Dancing with Miss Universe-Uruguay

Friday night we took a bus to Punta del Este, a touristy peninsula town filled with Europeans and Argentineans. Thankfully we were able to score some beds in a hostel not far from the beach and the bus terminal. The reason why Punta del Este is a go-to place is because it is the point at which the waters of Río de la Plata and the Atlantic Ocean meet. So our hostel was on the Río side of the peninsula but if we walked three blocks we were at the Atlantic Ocean beaches.

Saturday we spent the day on one of the Ocean side beaches and now we all pretty sun burned. We can’t seem to learn that the sun is much stronger when you’re this far south. Where we were swimming was apparently a risk zone for rip tides or undertows, I’m not sure what they are called. Anyway, two of the guys were pulled out farther than they wanted and had to be rescued by some lifeguards. Not a big deal, but it made for a funny story. Oh and sadly the waves weren’t large enough to surf. Maybe some other time in March I’ll have a chance to try surfing. How sad that summer here only lasts for one more month.

Saturday night a few of us decided to go dancing at one of the hot spots. The Uruguayan nightlife is intense. Here is how it works down here… If you go out to a club or a bar before 2am, you’re not cool and you’ve just committed social suicide. And because the parties start at 2am or 3am, Uruguayans usually say out until 8am. That way they don’t have to walk home or travel home in the dark. I’m too old for this. So we arrived at Mambo, this supposedly nice club at 2am to find that the dancing didn’t start until 3am. Great, less sleep for grandma Erica. So we sat outside for a while and listened to the live music only to find that we were hanging out at the same club as Miss Universe-Uruguay. Apparently she was making an appearance with her posse-crown, gown and all. So there we were just dancing up in the same club as Miss Uruguay. To her credit, she’s a good dancer. Oh and a Rihanna song was played at the club along with some other random, old English music. Rihanna and her music seem to follow me everywhere.

Hostels are a bad place to sleep in if you so desire. There always seems to be people making noise. So this morning 5 of us packed up our bags and decided to check out one more sight before taking a bus back to Montevideo. We walked/bused to Casapueblo, which is one of a kind summer mansion built by Carlos Páez Vilaró, a Uruguayan artist.

It was a fun weekend, but certainly not very restful. It was surprisingly nice to come back to the apartment in Montevideo and see Grandma again. One more week of the pre-semester class and orientation before the semester officially begins. I’m looking forward to a steady schedule.

Here are some pictures of the weekend.
The hostel, the infamous hand reaching out of the sand in Punta del Este, two shots of Casapueblo