Hello everyone, I greet you again!

This books contains an unabridged version with the voice-over

comments of the videos of the Punta del Este 2023 trip
(https://www.youtube.com/playlist?
list=PLogjlsiSFs9rkAakZRXP9y0KMA88VqPJk).

It is good to remember that in order to make each of the

paragraphs below the videos in the book "Punta del Este 2023" that
I published a few days ago, ChatGPT's artificial intelligence was
used --to summarize those voice-over segments-- because
otherwise they would not fit: they were too long texts and in turn
when the book was planned it was decided to put that kind of
shorter fragments so that it would not become too long.

But now I want to present this complete version in both Spanish

and English: this version without limits, that is, this complete
compendium of the comments made in the videos in which
comments were made.

I believe that it can be useful to any researcher or any person who

wants to know more about the subject.

It is also interesting and I would like to recommend a software

called Spacy, which basically what it does by means of artificial
intelligence is to detect paragraphs: to separate a paragraph so
that the whole text does not look like a single paragraph --which is
what happens when one transforms a subtitle file into a common
text file.

I hope you enjoy it!

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2
Well, that’s kind of the arrival of what it is the port of Montevideo. I
arrived at the port on the day January 1 in the afternoon, it was a
rainy day… Despite that, there were quite a lot of people on the
Buquebus. Well, here is a small camera error, which sometimes
happens with the cell phone, that I left… the lantern on. But it’s just
a few seconds… What you see behind is the customs complex, the
port. Here you can see the various distances to different cities in
Latin America and the world, another of the buildings of customs at
the port of Montevideo. This more or less…

This might be in the afternoon, more or less at seven in the

afternoon, when I arrived that January 1st. I still do not recommend
travelling the first of January, I will never do it again… It was a
rainy day, as I told you, it was also in Buenos Aires. This was a bit
the bus, which is also very comfortable. I highly recommend it,
because it is quite a comfortable travel. And these are the port
facilities. Let’s remember that the port of Montevideo, along with
that of Buenos Aires, is the most important in the River Plate. It is a
better port technically than that of Buenos Aires, because it is a
deep-water port, which is not… which is practically…

it does not require draft as the port of Buenos Aires does. Those
are the buildings, they are really beautiful, when you are there on
the bus… The port of Montevideo is very beautiful, there are also
cranes, containers… It is not as big as the one in Buenos Aires,
which is a gigantic port. That’s what I want to comment now: that in
Buenos Aires we practically don’t have beaches… But as you can
see it is a big port, it really is a very big port that of Montevideo. It is
a city where almost 2 million people live (if I’m not mistaken) and
therefore, well, it’s one of the most important ports in the region.
The country of Uruguay itself has 3 million people…

And it is obviously a country that is quite open to world in general,

so it has quite a bit of trade. It is very common in Uruguayan
supermarkets… Here you can see a little bit of the reason for
which I am using the HDR… Well here the whole part rather,
something thermo… something electric. But hey that’s basically
the reason for which… so you can see the size of the port right?

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Because one says “Montevideo has no port” “A very small port
compared to what Buenos Aires is, or Santos, which is the one in
Brazil” but here you begin to see what I was saying: The Rambla of
Montevideo and for what it’s worth to put these videos in HDR,
which is the contrast… I recommend watching, to those who have
HDR TV, watching this video on a tv, because i’m watching on the
monitor of a MacBook Pro, which is awesome and in fact that’s
why I had to change the workflow to be able to show this: the light
contrast that occurs and that is impossible to see in previous
technologies… on cell phones that do not record in HDR or on
monitoring devices, such as a television or monitor itself, which
hasnt the possibility to display just this HDR technolog.

This is what Montevideo is, it seems to me one of the cities most

beautiful. If I had the opportunity, I would live there, because it is a
city absolutely pretty. What you see is the boulevard and what we
are going to continue watching in the next few minutes, both going
and going back, is the boulevard of Montevideo, which “lasts”
almost 25 km, I obviously did not film the 25 km road but I do want
to show and also comment on, because in the other trips it was
exactly the same, even though it was not on January 1. Here in
Buenos Aires this would be full of people, that is, FULL of people,
here one goes to the Costanera and sees a fisherman every 10
meters… All the beaches would be full and there, however, they
have such a little amount… they have as a less densely
concentrated population and then this possibility (of separation)
remains… Plus, as Montevideo is on the other side the River Plate
it is practically a sea, so they have these beaches, what if I told you
that it is a sea shore and you do not know? You would really
believe what I am telling you because most of these beaches
look… look at the sand!

In other words, rivers normally have practically no coastline, they

have 10 meters of sand, 20 meters of sand and nothing more, let
alone a river is going to have these waves, so well, look what tt is
the beauty of the coast. There are people (a lot) that directly runs
all of this Rambla, in fact it has as some marks, but look at the
breadth of the boulevard, well, there are public toilets, also a very
important thing… It’s like all Uruguayans have this peculiarity of

4
not gathering so many together; also I noticed many soccer fields,
volleyball courts, different sports on the beaches Well, it’s
something that we don’t have in Buenos Aires, that is, here in
Buenos Aires you have to go to Tigre to have something similar to
this, but not even with these beaches. Firstly the river, the river…
besides the people here in Uruguay can bathe, in Tigre (Buenos
Aires) some areas it can be dangerous and well, see that kind of
cycle path… That is what I was saying about the sunsets: that
practically every day that I was there the sunsets were incredible…
Here you see another of the beaches, which also It seems…

This is also very similar to what Rio de Janeiro is, although it has
neither the security problems nor the amount of population density
that Rio de Janeiro has, for example, even though there are
settlements like those everywhere (they call “asentamientos” the
“villas… miseria” there) Look what this is! You go to this beach one
day and have the whole beach for yourself! and even if it is sunny
(I have other footage from other trip that it was sunny and it is
exactly the same) Look at the benches… I mean, here in Buenos
Aires we don’t have this! Buenos Aires is a city that unfortunately
turns its back on the river, which is what gave all its wealth to
Buenos Aires basically, at least the chance to go out into the world
and… Well here we don’t have that possibility.

At a time, many years ago, there was a beach resort on the

Buenos Aires waterfront, about 50 years ago but nothing like this: it
was a small beach about 100 or 200 meters long and obviously
without sandy beaches: one directly stepped down to the river. And
not long ago there was a beach in Vicente López, but a beach that
was made with rubble and it was a beach in which bathing was
unsafe, which is what today is the Paseo de la Costa. Well… you
see the quite fine white sand and the amplitude, like I told you, of
the boulevard must be almost 20 m wide, the viewpoints even, the
benches for people to sunbathe… This is something that here in
Buenos Aires is not… (like I told you) In Buenos Aires does not
exist, it may have 50 km of coast in total and most of it is muddy,
most It doesn’t have a decent beach, even where it does… It’s
polluted It doesn’t have a place where you can bathe, that is, it
doesn’t have, as I told you, it doesn’t have beaches. There are

5
some crazy people who go into the water in Quilmes, in the south,
but, it’s forbidden, as it’s forbidden to bathe in the north, in Vicente
López.

The waterfront does not have beaches. The entire area of the
Buenos Aires airport does not have beaches. Puerto Madero does
not have a beach. The closest is the natural reserve, but it doesn’t
have a proper beach either, it has some “stony beaches”… and
well, you can still see here what Montevideo looks like. The
interesting thing about this day is that I was able to record a little a
sunset. There were beautiful sunsets with the clouds and also that,
well, since I was late from customs, they put me in the first seats of
the bus, so well (I got a good view)… and here it is almost the
exit/entrance: see that the sign reading “Montevideo”. There is an
island there, which I think is called Isla de las Flores, I don’t know,
but that island is very good.

I always see that on trips and it makes me want… I would go

swimming. Should be banned but I think it’s called Isla de las Fl… I
don’t remember the exact name: some Uruguayan will correct me
if they see it… but: look at the clouds! There are all landscapes
that are incredible and that happened to me from the first to the
last day. And luckily here I didn’t have to hear two North Americans
in the background who, when we arrived in Punta del Este… I think
that will be possible to be posted in another video…

Well here… here is the return trip… Here the journey was done
later in the afternoon, as I was saying, on the 31st of January and
there is another type of lighting. It was in the afternoon, but less
into the afternoon, that is, at five in the afternoon and the other
filming was done at seven o`clock in the afternoon/night and here
you can see the waves a lot… You can see that it is a river that if
you showed it to someone and said that this was the Black Sea or
something like that, well, no one would believe that a river can
have this kind of swell and waves. Let’s see the surfers… This was
on the Buquebus bus back trail. There is the people bathing. As
you can see, there is a lot of difference: the people is not all
together.

