Christmas in Uruguay

12.12.2008 - 29.12.2008 30 °C
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We took the boat from Buenos Aires across the River Plate to the small town of Colonia del Sacremento in Uruguay. Colonia turned out to be a beautiful sleepy town with tree lined streets and a very relaxed pace of life which we would get very used during our time in Uruguay. We spent our time wandering the streets soaking in the atmosphere and being entertained by some of the very old cars which still seemed to be used. Although we did spot one car which whilst still technically on the road was actually being used as a giant plant pot! Also saw an old Landrover in which the original seats had been replaced with plastic garden chairs! We checked out the beaches close to town but as we were still technically on the river we were not tempted to more than paddle in the water.

MT - http://s220.photobucket.com/albums/dd7/trip35/Uruguay/Colonia%20del%20Sacremento/
RW - http://s220.photobucket.com/albums/dd7/trip35/RW/Uruguay/Colonia%20del%20Sacremento/

After a few days we decided that we needed to spend some time by a proper beach and to that end we head by bus through Montevideo to La Paloma. La Paloma was an even sleepier town and it was here that we started our 1st of what would become 13 consecutive days swimming in the sea (although in La Paloma the water was really rather chilly). The time not spent actually on the beach we spent enjoying the sun and some very good Uruguayan wines.

MT - http://s220.photobucket.com/albums/dd7/trip35/Uruguay/La%20Paloma/
RW - http://s220.photobucket.com/albums/dd7/trip35/RW/Uruguay/La%20Paloma/

Our final destination in Uruguay was the surf town of Punta del Diablo (even sleepier than La Paloma which we hadn´t thought possible) not far from the Brazilian border on the Atlantic coast. Here we managed to rent an apartment by the beach and spent Christmas swimming in the ocean using the bbq which came with the apartment and generally taking it very easy.