URUGUAY CHOSEN AS THE BEST PLACE TO VACATION

Here´s another post from the new York Times.

A survey was made and the place that was chosen was..... Guess what?

Uruguay and Punta del Este.

By SHIRLEY CHRISTIAN
LEAD: TEN correspondents of The New York Times, from countries as near as Mexico and as far away as Malaysia, were asked to select their favorite spots for a quick getaway on a winter weekend. Their choices include a beach where you can get some sun and a desert where it's best avoided, cozy inns and more rugged retreats, places to watch the water, watchthe people, or be watched by tigers.
TEN correspondents of The New York Times, from countries as near as Mexico and as far away as Malaysia, were asked to select their favorite spots for a quick getaway on a winter weekend. Their choices include a beach where you can get some sun and a desert where it's best avoided, cozy inns and more rugged retreats, places to watch the water, watchthe people, or be watched by tigers.
Here are their recommendations.
One of the regulars likes to say that Punta del Este, the sparkling beach resort along the Uruguayan coast of the South Atlantic, may be ''the most marvelously frivolous place in the world.'' What she means is that at this time of year, the height of summer in the Southern Hemisphere, no one seems to worry about anything in Punta del Este.
The days, like the beaches, of what is generally called just La Punta seem to stretch out forever - sun-filled, lazy, uncrowded. The main business of Punta del Este is sunning oneself, on land or on yachts at sea, and eating and drinking.
Although there was a flurry of talk a couple of years ago about the area's relative proximity to the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica, most people toast themselves in the barest of swimsuits without any of the Northern Hemisphere's concerns for overexposure.
While it is in Uruguay, Punta del Este is known primarily as an Argentine watering hole - just 40-minutes' flying time from Buenos Aires. Many Uruguayans come, but the richer and more numerous Argentines give the resort its glitz.
There are plenty of hotels, but all of them are relatively small and simple. Most important, they don't have private beachfronts. The miles and miles of beaches and sand dunes can be admired and enjoyed by everyone.
The only thing in Punta del Este that might be called a tourist attraction is Casa Pueblo, the rambling white stucco structure that combines the museum, gallery and home of the Uruguayan artist Carlos Paez Vilaro with a time-share resort. It faces out to the sea at Punta Ballena, six miles west of the center of town, and can be reached off the Rambla, the coastal highway.
Mr. Paez, who designed the structure and had it built over a number of years, says Casa Pueblo is a work of art - that is, a piece of sculpture - not an ordinary building. But municipal authorities took a dim view of that argument at tax time, ruling that Casa Pueblo had to be taxed on the same basis as other expensive residences in the area.
The other main sightseeing activity is driving by and admiring the multi-million-dollar houses built by the rich, mostly Argentines. The biggest congregation of luxury houses begins off the Rambla east of the San Rafael Casino and farther east in Barra de Maldonado.
The most charming and elegant hotel in Punta del Este is L'Auberge (telephone 82601 or 83357). Set in pine trees just east of the casino and two blocks from the beach, it has the look and feel of a small Swiss castle. Teatime at L'Auberge is a Punta del Este institution. The specialty is waffles, served on the terrace or in the tearoom. There is a cozy bar in the tower. A double room with Continental breakfast costs $140 a night, plus 12 percent tax.
Another possibility is to rent one of the modern cabanas, or cottages, that dot the area. Sierra Alta ( 84834 or 83835), set in trees a couple of blocks behind the casino, has two-bedroom, two-bath units with kitchens that rent for $80 a night.
In season, there are frequent daily flights to Punta del Este from Buenos Aires on Pluna, the Uruguayan airline, and Aerolineas Argentinas. The round-trip fare is about $130. From Montevideo, the Uruguayan capital, Punta del Este is a pleasant 80-mile drive by bus or car. Some buses leave directly from the Montevideo airport.

totally worhtile it´s like a heaven in earth.

PUNTA DEL ESTE IN New York Times

Here´s an article recently psoted at the New York Times. It tells us all about a tourists expierence Punta del Este expirience.

Punta del Este Sparkles Once More, Day and NightBy LARRY ROHTER Published: March 6, 2005

