Casapueblo and Punta Del Este (Again)

The view from our room's balcony at Casapueblo

Over the long holiday weekend, Anne, Mark and the HBomb did the road trip from Buenos Aires to Punta Del Este, Uruguay.  They were graced with the presence, once again, of the Texas spitfire.

Google maps estimates this is 14 minutes longer than the same road trip last year.

The distance between Buenos Aires and Punta del Este is not that far as the crow flies, but since Uruguay and Argentina are separated by the Rio de la Plata, you actually have to go north quite a ways before turning east to go through Uruguay.  But even with the circuitous route, our crew was able to get from one side of Uruguay to the other in less than a day and have time to have snacks and watch the sunset at Casapueblo.

Casapueblo, for those who do no know, started out as the workshop of Uruguayan artist Carlos Paez Vilaro.  He built the workshop into the side of the cliff so that he could use the sea and the sunsets as inspiration for his art work.  And he wasn't kidding, the museum dedicated to him at Casapueblo has more than a few of his works dedicated to the sun and the sea.

Over the years, other famous and not so famous people would come to visit him at his workshop.  Sometimes, he would build a wing to his structure to accommodate friends who were coming to visit.    Eventually, Casapueblo (~"people's house") grew to quite a sprawling structure.  After the artist passed away, they converted it to a museum and hotel.  Now, visitors can stay in what is, essentially, a work of art.

The hotel is somewhat reminiscent of the islands in Greece with its whitewashed look, but with a sense of the artists "constant battle against the straight line," as he phrased it.

Ours is the room with the guy on the balcony rubbing his belly.

One of the big things that Paez Vilaro used as inspiration for his works was the sunset at Casapueblo, and it's still a big deal there.  They do a poetry reading every day at sunset before closing up at the museum of the artist there.  People also come from near and far to watch the sunset from Casapueblo.  For example, these people:

The other view from our room's balcony at Casapueblo.

Anne, Mark and HBomb have been to Punta del Este before, but did not actually stay at Casapueblo.  This time, they had a room on the outside edge of the structure, so this photo was actually taken from their balcony as locals and tourists waited for the sun to fall below the horizon.  Some of the tourists then turned and took photos of selfies of themselves with Casapueblo as the backdrop.  Some of these tourists will be surprised if they look closely at their photos as they may see Mark standing on the balcony of his room and rubbing his belly in an epic photobomb for what would otherwise be pretty decent family photos.

Later our group went to Punta Del Este proper, which boasts beaches on the Atlantic Ocean.  The Dedos (fingers) art installation is a fairly well-known landmark of the town.  HBomb spent a little time treating the thumb as a slide.  Eventually, Mark got worn out and used it for a rest stop.

Although we were not planning to and were not dressed for it, HBomb decided that we needed to take advantage of the opportunity to hit the waves and check out the ocean.

Mostly we just ran back and forth in a tide pool, but it still counts.