A trip to Uruguay - Day 3 cont.. - Punta Ballena y Casa Pueblo !!!

Punta Ballena is a small peninsula (punta) and a resort (balneario), as well as an important tourist attraction on the coast of Río de la Plata in the Maldonado Department of southeastern Uruguay. It was created by Uruguayan artist Paez-Vilaró in a kind of mediterranean surrealistic architecture, making the whole place to look like a giant sculpture. He is the father of one of the survivors of the infamous plane crash on the Andes. It comprises an approximately 12 kms (7.5 mi) long stripe of beaches and landforms. 

Punta Ballena is around 15kms from Punta del Este. You can rent a car to reach here or can opt any other options like bus. You just need to tell the driver that you are getting out at this destination.

Points of interest : The town's best-known point of interest is the Casa Pueblo citadel, sculptor Carlos Páez Vilaró's onetime residence. 

Casa Pueblo :

Casa Pueblo is around 2.5-3 kms inside Punta Ballena. If you are coming Punta Ballena by bus, please keep in mind that you may have to cover this 3kms by walk. You may get lift over there but that is not so usual as to find people over that road is not that usual.

But once you reach that place, scenery is worth watching. The view of wide coast of Rio del al Plata gives immense pleasure to your eyes and soul.

Casapueblo is the house of Uruguayan artist Carlos Páez Vilaró, located in Punta Ballena (Whale Point). It is a homage to the artist's son Carlitos Paez. Casapueblo is now a citadel-sculpture that includes a museum, an art gallery, and the Hotel Casapueblo.

A few years ago Páez Vilaró added a hotel called Hotel Casapueblo or Club Hotel Casapueblo to the house, following the style of the original construction. It now includes a restaurant named Las Terrazas (The Terraces). It also offers you the recreational activities like horseback rides on the beach or through the woods, golf and tennis practice, aqua sports such as Jet Ski, Water Ski, Banana or Traditional Boat Trips (depends on the season).

Travelling options :

As I discussed earlier, you can rent a car to reach Casa Pueblo or can come by bus. The only problem is bus drops you till Punta Ballena and then you have to walk 2kms to reach CasaPueblo and again these 2kms to come out to reach main road (Punta Ballena) where you can board another bus.

From Punta Ballena, you can get bus till Montevideo and from Montevideo to Colonia. I reached Colonia by 7:30pm and I had to catch my ferry by 10pm. I went to that mini subway (in front of bus stand in Colonia), had an amazing sandwich and beer to chill out and relax to end up my trip of Uruguay. Colonia port is hardly 500meters from there. I gulped the last sip of my beer, clicked last photo of Uruguay, packed my camera in bag and headed toward the port.

Back to Buenos Aires:

It’s a 1 hour journey from Colonia to Buenos Aires but you will reach at the same time you start from Colonia (remember the 1 hour time zone difference J). You can also find a duty free shop over the ferry where you can buy something of your interest if you get. All currencies are acceptable there but only in cash. There is no POS machine where you can swipe your card.

Pics : You can visit my facebook album to check for few of the pictures I clicked at this link.

Well, this was my experience of trip to Uruguay. Please share your comments and let me know if you need any more information. I would love to share if it’s under my scope.

A trip to Uruguay - Day 3 - Punta del Este !!!

Once we had covered all the major spots in Montevideo, we started our journey for Punta del Este. We opted the COT bus service from Montevideo to Punta del Este. The cost was around 300UYU for one side. Frequency of Cot bus service (from Montevideo to Punta del Este) is in every hour. Buses are really comfortable and free wifi throughout the way adds another plus point.

Bus Service – You can check for the schedule of bus service here :

COT bus            - http://www.cot.com.uy/site/index.php

TURIL bus         - http://www.turil.com.uy/horarios.php

Punta del Este is a beach resort town in Uruguay complete with casinos, beaches, yachts and lots of tourists. You can rent a moped (scooter) or car at several places. You can go to the beaches, being a peninsula you have two coastlines, one of them is pretty quiet and calm (called "mansa"), and the other one is windy, with some surf spots (called "brava"). La Barra the Bikini Beach is famous because of the models and famous people that go there. The endless beaches, beautiful seaside mansions, tree-lined streets, chic boutiques, stylish people.

The upper crust of Punta del Este has its yachts there and if you want to rent a boat, this is the place to ask. You can also rent sea bikes, windsurf and kite-surfing equipment, and surf boards.

Punta del Este has an island nearby, that is called the Isla Gorriti. It is protected because of its nature so there are no great buildings or anything like that. You can take a 20 minute ferry at the port that will drop you off at the island where you can enjoy the fun atmosphere, paradisaical beach, and good food at the restaurant. It is also possible to take private yachts, speedboats, or sailboats to the island and anchor by the shore. Renting a boat is nice in good weather. Isla de Lobos is another island that is also protected because of its sea lion population.

How to Start :

Like all other places in Uruguay, it is best to hit tourism office at first (at bus stand). You can get the map of Punta del Este and information about places you need to visit. Our hostel was walking distance (just 5-6 blocks) from there. I stayed in El Viajero Brava beach hostel. The hostel is present at the perfect location, near to bus stand, most famous attraction point ‘La playa de los Dedos’ (The finger beach), casino, market.

Attraction Points :

• La playa de los Dedos (The finger beach) — This beach is near to main street of Punta del Este, close to surf spot, and it has a giant hand emerging from the sand.
• Casa-Pueblo – From Punta del Este bus terminal, ask for a bus to Punta Ballena. Tell the driver that you are getting out at this destination. Casa-Pueblo is a beautiful resort-museum near Punta del Este. It was created by Uruguayan artist Paez-Vilaró in a kind of mediterranean surrealistic architecture, making the whole place to look like a giant sculpture. He is the father of one of the survivors of the infamous plane crash on the Andes. 
• Candelaria Church. Candelaria Church, or Saint Mary of Candelaria Parish Church, is the most important catholic temple in Punta del Este. The building is located in the Lighthouse square, in which facade impacts the sky blue color and in its interior it is an image of Candelaria Virgin who was brought from Spain.
• Museo del Mar - Marine museum
• Museo Ralli  - A large collection of contemporary Latin American art
• Maam  - A museum based on the private art and archaeology collection of the Uruguayan artist Vilaro (architect of Casapueblo).
• Port - With the fish market and a lighthouse.
• Isla de los Lobos - The largest seals colony in the southern hemisphere. Tours leave at the port.
• Arboretum Lussich - A botanic garden displaying mainly exotic species. It is one of the most important botanic gardens worldwide.
• Uriburu Museum of Contemporary Art  With Argentine and Uruguayan artists on display.
• Museo del Indio y Megafauna
• Reserva de Fauna Autoctona - Pan de Azucar - A zoo of indigenous animals on Uruguay's highest hill.
• Castillo Pittamiglio
• Cuartel de Dragones - Historical site

Money Exchange :
 Like anywhere else in Uruguay, money exchange is not a problem in Punta del Este. Almost all currencies are welcome at official rate except ARS (which I know). For instance, when I visited (Nov 2013), official rate was 3.6UYU/ARS but we got deal as 1.9UYU/ARS. Few of the restaurants accept ARS too but exchange rate can vary. But still I would recommend you to get some money convert to UYU (bus stand).

Pics : You can visit my facebook album to check for few of the pictures I clicked at this link.