Punta del este Nighlife
IT was shortly after midnight on a warm summer night at the harbor in Punta del Este, Uruguay, and tanned young couples were streaming out of restaurants, wondering what to do next. Walk down the block to one of those well-appointed bars that would remain open until dawn? Or head over to a discothèque on the beach? And what about that all-night electronic music festival at the old airfield?
After losing some of its shine during the 1990's, Punta del Este, traditionally known as "the Pearl of the Atlantic," has reinvented itself as South America's premier all-purpose vacation spot, with attractions for everyone from lounge-music fans and families with small children to sport fishermen and gamblers.
"Over the past few years, Punta del Este has evolved into something that is a single place in name only," said Carlos García Rubio, a local music promoter. "People still come here to see and be seen, but depending on where you go and what you do, you can have three or four completely different kinds of vacation experience."
Indeed, the sheer variety of activities during the December-to-March high season - jazz, festivals, film festivals, rodeos, fashion shows on the beach and various tournaments, including golf, rugby and polo - is dazzling. Last year, the Miss Playboy TV Latin America beauty contest completed the roster of events.
Add to that casinos, nature reserves, spas, top flight restaurants and hotels ranging from basic to such quietly luxurious lodgings as the Hotel-Art Las Cumbres, and the result is a vibrant array of possibilities. With cruise ships now visiting in growing numbers and the E! Entertainment Channel's "Wild On" program popularizing Punta del Este's inexhaustible night life for a broader international audience, the resort's transformation from stodgy dowager into party belle now seems complete.
In its original incarnation, Punta del Este was the preferred summer haven of the Argentine and Uruguayan upper middle classes. From the beginning of the 20th century, generations of families lodged at elegant hotels or rented cottages along the shore, many of which still exist, in order to escape the stifling January heat of Buenos Aires and Montevideo.
But during the boom years of the 1990's, with the Argentine peso linked to the U.S. dollar at an artificial and ultimately unsustainable one-to-one rate, many Argentines who would normally have gone to Punta del Este began flocking instead to places like Cancún or Punta Cana, in the Dominican Republic, or Miami, leaving Punta del Este to a less affluent crowd.
With the collapse of the Argentine economy three years ago, however, Punta del Este's original clientele, its tastes now internationalized, began returning. Now the region is undergoing a building and tourism boom, with more than 30 new restaurants and hotels going up. Existing hotels are filled most weekends during the Southern Hemisphere's summer high season.
These days, the new, revived Punta del Este extends far beyond the original narrow peninsula that was its center a century ago. Almost the entire 40-mile coastal strip from Punta Ballena in the west to José Ignacio northward toward the Brazilian border is lined with hotels, condominiums, sports clubs, marinas, nightclubs and restaurants.
With the increase in new construction, parts of the coastline, such as Punta Ballena, or Whale Point, now recall a Mediterranean setting - Ibiza, perhaps, or Crete. Off the highway to Montevideo, whitewashed buildings - some of them houses, others luxurious resorts - cling to the bluffs rising from the shore.

TANGO IN URUGUAY

Tango is also present in Uruguay. Tango was born in Argentina and Uruguay like a century ago. It´s one of the most famous rythms in South America specially Argenitna and Uruguay.

Tango is listened by people of all ages some people get to say: "the Tango is in my veins"

Quick Tango history:

by J. Alberto Mariñas

It is difficult to trace the history of tango, but at the same time, it is quite arduous to avoid doing so, since many visitors to this site have solicited at least a basic outline that will shed some light on this complete cultural phenomenon -dance, music, song and poetry- which, for one reason or another, attracts many people as tango does.
Although the facts about tango and its personages are often discussed and subjected to scrutiny, it is generally accepted that tango was born in Buenos Aires toward the end of the XIX century. Nevertheless, some prefer to say, for conciliatory purposes, that it was born on the banks of the Río de la Plata, in order to please the Uruguayans who claim co-paternity of the phenomenon.
It is impossible to pinpoint a precise date of birth for a manifestation of popular origin and, therefore, one of evolutionary birth such as tango. However, what is certain is that most experts agree that the decade of 1880 was a starting point for what was then no more than a particular way of dancing to music. The society into which tango was born listened and danced to havaneras, polkas, mazurkas and an occasional waltz.

Musically speaking, tango is related by genealogy to the Hispano-Cuban havanera and is thus progeny of the mercantile transactions between the Spanish speaking ports of La Havana (Cuba) and those of Buenos Aires (Argentina). Nevertheless, these origins explain little abut its birth. Initially, tango was interpreted by modest groups consisting only of a violinist, a flutist, a guitarist -and at times without the latter- and accompanied by an experienced blower who set the beat playing a comb converted into a wind instrument by way of a cigarette rolling paper.

Perhaps, at this point in the text, some readers may wonder about the origin of the name tango. It is a good question, but one lacking an answer or, what amounts to the same thing, having thousands. In the Spain of the XIX century, the word tango was used for a genre of flamenco; there are some place-names in Africa called tango, in Spanish colonial documents the vocable tango is used in reference to the place where the black slaves celebrated their festive meetings... some even say the origin could reside in the fact that the Africans were incapable of pronouncing the word 'tambour' correctly and uttered 'tango' instead. All in all, it is a good question but the irremissible lack of written documentation as well as the agraphic origin of tango and its forefathers, will forever hush the answer.

Anyway for Uruguayans Tango rocks.

