A Year in Uruguay

After staying in Cabo Polonio this July, we visited the nearby Monte de Ombúes.

An ombú is a native tree closely associated with gaucho culture and Uruguay's history. My mental image of an ombú has been a large, solitary tree surrounded by grasslands. (Not that I'd ever seen that; my actual experience with ombu trees was mostly of one particular tree growing in the middle of Boulevard España in Montevideo and a few others growing in city parks.) Ombú trees can have peculiar shapes with multiple trunks, merging branches, and frequent hollows.

The Monte de Ombúes promised something rare-- a forest of these unusual trees. The woods are on the shore of the Laguna de Castillos and the only access is by boat. Regularly scheduled tours depart from the bridge where the highway crosses the arroyo Valizas. Since July is the middle of winter in Uruguay, we were able to have a private tour.

Our boat floated slowly past pastures dotted with butia palms while gulls and egrets flew overhead. It's a great trip for birdwatchers; our guide pointed out ibis, teru-teru, chajá, cormorants, ducks, herons, kingfishers, and even flamingos. After about an hour, we reached the woods-- two groves of ombúes.

The trees themselves were impressive. Since it was winter, they were nearly leafless, focusing our attention on the trunks. Some of the trees were over 30 feet around and many had openings big enough for a person, or even a whole family, to enter. It was almost surreal seeing two trunks emerge separately from the stump and then recombine 10 or 20 feet higher.

This strange growth pattern is part of the ombu controversy: "Is it a tree or a shrub?" Until this visit, I'd always taken the tree side. The shrub argument seemed like it must be based on some obscure botanical definition. (Similar to the argument: "Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable?") Based on everything I'd seen earlier, the ombú was a tree-- tall, solid, long-lived, trunk & branches, with leaves that dropped seasonally. How could it not be a tree?

Now I'm less sure. In the forest, we saw fallen ombúes and they weren't like fallen trees. Instead of being made of wood, the inside of an ombú looks like a cross between particle board and paper mache. Definitely not tree-like. New sprouts from the broken stumps furthered my confusion since they looked identical to the pokeweed that grows in my backyard in Michigan. The shrub proponents do have a point.

In any case, it was an interesting place to see. It's definitely a low-key trip-- something for nature-lovers; it would appeal to those Florida vacationers who choose Ding Darling over Miami Beach.

Labels: nature, Rocha, Uruguay

I uploaded a few photos from our trip to Cabo Polonio. You can see them here.

Labels: interior, Rocha, Uruguay, waterfront

We had a really nice time visiting Cabo Polonio, a beach settlement about 4 hours from Montevideo. In some ways, it´s similar to Punta del Diablo. Cabo Polonio is harder to reach since there´s no road access. You can reach it by 4-wheel drive truck or horseback from Ruta 10.

This is very much the off-season, so we needed reservations to ensure someone would open the hotel. We were the only tourists in the entire town. In the high season (January) every room in every building is filled with artists, hippies, and miscellaneous visitors. Most of the casitas are very small-- merely beach shacks. A few are more substantial. We stayed at La Perla del Cabo, the nicest place in town. (Although it was still very simple-- 2 hours of electricty daily, hot water some days but none while we were there, and for winter a propane heater in the hallway and extra blankets for the beds.)

The town itself was very quiet. All the little souvenir stands, shops and boliches were closed for the season. One almacen offered snacks, fruit, and staples like dulce de leche. The restaurant attached to the hotel opened for us. Their fresh fish was great.

We climbed the lighthouse, which gave great views of the coast. On the rocky point beneath the faro, hundreds of sea lions bathed in the winter sun. We saw a lone penguin, apparently off-course from its annual migration to Brazil from southern Argentina. It´s whale season, but we didn´t happen to see any.

update:A photo album from Cabo Polonio

Labels: interior, Rocha, Uruguay, waterfront

Los Mareados played a free concert at Punta del Diablo last Saturday. Because of the strong winds they couldn't sing on the beach, so they set up a couple of kilometers inland, right across from our hotel, Hostería del Pescadores. That made it very convenient for us. It was part of a music series sponsored by Uruguay's Ministry of Tourism and Sport.

Murga is a very popular type of music in Uruguay, particularly during Carnival season. Murga groups often wear elaborate make-up and costumes for their performances. I expect to see more murga during the next couple of months.

Here's a short video of Los Mareados:

Labels: carnival, customs, government, interior, murga, music, Rocha, Uruguay, video

Laguna Negra is a big lake in the departamento de Rocha, near Punta del Diablo and Santa Teresa. It's surrounded by pasture and when the nearby ocean beaches were crowded (at the peak of tourist season), we only saw a handful of people at the lake. The shoreline alternates between marshgrass and rocky bluffs. Above the lake, grazing cattle created a parklike network of paths through the brush, leaving behind cactus and thorny bushes.

Laguna Negra's water was black, although the color may have been exaggerated by the strong winds. Earlier in the afternoon, huge strips of eucalyptus bark were flying across the road between Fuerte San Miguel and Chuy.