6
Here, if there was a beach like this, or when one goes to a beach
like Anchorena beach in Vicente López, for example, or even any
small beach in Tigre, it’s crowded with people: that is, you can’t
go… and that happens in any Argentinian beach. That was also
one of the reasons why, although it was very expensive, I went to
Uruguay. Any Argentinian beach would have been crowded with
people; here the people are separated, there are a lot of options, a
lot of beaches, well this part is darker because I recorded it with
the iPhone X, which does not have HDR recording. There are
some stony parts (like this one) but mostly… and look what that
boulevard! One can calmly say “I’m going to prepare for the
marathon, I’m going to run 25 kilometers… down that boulevard
and I can do it”. These docks…. well, this one seems to be a
beautiful place for anyone who lives in Buenos Aires.

This is 200 km in a straight line from Buenos Aires, the Buquebus

took two hours to arrive. It is a country that we have in front of us
and it is a culture which is very similar to ours, that is, 95% similar
to ours. In fact: the province of Buenos Aires, Entre Ríos and
Santa Fe formed the League of Free Peoples, at the time, which
was a country without the rest of Argentina and it remains very
similar to ours. They even have better food quality: dulce de leche
is better, meat is better. Argentina has been in decline for basically
10 years now and this is a paradise, and so is Colonia. This time I
didn’t go to Colonia del Sacramento, but Colonia is the same: they
have beaches like this, I don’t know… In all, it will be around
400/500 kilometers (of coast), and I am not considering the
(western) shores of the Uruguay River. But those I think those are
not as pretty as these.

But if one measures from Colonia del Sacramento to Chuy, on the

border with Brazil, they have easily 500 km of coastline and thus is
the coast like this: a clean coast with sand, here bordering the
river, but northwards bordering the sea where the people… with an
acceptable infrastructure, where the people respect themselves,
do not pile up. Well, Uruguay is a beautiful, beautiful country. I
didn’t know whether to post these videos because I am afraid that
many people in the world will see it, because it is like a place that
many people don’t know about. They do know Argentina, which

7
has foreign tourism of the largest in the world, but people don’t
know Uruguay. Uruguay is a place… Maybe foreigners normally
go to Montevideo for one day or something like that, but Uruguay is
a paradise and it doesn’t have those problems that other places
have, where it is absolutely full of people and you cannot enjoy
your stay. In addition, the mentality of the people is different: they
are not as crazy as we Argentines are and, in general, they respect
each other, you see… well: there is a separation between the
people, it is not crowded.

I think that they are much happier. They do have economic

problems (I was reading in several forums that they obviously
have), but there are poor people everywhere in the world. But it’s a
beautiful place: imagine in Buenos Aires we don’t have that
possibility, that is, I don’t know of.. I think that in San Isidro they
have a small beach, which is near… “Peru Beach” is called and. In
Vicente López, as they I said, the Paseo la Costa, but there is not a
single place where you can swim, and it is a place where it is
difficult to arrive if you dont have a car and they are normally full of
people. These Uruguayan people, these people from Montevideo
have this possibility of having miles like this and kilometers and
kilometers of almost virgin beaches. This is another of the
beaches!

Check this out! I could practically say that it’s a beach by the sea. It
caught my attention that most of the beaches, like those of Punta
del Este, have a soccer field, a volleyball court; there are some
artifacts to do gymnastics, as there are public bathrooms, which is
an obligation; getting here in Buenos Aires a public bathroom is
impossible and this thing that you see: the waves must be at least
one meter and a half, despite being a river shore. These are
waters in which, in general, people can bathe… I remember being
there in… Look at the buildings! this is also a part that I did not
see, because I was sitting on the bus side looking to the river, but
these buildings are beautiful. The buildings are very beautiful…

All the architecture that one sees that is being made is very
beautiful and well, here we have a little more panoramic shot of the
river. There are not as many sailboats as one might see in Buenos

8
Aires and I can confirm that, because I lived for a time in the
Northern zone in Nunez and there were sailboats all the time. I
don’t see here so much nautical sport, but obviously there is the
possibility of people being on the beach sunbathing. That makes
one be… have a much… let’s say relaxed life, than one would
have in Buenos Aires. In fact, it is a huge shock when you are
there for a month and come here to Buenos Aires, because it’s like
you come with an enormous peace and suddenly here in Buenos
Aires they treat you badly from the beginning. But it is understood
by the… Here you can see another thing: a soccer or volleyball
court, or beach volleyball court, I don’t know what it will be… beach
handball, I don’t know…

but in the middle of the beach… here the volleyball court. All this is
common, it is common throughout the maritime coast /riverside of
the River Plate and the Atlantic Ocean northwards. Well, look at
the sand: how white the sand is. Here the only thing that we have
(on this side of the Río de la Plata) are stones or mud, in the best
of cases, and well, like I tell you, this was January 31, which I think
was a weekday, I’m going to check it in the calendar, but it wasn’t a
Sunday: nothing like that. And well, look at the people bathing
calmly, the lifeguards… Don’t call them “bañeros” because they
get angry; here in Buenos Aires they are called “bañeros”. There
they call them “guardavidas”, and one inadvertently calls them
“bañeros” and they get mad, but it is not that one wants to belittle
them: we have another way of to say the same. There is also a
lifeguard booth on each beach: normally there are two lifeguards
within. Even in Montevideo they are, and I estimate that it would be
the same in the Colonia sorroundings.

I could continue along this route, I’m telling you, almost 400 or 300
kilometers, which I think is the distance from Colonia del
Sacramento to Punta del Este and find something very similar to
this. And also from Punta del Este going northwards to José
Ignacio, to where it ends, to where begins the lagoon. The Laguna
Garzón, if I’m not mistaken, near Jose Ignacio. Then, well, there’s
Rocha, there’s the area close to Chuy, where are also incredible
beaches: Punta del Diablo, La Paloma, but hey, look what a bit the
city of Montevideo, which is beautiful. A relative of mine lived there

9
for a while: he tells me it’s beautiful. We here in Buenos Aires are
like in a city that at one point looks like… look what this is! It’s
absolutely incredible…

It even has a tennis court! Probably those tennis courts (also

football and basketball) are probably free or charge a minimal
amount. Here this does not exist… You really have to become a
member of one of the clubs… like one of the yacht clubs in San
Isidro or Tigre to have something similar to this. Over there it’s like
everything is more democratized at one point. I don’t know what I
was going to say… well, you also see all the infrastructure that is
set for people to enjoy the beaches…

It was overall a pretty quick ride. It was all made in a swift way, I
mean: I departed more or less at 3:30, almost 4:00 from Punta del
Um… We’re coming here… Look at this! a rugby field on the
beach! Here in Buenos Aires in order to play rugby you have to
become a member of a club in the north, I don’t even want to
imagine how much it costs. In Montevideos it’s all more
democratized, more accessible to everyone. In this sense it seems
closer (although there is a fairly large distance) to the nordic
countries: the difference between the poor and the rich is less,
even though there are rich people like there are everywhere, but
there are no people…

I did not see homeless people like you see here in Argentina,
mostly in Buenos Aires and in the cities with large suburbs. Here
again the HDR does its best. I decided to do this voiceover so it’s
not so boring because I noticed other long videos with few viwes…
I’m not going to do what others do: to edit and make a single video
out of all… I want to show people in depth what things are, that is,
if I were a writer I would be a treatise writer… It would not be a
novelist or a short story writer. Let’s say: I prefer get deep on things
and eventually, if people are interested in a topic they would get
into that topic. If people are interested in Montevideo, they will only
watch the video of Montevideo and they will not watch the video of
Piriápolis, nor the Pittamiglio castle, nor La Barra beach’s, but I
prefer to focus and deepen into a topic instead of publishing a
video compendium of 20 minutes, as I saw that some people do.

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The benches on the beaches, the River Plate which, as I told you
elsewhere, it is practically a sea. Well, and these postcards, which
are kilometers long… what I want to show here also in the
extension of the video are the kilometers of beach that these
people have, the kilometers of waterfront, That’s good, as here in
Buenos Aires we have a lot of envy thereof, let’s say, because we
don’t have… (we) have a polluted river, we have a river to which
we practically have no access. In the background there is a
freighter or some big ship. Some cruise perhaps… Well, here,
back, arriving at the port of Montevideo. This I think are cranes,
which has nothing to do with electricity: they are cranes. Here it is
back, the port quite big, as I said. There’s a cruise ship there too.

It seems that cruise ships also arrive in Montevideo. Normally they

make the route from Buenos Aires to Punta del Este, but in this
case you can see what Montevideo can also be called. Here are
the famous buildings of the customs and the Navy. The customs
and the Navy Offices altogether in the port. And here is the final
part, doing a kind of check-in. I thought it could be done in Punta
del Este, but no, it has to be done here in Montevideo. The terminal
is very nice. Well, here we are about to embark, it was getting dark,
the hill was beautiful: what you can see is the Cerro of Montevideo.

