Uruguay

Colonial Charm in Colonia del Sacramento /  by Maya Yette

Despite the abundance of things to do in Buenos Aires, I recently decided to take a break from the city and head back across Río de La Plata (the river that separates Argentina and Uruguay) to Uruguay. I spent the day with a couple of friends exploring the historic quarter of Colonia del Sacramento, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. After a quick ten-minute walk from the ferry terminal, we found ourselves entering the historic quarter of Colonia del Sacramento through the old city gate.

Colonia del Sacramento was founded in 1680 by the Portuguese as an important defensive port against the Spanish. The Portuguese ultimately lost Colonia del Sacramento to the Spanish nearly a century later, and UNESCO describes the historic quarter as “a successful fusion of the Portuguese, Spanish and post-colonial styles.” I don’t know enough about the difference between the Portuguese and Spanish styles to tell the difference, but I couldn’t get enough of the tree-lined cobblestone streets, picturesque doorways and ceramic plaques that were scattered throughout the historic quarter.

There’s not much to do in the historic quarter other than walk around and admire the ruins (though I hear there are also some museums, none of which we visited), so one full day was plenty for us, and easily accomplished with a two-hour round trip ferry from Buenos Aires.

We began with breakfast at Charco, a hotel with a great bistro that sits right on the river. After breakfast, we walked around town taking pictures and exploring. In the middle of the historic quarter sits the former “Plaza de Armas”, which has been renamed Plaza Manuel Lobo after the founder of Colonia del Sacramento. Stone ruins of old buildings that used to surround the Plaza can be viewed from its walkways.

The historic quarter is also home to a lighthouse attached to the ruins of the 17th century San Francisco Convent, which we felt obliged to climb. While it’s always interesting to gain a new perspective on a place, the views from Colonia del Sacramento’s lighthouse were no match for those we got from the lighthouse in Cabo Polonio, another town along Uruguay's coast.

After our morning stroll through the historic quarter and climb up the lighthouse, we were ready for lunch. Options in Colonia del Sacramento are limited midday as many restaurants don’t open until dinnertime, but we managed to find some food to hold us over until we got back to Buenos Aires. After lunch, we took another walk through the town, stopping in some of the shops and boutiques we’d noticed in the morning. After we had our fill of shopping, we stopped for ice cream and walked along the old stone walls that surround the historic quarter.

As the sun started to dip lower in the sky, we headed towards the riverbank and sat at one of El Torreón’s outdoor tables to watch the sunset with a glass of wine. We were so engrossed watching the sky light up in shades of orange and red that we nearly missed our ferry back to Buenos Aires, but it was well worth it and the perfect end to our day! 

Perfection on the Peninsula /  by Maya Yette

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.


Party Time in Punta del Este /  by Maya Yette

"La Mano"

"La Mano"

Last weekend, after spending our first couple of weeks in South America getting to know Montevideo, many of my fellow Remoters and I decided to partake in a quintessential Uruguayan summer tradition (remember, December, January and February are summer months below the equator): spending some time in the coastal beach town of Punta Del Este. We only had a weekend to spare, but many Uruguayans, Argentinians and Brazilians spend the bulk of their summer months in Punta del Este and the nearby towns of La Barra and José Ignacio.

On Friday afternoon, we hopped on one of the COT buses that runs hourly to Punta del Este from the Tres Cruces bus station in Montevideo. Seats are assigned, the buses have WiFi and air conditioning, and the ride was a quick two hours up the coast (most of which I slept through).

Upon our arrival in Punta del Este, my group caught a couple of cabs and headed for our Airbnb in the heart of town. There were 11 of us staying there, while two other groups of about 10 people each were staying in nearby Airbnbs and a larger group of 30 was participating in the surf trip organized by Remote Year at a hostel a little further out of town.

A few of the Remoters staying at my Airbnb drove up to Punta del Este from Montevideo on Friday morning and stopped at the grocery store when they got into town. We’re staying at a hotel in Montevideo and the lack of a kitchen has everyone craving a home cooked meal. Dinner preparation was well under way by the time those of us who rode the bus arrived at the Airbnb. Not wanting to disturb the process, we hopped in the pool until the chicken tacos and spaghetti bolognese were ready. After dinner, we headed out to the downtown port area to see what the famed Punta del Este nightlife had to offer.