PUNTA DEL ESTE: Having fun at the Sea

Summer Punta del ESte 2007:

here you can see the beautfiul beaches at Punta del Este. I know that these are not pro pictures but they show the beatufiul color of the water at Punta del Este.

These two guys are in the middle of the ocean after a trip in a boat and after water skiing in the beaches of Punta del Este. The beaches are great, the water is calm and the color is dar blue to green, depending on the day.

The Punta del Este water is really cool, if the day is too warm this will refresh you.

I reccomend you to visit the Isla Gorriti only 20 minutes away of Punta del Este harbour by boat,

SUNSET AT PUNTA DEL ESTE

Sunset at Punta del Este:

This Picture shows the real colors that Punta del ESte has. Although the color of the water is deep blue and the sand is almost white, everytime that the sun begins to set, Punta del ESte is sorrounded by ligth blues, pinks and purples-

I really liked this pictures as it really shows this colors and believe me that they are hard to get even with a good camera.

The first picture was taken last spring. It also refers to Punta del ESte. Every spring we get a troop of whales that come down to Punta del Este to give birth to their new cub.

The real mystic of a new life also takes place in Punta del Este. If you area Nature fan you must come to Punta del ESte and check by yourself the mytery of life.

PUNTA DEL ESTE Casapueblo

Punta del Este is one of the best places in the world. Only one hour away from Montevideo the capital city of Uruguay, Punta del ESte has everything a seaside resort needs.

Beatiful beaches, calm, and party, fun and quietness, fashion, art, and magic above all.

As soon as you´re getting into Punta del Este you´ll be able to feel and see one of the best views in the world. Casapueblo really calls the attention of all the tourists that decide to spend in Punta del Este their holidays.

Casapueblo was built by the famous Uruguayan architect called CArlos Paez Vilaró.

It´s a white palace standing out from the ocean, it´s really something that you can´t miss.

The sunsets in Casapueblo are magic. It´s like being in the Arabian oasis with a uniqur view to the Atlantic ocean.

this should be your first stop when getting to Punta del Este

Montevideo Capital city uruguay Quick history

Montevideo is the capital, largest city, and chief port of Uruguay. Montevideo has a privileged harbour, one of the most important in the Americas. Also, it has beautiful beaches, like Pocitos, Buceo, Malvin, Playa de los Ingleses, Playa Verde, Punta Gorda and Carrasco. Many monuments and museums cover the city, as well as historic buildings and squares. According to the Mercer Human Resource Consulting, Montevideo is the Latin American city with the highest quality of life.

History

Origin of Name
There are at least two explanations for the name Montevideo: The first states that it comes from the Portuguese "Monte vide eu" which means "I see a mountain". The second is that the Spaniards recorded the location of a mountain in a map as "Monte VI De Este a Oeste" meaning "The sixth mountain from east to west". The city's full original name is San Felipe y Santiago de Montevideo.

Early History
Montevideo was first found by Juan Diaz De Solis. He arrived in 1516. He encountered the natives living there, and was killed by them, along with the rest of his group of travelers. The Portuguese founded Colonia del Sacramento in the 17th century despite Spanish claims to the area due to the Treaty of Tordesillas. The Spanish chased the Portuguese out of a fort in the area in 1724. Then, Bruno Mauricio de Zabala – governor of Buenos Aires – founded the city on December 24, 1726 to prevent further incursions.
In 1828, the town became the capital of Uruguay.

Uruguay_Montevideo _Accomodation

Uruguay, Montevideo Accomodation:

Best Western Pedro Figari -- Montevideo, Uruguay

Experience the lively Uruguayan art at the Best Western Pedro Figari, inaugurated in late 1998, honoring one of the major paint artists of the country. We are located in front of the sea in the heart of the Carrasco neighborhood, the most important and distinguished residential area of Montevideo. Whether you're traveling on business or leisure, enjoy the first class ambiance and our personalized services with the charm of this sensational area full of attractions, the best gourmet alternatives, shopping and live entertainment, as well as secure, quiet relaxation. We are located within walking distance of the first-class sports and activities you deserve while visiting the capital city of Montevideo.
Hotel capacity:
3 pisos, 25 cuartos,
Registration time:
tiempo de registracion de llegada 12:00 Noon, tiempo de registracion de salida 11:00 A.M.
Senas:
11500 Rambla Republica De Mexico 6535, Montevideo, Uruguay
Single desde 41 EUR Double desde 40 EUR

Uruguay

Uruguay is a small but beautiful country. It only has 3 million inhabitants.
It´s sorrounded by big countries such as Argentina and Brazil.
Mate, Rambla, Beaches and also beautiful countryside are parts of Uruguay.
Montevideo it´s captial city has 1 million habitants.
Montevideo is a small and quiet city but still it´s important enough to be the capital of Uruguay.
I´m attaching some pictures to see.