The sunsets in Uruguay - as I told you - are incredible. And HDR

allows this to be seen with crystal clarity. That’s where you board
the Buquebus. And the beautiful Cerro of Montevideo, as I had told
you before. Well and here the video ends.-

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12
Well, now again, this is the part where I was arriving at Punta del
Este. About 10 km away. You can see the lights there. I had had
two Americans behind me for the last half hour. They were talking
very loudly, ruining everything that was for me the excitement of
being able to step on Punta del Este again. So, what I’m going to
do now is play the words of them. They were surprised to see to
the Trump tower, although it’s not visible… It’s on the side of the
peninsula, on the Playa Brava.

But I’m going to put in the next sequence, duplicate this same
sequence with the amplified voices of them and their captions. So
you can see what I’m saying, and well, I can also “take revenge” of
the situation. Greetings. You guys see the… That’s the one right
there. The Trump Tower. Trump Tower. I think it’s just…

The fire. It’s the… entrance. The entrance. Hello. I think… I think
it’s possible. I think it’s possible. Because of the fire.

Yeah. We had our first celebrity with that experience. Yeah. It was
a new experience. But you never had… You never had that
information.

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14
Hello everyone again. Well, this is the Casamar Parador. Which
has a sushi restaurant inside, called Fabric. and is well known in
Buenos Aires: it has a franchise in Palermo. This is a bit of a shot
from the bus stop. I had made a comment on site but the sound
came out wrong that’s why it is without audio. Now the audio will
begin: a little bit about the beach. There you can see something
very common: people with pallets.

Well, the cruise in the background, which you will see better when I
pan the lighthouse. The lighthouse of Isla de Lobos. It is a very
quiet parador. During the first 7 days of January, practically from
December 25 through January 7 electronic parties are held, where
international figures play and the entrance fee is around 200
dollars. And it gets like a closed arena that might be, I don’t know,
50 meters by 50 meters, I don’t know… Something like that… And
well, rave parties are held there. Here you can see what is the
parador, which is one of the largest there is.

In other words, it is much larger than the other nearby paradores,

which are Montoya and Bikini. It is a huge restaurant, with a
capacity for 200 people. There you can see what is Bikini, which is
about a kilometer or so walking distance from this parador. And
well, as I was saying: it is the largest of the three paradors that are
on this same coastline. And on the other side, where I am focusing
now, lies Montoya beach. It is a fairly large parador, and for the
days I went there it was really quite. At least in the second fortnight
of January. There you can see the lighthouse of Isla de Lobos,
which can be visited.

It is costing about $50 per person. And you could supposedly swim
with seawolves, although one cannot not set foot on the island as
you can do, for example, on Gorriti Island. Well, all the panoramic
views of this area are breathtaking, that’s why I leave it a bit
running. This is just the passing of a cruise ship in the background.
It is very common, almost every day in La Mansa there was a
cruise ship. Unfortunately I could not go to Isla de Lobos, but it is a
place that I highly recommend visiting, both for the photos and for
what I was told. And now you will see people walking, as you can

15
see, it is a very quiet area. A lot of people run all those 3 kilometers
or so, extending from Bikini to Montoya.

Well, I wanted to leave this comment so I already know, in case it

happens again some other time…. Or to tell people in general…
That what changes everything about this beach that goes from
Bikini to Montoya, which is more or less 3 kilometers long, is the
wind. For example, yesterday it was practically the same
temperature as today, but much less windy. And now there is more
wind, it may go about 20 kilometers per hour. And well, there are
almost no people and I’m already leaving. And yesterday there
was practically no wind, that is, very little, and it was possible to be
on the beach until almost 8:30 pm. or until about 7 o’clock almost…
And it also happened the first days I came here, it was so windy, a
wind of about 30 kilometers per hour.

And the Mansa beach was like a pool when I passed by. But here,
before coming, you really have to pay attention not only to the
temperature, or to what the atmosphere looks like, that is: the
clearness of the sky, but you also have to pay attention to the wind,
because if it is more than 20/30 kilometers per hour, you can’t be
there after sunset. And before 4 o’clock sunbathing is risky… there
is a tremendous amount of ultraviolet radiation. Well, those are the
important things here. What happened last time, I remember that
year, since 3 years ago appears “La Niña”, so they are dry years.
And what happened last time (a few years ago) was not only the
wind, but it was cloudy days. But this time (so far) there were all
clear days. And there is indeed a drought in Argentina.

The sky is completely clear but the downside is the wind that might
be blowing… Now I’m going to look at Windy app, but well, it
becomes practically unbearable. Even here where I am, in a kind
of protected (sandy) hill. This becomes impossible to bear and
people also leave…. And that’s what had happened to me also the
other time… Well, this is a sample of the Fabric Sushi Parador. As
you can see, it is an incredible postcard. It’s a pretty expensive
place: it must have cost me $25 or so for a meal.

16
But well, you get these breathtaking views of the sunsets, they are
impressive on practically every beach in Punta del Este. Also
sunrises, because it also dawns at sea. And well, just to show you
a little bit… I had to remove the music because of copyright issues.
The place is always with music in the background. And here you
can see a little bit of night already, leaving, waiting for the bus back
to Punta del Este, which, as I said, takes about 15 minutes. Here
you can see one of the buses passing… Well, and here you are
going to see a pan, a zoom to what Manantiales is.

In other words, let’s remember there are basically two capes: One
is that of Barra de Maldonado, and the other is the one you are
going to see now… more closely, with more zoom, which is the
one in Manantiales, and that there are basically 3 kilometers
between the two. As you can see, it is practically a highway, with
separated lanes. Buses run every 20 minutes or so; in that respect
there is no problem. And it’s a very quiet place, there are a lot of
people running all over this area. by the beach or up here. And, as I
was telling you, the panoramic view of Manantiales town. What you
are seeing now is specifically Manantiales ss seen from this
parador between Bikini and Montoya, called CasaMar, which has
the Sushi Fabric restaurant inside.

17
18
Well, I greet you again! This is one of the views of my first
departure from the hotel. This is 31st street. And I’m slowly heading
to… Quite a rainy day, as you can tell. I’m heading to stop 1 at
Mansa beach. I am now about to cross 20th street. What you see
there in the background, which we are going to take a closer look
at soon, is one of the tourist offices in Punta del Este.

There is also one at Plaza Artigas. But this is the one that is closest
to the area where I was, and the one I recommend to stay at
because right there you can find the most important tourist
attractions. Here, well, as you can see, it was a rainy day. Both the
first day and the second day were rainy days. On this day at night
David Guetta played. As you can see, there were not as many
people as one would have thought. More people started to come
later. And here you can see a little bit of the streets of the
downtown area.

This neighborhood, if I’m not mistaken, is called La Pastora. It is

where the peninsula ends or begins, depending on how you see it.
But this would be the end of the peninsula coming from the ocean.
And there you have a little panoramic view of the place. There, I
went to the tourist office that you see. Luckily, they informed me
quite well about all the sightseeing options. Which are a lot: you
can spend three months in Punta del Este doing things. It is a
place almost infinite in terms of tourist opportunities.

And it’s striking, because it’s overall a fairly small city, with less
than 100,000 people living there. But the options you have are
almost endless. There I was, just coming out of the tourist office.
And I was approaching what was the first stop of the Mansa beach.
That’s where Mansa beach starts, almost 40 bus stops to Punta
Ballena. It might be almost 10 kilometers. Well, here the you see
the people: usually the cars stop at the crosswalks. So there’s no
problem, it’s quite safe to cross and walk around here.

Really quiet too: the place was not crowded as it would be at this
time of the year… or as it surely was… at any Argentinian Atlantic
beach. And well, there you can see a little bit of the rambla…

19
Where the rambla begins… There are some more beaches to the
side of the peninsula, but they are rather rocky. That’s why bus
stop 1 is marked as this one. Even though there are bus stops that
go thru the peninsula. But this is bus stop 1, what is called parada
1. Well, hello to all of you. This is basically Punta del Este,
Uruguay.

This is the limit, which I had posted in my channel. This is the

official boundary between the River Plate and the Atlantic Ocean.
So: this would be the “legal” limit, because it changes every day:
the last part of the River Plate and where begins the South Atlantic
Ocean. This city is very well known, many Argentines come here. It
is in Uruguay, obviously it is not in Argentina. And well, as you can
see it’s a pretty luxurious place. It looks like some southern
beaches in some places. And well, I wanted to show you a little bit:
it’s a cloudy day today.

That one over there is Gorriti Island: the one in front. Well, it looks
like southern Ukraine, which today is Russia. And you see that
even the color of the waters: the color of the waters is a greenish,
dark color. And also the sand: notice the color of the sand. There
are no bombs here, because the Ukrainians didn’t put any bombs.
But well, there in the background is the highest mountain in
Uruguay, the Pan de Azucar, over 500 meters (high). Well, over
here is the Conrad (Enjoy), which is one of the most important
hotels in Latin America, or South America. There is a seagull, and
right there is the tip of Punta del Este, which is exactly what marks
the point, the limit between this, which would be the last part of the
River Plate.