Labels: interior, Rocha, Uruguay, waterfront

Jorge Bolsoni re-edited my YouTube videos of Punta del Diablo in a very artistic way.

Labels: interior, Rocha, Uruguay, video

Fuerte San Miguel is a small fort on the Brazilian-Uruguayan border about 20 minutes outside of Chuy. It was built in 1734 by the Spanish army to guard their colonies from Portugal. The fort is built on a rise, and from the walls I could see miles and miles of countryside. I had two thoughts: Brazilian pastures are indistinguishable from Uruguayan pastures and it's a really long way from Europe to rural South America. I could hardly imagine how isolated a Spanish soldier would have felt at that post.

Labels: Brazil, Colonial, interior, Rocha, Uruguay

Punta del Diablo in January was much different than it was in November. Instead of a handful of visitors watching the fishing boats unload their catch of sharks, the beach was packed with young people. It seemed like all the hitchhikers we'd seen along the highway had ended up in town. Punta del Diablo had an interesting hippie vibe but it wasn't a quiet fishing village.

Labels: interior, Rocha, Uruguay, waterfront

I enjoyed the fishing village of Punta del Diablo so much on my November trip that I'm heading back with my family. This is the height of the tourist season and we don't have reservations so it's possible we'll end up somewhere else. Details early next week.

Labels: interior, Rocha, Uruguay

Chuy is Uruguayan and Chuí is Brazilian. The two names describe one town straddling the border. There are no formalities to cross the frontier in Chuy, just walk across the street and you're in Brazil. The border itself runs between the parked cars. On the Brazilian side, the benches are painted green and yellow. In Uruguay, they're blue.

Shopping is Chuy's attraction. Right now, the exchange rate favors Brazilian shoppers and they cross to Uruguay to buy cheap goods. The weak peso makes it expensive for Uruguayans to shop in Brazil, so the stores on that side are struggling. Brazil's pharmacies do sell inexpensive generics.

Labels: Brazil, interior, Rocha, Uruguay

another movie




And a set of photos at Flickr


update: Or see the photos at Facebook, which seems to work better.

Labels: Rocha, Uruguay, video, waterfront

Santa Teresa National Park is just a few kilometers north of Punta del Diablo. The fortress is its best known feature, but it also offers gorgeous beaches, big campgrounds, and rental cabins. There are rose gardens, historic artifacts, and a greenhouse for tropical plants. The fort dates back to colonial times and has been completely restored.

Labels: Colonial, interior, Rocha, Uruguay

Punta del Diablo was founded as a fishing village and, for decades, there was no access by road. The fisherman conserved their catch as bacalao de tiburon, dried shark meat. Fisherman still leave the beach each morning to catch sharks, shrimp, and fish. They haul their boats out of the surf using hand-cranked winches.

I can't imagine going out to sea day after day, winter and summer, in a little boat, then hauling it all the way up the beach to unload it. It's such hard work... but very interesting to watch and the location is beautiful. On top of that, while I was watching the fishing boats, a whale surfaced in the bay.


See a video of the process here:

Labels: interior, nature, Rocha, Uruguay, video, waterfront

Click on the link for a little slide show of photos from Punta del Diablo

Labels: interior, nature, Rocha, Uruguay, waterfront

I'm back from 5 days at Punta del Diablo, a village on Uruguay's Atlantic coast not far from the Brazilian border. It's a 4 hour drive from Montevideo, not counting stops. We passed the beach towns I visited earlier and continued through the open countryside. There were rolling green hills, dotted with cows and horses. In places, it could look like the Midwest, if it weren’t for the ñandu alongside the grazing cattle. A ñandu is a South American ostrich, or rhea. Palm trees, and gauchos on horseback, emphasized that we weren’t in Iowa.

Punta del Diablo is a fishing village in a setting so beautiful that it’s hard to describe. I complained that my Spanish vocabulary was too limited, but I’m not sure I can do it justice in English either. I did take a lot of photos and will put some online in the next few days.

Punta del Diablo has two main beaches, framed by huge rocks sculpted by the sea. One beach is for the fishing boats and the other is favored by surfers. Vendors sell necklaces made of shark vertebrae from a pier along the fishing beach. There are a few little stores, restaurants, and hotels but no big commercial operations. Many of the rental places are 4 small houses on a single lot. Summer is the busy season when the ranchos and casitas fill with people getting away from the city. It's spring, now, and much quieter. In winter, there are very few people there.

I went with Tito and 3 friends. We walked on the beach, enjoyed great camaraderie, and ate like kings. I had a great time.

Labels: interior, Rocha, Uruguay, waterfront

For my regular readers: I'm off to Punta del Diablo for an extended weekend. I've heard it's wonderful-- undeveloped, remote, & natural. I assume that means no Internet cafes, so I won't be blogging for a few days. Check back next Tuesday for more...

Labels: interior, Rocha, Uruguay