After spending a couple of days in Puerto Natales resting and sharing our good news with friends and family, we flew back up north via Buenos Aires to Montevideo in Uruguay. Our first day in the Uruguayan capital was a Sunday which we spent wandering around the old city, watching locals fishing from the pier and enjoying a couple of beers in cafes.
In the evening we went to see some live Candombe music. This is a fusion of Latin and African drum beats owing to Montevideo's history as a slave port. Everyone in the local neighbourhood turned out to watch several acts on a small stage whilst enjoying a couple of street food stalls too. The evening culminated in over 100 drummers preceded by dancers and flag wavers, marching slowly through the streets to an ever changing drum beat.
On our second day in the city we hired some bikes and cycled along the seafront exploring a couple of beaches, the Montevideo sign (think Hollywood, but small and you can climb on it) and enjoying a great strawberry ice cream milkshake.
We then headed further along the coast to the resort town of Punta del Este. 400,000 people descend on the town in the height of summer from all over Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina. However in mid-December the season hasn't quite started and it is a bit of a ghost town. This didn't bother us as we could enjoy the beach, marina and town without hordes of others.
The weather was very windy one day, which stopped us from sitting on the beach, but we enjoyed watching huge waves crash against the sea wall and occasionally spray unsuspecting cars as they drove past. We stayed in a great Airbnb apartment for the same price as a hostel dorm bed! It was nice to have our own space for a bit and our host provided a tasty breakfast of fruits, yoghurts, cheese, meat and bread every morning.
Sunday fishing in Montevideo
In the evening we went to see some live Candombe music. This is a fusion of Latin and African drum beats owing to Montevideo's history as a slave port. Everyone in the local neighbourhood turned out to watch several acts on a small stage whilst enjoying a couple of street food stalls too. The evening culminated in over 100 drummers preceded by dancers and flag wavers, marching slowly through the streets to an ever changing drum beat.
Live Candombe music
On our second day in the city we hired some bikes and cycled along the seafront exploring a couple of beaches, the Montevideo sign (think Hollywood, but small and you can climb on it) and enjoying a great strawberry ice cream milkshake.
Fiona trying to blend in
We then headed further along the coast to the resort town of Punta del Este. 400,000 people descend on the town in the height of summer from all over Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina. However in mid-December the season hasn't quite started and it is a bit of a ghost town. This didn't bother us as we could enjoy the beach, marina and town without hordes of others.
Fancy yachts in Punta del Este marina
The weather was very windy one day, which stopped us from sitting on the beach, but we enjoyed watching huge waves crash against the sea wall and occasionally spray unsuspecting cars as they drove past. We stayed in a great Airbnb apartment for the same price as a hostel dorm bed! It was nice to have our own space for a bit and our host provided a tasty breakfast of fruits, yoghurts, cheese, meat and bread every morning.
Yum
The 'hand in the sand' on the beach at Punta del Este
Our third and final stop on our brief tour of Uruguay was Colonia del Sacremento. It is a small colonial port on the river opposite Buenos Aires with a rich history as it changed hands any times between the Spanish, Portuguese and British during the 16th and 17th centuries. There are a series of small museums which you can visit all of with the same ticket. They covered a range of topics from the history of the town and old maps of South America to natural history and blue decorative tiles. We spent a quiet morning pottering around them all before enjoying lunch in one of the street cafes watching the world go by.
Pretty street in Colonia
Inside the lighthouse looking towards Buenos Aires
Our time in Uruguay was short and fairly quiet, but we were happy to enjoy a more relaxed pace for a short while after so much hiking in the previous few weeks. After Colonia we headed north along the border with Argentina for 8hrs on one bus, crossed the border, waited 6hrs in a bus station then took a 12hr overnight bus to Puerto Iguazu, home of the famous falls.
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