So well, I’m going to see how these chronicles go, on this subject.
It doesn’t have to do with the military operation, but well, I wanted
to show a little bit this place… Well, as you will see already, this is
another day, because I am actually summarizing all the moments
of the trip according to the physical place… and not according to
the day, otherwise it would be endless. And I prefer to make
themed videos, as I said before. This is the view from Parada 1 of
La Mansa, a much sunnier day. Well, here you can see something
that I don’t really know what it is, but you will see it repeatedly,

20
because I took quite a few shots. It’s a kind of paddle surf board,
but with a motor. It’s got a motor underneath this guy.

I don’t know how he handles it either in terms of height and speed.

But it rises at times almost a meter above the level of the sea. It’s
an impressive thing, I think it’s the only time I’ve ever seen it. As
you can see, there’s a lot of paddle surfing, or stand up paddle
boarding, which I’ve seen on almost every beach. It’s a pretty
accessible thing to do. Also the cruise ships, which I discussed in
another video. Every day you go out there, I was there for a month,
and every day a different cruise. So that’s pretty much also a color
note, an important note of what life is like in Punta del Este during
the summer.

There are also those yachts, there are a lot of them. I think it’s
$10,000 a month for a mooring. You can also do the following,
which I did the other trip at the port: you can rent a kind of a regular
yacht. And with 20 other people, go to Gorriti Island and do the
yacht experience, which is basically the opportunity to jump into
the water anywhere and swim. Here we have this guy, I don’t know
how he manages to control that. because it rises at times… he
must obviously have an engine underneath. But it rises at times…
see… almost a meter above the sea.

I don’t know how exactly he controls it, I don’t know if he’s got
something in his hand to control it. Look at the height at which it
rises… I welcome any clarifying comments about this artifact. Well,
there you have it… And here I continue with a shot of the same
stop 1 of the Mansa beach, at sunset, to give you a little bit of a
postcard of what this area looks like at that time of the day. All the
sunsets in Punta del Este are beautiful. But well, here you have the
particularity of seeing one of the yachts, the cruise ships. Being the
most central area, as I say, of Punta del Este.

A few meters from there is the hotel that used to be named Conrad
and now is Enjoy. It is also somehow close to what is becoming the
Trump Tower. And here, well, a little bit more at night, also the
sunset. Cars passing by… There, on the left, is a luxury
supermarket. It is a quiet and pretty area in the center, where the

21
peninsula ends. Well, that’s kind of a regatta that was going on.
Here we are at La Mansa stop 2. And well, the one on the left is
Gorriti Island.

Well, that’s kind of a regatta that was going on. Here we are at La
Mansa stop 2. And well, the one on the left is Gorriti Island. And
behind is the Pan de Azúcar hill. Well, as I said in the commentary
on the place, it was at the height of stop 1 or 2, more or less, of La
Mansa. What can be seen to the left of everything on the horizon,
as I also said, is Gorriti Island. Then it continues there, what you
see is the San Antonio hill, and what you saw before to the right
was the Pan de Azucar hill. Here you can see one of the races that
took place.

I am not a specialist in the subject, evidently they are small boats.

They are not the big ones I saw the next day, as I was at La Brava
(beach). But well, just to show you that this kind of competitions
are also common. There is also a swimming competition: you can
go swimming to the island. Because normally it’s forbidden to swim
because of the cruise ships and the boats that pass by. It is
forbidden to swim from the coast of Playa Mansa to Gorriti Island.
But there is a day that in the morning you can swim or kayak that
route. And so well, water sports are very common here.

Much more common than what I saw, for example, in Montevideo.

The hill behind, which I want to correct myself for that, is the San
Antonio. So the first thing you see on the horizon is Gorriti Island,
followed by the San Antonio hill, which you can climb if you go to
Piriápolis. And biggest one is Pan de Azucar, one of the highest
hills in Uruguay, where you can also trek, there is a national park, a
natural reserve around it. I was recommended to go there several
times… This is a little bit what the beach is like in a rougher way.
Here you can see one of the yachts… As I was saying, it is very
common the nautical sport in this bay of La Mansa Beach that
practically reaches Punta Ballena, about 10 kilometers away.

And here a little bit of people on the beach sunbathing: different

shots. This beach, as you can see, is quite crowded. But there’s
not mostly young people, I think that girl you see there is the only

22
one… See… the classic beach where people play shuffleboard,
lots of families, lots of Uruguayans as well. It is not a beach that is
mostly (full) of Argentines. There you see one of the places to eat,
that even has a waiter, surprisingly, which many small paradores in
the Montoya area do not have. I highly recommend this hot dog
stand, it is cheap and the guy is very cool. And here you can still
see the beach, I think this is in the middle of January. Because it’s
not the same amount of people as in other shots.

Here are the cruise ships. As I told you, practically every day you
see a different one. And you can even find them in the
application… in the app called Marine Traffic. where you can see
the ships and boats that are there, even the yachts can be seen, in
these pictures (images). But practically every day, it was a different
cruise ship in the bay of Playa Mansa. And this is already the
actual skyline of Playa Mansa, (as seen) from Parada 1. There you
will see the Pan de Azucar hill, which is about 500 meters high and
is one of the highest in Uruguay. You are also going to see different
yachts, boats, jet boats, jet skis, or rather, sailboats…

It’s like a big swimming pool at Playa Mansa. Which as I said

extends almost 10 kilometers, to what you see in the background:
the cape of Punta Ballena. Well, here you see the different boats of
different sizes, there are gigantic ones and there are small ones.
Jet skis, people paddle surfing. It is one of the largest “pools” in the
world… The only problem that really has this beach, is that
sometimes (see the kayak) sometimes the water is quite cold and
there are jellyfish. It’s a beach that’s characterized… (it’s rather a
group of beaches, because it’s actually almost 10 kilometers long)
that is characterized by having a lot of jellyfish. Well, there’s even
water skiing, jet skis; pretty much any water sport you can imagine
happens here on this beach.

(For) most of the sports that are being practiced, in general, you
can rent things. I mean, paddle surf boards, kayak boards, even jet
skis, I understand that they don’t even ask for a special license,
like here in Argentina. Well, there you see other yachts… Let’s see
if this is the shot that shows the bay… That’s Punta Ballena in the
background, basically seen from far away. There, is going to be

23
seen the Pan de Azucar hill. And here we continue a little over the
horizon. Well: if we continue along the horizon we would see
Piriápolis, but that is the Pan de Azucar.

Which, as I said, can be climbed on foot. There you can see in

Piriápolis where Cerro San Antonio stands. And here we return to
LA Mansa beach, one of the last days. In general I had many
sunny days, practically out of the whole 30 days I may had 27
sunny days. This is already later in the month, because the shots
that you see in this video are chronologically ordered. In spite of
being ordered by place, after being ordered by place, they are
ordered by the time they were shot. There you see another one of
the cruises, which as I said, practically every day I saw a different
cruise ship. Also the type of cars that people drive around here,
which may not be the same high-end cars that you see in La Barra.

Well, and another regatta, many days there were regattas. The
truth is that I am not a fan of nautical sports, but if I were, I would
also visit Punta del Este because… …there’s everything, really
anything you could like, whether it’s trekking on the hill you see
behind, water sports, theater shows… …that is, going out at night,
discos, high class restaurants… There you can see a cruise, that
is, they have practically everything. And you find people from all
countries, much more obviously from South America, but you hear
people from all countries of the world. And there you can see a
little bit of, which I didn’t get to film much, unfortunately, from here:
Gorriti island. One of the first Spanish fortifications on the site,
apart from one that was obviously at Punta del Este peninsula.
This is from the last day, I wanted to add this, although it is poorly
filmed, I admit it, because you can better see Gorriti Island.

This is badly filmed but, well, there it goes up to the main avenue
(Gorlero). And this is the beach, one of the last days, if I’m not
mistaken January 26th. Sorry if my voice is a little bit mixed with
the original, but I wanted to get this right, because the on-site
voiceover had a lot of wind. In fact, I had to make a lot of
adjustments to the audio. But this is La Mansa beach, the same
parador. Remember that this video is always about the same area.
And on one of the last days: you see that there are much less

24
people. In fact, the season is considered to end on January 31,
others say January 15.

But you can clearly see the smaller number of people compared to
those seen at the beginning of the video. Anyway, the person in
the restaurant that you can see on the right of the image, told me
that he kept the place open until almost Easter. That this beach
always had people, that is, if you go in February or March you will
also find people on this beach. And not like the others, that maybe
in February or March are more “dead”, let’s say.