One of the biggest adjustments that the Americans in the group have had to make in Uruguay is with respect to what time we eat dinner and go out. Restaurants typically don't open for dinner until at least 8:00 p.m. and most Uruguayans don’t eat until at least 10:00 p.m. As a result, bars and clubs don’t open until around midnight but stay open until 6:00 or 7:00 a.m. Because Punta del Este is a summer beach town, these hours are even more extreme; dinner typically doesn't start until 11:30 p.m. and clubs don't open until 2:00 a.m.

We learned this the hard way in Punta del Este when we showed up to a club at midnight. They gave us wristbands and told us to come back around 2:30 a.m. Yes, really (you should have seen the incredulous looks on our faces!). We managed to stay awake by hanging out on the beach and when we made our way back at 2:30 a.m. the party was just getting started.

In an attempt to adopt the Uruguayan lifestyle, on Saturday night we didn't head out for dinner until 11:00 p.m. By the time we met up with the larger Remote Year group after midnight to hear stories about their day surfing at Bikini Beach, we felt like we had the Punta del Este lifestyle down. When we finally left the club at 6:00 a.m., we made our way to “La Mano”, the famous sculpture of a hand emerging from the sand at Playa Brava, to watch the sunrise.

On Sunday, after a few hours of sleep, some of us decided to take the long way “home” to Montevideo in a rental car. We began the day by driving about 45 minutes northeast to José Ignacio, an old fishing village turned glamorous beach destination. We had a lot of stops planned for the day so unfortunately did not get to spend much time in any one place. From José Ignacio, we stopped to check out the Laguna Garzón Bridge, a unique circular bridge that recently opened to connect the cities of Maldonado and Rocha. I had seen aerial pictures of the bridge online and, while still very cool architecturally, it was a little underwhelming in person without the ability to get a bird’s eye view. From the bridge, we made our way to Punta del Diablo, a hippie beach town another two hours to our north. We sat and had lunch there then walked along the crowded beach for a bit. 

As the fishermen came ashore to bring in their daily catch, we left Punta del Diablo behind and drove north to the border between Uruguay and Brazil. Chuy, the border town, is nothing to write home about, and as the sun was setting, we snapped some pictures at the border before beginning the four hour drive back to Montevideo.

I could easily have spent two weeks exploring Punta del Este and the surrounding towns, setting up shop at a different beach each morning. I’ll definitely be back one day, but for now I’ll have to settle for spending next weekend in the tiny beach town of Cabo Polonio, which I hear is the exact opposite of Punta del Este's busy party scene: no electricity, roads or running water. More on that next week!

Super Bowl Sunday /  by Maya Yette

Plaza Independencia

Plaza Independencia

One year ago today I was sitting in the cafeteria of my law firm’s New York office high above the city, watching the Super Bowl with my colleagues and a few of our clients. We were taking a quick break from a grueling week of negotiations to eat wings and drink a beer before returning to the conference room that served as team headquarters for our time away from D.C. Tonight, I watched the Super Bowl with a number of my fellow Remotes at Brickell, an Irish pub here in Montevideo. The Panthers fans talked trash to the Broncos fans and vice versa, we watched Beyoncé (and Coldplay and Bruno Mars) perform at halftime and, yes, drank a few beers. I couldn’t help but reflect on what a difference a year makes. Last February, I had never even heard of Remote Year, let alone thought that I’d be one week into this yearlong journey and yet, here I am.

My first week in South America flew by and was filled with a ton of activities to help us get to know one another and Montevideo. I continued to explore the city by foot and discovered even more amazing street art. I’m looking forward to settling into more of a routine over the next few weeks (only to disrupt that all again when we head to Buenos Aires in March). 

