Trip to Rocha

Rocha is a departamento (state) on the border of Brasil. My friends from work decided to go there for the Semana Santa (Easter) and enjoy the last days of the South Cone summer and see one of the most beautiful parts of their country.
We left Montevideo on Thursday afternoon, although we could have left on wednesday--I was feeling guilty for not writing the Havana book so I worked all day on Wednesday, so that I could enjoy my trip.
We arrived Punta Ballena around the time sun was setting... I am not sure but it must be the first balneario in Maldonado state, neighborhing infamous Punta del Este. From where we were, we could see Punta del Esta, it looked just like Miami Beach from distance. I remember watching Wild on E!(ok, I am not proud either, but I was really bored when I moved to the US in 1997) and trying to figure out where in Argentina was Punta del Este ??? Anyways, those were the days of ignorance.
We drove through Punta del Este, guys wanted to show me the decadant life of the rich, but we decided not to stop there, driving by was painful enough for them. We had another 2 hours to drive to get to Punta del Diablo, where the beach was nicer and tourists were non-existant (Punta del Este is not where Uruguayans hang out, it is more for the foreigners). One of our collegues from the radio told us she will be staying with some friends in a big house and that we could crash there. I was skeptic about staying with people I don't know; a bunch of 22 year old girls in a big house on the beach...Definetely not my idea of a vacation, it never was...But when we arrived around 23:30 and were starved to death and dead-tired, the house and its residents seemed ok. The house was 10 minutes outside the center of the town, we drove there and had a great seafood dinner in a hole in the wall fish restaurant. My favs were:buñelos de alga, or algea fritters! It is a dough made out of flour and chopped algea, fried and served with fresh lemon juice on top. After dinner we listen to live music from a local band on the beach, the singer was very funny...I slept like a baby, fresh air from the ocean put me to sleep right away.

Friday was a perfect beach day! We woke up really early and went back to the town, to buy freshly baked bizcochos (uruguayan version of croissants, but they are much smaller and filled with cheese, or ham or mermalade). I curse Nico for introducing me to them! I am trying to aviod bizcocherias in Montevideo, even the smell makes me want to eat a couple.

The coast of Rocha looks pretty much like Long Island. The water is blurry because of the constant waves and the sand is soft and whitish. I did not want to swim at first, it was too cold for this cubana! Shame on me...Sun on the other hand was STRONG. I have forgotten the fact that there is very little ozone cap left above South Cone. Needless to say, when we got home, I was badly sunburnt. But not red, I had this beautiful bronze color but my skin was hurting me. After a nice and warm shower and tons of After Sun lotion, our hosts invited us to eat pizza made by them at home. We were so hungry by the time it was ready (around midnight) we ate a little bit and I went to bed to sleep right after that bite. But boy oh boy could I sleep? NO! Our hosts decided to get drunk and sing--sing badly--all night long, until 10 am next morning. I was so mad I dont even know how I left that house.

We decided to drive to west, towards Montevideo, passing through other balnearios, first one being Cabo Polonia. Basically it is a cape you can only get there by walking or with 4by4's crossing long and tall sand dunes.
Eventhough we had no sleep from the night before, we decided we were going to walk there. Jungle Boy Nico, who has done many trips there before told us that it is going to be around 2 hours of walking if we follow the shore. We covered ourselves with SPF 30 and started our journey. Needless to say it is a gorgeous shore, with 150 million year old rocks and sealions (dead and alive) on the beach, shells like I have never seen, fossils, shipwrecks, etc. There was nobody but us for hours. Finally we got to Cabo, after 3 hours of walking. It is a hippy beach town. They dont even have electricity! Wood shacks on the beach, a couple of restaurants/bars and a supermarket. And bunch of hot surfers (I remembered Cesme 2002, when my friend Ayca wanted to go to a remote part of the coast in order to meet with foreign surfers, well she would love this place!).

We had more algea fritters and fresh fish, followed by a long nap on the beach. There was a lot of wind and sun again, I was covered in my sweatpants and long sleeve shirt (you know me I usually like getting a tan, but even I could not take it).
Walking back to the town where we parked the car was a bitch. This time we decided to walk through the dunes, cutting the distance shorter, but somehow we got lost (though Nico says we were not) and got back in three hours! Thanks to that walk I hate sand now. It was like a movie: Up a sand dune, hoping that this was the last one; but it wasn't! etc etc etc...
We drove to next town where there could be hot showers and cheap shelter, called la Pedrera, a.k.a my favorite balneario.

We rented a wood cabin inside the woods, 15 mins away from the shore. I showered and got rid of kilos of sand accumulated in my hair, my ears, nose, and eyes. When we were all ready, we went to eat. I dont even know how we got back home, I was sleeping in the car the whole time driving from the restaurant. We regretted the night we spent with the others once again, this time in our dreams.
Our last day was great, La Pedrera's shore was much nicer, less waves and warmer water. The sun was not so strong either. We surfed a bit, and swim. We started driving back around 3 pm, stopping in La Paloma (a much bigger town next to la Pedrera) for lunch and ice-cream.
The lights of Montevideo got closer and closer after a couple of hours....I felt saudade the first time then.