25
26
Hello, I greet you all again. In this case, I want to show you one of
the most important places (for me) of Punta del Este, of the
peninsula. This is a McDonald’s located in Gorlero and 27th street.
Remember that Gorlero is the main avenue, which would be the
equivalent to a pedestrian street on the Argentinian coast. The
peninsula is more or less 15 blocks long and this is 4 blocks from
where the peninsula starts. Considering it from the continent,
obviously. And here, well, practically I went dozens of times. It’s a
pretty cheap place to eat, even though it costs about 3 times what
McDonald’s costs in Argentina.

At least for this summer 2023. It’s a gathering place of all kinds, it’s
like the center of the center, as I was saying in the pictures, in the
slideshows. Here they gather: from families with children to
teenagers before going out dancing or hanging around the beach.
It is an ultra-central place, as I was saying, right across the street I
would have a Burger King. And on the side that you’re looking at
now there’s a Mostaza, which is like an Argentine Burger King or
an Argentine McDonald’s. The first days of the season it’s not even
advisable to go there, because there’s going to be a queue around
the corner. A waiting line of 50 meters, and even if you go to an
upper floor, you will not find a place to sit. So either go very late,
after 11 o’clock, or directly on the busiest days of the season go
somewhere else, even though it may be more expensive.

Here I left I’m recording a little so you could see the kind of people
who pass through Gorlero street. Let’s remember that this is
Gorlero and 27th. There you can see for a few minutes the different
kinds of people, families, teenagers… Well: the kind of people that
you are going to see in the center of Punta del Este, in the center
of the peninsula. Here in Buenos Aires it would be an equivalent to
Florida and Lavalle, where there is also a McDonald’s nearby, half
a block away. It is the center of downtown. It is also open 24 hours
a day. I’ve gone there at 3:00 in the morning after leaving a disco,
on the last few days.

and it was all normal so I could eat. I think they close for 10
minutes at about 12 o’clock at night. But you can go at 3 o’clock, 6

27
o’clock in the morning, 10 o’clock in the morning and you’re going
to find this place open. I also want to say that the service is very
good. You can pay from the table, that is, you can order directly
from the table and have it delivered to you. If there is any kind of
problem, there are about 5 or 6 assistants, who bring you whatever
you need: whether it’s ice cream, whether it’s napkins, or well,
some kind of thing to wipe yourself. I dropped a Coke some day
and they replaced it. Let’s say: the service is very fast.

It’s a far cry from McDonald’s here in Argentina, at least the ones I
know. There you have another view, from the other side of the
corner. I tried to make it as long as possible, so you could see the
kind of people going by. It’s still very difficult, it’s very difficult to
get… First of all, filming: filming in a situation like this is sometimes
complicated, because there are so many people. But well: in a
moment you will see a panning; you can see that there are people
of all ages. A lot of family, obviously: the kids doing the
preparations (for going out at night)… Coming around this corner, I
mean, behind where I’m looking now… there are also a couple of
pubs.

I think one is called Bigote. It’s practically a craft brewery there.

And there’s another one called Crepas, it’s also very common in
teenagers and boys. There are these two places, which would be
the equivalent of pubs of Palermo here (in Buenos Aires), although
they are not dancing places. I remind everyone that the dancing
places are a couple of blocks away, four or five blocks, going to the
port. As I was saying, I must have been here 10 or 15 times during
the whole month of January. And I really don’t regret it: I saw all
kinds of people. You have that ability to see everybody go by, all
the cars.

It is really one of the most essential places, as I say, of what is the

Peninsula of Punta del Este. Then we have La Barra, but I will
show that in another video. But in Punta del Este visiting this place
it’s a must. Even if you don’t like to eat at McDonald’s, as I’m doing
there, it’s a must to go there to see the people who visit Punta del
Este. One block ahead, going to what would be my left is the Plaza
Artigas, where there is also a branch of the Banco República del

28
Uruguay. And there is also a tourist office. I never had any trouble
finding a place, although, well, I have strange sleeping and eating
schedules sometimes, but on the days that I had a problem I would
go somewhere else, either to Mostaza or Burger King. And if not, I
would go to a gas station, which is a few blocks from there, an
Axion Energy station, where the food is also very good: there are
elaborate dishes, although some of the employees don’t treat you
so well…

There you can see some of the girls there, if you want to see
beautiful girls it is also a very recommendable place. Because they
go around there like 50 times, as if they were going around the
block 50 times just to be seen. It’s an impressive thing: that’s why
I’m recording them here too. Although the video is (far from) what
you can personally experience on site. Hardly a video shows that.
It’s really like you can stay here for hours and really enjoy the
amount of people passing by and the variety and the place where it
is, it’s a place where you feel very good. More or less walking 3
blocks ahead from where I am, you find the sea. And a few blocks
(from there) to the left, the port.

And to my back, it is more or less 2 blocks, that you find the

seashore again. In case you want to walk at night, although you
will find a lot of teenagers, I warn you. But well: it is a highly
recommended place and that’s why I made this special video.
Greetings to all of you again.

29
30
Well, I greet you all again. This is Gorlero, January 2nd, one day
after arriving and leaving McDonald’s. I’m heading towards the
corner of 28th Street. Remember that McDonald’s is at 27th and
Gorlero. On the left you can see a very well known ice cream
parlor, Lucianno’s, which is also here in Buenos Aires. And here is
a view of the many galleries in Gorlero. And there is a bank on that
corner, Gorlero and 28th street. There are also a couple of
restaurants.

This is a sample block so you can see what Gorlero is like. It had
been, as you can see, a rather cloudy day. The first two days were
cloudy, fortunately the rest (most of them) were not. And here, well,
you can see a little bit of what the crossing is like in this very
central area of the peninsula of Punta del Este. Very central. This
is the Artigas Square, located in Gorlero between 25th and 23rd
streets. It is a square that occupies an entire block and where there
is normally a fair of artisans and there is also a tourist office. There
are also sometimes festivals at night.

I had gone here, to Banco República, which is right across the

street. To see if they would change a 100 dollar bill I had in my
pocket and that, in spite of being of the last series, was torn or
something like that: a little bit torn, a couple of millimeters. But well,
the truth is that they didn’t want to change it. But I had to go on
January 3rd, which was two days after I arrived. (at noon
practically) to that bank. There I also went to the to the tourist office
area, where they informed me quite well about the number of
things I could do. I also recommend this tourist office, apart from
the one near Parada 2 on the peninsula (at the end). They also
served me very well, even better than the other, I would say.

And here you can have a little bit of a panoramic view of this park
and this quite traditional area. It is like one of the foundational
areas of Punta del Este, that extended later to the River Plate on
the left side and the Atlantic Ocean on the right. That is exactly the
tourist office. And from here I’m approaching, what you see straight
ahead, in the right corner, is the Banco Republica, where they offer
accounts, obviously for people who do legal business, to (mainly)

31
Argentines. So there if they want to get an account in Uruguay is a
good option: travel to Punta del Este. and get an account there.
Also nicely decorated (all) by palm trees. Well, it’s January 17

and it’s a pretty windy day: 30 km per hour with gusts of 48. There’s
the sea all choppy. When I arrived the first few times… There I was
talking about the wind, which I suffered during the whole trip: it was
the constant. A little more from Punta del Este, January 17, 2023.
The sea is very windy. It is felt, even here on the peninsula, with
gusts of 40 km per hour. And the sailboats are taking advantage of
the weather.

Well, and as I commented in the video in situ, on site, you can see
here a regatta that took place in those days, in this case on
January 17, 2023… They were bigger boats than the ones I saw in
La Mansa. You can check later which regatta it was, but it was a
very picturesque thing, and they also had spectacular winds,
because there was, as I said, 30 km per hour of wind, plus gusts of
48 km per hour. Here I was walking down that 24th street, as I said.
I don’t remember if I was going to a laundromat or a barbershop.
I’m walking along 24th Street, which runs parallel to the waterfront
along Gorlero. There are quite a few laundromats near there, in the
peninsula of Punta del Este and where the neighborhood La
Pastora begins. Here I’m zooming in on one of the alleys facing the
sea.

Here you can watch the sea to one side or the other. Sunset and
sunrise are viewable on the sea. But, as I was telling you, there are
several laundries. The only problem is that they’re quite expensive.
It can cost $15 or so for a valet of clothes. And at the same time
they don’t have delivery service. So I might be heading here
(there’s another shot of the sea) to that laundromat to get the
clothes. I also found a couple of barbershops in the area.

A barbershop over there, where I’m going, that was near the
laundromat. And I also found a barber shop by Artigas square that
was seen earlier. But well, here if I’m not mistaken, because of the
location, I think I was approaching the barbershop. But well, here
you can see this street that is next to Gorlero. on the left side going

32
to the tip of Punta del Este. It is a fairly quiet area. This is already
Gorrero street at night, one of the last days I was there, on the
28th, if I’m not mistaken. The previous days were mostly not
walkable, mostly getting to the middle of the month.

