las chicas
aventureras
4th - 10th January 2025
Surf Camp
six days of sinus cleanses and serene sleep
Saturday 4th
January
Stepping off the bus onto a dust road, and thankfully into the shade of a large wooden bus shelter, we arrived at La Pedrera Bus Terminal.
Guille (pronounced Guishe - the ‘sh’ instead of ‘y’ sound for ‘ll’ in Uruguay and Argentina still foxes us!), the surf camp owner, insisted that he’d meet us at the bus stop and take us to the homestay. With low expectations, we’d struggled all autumn to clarify the details of our stay over WhatsApp, but in high spirits for our first stop on our six-month trip, we were delighted to see who we could only assume was Guille one hundred metres away. The tell-tale signs: shouts of ‘Lona, Mya!’ accompanied by very enthusiastic waving.
Greeted with a customary kiss on the cheek - although Iona also mistakenly went for the second, very British kiss (!) - we were led to the homestay around the corner. Approaching a rickety wooden gate held shut by an old bike tyre, I started questioning our decision to stay here… My skepticism rose as we entered the messy front garden littered with surfboards, a derelict-looking hut to the right and, straight ahead, our humble abode for the next week, the scattiness of which we came to love.
At least the main house looks like the one picture on the website I thought as we entered. Guille led us up the steps of a porch that wrapped around the outside of the house and finally inside the house. Barely high enough for us to enter with our backpacks on, we bundled into the kitchen and traipsed the half dozen steps to the shared bathroom on our right and, two steps further, into our basic bedroom adorned with clunkily-coloured bedsheets, a wardrobe and a window behind the door.
After unclipping our bags, a voice called from outside ‘surf?’, prompting a look between us of why not?!, a collective shrugging of shoulders and squeal of ‘five minutes!’ in reply. We tore our bags apart in search of swimming costumes, towels and suncream, changed out of our travel clothes and ran to the garden to find a truck laden with surfboards eager to leave. We were introduced to José, another instructor, and Candelaria, a Montevidean also in pursuit of learning to surf, before driving to the beach in La Paloma. A neighbouring town to La Pedrera, La Paloma had waves more suitable for beginners.
Dodging the extremely prickly grass seed, we stepped onto the decking, squeezed into wetsuits and each lined up next to a surfboard to watch Guille’s demonstration of movements to get onto the surfboard, as he broke down each move. Once he was satisfied with our attempts to replicate, we ventured into the waves!
Sunday 5th
January
Feeling elated after our first surf excursion, we showered and gathered in the sitting room to watch Cande make pizzas (for the first time!), joined by Guille’s nephew and his friend. We chatted, played Old Maid and watched surf videos. After gobbling down the pizzas, the nephew and his friend invited us to see a famous Uruguayan DJ play in town, so we did the only logical thing after almost 30 hours of travelling and an exhausting surf lesson - we said that sounds absolutely fantastic lets go! Kitted out in our out-on-the-razz fits, we bundled into a car and, to foreshadow many a journey on this leg of the trip, familiarised myself with my personal booster seat, Iona.
We made our way to El Café, a café in the town serving açaí bowls by day and whose back room transforms into a club by night. After some Uruguayan alcoholic education, we grabbed the locals’ favourite, a Fernet and Coca Cola. A bitter drink that is widely popular in Uruguay and Argentina, Fernet is an Italian liquor made of distilled grapes and a range of herbs and spices, including myrrh, rhubarb, chamomile, cardamom, aloe and saffron. Electronic music with red and blue flashing lights, akin to a high-speed police chase but with light speeds able to induce seizures in the Average Joe, left us feeling slightly out of our depths and, alas, left to resort to embarrassing dancing. First came the cringey dad bopping, then the sports moves… I think we even threw in some maths signs… haha. By 3am we decided it was time to tap out.
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The next day we woke up late, enjoyed a delicious breakfast prepared by Jade, the animated Aussie doing a WorkAway at the surf house, and decided to explore the town and local beach. We wandered down the dusty road lined with vegetation and holiday homes until we reached the high street, significantly quieter than it had been the night before. It felt almost like a Hollywood film set. We passed cafés and shops until we reached the Rambla, the road that runs along the beach, where we positioned our towels for sunbathing by the rock pools that Jade had recommendedto avoid strong currents on the main beach. After a couple of hours of sun bathing we dawdled back to the house via an empanada stop and food shop for that evening’s dinner - Iona had officially taken control of the kitchen. Our surf lesson on the second day was an improvement - I managed to stand up a few times - although I didn’t quite manage any longer runs. Exhausted by the sun and surf, we had a quiet dinner and were asleep by 11pm.
