Rain, Roulette and Raving in Punta del Este

The day after I arrive home from the Brazilian surf trip, my friend B arrives from England for her two-week stay, in which we will attempt to see as much of South America as humanly possible whilst still working Monday to Friday.

After a week of work, we're going to Punta del Este in Uruguay for a long bank-holiday weekend of beach-life. We have a flight booked for 22:20 on Friday night to Punta, with Buquebus Lineas Aereas. Big mistake. Do not ever fly BQB Lineas Aereas. They are basically the tiny airline arm of Buquebus, the brilliant company that runs ferries and buses between Argentina and Uruguay. 

The problem is no one has ever heard of the airline, and consequently their planes are so tiny they cannot set off in a storm. And there is a storm. So we wait for, ummm, almost three hours in the tiniest, dingiest underground room of the airport, 15 minutes walk away from any shops or even toilets and not to mention freezing cold, with only the most minimal updates from the airline about what's happening with our plane. We can't go in search of food or warmth because they keep telling us we're expecting to fly "any time now". "Any time now," in BQB Lineas Aereas terms, means anything from minutes to hours to days.

Rodrigo, the owner of the hostel we've booked in Punta, has invited us to a party when we arrive just after midnight, but at this rate we'll be lucky if we arrive before Sunday, so we tell him it's unlikely. Eventually, we're shuffled onto a tiny propeller plane and we arrive in Punta some time around 3am.  

La Lomita del Chingolo is a small guest-house/hostel about 15 minutes' walk from the beach. It's set back from the main streets and beaches and is out on its own behind a bit of bush - not ideal for walking back late at night. (Get a taxi). The hostel is friendly and popular with international travellers, though, and quite frankly it's one of the cheapest places we could find through Hostelworld.com 

Punta del Este is known as one of the most expensive places in the whole of South America and, as such, you don't get a lot of value for your money. Our twin room out the back of the guesthouse is a little like a prison cell, with no natural light and only the tiniest of windows. There's no air conditioning, so it's a good job we don't need it - it's pouring with rain outside for most of our stay. The breakfast is half-decent but nothing to write home about: cheese and ham toasties, some cereal, coffee. Outside the hostel there's a pretty cool chill-out area, which would be ideal in good weather but the rain puts a bit of a dampener on things:

The chill-out area at La Lomita del Chingolo

I find Punta del Este to be a bit of a culture shock after Brazil and Argentina. It's a bit like going back in time, and the buildings are a total mishmash of modern stone artiness, old British brickwork and wooden shacks. We're just out of high season (January) when all the celebrities flock to Punta for their holidays, but the place seems a little deserted at times. I expected it to be totally glamorous and brimming with South American beauties and models wearing shades and heels, but it's not. It's just a little, well, curious. The beach is pretty average and it costs a fortune to hire a sunbed. 

On Saturday night, we head to the huge Casino at the Conrad Hotel, which seems to be one of the main things to do of a night in Punta. There's a fairly fun vibe, with some dancing and music, but unless you're a hardcore gambler, you'll get bored after a while. Neither of us know the first thing about gambling but we somehow manage to walk away with US$80 of winnings each on the roulette, so we cut our losses and leave!

Winnings at the casino

On Sunday, we take a bus out to a place up the coast from Punta called José Ignacio. It's more beautiful than Punta itself and has a much more exclusive feel. We go for Sunday brunch at a very famous restaurant right on the beach, La Huella. 

La Huella is a fairly exclusive, extended-wooden-shack type restaurant full of beautiful, rich people (just like I imagined Punta to be). It serves fresh sushi and seafood as well as enormous grilled fish and grilled vegetables. We've been told it's customary to spend all day chilling at La Huella, but there's an hour and a half wait for a table so we accept a bar seat while we wait, and order cocktails and sushi as we watch the chefs at work. 

Sushi and cocktails at La Huella

Accepting a bar seat seems to be a bit of a loophole to the massive waiting list as we don't have to wait long at all for the table at the bar and we're soon scoffing down delicious sushi that's prepared right in front of us. After about an hour and a half, we get an actual table outside with a beach view, and order fish and vegetables. The meal is superb and we while away the rest of the afternoon eating, drinking and people-watching in this very bustling restaurant.

Phallic veg at La Huella

For the rest of our stay in Punta, we enjoy the beach and local restaurants, some shopping in the town, plus a big home-cooked barbecue at La Lomita, courtesy of the owner, Rodrigo, and his wife. One of the nights, we head out to sample some of the cheesy nightlife at beachside bar Moby Dick. It's a British-style pub on a little strip of bars and nightclubs and is packed with young revellers. The music is very cheesy and the crowd in their early 20s. It would have been fun if we'd been a decade younger, but nevertheless we still have a good time and enjoy being amusingly chatted up by some way-too-young Argentines. 

After a long weekend in Punta, I've had a great time but the weather has definitely put a dampener on our enjoyment. The place is known as the San Tropez of South America, but it definitely ain't. There are plenty of nicer places in the South of Brazil - Florianópolis and Búzios, to name but two. Nevertheless, I'm glad I've been, and the great food we've had makes it more than worthwhile. That said, if your budget is low, don't even think about going to Punta.