Punte del Este – The Playground of South America
Sunday 8 March
Well here we are, our third country of the cruise – Uruguay, in Punte del Este to be precise. Located at the southern tip of Uruguay between the Plata River and the Atlantic Ocean, it is one of the most exclusive beach resorts in Latin America, and has been called the Monaco of the South, The Pearl of the Atlantic, the Hamptons of South America, the Miami Beach of South America and the St Tropez of South America – are you getting the beachy vibe?! Events associated with it are the Whitbread Around the World Sailing race from 1985 – 1994 and Formula E Championships. In addition to international film festivals, world-class gastronomy and hotels, the region also boasts protected nature reserves. It has a permanent population of 18,200 but the number can reach up to 450,000 during peak season. Uruguay itself has a population of about 3 million people and 12 million cattle!
We were anchored a fair way out into the bay, near Isla Gorriti, which used to be a shelter for pirates and navigators in the early XVI century, so it was a tender job into the Pier and onto our bus for today’s tour. We were driven around the area to some of the beautiful First stop was the Punta del Este lighthouse, built in 1860 to guide navigation in the Atlantic Ocean and River Plate, it is 25 metres tall and located on the Atlantic coast, it has a cylindrical masonry tower with a dome featuring radial red and white strips but sadly no public access is permitted, so it was an outside photo only. Facing the lighthouse is the most important church in Punte del Este, the Church of Santa María de la Candelaria, it was inaugurated in 1911 and financed by proceeds from Masses, lotteries and funds managed by the ladies’ committee (which reminds me, it’s International Women’s Day today!). The bell, donated by Argentinian Esteban Bovone, weighs a hefty 300 kilos!
Some interesting facts about Punte del Este for you – there is no crime here, it is perfectly safe to walk anywhere at any time, it is sunny all the time, everyone has a home and the government support the poor people giving them the tools and land to build their own homes, most people work two jobs (as well as being our guide, she was also a school teacher), all education, including university is free, meat is eaten at every meal, including breakfast, and dinner, eaten around 10pm, usually consists of a meat portion of 500grms per person (that is a heck of a lot of meat to eat late at night, not great for indigestion), finally, everyone is always late, if you are invited to arrive at a specific time, everyone arrives at least 1 ½ hours later and rules are bent all the time (wow, Geoff would be in his element with these last two facts!).
We drove out to the Leonel Viera Bridge, popularly known as the La Barra Bridge, or Wavy Bridge, which crosses the Maldonado stream and connects the seaside resort town of El Tesoro with Punte del Este. The bridge’s purpose is to reduce the traffic speed, with its undulating shape, it is one of the most famous in the country and one of Punte del Este’s landmarks. It was a daring and unique construction, built using a tensioned belt system where the deck itself provides the traction. It was interesting to walk around it and also to take in a bit of community scenery watching the locals organise their fishing gear and sit on the end of the wharf, with some success in their buckets too!
Our next stop was a highlight, and one of the most important attractions in Punte del Este - Casapueblo, an iconic, artistic hotel, inspired by the work of Antoni Gaudi. Located in Punta Bellena it was created by Uruguayan artist Carlos Páez Vilaró. It’s a Mediterranean style “habitable sculpture” and was built over 36 years without plans or plumb lines and was inspired by the ovenbird’s nest with domes and labyrinthine passageways. It really is quite something. Construction began in 1958 around a wooden shack made from planks found on the coast and it has thirteen floors with terraces. It also houses a tribute to Carlos Miguel, the architect’s son who was one of sixteen survivors of the Uruguayan rugby who were on the Uruguayan Air Force flight 571 that crashed in the Andes in 1972 – I am sure many of you will remember the film about this called “Alive” where the survivors suffered extreme hardship including frostbite, thirst and hunger and resorted to cannibalism before they were rescued after 72 days.
We were so delighted that Casapueblo formed part of our trip, as Geoff and I were in a restaurant in Auckland last year and were telling our Uruguyan waiter that we were visiting Montevideo and he said if we had time, we should rent a car and visit Casapueblo. Well, what do you know – one of the advantages of missing the Falklands meant that we were visiting Punte del Este instead, and Punta Bellena is only 15 kms away and part of our tour today!
Heading back towards the Pier we asked the driver to drop us off at the main street, so we could have a wander around the town centre. First stop for us was to see the The Hand, a sculpture of five fingers emerging from the sand and colloquially referred to as the Fingers of Man Emerging into Life. It was made by Chilean artist Mario Irarrázabal when he was attending the First International Meeting of Modern Outdoor Sculpture in Punte del Este in 1982 – he had the entire summer to complete the project and managed to finish it in only six days! It’s been a busy day in Punte del Este today as the local Ironman competition is taking place and many of the roads are blocked off. This sculpture is on Brava Beach and right in the middle of the Ironman action, so there were crowds of people around it, including many Influencers going through their series of poses! I managed a few photos in-between all these posers, but wasn’t able to properly photograph the whole sculpture. Sorry about that!
We walked up the main street, all the shops were open and it was nice to sit in a lovely café off España square, which was near the statue of Jose Artigas, a soldier and statesman who is regarded as a national hero in Uruguay, he enlisted in the Spanish military in 1797 and fought the British the Anglo-Spanish war. And then it was back to the Pier to get the tender back to the ship….or so we thought….
A real bonus for Geoff – enroute to the Pier we walked past the Yacht Club of Punte del Este! With his Membership card for the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron to hand, they welcomed us in this beautiful building overlooking the marina. And there we sat, basking in the sunshine with a glass of red Tannat Uruguayan wine for Geoff and a Mendoza Chardonnay for me – Geoff commenting that it had “made his day”
Back onto the tender, and onto the ship we were just in time for Afternoon Tea in the Wintergarden…..don’t mind if I do!
