Uruguay: Punta del Este

 Friday, February 24, Punta del Este, Uruguay 

Punta del Este doesn’t have a big enough dock for cruise ships, so they anchor out in the bay and tender people to shore. The ship’s blurb about it says this place has a year-round population of 12,400 but that inflates to an average of 450,000 residents in the summer season (which is now). Hard to get your brain around that! Among other monikers, it’s known as the “San Tropez of South America.” 

The ship arrived about 9 am and I went to shore on one of the early tenders, having two goals in mind: 1) visit La Mano, a sculpture depicting 5 giant fingers coming out of the sand at Playa Bravo and 2) visit Casapueblo, a hotel/art gallery a half hour bus ride away.

There were people handing out maps on the pier when we got off the tender. The main part of town is a peninsula that can be navigated fairly easily on foot. The woman who handed me the map said it would take 2 hours to walk the perimeter. Maybe. I cut across the middle to get to Playa Bravo, so I can’t really say. I started on the boardwalk along the beach—a better walk than the traffic-jammed street.

Boardwalk 

There were a few people starting to populate the beaches early. The photo below was the peace sculpture where I cut over to get to Playa Bravo.

On Playa Bravo, La Mano (“the hand”) is Punta’s most famous landmark. The Chilean creator won first prize for it in a monumental art contest in 1982, before Punta was famous as a South American resort town. It’s a magnet for tourists. I stopped at a money exchange on the way to get some Uruguayan pesos for the bus.

My first glimpse of La Mano—see the fingers sticking up in the background.

Selfie by the hand

Tourists congregating near the hand

Surfers at Playa Bravo. The red flag was out.

The main bus station is close to Playa Bravo, and was my next destination. Casapueblo is at Punta Ballena— about 8 miles away. Too far to walk. With my extremely limited Spanish I managed to buy a $3 bus ticket to Punta Ballena, and it was leaving in 2 minutes! (There was also a $179 ship tour that went there.) The woman who had given me the map at the pier warned me the bus stop wasn’t all that close to Casapueblo, and she was right. A young Brazilian woman got off at the same stop and was also going to Casapueblo. There probably isn’t another reason to get off at this stop—it’s in the middle of nowhere. 

She spoke excellent English. So we made our way together, first crossing the extremely busy highway, then following GPS since there were no signs of any kind directing us to our destination. We walked for about 25 minutes, and the scenery was spectacular.

A thatch-roof house, the only one I’ve seen so far in South America. Note Don Quixote  sculpture

No filters on this photo—this is exactly what it looked like.

Arched walkway leading to a hotel in the area

Casapueblo was constructed by Uruguayan artist Carlos Páez Vilaró and was initially his summer home and workshop. It includes a museum, art gallery, restaurant, bar, hotel with 20 rooms and suites, as well as 50 apartments. 

My first glimpse of Casapueblo

Doorway to the museum

My Brazilian friend with the GPS

Definitely worth the trip. Getting back involved a couple from Montevideo fresh off the beach who were waiting at the bus stop with me. We boarded, and they sat nearby. At one point I began to doubt whether this bus was even going to Punta del Este, and he must have sensed my anxiety because he handed me his phone with the following typed into Google translate: “don’t worry, this bus is going to Punta del Este.” I made it back before the last tender. My first impression of Uruguay is very positive. Lots of art and nice people.

Crew dismantling platform after the last tender. They are no-nonsense tough guys, not hired for their people skills like most crew. I hope to get a candid close-up sometime and you’ll see what I mean.