Originally he boys wanted to use the Ferry from Buenos Aires to Montevideo in Uruguay but after yesterday’s heavy traffic they decided to rather use the Land Border which time wise would not make much of a difference.

This however required quite a bit of driving through the outskirts of Buenos Aires mostly on highways but with heavy and slow traffic and it took almost an hour to get out of the city on the northern side of Buenos Aires.

After the Town of Zarate there were only small town on the way to crossing the border between Argentina and Uruguay – the two countries are actually separated by a River
Namely the Uruguay River.

 

zarate

 

Having crossed the bridge over this wide river the boys approached a single border post which is shared by Argentina and Uruguay. Passports get stamped for Uruguay without leaving the car and there is no need to get stamped out of Argentina.

Then off to Customs where the Permit for the vehicle is handed back to an Argentinian official and a new one for Uruguay is done at the counter for Uruguay – most probably the easiest borderpost in South America.

 

Not a small river to be crossed before the Argentina and Uruguayan Border Post

 

Uruguay is the second-smallest country in South America (after Suriname), bordered by Argentina to the west, Brazil to the northeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast.

The country is known for its colonial-era historic districts in Colonia and Montevideo, popular beaches on the Atlantic Coast, and beef production—a former meat processing plant in Fray Bentos is a world heritage site. Calmer and safer than its neighbors, Uruguay is a friendly, easygoing destination.

Uruguay is also part of the One Laptop per Child project, and in 2009 became the first country in the world to provide a laptop for every primary school student.

Team Lipstick was surprised to see neatly cultivated lands and were surprised to see that all roads are lined up with a 4m grass patch on either side of the road which seems to be cut readily and again similar to Argentina a lot of cattle farms could be seen as the boys progressed onto their final diestination – Punta del Este.

 

Nice long roads lined with strips of neatly cut grass and nice farm houses in Uruguay

 

Punta del Est is a famous holiday Town in Uruguay and the boys found a nice resort and decided to stay here for 2 nights.
Punta del Este is the second city of Uruguayand the most important resort town in South America.
The Punta area’s 220,000 residents add to a peak of over 600,000 people during the summer season, while year-round the town receives one million tourists.
The city is referred to as “the Monaco of the South”, “The Pearl of the Atlantic”, “the Hamptons of South America” and “the St. Tropez of South America”, being also compared to Miami and Cannes
Punta del Este is also well-know for organizing the summit in which the WTO was created. The Formula E has host several races, broadcast world-wide, in the city, based on its “absolutely landmark cityscape”.
Punta del Este has a beautiful waterfront area which is lined with lots of restaurants and bars and after settling down the boys had a nice meal in one of the restaurants lined up on the Atlantic shoreline.

 

The beaches and modern set up of Punta del Este have a Mediterranean flair

 

Next Day the boys proceeded to give Lipstick a good wash down and inside clean-up whereafter they strolled around the many beaches of this beautiful holiday Mecca in Uruguay.

 

Endless beaches in Puta del Este

 

Due to the shape and location of Punta del Este one can actually see the sun going down on the Atlantic side of Uruguay – making it an ideal occasion for a good “sundowner”

 

sundowners

 

Sundowner in Punts del Ests – a great place to spend a holiday
Day 47 & 48 – 3rd/4th March – Buenos Aires to Punta del Este (Uruguay)