Chris and Kyla hit the road

One day while walking around Montevideo we saw an advertisement for a rental car "$35 a day".  The car really was $35 a day plus extra if you go over the miles per day limit.  Insurance was an $800 charge on your credit card.  If anything happens to the car it was a max of $800.  We joked about stealing the car and taking it to the airport to pick up Kelly and Steve!

the shore at Punta del Este

We took off in our little silver Fiat with no radio and drove to Punta Del Este.  In the summer it is a posh, beach party scene where all the cool people go.  Think of the Hamptons.  We were there during their winter, when it is cold and pretty much nothing was going on. 

in town at Punta Del Diablo

Next we drove to Punta Del Diablo.  We read on line about a hostel there owned by peeps from Wisco, so we had to check it out.  Punta Del Diablo was at one time a sleepy fisherman village.  Now it is a hippy beach town.  During the summer it is full of chill tourists, groups of mate drinkers on the beach, and drum circles.  In the winter it is just a few tourists walking around the town.  The beach looks really nice and I wanted it to be warm so I could lay out and go swim.  But it was a cool place to check out anyway.  The hostel, El Diablo Tranquillo, is a really nice building that stands out in the town.  The private rooms have balconies and fireplaces.  I think it was a great place to stay when it was not crowded.  I can´t imagine it with 35 people staying there, like the owner says, during the summer. I actually can´t imagine the town with 20,000 people a day in the summer either.  Where do they all go??

the beach at Punta Del Diablo

On the way back to Montevideo we got stuck in school traffic at 1pm for the kids going home for siesta.  The traffic was moving sooo slow through the school zones.  We thought we were going to for sure miss our bus to Colonia to and in turn miss the ferry back to Buenos Aires.  But even after some confusion on where to return the car, we made it to the bus with no time to spare.  We took off the second we got on!  Sorry to the car rental place if we were a bit short with them.  I love the chill attitude, but it is hard to be chill when you are in a rush!

the massive hostel at Punta Del Diablo