But well: to show you a little bit of what that area is like at night. But
still imagine it completely full of people in the middle of January or
January 10 or so, which was when the whole place was the most
crowded. Well, you can buy everything there: electronics, clothes,
practically everything… And here is the flag of the Oriental
Republic of Uruguay, which, as you can see, looks a little bit like
the flag of Argentina. Well, and this is a Scalextric track, which is in
the center, right there by Gorlero. I had made a video the previous
trip and was thinking of making a special video of this, but I really
don’t think it’s that important, which it doesn’t deserve, rather. This
is very rare, because this Scalextric game, little cars like this,
electric, was something played not even by me when I was a kid,
but maybe by my parents. Let’s say: we’re talking about a 1960s or
1970s thing, long before the first video games existed.

And yet this place is (so I was told on the spot) at least 10 years
ago. And it is full of people. This is one of the last days of January,
but another day in January, other days, it would have been directly
impossible to enter. It’s full of kids. It’s a little bit expensive. I don’t
remember how much it cost to play, but it was kind of expensive.
It’s full of kids who are really into it. I’m not sure why.

It must be a revival like that of the VHS tapes collecting or vinyl

records. A kind of retro, neo-romantic vibe, that I like at one point.
But I’m a little surprised that 10-year-olds, totally digital natives, are
playing Scalextric, which was something that, I don’t know… my
dad played when he was a kid. I’m telling you: in the ’60s, the ’70s, I
don’t know… But it’s absolutely amazing. And well: I want to leave
you a little bit, almost raw (unedited). because it’s also part of
Gorlero…

This place is almost a classic. I had been there almost 8 years ago.
And I saw it again, surprisingly. Eight years ago there wasn’t the
digitization that there is now. Smartphones, for example, were not

33
as popular yet. And yet, here we have these people playing
Scalextric, which is absolutely awesome… Well: there are even
different… There must be 100 or 200 different makes and models
of cars.

And because they don’t know how to play it well, they get lost.
Every single one of the… they almost never make it all the way
around. And I don’t know what the prize is for a full lap either. But
hey, the guy over there has a lot of charisma and gets people to
line up. And I tell you, any other day that wasn’t the end of the
month, were I recording this, this would have been crowded, I
wouldn’t even have been able to get in. Otherwise, well, they let
me film, so I thank these people very much. And it just strikes me
as something that’s a colorful note and worth putting it out there
like that. In extenso.

In this video about Gorlero. And I don’t know if you’re going to have
something similar. But well, this is even before the arcade games,
before the Sacoa stores that were here in Argentina. So well, I
wanted to put this tribute for the retro people who may be following
me. And there, I’m getting a little out of that place. On the left there
is a laundromat. And there you get out to Gorlero street, which is
the main street of Punta del Este. Here I am just coming out of the
gallery.

This is Gorlero street between 28 and 27. On 27th Street there is

the McDonald’s, about which a special video was made. Here you
can see the kind of people in Punta del Este at night. Even though
this was filmed at the end of the month, you will basically see
families and teenagers up to 18 years old. Because when older
they go to places like Pinamar, Villa Gesell and even Mar del Plata.
But well, here you can see a little bit of the demographics of the
place. I owed this hike to myself, but as I told you before, I could
only do it in the last few days, because practically the whole month
this area was very crowded, mostly because of the fall of what
used to be La Barra. People who used to go out to La Barra at
night, moved here, to the center.

34
There is the McDonald’s, this is an external shot of the
McDonald’s, about which I recommend… there’s a special video
and there’s a series of photos taken specially about this
McDonald’s, saying that it is the center of downtown Punta del
Este. And that’s what I’m trying to show here. Here, if I’m not
mistaken, there is one of the Freddo ice-cream parlor. There is
Mostaza restaurant, on the right of the image. And on the left,
Burger King. That’s just to give you an idea of the centrality of this
place and also of the kind of people that are there. Now we’re
going to walk into the side street of the McDonald’s, which I had
mentioned in that video as well.

It’s 27th Street and it’s about two blocks or so from the ocean.
There you are going to see a little bit of McDonald’s in perspective,
from the outside. This is where there is a minimal nightlife, without
discotheques. We are going to see a couple of pubs and Crepas,
which is a very well-known place to eat or make a kind of dessert.
To the right you are going to see two places: one is Betty’s and
another one is Bigote, which are the kind of pubs that I mentioned
before. And here we are heading down the left side of 27th street
and down towards the sea, towards Crepas. Here I’m going to pan.
Excuse me a little bit, but in this situation you can’t film as much as
you would like.

I had brought a big camera and a gimbal to the trip, but obviously
in these circumstances I could not use it. And now we’re going to
cross over to the pubs in the downtown area. One, as I told you, is
Betty’s. Here’s a little bit of what they would be… Do you notice the
kind of the people that is around? They’re mostly under 18 and
families. And here you are going to see another very well known
place, called Capi. They also recommended it to me, I didn’t get to
eat there, but they recommended it to me.

So on that side you have Crepas and Capi on the left, which not
being pubs, are places that you could do a meeting before going
out. And here you have, indeed, two breweries, properly speaking,
that could be called pubs. And one of these that you’re looking at
now is Bigote. Obviously I couldn’t film much: that’s why the
sneaky shots. But just to give you an idea of what this place is like,

35
Bigote, which was recommended to me the most, although I
couldn’t specifically go. And here we leave Bigote, there on the
way back you see, on the corner, the McDonald’s. And here we are
at the entrance of the other mini-pub, named Betty’s, which I
couldn’t even get into. But you can see a little bit from the outside
what it’s like.

And at the corner we’re going to reach: there we are getting… to

the Burger King, which is in front of McDonald’s. This is just to
show you a little bit of what I had told you in another video: (there
you see the McDonald’s outside) that this is one of the most
important locations in downtown. I would even say it’s more
important than the port. Because in the port you are going to find a
lot of luxury, a lot of old people, a lot of foreigners, but always
couples or people over 30, 40 or 50 years old. This is the really
young-people’s area, which I recommend if visiting the tip of Punta
del Este. If not, directly go to La Barra, but as I don’t know if I
mentioned or not yet: in La Barra the nightlife is interesting more or
less until January 15. After that it drops off a lot. Back here, we
have the McDonald’s seen from the outside.

Now comes a commentary that I recorded on the spot… Well, this

is a bit Punta del Este at 4:30 in the morning, of today, which I don’t
know if it’s January 27 or 28. This is Gorlero: there is practically no
one. There are only people at McDonald’s, which is about two
blocks away, behind. This is the municipality. Well, and I continue
with the voice-over, recorded here in Buenos Aires. This must be a
day at 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning. That’s why there’s absolutely
no one.

And now we are going to approach, as I was saying in the

commentary on the place, the building of the municipality. But this
is what the Punta del Este peninsula looks like at the end of
January, heading towards the bus terminal. As you can see, there
is absolutely no one. Before, the headquarters of the municipality
of Punta del Este was in an area near the lighthouse. The
lighthouse might be about 8 blocks back. But now the municipality
of Punta del Este has moved here to this building, which is a very
classic Punta del Este building. I don’t remember what it hold

36
before. The tower that you are going to see now, 8 years ago they
let me go up but this time they didn’t.

I think there was a museum or something… Although from the

shape that you’re going to see now, it may have been some kind of
gas station… or something like that, because of the entrance area
that they have. But see: it’s a beautiful building. And I can’t even
tell you the panoramic views you have going up that tower. But
now it is the official headquarters of the municipality of Punta del
Este. That shows the shift of the central area of the peninsula, that
before was practically at the lighthouse and now it’s practically
here, which is 3 blocks from the terminal. So, basically I was
saying, they moved the municipal headquarters about 8 blocks
away from the peninsula, more to the mainland, which is where
we’re going now: we’re going now to where the Punta del Este
peninsula ends, where the neighborhood of La Pastora begins and
the bus terminal is located. Here we cross the 30th street.

We are between 30th and 31st street. Gorlero between 30th and
31st streets. Here the interesting thing is that you can see it without
people. As if you were here in winter, I guess. You see it’s a fairly
small place, but very crowded. To the right, or rather, diagonally,
you can see what is the Nogaró casino and theater, the most
important casino in Punta del Este before the Enjoy Conrad hotel
was inaugurated. And here a little bit of the architecture. On the left
there is a very important pharmacy, which is equivalent to
Farmacity in Argentina.

And a clothing store that is also very busy during the summer. At
the end of this block, that is, at Gorlero and 31st street, there is a
skate park. To the right of the screen, it would be. And further on,
going straight here, one more block, the bus terminal of Punta del
Este. And here is a very nice sign I shot.

