After months of planning, packing all my belongings into a 10×10 and strapping on a backpack for 3 months away from home, I was ready to go…or was I?
Between wrapping up work, packing my things and planning, I had little time to let the full gravity of what I was doing sink in. Sure, I’ve traveled alone multiple times before to countries across the globe, but for 3 months? I hadn’t taken that much time off since I started working at 16! What was I thinking? Was this an insane idea? Would I like it? Would I be disappointed? Would I get bored? Lonely? The answer was that there was no answer to my questions, I would just have to find out!
My journey began on a Sunday night, flying into Fort Lauderdale for a quick overnight stop before heading to Uruguay with a one hour layover in Panama. Why did I choose this route? Well, because I was able to score a business class ticket using points and it was the most direct route to Montevideo from Houston. I also chose the flight pattern for my layover to limit the possibility of having delays or cancellations ruin my flight to Uruguay.
Thankfully, the travel gods rewarded me with a smooth flight into FLL, and a lovely overnight at The Dalmar (using points as well), where I got upgraded (wahoo) and spent a few hours biking around the beach coastline to loosen up those travel muscles. Then it was time to board flight #2 into Panama. I flew business class on Copa’s smaller plane, but the seats ended up being super comfy and the flight was smooth, even though the lounge food in Panama airport was simply abysmal (some crudités, mini sandwiches and a few cookies!). I also scored a much needed travel size bottle of hot sauce which was to come in handy for my first meal in Uruguay – empanada time!
After about 1.5 hours in Panama it was time to board flight #3 to Uruguay. The Dreams Class in Copa was again surprisingly lovely, for a small plane – I had a lay down seat, in a 2X2 combo and they offered one hot meal (It was too late for me to eat, but I opted for the soup anyway, which was a tasty zucchini soup – and yes that hot sauce came in clutch again!), and a little sandwich and chocolate upon arrival in Uruguay. Immigration in Uruguay was 100% electronic and took all of 2 minutes to pass through. From the airport I boarded the direct bus from the airport to Punta del Este, a quick 2 hour ($10 fare) ride away. The bus ride gave me a great opportunity to see the countryside and landscape and my first impressions were much like I anticipated – the landscape itself was gorgeous, with low sweeping green hills, loads of cattle, horses and sheep roaming about. The roads were smooth and clean and not that busy, overall it had a feel to it that one was nearing the ends of the earth.
With luck behind my travels so far, once I arrived in Punta del Este the travel gods decided to leave me for a bit…and bless me with what was to be 4 days of cold, WINDY, rainy weather. Luckily the weather held out just long enough for me to get a quick snap of the famous hand sculpture in town, a quick lunch, stock up on some snacks and check into my lovely hostel – https://tasdviaje.com/
As one can imagine, with 3 flights and a bus ride behind me, I was pretty tired, so I went to bed early. The next morning, awaking to more wind and cold, I braved about 2.5 hours of walking to grab a few groceries, get an impression of the town and some lunch. My plans of biking, watching the sunset, kiteboarding and sea lions were completely out and the entire region through Buenos Aires was being affected by the weather, so I was stuck (side note: I did review the weather right up to when I left Houston, so I had an idea I might be in for some unpleasantness, I was just unsure how much). Ahh the cost of traveling shoulder season – but I will say that the benefit of having the town quiet was a bonus! Punta del Este itself reminded me a bit of the beaches of South Korea, with its contrasting greenery – palm trees and fir trees, and architecture – think Swiss chalet to modern to desert home. There are a TON of clothing stores – all which looked quite stylish, cute bars and restaurants and everywhere you turn pastries and pizza! There are a few interesting outdoor sculptures to look at, and my favorite part was a picnic table at sea – you had to walk across a little bridge to get to it – oh the photo opps! And yes I went out to it, rain and all!
