The Beautiful Beaches of Uruguay

Hola amigos!

Well this is it... the last post of our epic south american adventures!  We just spent the last 10 days of our trip along the coast of Uruguay.  What a beautiful country! We took the ferry from Buenos Aires across the murky brown waters of Rio de la Plata to a quaint colonial town called Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay.  We spent the day riding bikes along the coastal road, taking in some sun on the many beaches, and walking through the historic downtown area.  The weather all day was clear and sunny and we decided to spent the night camping just outside of town.  However, the weather that night took a turn for the worse and we experienced the most intense thunderstorm of our lives!  Luckily our tent kept us (mostly) dry in spite of waking up with our tent floating on 6 inches of water! We left Colonia the next day for the capital city of Montevideo to dry off at a nice hostel and see some of the city.  

Marsh in Colonia along the beach of Rio de la Plata

A colonial building in historic Colonia del Sacramento

The harbor in Colonia

After less than a day in Montevideo, we took off to the small coastal town of Punta del Diablo, close to the Brazilian border.  We had a couple days of rain, but luckily the sun came out on day 3 and gave us a great beach day.  We checked out the Santa Teresa National Park and walked the 7km back to town along deserted beach. 

Shaina at Santa Teresa National Park

Punta del Diablo

Marsh ready for the beach at Playa Grande in Punta del Diablo

Our final destination, Cabo Polonio, was one of our favourite places from our whole trip.  The town sticks out on a cape and you can see the sun rise on one side of the point and the sunset on the other side!  Along each coast of the cape were beaches as far as the eye could see. The area also had big sand dunes and a sea lion colony! It is very remote and quiet place, as there are no roads (a big jeep shuttles you into the area), and there is no electricity (except for a few small wind turbines and solar panels).  We passed our time soaking up the sun, swimming in the ocean, and walking the beaches and dunes.  It was a perfect spot to relax at the end of our trip!

The lighthouse at the tip of Cabo Polonio

Sea lions hanging out on the rocks below the lighthouse

Cabo Polonio from the top of the lighthouse and the eastern beach and sand dunes in the distance

Shaina making tracks in the dune

View of Cabo Polonio from the dunes

A gorgeous sunset on the western beach

After 4 days in dreamy Cabo Polonio, we started the long haul back to Buenos Aires for our flight home. On the way, we had one night in Montevideo and spent the afternoon biking along the coastal boardwalk, checking out the nice city beaches.

Marsh biking in Montevideo

One of many city beaches in Montevideo

The sunset ferry ride to Buenos Aires

Our flight home took us through Santiago (Chile) and then north over Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador.  It really made us realize how far we had travelled!

That concludes our amazing 8 months in South America!  It was the trip of a lifetime and we can't believe all of the things we were able to see and experience.  Hopefully you enjoyed following our travels and seeing some pictures.  Looking forward to catching up with all of you soon! Adios!

Love,
Marsha and Shaina
xoxo