A Term With Plan Ceibal

Since I got to Uruguay, everyone has been telling me that I HAVE to go to Punta del Diablo, preferably while it's still summer. It's a fishing village on the east coast with a year-round population of about 500 people, but as many as 20,000 during peak season, and it's considered a more laid-back alternative to glitzy Punta del Este. A lot of Montevideo shuts down the week before Easter, and my work hasn't started yet, so I figured it was a good time to check it out. Tuesday morning, I caught a bus from Tres Cruces, Montevideo's main terminal. I was not expecting a comfortable ride, but it turned out to be more like the Dartmouth Coach than the buses I took in Peru. The bus was half empty, there was air-conditioning and wifi, and we arrived ahead of schedule! And at about $15 for the 3.5 hour trip, it was way cheaper than the Dartmouth Coach.

The village is definitely touristy--the areas around the beaches are lined with restaurants, ice cream shops, and stalls selling crafts. Still, I'm used to "touristy" in foreign countries meaning "Americanized," and Punta del Diablo definitely is not. It's mostly aimed at Uruguayan and Argentinian tourists, so signs are still in Spanish, the food is still typically Uruguayan, etc. Even packed with tourists, it still feels like a village--all the roads are dirt, there aren't any chain stores, and the lone ATM is hidden behind a restaurant on the edge of town. It has a bit of a hippie surfer vibe. This is part of the main road:



I stayed at a small hostel called Elida Elena on the hill above the main beach. It had a big porch with hammocks and a panoramic view of the Atlantic. The staff includes several Uruguayans, an Australian, and an American woman who turned out to be from Hanover! Here's part of the view:



On Wednesday, I visited a small national park called Santa Teresa, a few kilometers down the coast. It's named after the fortress within it, built by the Portuguese in 1762, which is now full of exhibits and open to tourists, but for some reason, still run by soldiers. The historical exhibits were cool, but the views of the countryside over the fortress walls were cooler. It also has HUGE, practically empty beaches.



I went with three guys from Buenos Aires who were staying at the same hostel. Two were studying computer science, and the other had graduated and worked as a game programmer, so we had a fun nerdfest. Their English was excellent, and they asked me questions I didn't know the answers to...anyone know what the difference is between a fort and a fortress? When I asked how they became so fluent, they said that even though they just took classes in school like I have in Spanish, they're also always surrounded by English movies, music, and computer stuff, so they get to practice all the time. This makes a lot of sense, and makes me feel somewhat less incompetent when everyone's English seems to be better than my Spanish. They also taught me some handy Spanish slang, in case I need to curse someone out.

My actual work is supposed to start on Monday, when all the Easter festivities are over. Before then, I'm hoping to check out the annual Montevideo criollas--big rodeos!