Punta del Diablo, Uruguay's answer to Raglan

Punta del Diablo 

Cabanas Techari

We were rushed out of our hotel by the reception calling the taxi while we were still having a coffee in the little breakfast room. The taxi driver looked a bit rough, he had large tattoos down his arms, was smoking a cigarette and had his wrap-arounds on his neck. But he was fine and even tried to make polite conversation with us. We arrived at Tres Cruces bus terminal nice and early so we had time to book a bus for our next leg, from the border city of Chuy to Porto Alegre.

We waited outside for our bus in the freezing cold. Eventually they let us on and I drifted off during the sunny five hours through the Uruguayan countryside. It continued to look a lot like New Zealand. We arrived at Punta del Diablo at a small dusty bus station around 2.30pm. A woman in a white ute/van pulled up ten minutes later, it was Andrea, our host. We sat in the back of the covered ute on the wheel hubs, as there were no seats, as she explained the town to us.

It was tiny, with red dirt roads through the bush – gum trees, beach plants with orange flowers and toi toi, all plants you see in New Zealand. There were also lots of pine trees. It felt like we were in some strange corner of the coromandel. Our house is this tiny cabin with an outdoor fire, a toilet with a swing door (minimal privacy), a double bed in the centre of the room that we are sharing, moisquito net, and big window looking into the trees outside. It is lovely! 

We started our afternoon by walking to the beach. It was a little further than expected, but worth the walk. It’s a golden sand curved beach with big dunes and perfect surf. Someone was surfing as we walked on the red dusty footpaths behind the beach in our puffer jackets. A large dog adopted us and followed us for the rest of the day, even to the supermarket, waiting outside!

All the restaurants on our side seemed to be shut so we ended up going to this funny little place for lunch at 3pm – one man in his restaurant. We had fish n chips, disguised on the menu as ‘Filet de Milanese con papas fritas’. He served it with complimentary deepfried seaweed balls he collected from the ocean. They were pretty good if a little fishy.

After that we headed to the supermarket for wine and antipasto board. We somehow managed to lit the outdoor fire with no kindling or paper and damp wood. And we ate our cheese board outside. The cheese and meat is surprisingly not that nice here, for how much they eat of it.

Day 2

I had a great sleep and woke up refreshed but slightly cold. The royal wedding was on, so we watched it in bed, under the moisquito net in our little cabin. Then we fluffed around, taking full advantage of the drying rack outside to wash all our clothes. A cute little cat sat and watched us, while meowing for food.

At about midday we walked down to the beach. It was sunny today but still not hot. A different dog adopted us, an obese black lab. He didn’t make it to the little town centre though. The town was small and cluttered with restaurants and beach bars, I can imagine it being like South East Asia in summer! We had lunch at one of the colourful restaurants, Mirjo. I had a pizza and Susie had chicken risotto.

The waiter was struggling a bit with our lack of Spanish and wouldn’t bring us the bill, so we ended up sitting there for a good couple of hours. We walked back in the sunshine, popping into the dairy for a second bottle of wine. It was a 1.5L bottle!

We spent a good hour trying to light the fire, tonight it just wouldn’t start! Luckily we had lots of old bus timetables to burn and eventually it started. We had vino tintos and home cooked ravioli with brocolli. When we bought the broccoli in the supermarket the lady asked me in Spanish what the vegetable was called! They really don’t eat greens.

Now the stars are out and our heater has made the room cosy. We can hear the waves roaring and there is someone playing bongo drums in the wilderness behind the cabin.

Day three

We slept in late today, until 10am. When we got up the shower only had cold water, but just as I was planning on having one, I noticed there was a twiching scorpion in the shower. Normally I hate spiders or any insects, but in this case there was no option but to get rid of it! I used the water for so long to wash it away, by the time I was ready to shower it was now hot again.

We had a similar day, wandered to the beach where it was really windy. Another dog accompanied us. It was really windy, but we sat inside a little cafe on the beach, watching surfers. We had the best meal – pan fried fish and vegatables. Another thing disguised on the menu! Then we had a caipirinha, but it took so long to come out it was basically 4.30pm when we left.

We grabbed some vegetables for dinner and enjoyed the rest of our litre of wine while we packed. We had kumara, carrot and capiscum stirfried with tomato pulp and cheese. We then had a very dark walk through the sandy shortcut to the bus station.

Overall, Punta del Diablo has been a great little vacation from our travels in a place that feels very much like home. We are feeling recharged and are ready to take on Brazil next! We can't wait to start seeing some real tourista attractions and get back on the more populated beaten track.