Sundays in Montevideo are pretty quiet and many stores and restaurants are closed; today was even quieter than normal because Carnaval celebrations here continue through Tuesday. However, every Sunday there is a great flea market, Feria Tristán Narvaja, that sprawls for blocks and blocks through the Cordón neighborhood. You can buy almost anything at the market: books in Spanish, English, Portuguese and French; antique film cameras; American military uniforms; fresh fruits and vegetables; toothpaste and other toiletries; old Uruguayan license plates; wood doors; bras and underwear; bicycles; records and CDs; mirrors; all manner of Coca-Cola paraphernalia; and today, the cutest pit bull puppies!

After spending my morning exploring the market, I spent my afternoon in Parque Rivera playing “bubble ball” with the Remotes. It’s been in the high 80s here, so after about 10 minutes sweating in my bubble I’d had enough and was happy to sit on the sidelines talking and laughing as people bounced around trying to kick the soccer ball.

bubbleball

Eventually, a small group of us decided to explore the park and walked around the lake at its center, which serves as the hub of activity. People were sitting along its shores napping, barbequing with family, feeding the ducks and generally enjoying themselves.

Given how little happens in the rest of the city on Sundays, it’s no wonder people escape to the park to enjoy a little fresh air. I’m sure I’ll be back this month, perhaps to contemplate where life may take me on Super Bowl Sunday 2017.

Initial Impressions /  by Maya Yette

Sunset in Montevideo

Sunset in Montevideo

After a lot of anticipation, planning, anxiety, packing, hugs and tears (my mom's not mine), I arrived in Montevideo, Uruguay on Sunday afternoon. I flew out of D.C. on Saturday night and caught a connecting flight from Miami to Montevideo. There were at least 15 other Remotes on my flight and I met a few of them standing in line to board the plane. After a two-hour delay on the runway to deal with some mechanical issues, we were finally off. Except for waking up to eat, I slept almost the entire eight and a half hours to Montevideo (which I never do), thanks in large part to the mere three hours of sleep I got after my going away party at home on Friday night.

When we landed in Montevideo and walked through the doors out of customs, members of the Remote Year team were there to greet us by name (they had clearly done their homework AKA a little pre-arrival stalking) with huge smiles and awesome welcome signs. I got some pesos out of the ATM and started meeting and greeting the people that I’ll be spending the next year of my life with. This first week is bound to be an endless series of answering the basics: “What do you do?”, “Where are you from?”, “Where’d you go to school?”, etcetera, etcetera. We’re also supposed to put together a slide with our name and pictures of ourselves that represent our personalities to share with the group at our official orientation this Saturday. However, we’ve glossed over many formalities in the “getting to know you” process that typically come when you meet someone at school or at work. Our dinner conversations the past few nights have included answering questions like “What’s your greatest weakness in a relationship?”, “What’s your greatest fear about this trip?” and “What’s your ‘type’ when dating?”. We all expect that traveling with one another for a year will bring us together in ways that we can’t begin to anticipate, so why not skip the small talk?

Montevideo itself is still somewhat of a mystery to me. I’ve only been here a few days but am already in a rush to learn the city’s secrets. The beauty of having a month here, though, is that I have time to explore and really learn the different neighborhoods and the city’s culture.

We’re staying in the center of Montevideo, right on Cagancha Square. Our co-working space, Sinergia, and the beach(!), are both about a 20-minute walk away. When I arrived on Monday morning I initially passed right by the door, but when I entered the building I was pleasantly surprised. 

I’m used to having an office all to myself, so adjusting to the shared space has been an interesting, but positive change. The fact that Sinergia is an established co-working space for local freelancers and entrepreneurs definitely helps with the transition because we automatically became part of “la comunidad”. On our first day here we had a meet and greet happy hour on the roof deck followed by dinner and drinks with a number of the locals who work in the office. Sitting next to them at tables that seat up to six means I get to learn about what it is they’re working on (including by trying out some pretty cool virtual reality glasses) and practice my rusty Spanish.

VRglasses

Week one is not yet done and, while I've met most of our group, it is definitely going to take us all some time to learn one another's names and backgrounds. In the meantime, I think we're all trying to settle into Montevideo and get used to the fact that, yes, this is our new normal.