Surf’s up… next time
Prior to Christmas, we decided to get away and relax beachside in La Paloma, Uruguay. A 3.5 hour bus ride from Montevideo, it was the perfect getaway. With nice beaches, laid-back beach culture and good weather, it was hard not to be relaxed.
|
|
The first day was a bit cloudy, so we decided to take a leisurely walk along the beach, which was across the street and over the dune (less than 50 meters). As we rounded the point by the lighthouse, we noticed an older man crawling up over a rock. It looked like he was struggling to get up from a fall. I assumed everything was alright – he wasn’t bleeding – but Carra, being a bit more compassionate, decided to check to make sure everything was alright. Her simple ‘Todo bien? Necesita ayudar?’ started a half hour conversation in Spanish, which we successfully navigated. We gather he was actually hunting for mussels.
That evening the clouds finally broke and we were treated to a spectacular sunset. Unfortunately we still only had a disposable camera, which I’m sure annoyed the couple somewhat nearby. After every shot, we had to go through the wind and click action.
|
|
The next day was clear, nary a cloud in the sky – according to Carra, a perfect beach day. We got ourselves out of bed, grabbed some coffee and bread, and made our way to the beach. One thing we sort of knew, but didn’t fully realize is that the sun is extremely intense south of the equator. Typically, with the base tan we’ve built up, SPF 15 is sufficient for a day at the beach in Boston. That was not the case in Uruguay. After 2 hours, we were both sunburned. Me much more than Carra. Which is funny, because 2 days later, when we returned to the beach around 2pm, the lifeguard approached only us and said, “do you know the sun is really intense here, I recommend you come back at 5pm.” We said, thanks, we knew. He then went back to his tower, bypassing the other fair skinned sun-bathers – I guess we still looked pretty bad (I think it didn’t help that I had completing covered my sunburned legs and entire head with separate t-shirts, leaving only my belly exposed).
In the end, we had an extremely pleasant time in La Paloma, and from what we heard, we beat the high season rush by two weeks, when there wouldn’t be room on the beach and all the hotels full. Lucky us!
