Beach Week: Part 1

What with classes having ended and a week and a half until exams, I decided it was the best time to finally visit the eastern coast of Uruguay for real. (The other trip to Punta del Este definitely didn't count). And this is where I would like to say that beach week was still with me two days later.... in the form of heat rash. They are these tiny, itchy, little bumps that you can hardly see but that I can definitely feel on my arms and neck. I really should've read my own post about wearing sunscreen. Maaaan. Anyways my trip went a little like this:

Punta del Este was my first stop and frankly I wasn't too impressed. Maybe its because of the serious budget I'm on and the fact that the high season doesn't kick in until January but I didn't see anything too appealing about it besides that its surrounded by beaches. However, I did find a great restaurant that sold the best medialunas I've ever had. Delish! A definite highlight and lowpoint was going to the Isla Gorriti which is just a 10 minute boat ride off the coast of Punta. We got nice views of the city and it was cool to be on a more secluded beach. Unfortunately with it being low season the boat didn't come every hour like the hostel told us and we were in the sun with little shade for a whole extra hour waiting for it. Sunburn number one.

The next stop was La Pedrera which I can just never say right. This hostel was fun because I arrived at about 9pm to this rural city and was walking along dirt roads trying to find it despite none of the streets having actual names except for the main street. Yeah, it was that rural. It was the most scared I've been since I've got here. But I got through it thanks to a guy who came out of his at just the right time to kind of help me out and at least assure me that someone would at least know what I looked like if a wolf jumped out of the woods and dragged me away. At least thats what my overactive imagination at the time was thinking. It was a quaint town though with two main beaches. And I might have rented a surfboard with a swedish guy and almost tried to surf but quit after getting a nasty bruise on my wrist as the choppy waves kept throwing the board about. This is always where I tried hitchhiking with an English guy and gave up after a few hours. This stop was just full of fail. And let's not even talk about the $(*^%&* mosquitoes. I'm sorry La Pedrera, but we just shouldn't even be friends.

Well, that's the end to the first half of my week at the beach. As you can see it wasn't really all that fabulous, but the second half definitely made up for it. Also, stay tuned to hear about my stalker in Rocha. *shudders*