explore the neighborhoods of amazing homes tucked into the forests, and find incredible empanada restaurants, as well as an ice cream store one afternoon! We spent one day driving north from Punta del Este along the ocean. The coastline there feels like what southern California must have been like 80 years ago, with miles of open coastline with just a few small beachtowns and scattered, but beautiful homes. About 20 miles up is La Barra, a small resort town with boutique stores and restaurants, but no high-rises. San Ignacio is another few miles up the road; it is really just a residential neighborhood, but is very exclusive, Shakira and other celebrities have homes here.