Picked up at 6:30am for our 3 hour boat trip on one of the Buquebus hydrofoils. It was like going to the airport for check-in, going through immigration as we were on our way to Montevideo, Uruguay, and waiting at the gate for boarding. We were lucky, we thought, to get seats by the window, but soon realized that there would be nothing to see but water, water everywhere. So, we slept most of the way in the straight seats that did not recline in the tourist section. We were met by our guide, Maria and taken to the car for our trip to Punta del Este, which is about 140 kilometers away where the River Plate and the Atlantic Ocean meet. We stayed at the Golden Beach Resort, which did not end up being on the beach, but several blocks away. All was good, since mostly rain and cool, so no sunbathing for us. It turns out that while it is middle of summer, they are experiencing unusually cold and rainy weather. Our tans are fading fast!

In the afternoon, while it rained on and off, we toured Punta del Este visiting ‘Beverly Hills’, Maldanado, La Barra, and Casapueblo, which is the home and museum of Carlos Paiz Villaro. While his artwork was interesting and Picasso was his friend and mentor, his casa is exceptional, displaying his protest of straight lines. This amazing man is the father of one of the survivors from the plane that crashed in the Andes in the 1970’s that the book “Alive” is based upon. He is the reason that searches continued after months as he knew his son was still alive. The Playa Brava (beach near our hotel), has several sculptures including an enormous hand rising up from the beach. With everyone surrounding it, it appeared to be a main attraction. The island across from the beach has over 200,000 sea lions.

We were extremely hungry by 7:00pm and walked to one of the restaurants recommended to us, Blue Cheese. Turns out they do not open for dinner until 8:30pm. So, we continued to the next recommendation, Lo de Tere, which opened at 8. Since it was another ½ hour at that point, we went to an internet café to check our mail. Turns out we made it for the early bird special for a 40%discount (first 4 tables seated between 8-9pm). A little different than our early bird times. It seems that we have spent most of our time in South America so far in restaurants eating amazing meals, so good thing we are also doing a lot of walking. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the plaza de artisans where local art and handicrafts are exhibited and for sale each night.