Next stop : Cabo Polonio, Uruguay

I'm not going to lie it was hard leaving or beautiful beach house in Punta del Diablo. Especially when we found out after the fact that our next stop Cabo Polonio, didn't have running water or electricity! Our vacation was supposed to get us away from things like that. But, on we went, and boy am I glad we did.

Cabo Polonio is a small hippie town that is part of a national park. There is only one way to get there, stop at the Information Center/Bus Station and book your ride on 4x4 vehicles. Cabo Polonio is a very popular day trip spot so there are always vehicles coming and going. We decided to stay for there for 3 nights, which was a perfect amount.

Honestly it is very hard to describe Cabo Polonio. I think the best way is "awesomely weird." It almost makes me think of a hippie commune, lots of people with dreadlocks, handmade jewelry being sold and yes even drum circles. The only electricity is from wind or solar power, so at night most of the restaurants are candle lit; and the only running water is if the place you are staying at has a pump on their well. Luckily our hostel did but sometimes it felt like taking a shower underneath a dripping sink.

One of the best parts of Cabo Polonio though is the scenery! Beautiful sand dunes, beach and ocean what more could you need!

Our next stop was Punta del Este where we spent New Years!

Stop 2 Uruguay : Punta del Diablo.

After Montevideo we headed over to Punta del Diablo a super tranquilo beach town to spend Christmas. Four of my volunteer friends and I had rented a great little house right on the beach for 5 days and some of our other friends rented a house right around the corner.

First day in our awesome house!

Even had some great Christmas decorations! (thanks mom)

View from our Balcony.

It was nice to have a home base for our Christmas activites since we couldn't be home for the holidays. We invited all the Peace Corps volunteers that were spending Christmas in Punta del Diablo, 13 in all (including myself) to our house for Christmas Day dinner. We cooked the most random mix of food possible, fish, ceviche with fish and shark meat, stuffing and mac & cheese (thanks mom!), challah bread, and fresh salad. For desert we had Andes mint chocolate cookies, lemon bars and pound cake with a mango blueberry topping. It was incredible.

Its a tradition in many South American countries (including Paraguay as well as Uruguay) to set off  Fireworks at midnight of Christmas Eve

Christmas morning breakfast - Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls, Scrambled Eggs, Fruit Salad and Mimosas

Our amazing Christmas dinner spread!

Emily, Karen, Alex, Anna and David enjoying the delicious food!

Punta del Diablo is an amazing little beach town. I would love to go back one day and I highly recommend everyone visit. It was great to be able to spend so much time at the beach, something I really miss living in landlocked Paraguay ha!

Bringing the Paraguayan tradition of Terere to Uruguay

Next stop in our adventure was Cabo Polonio, Uruguay! Stay tuned.

Back to the Daily Grind.

First let me say Uruguay was AMAZING. If you have never been there I highly recommend going, it was one of the best vacations I have ever been on. I didn´t want to leave.

The trip started with a 24 hour bus ride from Asuncion, Paraguay to Montevideo, Uruguay. I know 24 hours sounds daunting. But, it really wasn´t as bad as I thought. We sprung for the more expensive ¨full cama¨ (full bed) seats, which I´m really glad we did. Even though they definitely weren´t full bed, they were bigger and more comfortable. We got meals and snacks and free alcoholic drinks to start off the vacation right.

In for the long haul.

Our ¨lunch¨

We made it!

We made it!

Then we spent the next couple days wandering around Montevideo. Montevideo is a super cool city. It is super urban place right on the beach! My kind of place. One of my favorite things about being in Uruguay was getting to eat so much fresh seafood!!

My first few of the ocean in over a year!

The whole gang out to dinner.

Some fun street art.

Our next stop was Punta del Diablo, where we spent Christmas. I´ll fill you in on our adventures there next time!