Beach Haven at Punta del Diablo

Europeans
Puppies
Ithaca
Chilling

Punta del Diablo is a seaside village whose permanent population is approx 400 inhabitants, mostly fishermen and artisans. During high tourism season, the population swells to approx 25,000, mostly with Argentinians, Brazilians and Europeans on holiday. Here we happily spent a few days, lazing on hammocks, playing with puppies, seeing beautiful sunrises, wandering along deserted beaches that sprawled for miles on end and sat in comfy seats by a roaring fire. It was an idyllic setting to simply chill, unwind and assess the trip.

I made it a point to wake up each morning in time to view sunrise on the beach since from here on in we will be in big cities. Amazingly I even managed to convince a few people to join me. It was a beautiful setting and watching the sun rise on the horizon kickstarted the day nicely. Would amble back to the hostel in time for breakfast and eat it while lounging in the leather chairs in front of the open fire which would still be smouldering from the night before. I am also delighted to report that the end of the trip has consisted of a lot more late nights, with people staying up until 3am at least three nights in a row. Shock horror! I've no idea where they discovered this new found stamina but hey I'm not complaining. Ken befriended a group of Uruguayan whiskey drinkers and despite neither being able to speak the other's language confidently, we muddled through with basic phrases and a lot of wild gesturing. Many hours of laughter later we bid 'buenos noches' to our new friends, crawling into bed at 04:20, just three hours before getting up again for sunrise.

The hostel was home to three adorable puppies, all of whom melted our hearts. Many an hour was frittered away playing with them, and on chilly nights they proved to be the perfect hot water bottle. If quarantine regulations did not exist they would have been smuggled out of Uruguay sharpish.

We helped Kirsten and Rogan with a massive truck clean, as Ithaca is heading into storage until November when she will be needed for the next trip. Every box and utensil was washed, and all the pots and pans had to be scoured. Sue played DJ and sneaky stashes of orange club bars and ginger nuts emerged for the busy workers. Luckily many hands make light work and so between seven of us we had the truck shipshape in no time.

Copious amounts of Merlot and Tannat were consumed nightly, and oddly enough we discovered that Uruguayan wine is very tasty. Fun and games were had most evenings and it was all very pleasant. Then unfortunately on our last night, out of nowhere, a rift developed in the group - I suppose it is to be expected after travelling together for so long, but it was still a shock and marred the rest of the trip. Our relaxing add-on had now been shattered, instead it left us all feeling awkward and a bit nervous of lingering tensions. Sadly the damage done was unrepairable and so two members chose to leave the rest of the group in Montevideo. It was an unfortunate end, but hopefully the last few days can be a bit less stressful now that harmony has seemingly returned.