Despite being the smallest Spanish speaking country in South America, and surrounded on all sides by the giants of Brazil and Argentina, Uruguay still manages to pack quite a punch for any lucky visitor to its shores.
Uruguay is famous for many things. They like their beef a lot, and are the biggest consumers per head globally. They are fiercely patriotic, and have the longest national anthem in the world. They are obsessed with the drink Mate (tea) and almost 100% of their electricity comes from renewable sources.
Our first port of call in Uruguay was the quaint city of Colonia de Sacramento in the southwest of the city. We really enjoyed strolling the historical cobblestone streets with buildings from its time as a Portuguese settlement. We ate some great local food and enjoyed the warmth of the locals. We did not particularly enjoy the late night festivities around where we had parked one of the nights, as loud local music and Mate were the only thing on the menu it seemed!
After departing Montevideo (details of which are covered in one of our separate Travel Guides), we headed inland to get a taste of the Uruguayan interior.
Minas was our destination, as we had heard good things about the town itself, and in particular the Museo de Replicas en Minatura (Minature Museum) run by a retired 81 year old named Horacio. The town itself was rather forgettable, however we hugely enjoyed the museum and would strongly recommend a visit for young and old alike.
We then travelled south, to the famous tourist city of Punta del Este. While there are endless upmarket restaurants, yacht clubs and expensive cars on view, we did not hang around except for a family game of football on the beach beside the Sand Hand Statue.
An overnight stoped in La Paloma followed. We stayed at a municipal campground just outside the town, with many other camper vans, which was good to see! A morning stroll through the town brought us to the impressive Santa Maria Lighthouse. This was then followed by a couple of hours in the local playground, which our kids hugely enjoyed.
Cabo Polonia provided a wonderful day-trip for us the next day. Accessible only via 4*4 vehicle, it is a wonderful example of an isolated community working with tourists to preserve their way of life and existing infrastructure. It is a truly spectacular location and we get very lucky to have visited. For those interested in wildlife, the added bonus is the colony of sea lions that can be seen and heard from many places in the town!
Parque Nacional Santa Teresa on the northeast coast is a true gem. Containing many beautiful sandy beaches, a wildlife nature reserve, and a historic fort, the park is strangely supervised and maintained by the armed forces. They do their job very well however, and we ended up staying a couple more days than we had planned.
Our ultimate stop in Uruguay was at the Karumbe Turtle Rescue just before the border with Brazil. This is a fantastic place where volunteers rescue injured turtles both small and very very big, nursing them back to full health before releasing them back into the Atlantic Ocean. We loved to meet the people working there, seeing the true passion they had for their work and learning more about these beautiful creatures.
Leaving Uruguay was quite sad for us all. We had spent 3 weeks there, much longer than initially expected. Yet we were longing for more time in this (relatively) small paradise. Its amazing coastline, colonial streets and friendly people had more than won us over. Definitely one that we will look to come back to next time we are in the area…!
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