Monday 6th
January
On Monday morning we woke up bright and early for an 8.30am yoga class. We followed Guille down windy roads into the forest for almost 20 minutes before reaching our destination: a wooden hut clad with windows and on stilts with a beautiful skylight in the centre. A thorough stretch, headstand attempt and conclusion with a relaxing Shavasana (accompanied by lavender eye pillows and a sound bath) later, we were feeling thoroughly zen. Guille headed off to the beach to teach a couple of surf lessons, while we slowly made our way home, stopping for a coffee (for Mya) and an orange juice (for Iona) in the courtyard of a café, whiling away the rest of the morning. We returned to do a bit of travel itinerary admin - endless bus and flight bookings - before our surf lesson in the afternoon.
This particular afternoon I managed to do a few long runs, despite incredibly strong waves. Most of the time I was doing cartwheels as I was torn off my board! Also in our class on Monday was Larissa, a Swiss girl solo-travelling around Uruguay. After chatting, we realised that she was staying in a hostel near the beach and we decided that we would try to meet up one evening. As we headed back to the surfhouse and we received a message from Cande asking us if we would like to join for a drink on the Rambla at Casa Delice.
While chatting away, we spotted the sunset around the corner of the street and decided to walk round and get a better view, coincidentally bumping into Larissa. After the sunset, she joined us for a drink and, by this point we were starving so we marched home via the shop to buy an Uruguayan favourite: milanesas. On our way up the high street, we were delighted to come across a procession of Las Tambores! A traditional gathering of drummers accompanied by dancers. The custom originates from the African slaves brought to South America in the 1800s and has become an integral part of the culture. Cande also insisted we had to try these snacks called Buñelos de Algas - tempura seaweed typical of the Rocha region. Oh my god. So good. As a lover of seaweed crisps this was even better. After dinner, we walked Larissa to her hostel, stopping to enjoy the night market and indulge in rolled ice creams; they even had a vegan option made with banana instead of cream!
Tuesday 7th
January
Wednesday 8th
January
Tuesday began the only way a Tuesday morning should: with banana pancakes. After washing up, the two of us, Jade and Cande strolled to the beach to ‘tomar el sol’, read and journal. [Louise, I can attest that I put two layers of factor 65+ suncream on Iona’s shoulders and back… not that it seemed to work…]. We got picked up for our lesson in the afternoon, but the waves were incredibly strong and for every step you took, the waves would push you back three. It was extremely hard work and while I floundered a bit Iona made lots of progress! To reward ourselves when we returned, we showered quickly and ran to our sunset spot, catching the beautiful golden rays that turned the beach hazy. Our new favourite beach haunt, Yaros, is a wooden hut with a fantastic DJ playing - see our instagram reels (!). We grabbed a drink (my first caipiriña of the trip) and danced on the beach in the fading sunlight. There isn’t live music every night, so visit early in your trip to check the poster advertisements. It truly is the best place for sunset drinks!
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Slightly concerned by our sunburns from the day before - we hadn’t appreciated the UV13 rating in Uruguay - we decided to spend Wednesday morning in the shade of the porch. Much to our sadness, we had our last surf lesson that afternoon so absolutely made the most of every minute. Iona, after much perseverance (a word she taught Guille!), was tearing it up with several long runs and I became increasingly independent in riding the waves… I was no longer in need of a push-off by Guille or José!
Is now too early to get the Olympic Rings tattoo in advance of our Team GB LA28 appearance?
Cabo Polonio
Thursday 9th
January
On Thursday we got up - in Spanish time - at the crack of dawn, 9.30am, to catch a bus to the entrance of the Cabo Polonio National Park. Although Rome2Rio (our travel bestie) estimated over an hour bus it was just about half an hour. We arrived to a huuuuuge line of people queuing to buy tickets for the 4x4 double decker trucks we were so excited to board. Tickets acquired ($450pp return paid in cash) and queuing achieved, we successfully bagged the last two seats on the top floor! A vertical metal ladder ascent later and we were off, strapped with our hands (of course, why would you need a seatbelt?) to our plastic chairs practically taped to the floor… ahh yes the ole health & safety. We quickly learned the importance of firmly securing our possessions with our legs and tightly fastening, or clipping in the case of Iona’s RHKYC cap, our hats in order to arrive without losing anything to the national park. Consider this your reminder to apply a healthy dollop of SPF 50 for the thirty-minute ride in the open too!!!
