All weekend I felt like we were on an island. That’s how isolated and remote Cabo Polonio felt from the rest of Uruguay. From the rest of the world, really. Even on Google Maps, Cabo Polonio just looks like a massive blob of green along the coast.
We arrived on Friday afternoon following a four-hour bus ride from Montevideo. The bus dropped us off at the entrance to Cabo Polonio National Park and from there we had to catch a 4x4 truck to get us over the sand dunes and into Cabo Polonio.
That portion of the trip only took about half an hour, but it was definitely the most exhilarating. Five of us sat on a bench above the cab of the truck, ducking and dodging the impossibly green tree branches that jutted out along the path while hanging on for dear life (no seatbelts, just a bar to keep us from flying off!) and trying not to lose our cameras, iPhones and GoPros. As we drove through the sand dunes, I anxiously awaited my first glimpse of Cabo Polonio.
Once the trucks deposited us in the town (and by that, I mean a cluster of wood shacks that serve as hostels, restaurants and store fronts), we split into two groups and headed off to find our respective hostels/Airbnbs. One group was staying a little outside of the town while I was with another group at the Buena Vista Hostel. We booked the entire house through Airbnb and thought we’d have it all to ourselves, but quickly learned that we’d be sharing it with our hostesses, a rotating cast of their friends and a male dog named Melissa. They made us a breakfast of freshly baked bread, scrambled eggs (which have proven hard to come by in Uruguay), jam, cheese, tea and coffee every morning, so all was quickly forgiven!
After we settled in and had a leisurely lunch, the rain began -- it rained when we were in Punta del Este too, so I’m beginning to think Uruguay doesn’t want us to enjoy its beaches. As we sat on the porch watching the rain fall, I had a serious moment of “WTF am I doing here with no running water (there was water pumped through a well), no electricity (there was solar power), no WiFi and nothing to do with these people I’m only just getting to know?” As the rain abated and the sun began to set, we decided to venture to the other side of the peninsula to watch the sunset. Almost as soon as we stepped out from the cover of the hostel’s porch, we turned around and saw a rainbow. At that moment, I was reminded of exactly what I was doing there.
We raced through the streets and made it to the top of the sand dunes just in time to see the sky light up in varying shades of yellow, orange, purple and pink. As darkness descended, a group of Remotes who took the afternoon bus to Cabo Polonio joined us on the beach. They came bearing empanadas and wine, so we had a picnic on the beach before heading back to the hostel where we sat around a bonfire talking, laughing and star gazing -- with no light pollution, there was a seemingly infinite number of stars in the sky above us.
During the day on Saturday, we wandered around Cabo Polonio, traipsing across huge rocks to catch a glimpse of the sea lions that frequently sunbathe there (we’d also spotted some dolphin fins in the water the previous day) and climbing to the top of the lighthouse where we had a full view of the peninsula. We were joined on our walk from the lighthouse to lunch by one of the many horses (this one a foal) that roam around town. After lunch, the high winds at the beach sent us packing prematurely, but not before we spent some time swimming in the waves.
Saturday night in Cabo Polonio was largely a repeat of the first: head to the beach for sunset, dinner and bonding around a bonfire. Despite the sunset on Saturday not quite measuring up to Friday’s, we did discover that there were bioluminescent organisms in the water! This naturally led to lots of stomping and splashing through the water so that we could watch in awe as the water lit up in a bright blue-green color around our feet.
It was hard to pack up and leave Cabo Polonio on Sunday, but after squeezing in a few more hours soaking in the sun's rays, we boarded the 4x4s and made our way back across the sand dunes to the bus that would return us to Montevideo for our final week in Uruguay.
