Punta del Este

If you've never been - you must go! (It's in Uruguay, FYI)

And, not for the reasons that many of you may think... While the month of January in Punta, as it is colloquially known in these parts, is totally insane and completely ridiculous, the other 11 months of the year provide a tranquil, relaxed, beach setting... I had the pleasure of being there at the end of February, still the middle of the summer, for only two nites, but those two nites and two days were incredible...

My preconceived notion of Punta was that of South Beach, minus a little bit of 'flare' and I couldn't have been more wrong... While similarities can certainly be made between the two venues (beach, Atlantic Ocean, single road, Latin-blooded people, wealth at every turn, and a predominance of foreigners), the time I had there couldn't have been further removed from the over-bearing, greed-infested South Beach where I once lived...

Not only are the beaches pretty killer, but the sun will literally kill you! I kid you not, within 20 minutes of being in the sun at 1p, I was burned... The wind was whipping across the beach, it wasn't more than 80 degrees (fahrenheit), and it wasn't a blaring sun - 20 minutes! Me, in the middle of the summer, after spending time on the beaches of Argentina, parks in Buenos Aires, and having that Mediterranean skin, I was cooked... My travel companion, who was visiting from NYC (from the dead of winter), she too was good and rosey... We didn't even notice it until after we made a couple of strategic 'flips' and immediately reached for the sun block... To no avail, we were done for - it was only a matter of time until we would lose this rapi-tan... Hopefully, we'd be tan for a while, and she could return to NYC with her 'spring break, aren't you jealous of my vacation tan' (she did, but I'm pretty sure it only lasted a few days once she got back to the cold). We proceeded to spend the first nite holed up, like lobsters hiding beneath a rock, in a bit of discomfort, not to mention being totally wiped out from just lying on the beach all day - it really is amazing how tiring it is, seriously!

Our second day in Punta, we opted to take it easy, with a fresh start at the hotel (The Hotel Montoya at km 161, if memory serves) with a nice breakfast spread, followed immediately by the trip to the pharmacy to get as much lotion, aloe vera gel, and SPF 10,000 as possible... When we finally got all covered in layers of the aforementioned, we decided to head to the beach, and to our surprise, the hotel manager offered us a much needed umbrella - clearly, we needed to not be in the sun any more... So, like any American would do, we went overboard and marched to the beach... On the way, we got to take a little excursion to visit a few local beach spectacles, did a little exploring, and made it to the beach... It was a great day, lots of fun pictures, and of course, more relaxing... My roommate made a few great food recommendations for us - eat at Baby Gouda! - so we hit them up on our second evening and turned in early so we could make the trip back to Buenos Aires, thru Montevideo...

In all, the trip was great, and I highly recommend it to anyone - even if you only make it to Uruguay...

Any place where you can get on a ferry, and 5 hours later, be on a sweet beach, in a great town, in a different country gets a A+ on my grading scale... All that, and I was there in the 'down' season...