Finally, some proper beaches!

Trip Start Dec 06, 2005
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Trip End Jun 17, 2006


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Flag of Uruguay  ,
Saturday, February 11, 2006

Arrived in Punta del Este around 9pm, found a dodgy hostel, and met some top fellas - one insane 17 year old Canadian miner named Mark, who earns US$60 per hour exploring the arctic for diamonds, has drunk one beer in his life, and does crazy cliff jumping into water, from 100 ft high precipices. Apparently that hurts, funny that. Another nice bloke from the island of Guernsey (UK), Jim, who convinced me to attend a free Rolling Stones gig on Copacabana Beach (Rio) in a week's time. Pretty much a no-brainer really, considering I was going to be in the vicinity anyway. Also met some nice funny-looking Chileans. Went out with a bunch of those guys, enjoyed Punta's nightlife.

Next day I went walking around the local beaches, hired a pushbike and went for a monster ride up and down both sides of a peninsula that this city sits on. I was so happy to finally be at the Atlantic Ocean, having not seen a beach for many weeks 01 Strange sand fingers
01 Strange sand fingers
 . One side of the peninsula has a very popular protected strip of beaches, full of people, with windsurfers, kids' rides, etcetera. The other side is harsh and windy with far less people - more surfers, less families. My new mate Jim went fishing, but was without luck today. We went out for dinner, then went back to the hostel and was feeling a little lonely/homesick for the first time in a while. But hostels are great places, made a bunch of new Chilean friends immediately, and came across the most bizarre coincidence. One of these guys has my name. Although our middle names differ, what are the chances of 2 Tomas Correa's meeting each other in Uruguay??!!

The next day I had a few hours to kill before a bus, so went up to an area called La Barra - apparently where all the trendy young vacationers from Buenos Aires hang out. Crossed a bridge that had the shape of the silhouette of two giant breasts, for no apparent reason. Random. For the mechatronics people out there, it was kinda like the normal curve of vertical knee forces over the human gait cycle. Anyway, "Playa Bikini" (Bikini beach) didn't really live up to it's somewhat enticing name! One thing that i found weird about sun-tanners here in Uruguay is that they all face directly towards the sun, no matter if it's 180 degrees away from the water. Just seems odd to me, dunno why.
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