Punta del Este

After another big night we left BA at the crack of dawn and got a 3 hour ferry to Montevideo, and a 2 hour bus from there to Punta del Este. Having had no sleep to speak of, we were pretty shattered so we got to our (not very) luxurious hotel and slept all day.

Our room must be around the smallest twin room in the world. We affectionately called it the match box as it wouldn´t make the grade of a shoe box. Not that it's on my to-to list, but there wasn't enough room to swing a cat.



Got up a bit groggy and went in search of a place for eats and drinks before a club. We took advice from the dude at hotel reception and took a map from him to help us on our way. The area we were after was only around 6 blocks away, by the port. So we left the hotel and started walking..... and kept walking..... and walking.... and decided that the map was a bit misleading.... and kept walking..... until we thought we might try and catch a bus. Another guy was waiting for the bus too, so we showed him the map and asked where we were. We were on the completely wrong side of town, half way to an area called La Barra on the end of the peninsula. So we crossed the road to try and catch a taxi or bus, but none came so it was an hour´s walk back the way we´d come. It was harder to get it that wrong than it would have been to get it right.

Eventually we got back to town and had some food and a laugh about our self inflicted misfortune and duly headed to the port.

A year ago we´d been to Thailand and happened to be there the same time all the Aussie school kids finish their final year and jump on a plane to Thailand to get wasted for a week. This area was strangely reminiscent of that. It was weird - I expected there to only be people around our age here but in the port area we were like granddads. Again.



Had a couple of beers until the sun came up, dropped into a cafe for breakfast on the way home. Good eggs.



Next day we decided we´d try out a club we´d heard about called Crobar, in La Barra. So we got a bus out to La Barra (or somewhere close to it) and had a few looseners at a quiet bar. We asked the waiter where Crobar was and he told us it had closed for the season. I heard the best time for parties in Punta runs from Christmas to the 2nd week of January so it was a shock to hear that "best time" was really "only time" and it goes from all on to absolutely nothing overnight. We´d missed it altogether. I think crestfallen's the word. So we were fed up with Punta at this point. Nobody our age and no clubs. Full of shit apartment blocks and schoolies.



So we went for an empanada and considered our options, and decided we´d head back to BA early. There was another bar we´d heard about, so we decided to head there and see, on the off chance, if it was any good. And it was. Real good. We tucked into the cocktails. The crowd was still younger than us, but at least not schoolies. We invented a cocktail consisting of champagne and coke. In BA a few nights before, Jason ordered a Jim Beam and Coke and was given a champagne and coke. The bargirl was looking at him kind of funny, on reflection. But anyway, it´s actually a tasty beverage. So it´s France meets the US, and we called it a Sarkozy Obama.



I'm not sure if anyone ever told me how beautiful Uruguayans are but that was a well guarded secret. I forgot to get my camera out for the most part because I was just staring open mouthed at the local beauties.



So Punta came good in the end, but if we hadn´t found that bar I´d have had a very different experience of the place. Maybe I'll try going during that now-apparent very fixed window...