37
38
Well: this area is a little more “mediterranean” … This is a
peninsula. And on the side over there is the River Plate. The end of
the River Plate.. And here it is the Atlantic Ocean. If I kept walking
more or less that way, I would reach Europe or Africa. Over here,
or rather: over there, David Guetta is going to play. And well, over
there is the Trump Tower too.

And this is called Brava Beach, because it is not a mixture of river,

it is directly the Atlantic Ocean. The South Atlantic is one of the
most complicated seas. Even at this latitude, we are almost 2000
kilometers: almost 3000 kilometers from Antarctica… Look what
this is! This is really called Playa Brava. And here the coastal slope
falls very hard; that’s why there are so many waves. And here
there are usually surfers. Well: it’s even a dangerous area for
swimming.

That’s why people are advised to go to the other side, exactly 300
meters from here, which is still the River Plate. And up ahead,
where I’m going to zoom in, it is the most important area here.
Where celebrities go, which are basically… Look at this postcard!
Basically Manantiales and well, the beaches of La Barra. And
Manantiales at the end, and then there the village of José Ignacio.
Well, with this postcard, I say goodbye… (January 2) And here I
am the next day, walking along 31st street, which is called
Inzaurraga.

There you can see on the left, exchange houses, in 31st and
Gorlero. Here they practically do not ask for any documentation for
the exchange, unless it is a very important amount. There on the
right you can see the Nogaró casino, one of the first casinos in
Punta del Este. Today you also have the Enjoy Conrad (hotel and
casino). And here you have a panorama in front of you: what you
see is the skate park. The casino on the right, now I’m just
crossing, or about to cross… On the left you will also see a place,
apart from the money exchange, called Quijote, where they have
all kinds of things, from electronics, beach gear, surfboards, it’s an
incredibly complete place. And here I am crossing Gorlero and 31st
street, as I was saying.

39
What you see on the left is the skate park, where there used to be
a parking lot. And I’m heading towards the Brava beach stop 1,
which is usually called, after the monument, “Los Dedos” (the
fingers). I continue then walking, this is at 11:21:21 in the morning,
of that day January 3. You get to see a little to the left the skate
park. And the skies, which in general, were quite clear those days.
Practically the whole month, because it was so windy, the skies
were almost always clear. There were practically only 2 or 3 cloudy
and rainy days in the whole month of January. And that’s what’s
left of the parking lot, it used to be this whole block parking lot.

And now it’s partially skate park and partially a parking lot. On the
right, you can see a place where I always had breakfast, and you
eat very well, and there is very good service, called Fulana’s, which
I highly recommend. And now we’re coming up to 24th street,
which is seen in another one of the videos. Here we are already
going down to the beach, to stop 1 of the Brava, that day January
3, 2023, approximately at 12 noon. What you are going to see here
is that the beach, in general, is with different people than what you
see in the beach stop 1 of La Mansa. That is, here in general it is
seen (even though they are at the same altitude: they are 300
meters apart, because it is a peninsula) Here you will see that
there are younger people, less families: another type of people.
This beach is also a typical surfer’s beach, where surf tournaments
are often held.

Both this (beach) and the one that follows to the right, which is
called El Emir. In El Emir there is a surf school. And here, well, I
practically filmed this fully clothed. I don’t think I even had trunks
because it was one of the first days, and on top of that it was noon,
where well, I burn a lot because of my skin color. But here I just
wanted to film a panorama of what it’s like on January 3rd in Punta
del Este, Uruguay. This, one of the most iconic beaches, called Los
Dedos. Stop 1 more specifically. In fact, at the exit of the beach
there is a bus stop that is stop number 1, which normally takes you
to the city of Maldonado, which is close to Punta del Este.

I would really ask you, if you can, to compare this video with
another one from stop 1 at Mansa beach, so that you can see that

40
the type of people is different. In fact, all those buildings that you
see on the left are much, much more expensive. Any apartment
there (or apartamento as they call it in Uruguay, or piso as they call
it in Spain) is much more expensive than an apartment on La
Mansa beach. This beach is about 8 kilometers long. Up to stop
number 28, if I’m not mistaken, where La Gorgorita beach begins,
which I showed in another video, and it is (at) just the mouth of the
Maldonado creek, when it ends in the sea, in the Atlantic Ocean,
more precisely. At the side of this beach, as I told you, it is El Emir
beach. There you can see a little of the buildings in this area, which
are much more modern than those of Playa Mansa. I was telling
you that to the right of this beach, where I am panning now, it is, I
don’t know if it is going to be seen well, the Lady de la Candelaria:
the altar of the Lady de la Candelaria, who is the patroness of the
city.

This is already on January 7, that is, another day, the one you are
seeing now. But as you can see, there are also a lot of people,
because the first days of the month is when more people are
concentrated in the city of Punta del Este. That is what is called
high season, which technically extends from December 24 or 25,
until January 7 or 10. Normally on those dates, for Christmas and
New Year’s Eve, are celebrated in different types of restaurants
and hotels in the area special dinners, with dancing and balls at
night, which usually cost between US$100 and US$500 per person,
depending on the place you go to. This rocky promontory
determines, as I was saying, the limit between El Emir beach and
stop 1, Los Dedos of La Brava* beach, which is the one you are
seeing now, but you are seeing it from that promontory, where El
Emir beach practically begins and the altar of the Lady of la
Candelaria is located, more precisely a few meters ahead walking
along this promenade. By this same rambla you can go around the
entire peninsula, about 5 kilometers long, which I recorded and will
be uploaded soon in another video. And here I am showing the
curve that determines, precisely, the end of this beach of Los
Dedos. It is a very rocky area and there are many fishermen and
kids looking for crabs or snails.

41
And you can see, further ahead is El Emir beach, in the
background, where that building is. Well, and there you have
almost in the foreground, the flag of the Oriental Republic of
Uruguay, that with the wind blowing so heavily, as during most of
the month, looked pretty good. And one more pan, that day
January 7, 2023, of the beach, from stop 1 of Brava beach. As I said
at the beginning of the video, 6 stops from here, more or less 1
kilometer away, David Guetta’s concert took place on January 2,
2023. This is already on January 23rd, more precisely at 13.45.
Here you can see what I was talking about: that there are a lot of
kids surfing. It is a very good beach to learn how to surf, because it
is not as complicated as Montoya or Bikini beaches, where the
swell is much stronger. So both on this beach, which is stop 1, and
on El Emir beach, which continues down the peninsula, there are
surf schools, where the kids learn how to surf

and then maybe practice it on the beach later on, on the beaches
past the mouth of the Maldonado creek, on the beaches of
Montoya and Bikini, for example. As you can see in these central
beaches, as I was saying, this was on January 23rd, not on
January 3rd as at the beginning of the video, and nevertheless,
there are people. So if you stop at a hotel in this downtown area,
you’re usually going to find people, even the first days of February,
when the feast of La Candelaria, the Patronesss Virgin of the
place, is celebrated. And here you can finish watching the kids
learning to surf in this beach of the stop 1 of La Brava. This is
already one of the last days, a cloudy day, January 27th. But well, I
also wanted to show what the area was like on a bad day. Because
you don’t only have to show things on nice days, but also on ugly
days. But people anyway taking advantage of being there on the
beach, enjoying what would probably be their last days of vacation.

Let’s remember that for an Argentine to go to this place is

absolutely a luxury: the prices were more or less three times more
expensive than they were here in Argentina. What you can see in
the background is the Isla de Lobos, which can be visited for 50
dollars on a boat leaving from the port. But as I was saying, the
people who are here took advantage of the beach, because being
the end of the month and probably making a huge effort to be able

42
to go… Many are the owners of the apartments that are in the
area, those who go at the end of the month. But well, they take
advantage of even these last days, like this January 27th that I’m
recording, to enjoy the beaches of Punta del Este. Anyway, on
cloudy days there are things to do in Punta del Este: for example,
go to the theater or to the casino. You can also visit, as I did that
day, the city of Maldonado, which is a city with museums and a lot
of colonial history. Maybe one of the first fortifications of the
Spanish Empire in this area.

Next what you are going to see is a 360 degree pan of the stop:
there on the right you were looking at the bus stop; a bus coming in
on the right. And exactly that, you have a 360 view of the place. In
this area there are lots of clouds like the ones you see. Clouds of
not much height, which also make the panoramic views and
sunsets incredible. There is a kind of pier, where people also
usually sit to watch the clouds at sunset. Or to rest a bit, after
having surfed. It is also a classic in Punta del Este.

43
44
Hello, I greet you all again. In this case, to show you a video that
complements the video of Avenida Gorlero and its surroundings…
Here you can see the Moon; there are also spectacular moonrises
in the East, as in this case. Here you can also see a central area,
where the flag of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay is. Before, some
years ago, there were flags of different countries. And now, if I
remember correctly, there is a kind of sundial and also a Hebrew
menorah. It’s a fairly central area, obviously. And here you can see
one of the most famous gas stations in the peninsula of Punta del
Este.

