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Atlántida

Posted on July 16, 2007
Filed Under Places, Nature | 11 Comments

Atlántida is a resort town 45 km east of Montevideo with pretty beaches, tall shady trees and a small and charming downtown. In the early half of last century, it was the destination of the jet set, not unlike Punta is today. Nowadays however, it is just one more of many popular summer destinations for Uruguayan vacationers.

Atlántida has a year round population of 4,000 inhabitants but swells to many times that size in January and February. Since it less than an hour away from Montevideo, on weekends it receives bus loads of visitors from the capital and the surrounding areas. However, the balneario has a better infrastructure than might be expected from a small town: good restaurants, bars, several large supermarkets, small shops, cyber houses, telephone company, cable company, bus station, schools, policlinicas, etc. Read more

Ten Things I Love About Montevideo

Posted on June 5, 2007
Filed Under Montevideo, Places | 10 Comments

I read another blogger’s post about the 10 things he loves and another one about the 10 things he hates about living in Uruguay and it inspired me. Since life in the interior is quite different from life in the capital, I thought it would be best to separate the two. So I’ll save what I like about Uruguay for another post. Also since there’s nothing I really hate about Uruguay, I’ll write instead about the things that I find puzzling. Without much further ado, here are the ten things I like most about Montevideo. Read more

Has Punta Peaked?

Posted on June 2, 2007
Filed Under Real Estate, Economy, Places | 7 Comments

Could the region around Punta del Este be heading into a real estate decline? There are many indicators that seem to suggest this may be the case. Over-development, costly infrastructure and crime increase may be working together to change the economics of property ownership in Punta.

Punta rose to fame as a crime free, first world, oasis for rich South Americans, ensconced in the Uruguayan coast. Over the years it has been the preferred destination of the jet set, the rich and the famous from Argentina, and to a lesser extent Brazil, Chile and other countries. Read more

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. Read more

Punta del Este

Posted on April 14, 2007
Filed Under Culture, Places | 11 Comments

I must start by warning that in one post one cannot possibly capture more than a fraction of what Punta del Este is. Punta del Este is the primary summer vacation destination of the jet set, wealthy people and wanna bes from Argentina, Brazil, and to a lesser extent, Europe and North America. The steady winter population of about 10,000 swells to 250,000 in January and February when the tourists take over. The transformation from a ghost town to a lively place is so sudden and so dramatic that it is hard to recognize it as the same place. If you were to arrive in early December and stay through Jan 5th, you would witness an amazing transformation. Shops, restaurants and night clubs that seemed closed for good, open for business and become busy in a few days. You begin to see throngs of people at all hours of day or night, supermarkets become crowded, parking at beaches becomes difficult and car minders appear out of the woodwork. Late February, the cycle reverts itself and the place begins to empty again. The rest of the year, Punta looks like a well-kept, deserted metropolis. Read more