A day at Punta del Diablo

Today, the time of 'homes away from home' will come to an end, and we will once again be on the move. The destination is clear: the mighty Iguazu Falls, but so far we haven't quite decided on the best way to get there. For now, we will take the bus to Salto, about six hours north of Montevideo, and then make plans how to continue.

When I wrote yesterday's posting we were on the way back from Punta del Diablo, the easternmost of a string of small towns along the coast. All of them are popular holiday destinations for Uruguayans and foreign travellers alike, and in high season Punta del Diablo must be a busy place. Now, however, we were told we didn't need to book ahead of time, and so we embarked on the five hour bus ride Wednesday afternoon.

As pleasant a city as Montevideo is, it felt good to leave city life behind and rest my eyes on rural scenes for a change: black and white Holstein cows or herds of Hereford cattle on green pastures, newly emerged soybean or corn fields or hay ready to be baled, here and there some unharvested grain fields, combines at the ready: recent rain seems to have delayed the harvest.

Towns along the way are all designed in the same pattern: a central plaza bordered by government building(s), church, police station and businesses, cobbled, paved or sandy tree-lined streets leading away from it. The passengers of the bus were almost exclusively locals, most of them connecting from one of the small towns to another, San Carlos and Rocha a bit bigger than the rest.

When we arrived at Punta del Diablo it was close to sunset already: the trip had taken longer than the designated five hours. We had read in our travel guide that there was only one paved road leading into town, but when we arrived we realized that this was a long road to walk if one had no idea where to start looking for accomodation. We needn't have worried, however: moments after getting off the bus, obviously looking a bit undecided, we were approached by a man in a bright yellow t-shirt with the logo 'La Viuda Hostel'. He was there to pick up a woman who arrived with the same bus. He had private rooms available, the price was good, and so we hopped into the pickup.

This proved to be an excellent choice: although about 700m from the closest beach the 'La Viuda Hostel' was a great location, quiet, well run, clean, with a nice breakfast and a lot of information about things to do and see.

The next morning we took a bus to the nearby Sta.Teresa Fort, just outside the small Sta. Teresa National Park. The fort, a huge building, was started by the Portuguese in 1762 and finished by the Spanish in 1775, changing hands during the constant battle for supremacy in this part of the world. Unfortunately it is open only from 1 pm to 7 pm, and we would have had to wait for an hour and a half, so we walked along its massive walls (up to 11.5m high in some places, and four metres thick at the base) and then slowly made our way through the forest down to the beach.

Cormorants waiting for a meal

A series of beaches, interrupted by puntas (points) connects the National Park and Punta del Diablo, and we walked for about 12 km through the sand, dunes of varying heights to our right, the ocean to our left, meeting hardly anybody until we got close to the village. I cannot imagine that it feels really crowded even in high season, at least on the Playa Grande, the longest of the beaches. The water is relatively cold, and only a few people in neopren suits worked on their surfing skills on 'La Viuda Beach' when we returned there to watch the sunset in the evening.

Standing at the bus stop yesterday morning we regretted a little not to have stayed a day longer, but we had booked the bus to Salto when we were at the bus terminal in Montevideo, and now there was no turning back. Off to new shores, then.