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We pulled out of the ‘station’ and rumbled along a dirt track through a little forest, bursting with excitement. Our excitement turned to fascination and awe when the truck crested a sand dune and we were driving along a dazzling white sand beach with bright blue waters stretching almost as far as you could see to our right and a village rising on the horizon atop a large rock to our left.​
We pulled up to yet another wooden shack that serves as a bus station (a recurring theme in these parts) and climbed down our now rather hot ladder exit. We ambled down the ‘high street’, following the wooden walkway past one storey wooden houses cobbled together by hand, hand painted wooden signs and a plethora of little market stalls all the way down to the beach. On the left side of the village lay a long stretch of gorgeous white sands speckled with mussel shells. We decided to keep exploring, making our way around the headland across the rocks and through a wooden doorway that said “Loberia”. A quick google translate produced ‘sea lion colony’… um… what?!!! We’d obviously done our research. Barely holding in our excitement, we approached the rocks and saw, albeit first heard and smelled, the glorious sea lions on the shore sunbathing, swimming and playing. We perched on the rocks and gazed in awe a long while, they were so fun to watch!
Sea lions have been in Cabo Polonio for over a million years and indigenous tribes used their skins as clothing and ate the meat. They occupy the rocks of the headland of Cabo Polonio in the summer months - from their breeding season at the end of December. As we felt ourselves frying in the sun, we decided to explore the lighthouse and found that you could climb up to the top for 35 pesos each (ie 80 cents - bargain!). The views from the top were incredible!!
We trundled back into the village, via a little snoop at the holiday houses of the headland, for a spot of lunch where we had earlier seen a sign for ceviche. We hoped ‘El Bunker’ would tick the box of somewhere cool to while away the hottest hours of the day while we ate some delicious food but the restaurant felt like a glasshouse. It was, however, a small price to pay for the delicious food we enjoyed. Together we shared a jug of fresh lemonade, ceviche of fresh shrimp and a white fish and buñelos de algas. Top tip: dip the buñuelos into the juices of the ceviche. This particular spot was also air drying their seaweed outside which just shows how sea to table everything was in Cabo Polonio. If you can’t tell, we thoroughly recommend El Bunker. The only thing left to do before we headed home by the evening bus was to have a dip in the sea to cool down.
Jose Ignacio
Friday 10th
January
Once we returned to La Pedrera, we stopped at the supermarket and the fresh fish truck to scoop up some goodies for our last night’s dinner at the surfhouse. Whilst the fish barbecued in the firepit in the garden, we made a mango and red onion salsa and rice for our sides. The best end to our week in La Pedrera.
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Saying goodbye to our dysfunctional family in La Pedrera on Friday was hard but it was time to venture onto pastures new: Montevideo. To break the journey, we stopped for lunch in José Ignacio, a town easily comparable to the Côte d'Azur with its beautiful landscapes, sparkly blue waters and nautical and white influences. While the soaring living costs of Uruguay surprised us in the little shanty town of La Pedrera, we were unsurprised about the Mediterranean-like costs in José Ignacio as soon as we set foot in the area!
The restaurant La Huella, known for its impeccable gastronomy, had been recommended to us but, despite attempting to book a week in advance, was already fully booked. We resorted to hopping from restaurant to restaurant in search of a short waiting time and not too eye-wateringly expensive meal and, much to our great fortune (no pun intended), ended up at Popei, la casa de un pescador. With a welcome ‘health’ shot, a warm breeze flowing past us on the balcony, delicious fresh fish and excellent service with incredible, fast attention to detail, we had a fabulous time. The owners were barely even phased when we trundled in with our enormous backpacks!
For the cheap and cheerful traveller, the south coast of Uruguay is not; the prices in José Ignacio and Punta del Este especially are unconducive to savvy backpacking. Our only saving grace was the Uruguayan initiative to increase overseas spending by automatically removing tax from all purchases (food and otherwise) made on a foreign debit or credit card, so take that as you will.
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See you guys next time! Ciao!