3/28/2008 at 2:00 PM
Tags: Uruguay Field Trip, Uruguay Travel, Uruguay-Travel-Map, Jaunted Field Trips, Restaurants, Beaches, Coffee Shops, Coffee, Matt Gross (all tags)
Most of our tour through Uruguay was poorly timed: Montevideo was vacant for Holy Week, we missed the full moon party in Punta del Diablo and we were late for the season in Punta del Este.
By the time we showed up, just about everything was shut down. But rather than whine about our bad luck to our stone-faced hotel receptionist, we dug up an old review of what's worth checking out year-round in South America's South Beach.
The illustrious Matt Gross swung through Punta more than a year ago, but we figured the town's "most popular bakery," Medialunas Calentitas, would still be around. His description made it all the more enticing:
I ordered a quartet of their famous sticky-sweet croissants and a cortado (espresso with a little milk) for 95 pesos, and as I munched them outside at the surfer-chic picnic tables, latecomers cautiously approached the bakery, only to be turned away. For a moment, I felt like an insider.
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by pbb
1/08/2007 at 1:09 PM
Tags: Travel Media, Frugal Traveler, New York Times, Matt Gross (all tags)
We can't imagine a travel article starting with a better line than this:
Perched on a bar stool and sipping a $7 Negroni, I surveyed the casino of the Conrad Hotel in Punta del Este with keen but detached interest.
Frugal Traveler Matt Gross goes on to tell us, in yesterday's
Times piece, all about cavorting for a weekend in "the Hamptons of South America" for less than $300. After sipping his cocktail, he hooked up with a currency-trading local--always a great idea, btw--and hit some dance clubs, which didn't get going until 3 a.m.
Frugal Matt spent the next day recovering and eating "sticky-sweet croissants"and four-cheese pizza. (Uruguay has a sizeable Italian and "my family is from Italy" population.) Aside from kicking it at the beach, our hero didn't get up to much else, but from the sounds of it that's the point in Punta del Este.
Oh, one last thing: Matt stayed at La Posta del Cangrejo just outside of town. Sure, it's a little bit out of the way, but it was good enough for Bush-41 when he was in town. Old white guys? Hey, it really is like the Hamptons!
Related Stories:
· Feeling at Home ... [NYT]
· La Posta del Cangrejo [Official Site]
· Jaunted's Matt Gross Coverage [Jaunted]
by pbb
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