Better late than never?
I set off on a year-long adventure to travel and write about it, but so far fun and adventure having been getting in the way
Hello! It’s Rachael here. I’m a freelance journalist with persistently itchy feet – so much so that in October last year I packed up my bursting wardrobe, threw out a decade’s worth of junk and half-used condiments from the fridge, and flew to Argentina on a one-way ticket.
The plan was to spend about a year backpacking around South America, following the sunshine and trying out the digital nomad life for a while – and somehow I managed to convince Dave the boyfriend to quit a job he loved doing to come along for the ride. Five months in, I’m convinced it’s our best decision yet.
But you probably know all that already, because if you are reading this there’s a high chance you are one of the long-suffering friends currently harbouring some of that wardrobe content in your loft (I appreciate you all).
I’ve been thinking for a long time about how to record my travels (primarily for future me) while also keeping friends and family up to date with my whereabouts. Months ago, before we left home, I mused about starting a newsletter – but somehow the time ran away from me because I was having too much fun (and travelling at a faster pace than initially anticipated… but more on that later).
For whatever reason, today is the day. I’ll aim to post every week with a short update – where I am, what we’ve been up, with hopefully some useful travel tips and entertaining stories along the way. If that appeals to other people too, then all the better.
Today’s newsletter come to you from Punta del Diablo, Uruguay, the “devil’s point”! It’s a beautiful, sleepy seaside town. Though “town” might be overselling it – we are staying in a very cute wooden cabin on the sand with chickens for company. It’s the perfect base for a bit of downtime after saying goodbye to my visiting parents (did I mention that we accidentally took my aged-Ps backpacking for two weeks? There’s another story) as well as starting a newsletter, of course.
This week we have fallen into a lovely routine of running down to the beach and going for a swim / get thrown around in the waves a bit, pottering about on our laptops and catching up with admin and friends, then cooking dinner over a fire and playing cards until one of us falls asleep on the sofa (me).
Uruguay has been a slow burn. We arrived in Montevideo three weeks ago with my parents and found it all a bit spooky – closed down shops and restaurants everywhere, lots of run down buildings. Even on a Saturday night in the centre of the old town, we had to walk around for 45 minutes to find somewhere open for dinner. It just didn’t quite fit with the glamorous image we all had in our heads of this historic city.
With hindsight I think there were three unfortunate factors at play: first, we’d just come from Buenos Aires, which has to be one of the most vibrant cities in the world; the two might have been competitive once but with such a small population and less through-flow, Montevideo can’t help but be the smaller, scruffier cousin. Second, we arrived in the tail-end of summer and I know now that everyone who is anyone in Uruguay leaves the city at the weekend for one of dozens of beautiful beaches all the way up the coast.
This is surely the same with any major city, except with Montevideo you really notice it because (point three) there are simply not enough people in this country. No, seriously: Uruguay is roughly the same size as the UK, but with only 1/20th of the population (3.4 million vs 67.3 million). There are four times as many cows here than there are people. I think most of the people we have encountered here are Brazilians on holiday. It’s eerie at times, but we’ve become weirdly used to being the only ones in a bar or restaurant, even commenting without irony that it’s “getting crowded” when a second family arrives. I have no idea how half of these places stay open.
Colonia del Sacramento was the exception – this is where most of the ferries from Argentina pull into, and it felt much more lively and thriving as a result. Dave and I spent five days pottering about there, swimming in unbelievably warm water and having some of the best food of our whole trip at Casa Viera and Ristorante Gibellini.
Overall, I’d say it’s true that Uruguay’s biggest pull is its beaches: perfect golden sandy ones all the way up the east coast and down to the very balmy waters of Rio de la Plata in the south. It suits me very well, even if it does all come at twice the price of Argentina. We’re about to leave this comfy cabin behind however for ten days’ working on an eco-farm with artists building shelters out of mud. If you don’t hear from us, it’s a cult, send help.
You can see all the places we’ve been so far on our journey with this slightly messy map I’ve been making along the way…
Stories from the (not so ancient) archives
The truth is, I have already been keeping blog of sorts, but I’ve been too shy to advertise it (surprise!) – partly because I have quite a backlog of stories to upload and Wordpress has prompted many headaches and tantrums (flashback to my online churnalism days…) Here’s the first one I wrote back in October after arriving in Buenos Aires – enjoy the chaotic glimpse into my frazzled brain as I scrambled to get myself organised for this trip.