Boat Ride and the Beach

We took a boat ride from the Punta del Este port to Isla de Lobos. This supposedly has the largest concentration of sea lions in the world. The ride was 45 minutes to the island. We didn't disembark there, but came close to several schools of sea lions. It was amazing to see so many of them. Because they are amphibious creatures, several were crawling on the island shores. Others came close to the boat and performed breeches out of the water. I felt a little sea sick on the ride back. The water was a bit choppy further out. Still, we enjoyed the experience.

We ate at a restaurant at the port. Had a good fish lunch. Afterwards, we walked along the beach front and rested our feet and buttocks at Playa Mansa (the premier beach in Punta). The sun is deceptively sharp here, so we got a little sun burned. It's about the same latitude from the equator as Santa Barbara, CA; but it seems to have the solar intensity as Hawaii.

Then we went back to Pesca's which serves rich gelato ice cream. I had the Pannacota again (creamy flan flavor). Yum. Then we walked by the large hand in the sand. While taking some photos there, we met a nice couple from Argentina (Peter and Mary). He actually is living in Dallas, while she's trying to obtain her visa to live in the US. They want to get married but have faced the great bureaucratic headache of obtaining entry into the country.

Later at night, we met Peter and Mary at a restaurant in Punta. We had a nice dinner together. It's a treat meeting people while traveling.

Tomorrow we plan to go to Montevideo. I'll make sure to blog again tomorrow.

One funny note about the cab ride back to the hotel. They keep the cabs very dark even when you arrive at your destination. Well, this cabbie saw I had trouble recognizing the bills I was taking out of my wallet. When he turned on the light, I couldn't resist saying "mucho gusto" (nice to meet you).

(note to self: Peter suggested we take tours of the 7 lakes and the Black Glacier (Tronador)