Respect - Cabo Polonio, Uruguay

Before deciding to move down to Chile, the only thing I knew of Uruguay were the infamous blond locks of soccer super star Diego Forlan.  But once the decision was made, The Travel Network became my best friend and Samantha Brown peaked my interest in this little, often times forgotten, gem of South America.

With the closing in of our 1st 90 days in Santiago, we were forced to leave the country to renew our tourist visas for another 3 months.  Some people might think of this as a hassle, but I see it as a reason to travel!  Most people just cross the border to Argentina for a quick weekend, but since it was Easter Week (and I had done it 2 days before) and Stephen had a couple days off work we decided to go somewhere for a longer stay.  Our friends of Roam the Planet, Wendy and Dusty - whom we 1st met in Santiago and have been traveling for the past 6+ months - were going to be in Uruguay, so we decided to meet them there!  And specifically to check out the little hidden beach town of Cabo Polonio.  After you hear about our trip to get there, you will see why I said hidden....

On Wednesday, we left out apartment at 2pm.  We took a 2 hour flight from Santiago to Montevideo.  Then we jumped in a 40 min cab to the bus terminal in Tres Cruces, where we searched for the earliest bus we could find to Castillos, which was another 5 hour bus trip.  Now Castillos is still 30 mins from where we needed to be, but since no buses went any closer to Cabo Polonio after noon, it was our best bet....and after scouring the internet, I read that they had cabs to take you to Cabo Polonio.  At 1am we pulled into Castillos.  I would describe it as a ghost town.  Granted it was Thursday morning at 1am, but still.  We got off the bus praying there would be a cab somewhere and low and behold - there was!  I'm pretty sure we didn't have to tell him where we were going, but as the cab driver turned down a dirt road, I got a little nervous.  We were in the middle of nowhere at 1am on a dirt road in the back of a "cab".  But apparently it was a shortcut because before we knew it, we were on an actual road again!  The cab driver dropped us off at the 4x4 office near Cabo Polonio (at least we knew we had to take a 4X4 to get into the town) and it was completely dead.  Stephen knocked on a window waking up a man in a tent nearby who told us they were closed until 5:30am....but then added he could take us for what turned out to be over 4 times more than the normal cost.  A 30 min, bumpy ride over the dunes and we pulled into Cabo Polonio, which can only be described as a group of shacks near the ocean.  Thankfully Dusty and Wendy met us in the "city center", and we stumbled our way, through the sand, toward the hostel.

The next morning we woke up wondering what we had gotten ourselves into...but as we walked out of our room, we saw!!!!!!  It was a gorgeous beach town, in the middle of nowhere, with nothing to do but relax and enjoy nature!  Well worth the 12 hour trip for sure :)

The "charming" Hostel del Cabo

The group "rocking" out

There really was nothing to do on this island, so we had to make our own fun!  Luckily, Wendy/Dusty and our new friends - who Wendy and Dusty met traveling - Oksana and Arlo, were skilled in this art.  Oksana is originally from Russian, and like all Russians (I am not generalizing, it is the truth), they can pour a mean drink.  So after coming back from the village market, where sausage and cheese hangs from the ceilings, they pulled out a surprise....rum!  With the Russian bartender pouring, and the creativity booming, a new name was born for our blog!  Steph Infections!

Arlo and Oksana

Dusty attempting gymnasics...and Wendy! 

I said there was nothing to do, but that is kind of a lie.  The 1st day we were there, we went and saw hundreds of sea lions sunning and swimming on the rocks at the tip of Cabo Polonio.  We enjoyed climbing and jumping over the rocks ourselves as well.  The landscape in Cabo was amazing.  It looks like I imagine Ireland to look in some areas, then a beautiful beach, then a huge expanse of sand dunes.

Wendy and Dusty

Later that day, at sunset, we played frisbee, while Stephen joined in a pick up soccer game.


The 2nd day, we went to explore the dunes, which this town is famous for, though we couldn't find any sandboarding which was super disappointing.

The last night on the beach, a huge storm rolled in, causing our wonderful hostel to leak.  The wind blew all night and at one point I thought the roof may blow off.  But luckily the rain stopped by morning and we were able to catch a 4x4 back out of the town to the bus stop and onto Montevideo!