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Life is a Beach

Posted on April 16, 2007
Filed Under Culture, Places | 5 Comments

Uruguay has over 500 km of beaches, 220 of which are on the Atlantic Ocean. When you look at a map, you’ll see that up to Punta del Este all beaches face an ever widening river, the Rio de la Plata. Because of this, towards the west the water has a brownish tinge from the silt carried by the Uruguay and Paraná rivers into the Plata basin. Montevideo itself is blessed with several good beaches, but at that longitude, the water has a river-like appearance most of the time. When the wind blows from the east, it gets bluer and saltier. The further east you go, the more ocean-like the beaches become. For all practical purposes, from Punta del Este onward all beaches face the Atlantic Ocean. At the balnearios close to Punta, such as Piriápolis, the water is blueish most of the time, but when the conditions are right, the water can be brownish all the way to Punta.

You would imagine that in a country blessed with an easily accessible and lovely coastline, the beaches would be popular year round. The truth is that outside the short two month summer vacation season, relatively few people go to the beach. The climate is warm enough that the season could easily be stretched by a month or more. However this does not happen. I guess it may be due to the Latin American custom of using up all the vacation allowance in the summer, preferably all in one shot.

The quincena is the predominant way to rent a summer house and it is rare for someone to rent a house in increments other than 15 days. The quicena always starts on the same days: Dec16-Dec31, Jan1-Jan15, Jan16-Jan31, Feb 1 Feb 15. As a consequence of this system, the roads on the changeover days are infernal. It is hard to find seats on buses heading to and from the balnearios. There are long lines at supermarkets, especially at the beaches. Power brownouts and brief water shortages are common during those peak periods. To deal with that, candles and flashlights are standard equipment at most beach houses.

On the first quincena of the year, Montevideo becomes empty as people head east on vacation. This effect is so noticeable that many restaurants and small businesses in the city close and reopen late in January.

As a Brazilian, I noticed differences in the beach-going customs. In Brazil, most people head to the beach in the morning between 9 and 12 and will stay for about 4 hours. After 5 o’clock the beaches are fairly empty, as people are having lunch, resting, walking around town, etc. Also in most Brazilian beaches vendors walk up and down, selling water, soft drinks, booze, sandwiches, you name it. For this reason, people bring very little to the beach, other than money and chairs. In contrast, in Uruguay most people go to the beach in the afternoon and stay out until the sunset. There are far fewer vendors, so it is wise to bring water and whatever else you need with you.

In spite of the heat, one thing many Uruguayans won’t do without at the beach is mate, for this reason, in most balnearios you’ll see places offering agua caliente (hot water) refills. Come to think of it, beach, a group of friends, unhurried conversation and mate go very well together!

Other posts in Culture

• Usufruct and Inheritance Issues
• Tipping Custom in Uruguay
• Things I Find Puzzling About Uruguay
• Personal Account of a Bribery in Uruguay
• Telenovelas in Latin America
• Learning Spanish Through Uruguayan Radio
• Family Structure in Uruguay
• A Dispassionate View of Punta del Este
• Uruguayan Mate Custom
• Marijuana Legal Status in Uruguay

Other posts in Places

• Overview of the Balneario of Atlántida
• Ten Things I Love About Montevideo
• Real Estate Outlook in Punta del Este
• A Dispassionate View of Punta del Este

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