Uruguay: Jose Ignacio

Contrast Cabo Polonio's corrugated tin roofs with the architectural showcase that is Jose Ignacio. Heavily influenced by Neutra and Corbusier, everywhere you care to look among the dunes and the pines, bar the occasional stray thatched cottage (how did they get here?) are modernist gemstones. Sotheby's and Christie's would are easily the biggest local advertisers (almost comical to see the local ice cream stand sporting Blackberry seat covers). 


No doubt about it, the highbrow overspill from Punta del Este decorates this stretch of coastline. Oh, to have discovered this 10 years ago before the Latino jetset did! Makes one think that perhaps Laguna de Garzon is the next cosmopolitan destination. Though hopefully nothing encroaches on Cabo's undeveloped shores to the Northeast. Let the well-heeled of Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil frolic along this costa del sol, and leave the sea lions, dolphins and crabs (and the rasta travellers) alone.

If the soundtrack for Cabo has a distinct Latin Reggae beat, here in Jose Ignacio the locals seem to dig Johnny Cash, Jimmy Hendrix and James Brown. I'm comfortable with any of the above. 

Everyone crowds the beaches of Jose, and other towns like La Barra, North of partytown Punta del Este, leaving the gorgeous golden beaches just 5mins out of town completely empty and inviting. "No a la Speculacion Inmobilaria" reads graffiti on the way to Punta, and you can only agree seeing the anonymous towers along the boulevards, downtown Miami without the glamour. Even the giant hand, La Mano en la Arena, emerging from the sand of Playa Brava was underwhelming - smaller than one might have imagined, and hardly worth the detour. Of course, we were not invited to the private parties in the villas or aboard the yachts of Punta's rich and famous, but "Puta del Este" left us cold.