The ANCAP, located at 20th and 30th (street). It is also a very good
place to have a snack or breakfast. Because as I told you in
another video, the ideal place to eat cheap is the Axion station,
which is right on the diagonal, at 20th and 30th streets. And here
you can see a place where I practically ate many times and had
breakfast, as in this case, which is called “A brillar Café”. and was
founded by a couple of Uruguayans who met in Argentina,
watching a concert of the group Los Redonditos de Ricota. They
have very good service and very good food, plus a very familiar
atmosphere. Across the street there is also one of the best known
stores in the area: is called Lolita, as you can see: a diminutive of
Dolores in Spanish. Here’s another postcard from 31st street: a
cruise ship.

Which as I said in other videos, I used to see one parked there

every day. Evidently, Maldonado bay has a certain depth. At least,
I don’t know, 30 feet so that they can anchor this type of cruisers. I
also recommend watching the videos from late 2018 about my
cruise trip, so you can get an idea of the size and what these types
of “vehicles” that sail the seas are like. They are real floating cities.
Here is the classic monument Los Dedos, filmed from 24th Street.
Remember that from the other side of the peninsula come the
streets: 18, 20, 22 (which is Gorlero) and this one, which is 24,
which practically borders the Atlantic Ocean coastline. A brutalist
building…

45
And here a group singing. Unfortunately I can’t leave the original
audio, because they’ll probably mark it as copyrighted or
something. But this is also one of the main streets there, downtown
Punta del Este. And there were some folks (one day after coming
from the beach), who were there singing for the people. There are
places with a lot of people and as I tell you, it’s 31st street. And it’s
very common to have a lot of people and sometimes (although it’s
the first time I saw it) this kind of show. And well, this was already
one of the last days, January 27 more precisely. There on the right
you have the Nogaró casino.

It was a day, as you can see, quite cloudy. And I was pretty sleepy
too, because I filmed, as you can see, pretty badly. But there I am
walking down 31st street… About 100 meters ahead is the sea.
Towards a place… there you can see a lot of parked cars. And to
the left there is a skate park, which I mentioned and is going to be
seen in another video. There you can see what…

what caught my attention at that time, because it was a dry

season, so it was very windy and the sky, 90% of the days, was
clear. So here I am heading down that street, 31st street, after
crossing 22nd street, that is, Gorlero, to the place on that corner,
which I highly recommend because of the view and everything,
called Fulana’s. There you can have breakfast, eat, everything. It’s
a place that I even think organizes New Year’s Eve and Christmas
dinners. And here I am from there, from Fulana’s, but not on the
27th but on the 30th (of January) a sunny day and back with the
Uruguayan flag, which is in the central square, in front of the Punta
del Este bus terminal. As I was saying, the building that you can
see there on the left is the Conrad building, the Conrad Hotel and
Casino, which is now called Enjoy. And as I was saying, this is
basically the central square, at the moment, of Punta del Este.
Here you have also a mini panoramic view of the place.

It is one of the most central areas, if not the most of Punta del Este.
And here I am that same day, returning from that place, having had
breakfast or a snack, which is called Fulana’s, on January 30,
2023*. Sorry about these stabilization issues, I’m just realizing this
was recorded with the iPhone X and not with the iPhone 13, with

46
which I had been recording the other part; hence also the color
issues. But this is basically Avenue 31, to the left the Casino
Nogaró. And we’re going to.. In front, there’s Gorlero Avenue,
which, as I told you, constitutes the center of the peninsula of
Punta del Este. And now, well, to the right are the exchange
houses, a little more to the right, the Bus Terminal. There, is a
place called Empanadas Calentitas (although according to what
the owners told me it has nothing to do with the classic of the Barra
de Maldonado, which is named Medialunas Calentitas).

And now the comment (in situ) about the exchange houses: Well,
this are exchange houses here in Punta, but they are all the same,
this is the small business that they do here, which is the big
problem of liberalism, when the State is not there. Do you notice
the gap between buying and selling dollar prices, which is less
than 5%? Now: look at the gap between buying and selling of the
Argentine peso: it is more or less 500%. That is the trick, the
“avivada”, of the exchange houses here. This one is exactly the
same. And these are the things I don’t like about liberalism, that
allows this kind of things to happen…

47
48
Well, what I’m going to show now is a very important moment for
me, because I was going to visit a shopping mall. A shopping that
has been very important for me in the last trip: Punta Shopping.
This shopping center burned down on August 6, 2022. And well: I
especially wanted to visit it. This was on January 3rd, practically
two days after I arrived. As I was saying, it was important because
(in) the previous trip, I was fortunately in Punta del Este for 40
days, and went to this place almost every day. It had been almost
my second place to stay, because it had been a very rainy
summer. And then those rainy days you couldn’t go to the beach
because it was cloudy.

I would go there to the movies, to the food court, or to the different

places that were there. There was also a big supermarket, which is
one of the most important in Punta del Este, called Tienda Inglesa.
But well, for me it was a place that had really been my second
home in Punta del Este on the last trip. And when I found out that it
burned down last August, it was like a very shocking thing. I hadn’t
even thought about this trip then. And that’s why it was important
for me to go there again. The shopping occupied about two blocks,
as you can see. And most of the structure was damaged.

Let’s say 90%. Although it didn’t burn in its entirety, the truth is that
got burned completely the subfloor, the second floor… In other
words, the building itself was rendered useless. There you are
going to see a little bit… I believe that it was one of the three most
important places in Punta del Este, one of the most important
being Gorlero Avenue, which I showed in another video, this,
precisely, this shopping mall, which was a great meeting place,
always full of people, and the other place, obviously, the Barra de
Maldonado area. Well, I’m going here too because I had been…I
was missing… (as you can see, there is also a casino, which I
understand it’s open) but well, in this case, I had gone there also
because I was missing a part of my GoPro. This is filmed mostly
with GoPro. It’s an old GoPro, that’s why there are these
stabilization problems you see.

49
But I was missing an accessory and wanted to see if it was
available there. Because I knew that Tienda Inglesa (a
supermarket) was there, that it was rebuilt outside. I don’t know if
you can hear the audio, but this is what’s left of the Punta del Este
shopping mall. Well, I’m showing you a walking tour of the
shopping mall area. So you can also see how big it was; less than
half of the actual property is left. The building was practically
destroyed. But well: here I am going to show, in this video, which
lasts almost 15 minutes, what it is like going around this shopping
mall and its surroundings, so that you have an idea of what it is.
Here you can arrive from the center, from stop 1, just taking a bus
in less than 10 minutes; it is more or less 15 blocks, or 1.5
kilometers.

And there’s still around something that you’re going to see on the
right side of the screen: some of the small stores that used to
border the shopping mall, which used to be like an annex to the
shopping mall, it is all that’s left: practically nothing. There are
nearly 5 stores left. This is a general panning, and may be useful
for videographers to compare the previous footage, which is shot
with a GoPro, with this one, shot with the iPhone 13 Pro Max: you
can see it requires virtually no stabilizer. No gimbal or anything like
that: one can shoot with the iPhone 13 Pro Max without having to
stabilize. This part of the video is not stabilized. This part that IS
stabilized; it is the one recorded with GoPro. There you see one of
the places: a kind of toy store. I think there’s a pharmacy up ahead.

As I was saying, you can get here very quickly from the city
center… (because maybe in 1 or 2 years, when someone sees this
video, everything is already rebuilt) And you arrive very fast by bus
from stop 1 (of La Brava). There is what I think is a pharmacy. Here
you practically had a social gathering place. A shopping mall that is
several times the size of the shopping mall in La Barra. Which is in
the heart of Punta del Este. That it’s close to everywhere.

That has a movie theater, that has a casino. It is one of the largest,
I would say, in the whole region of Maldonado, of the entire county,
it is one of the most important places. Here I talk for a second with
a couple of guards that were there. -Hello. What’s left of the

50
shopping? I mean, Tienda Inglesa… It’s like they set up a separate
place. -Yes, exactly.

-There’s nothing left of the shopping, not even the movie theater,
not even a store? Nothing? -Nothing. Nothing, inside nothing. No
movie theater, no food court, no shops inside either. Nothing at all.
-I mean, this was put back together from scratch? -Yes, from
scratch.

Crazy. Super crazy. -When was the fire? -It was in… in June, July,
it was a month… -And actually, pretty good (the Tienda Inglesa
reconstruction). Well, I’m going to look over there, I see
everything’s there. Well, thank you. I was just finishing up talking to
the locals.

It is very important, if you make a trip, to gather information. Talk to

cab drivers, to bus drivers, to anyone you can talk to, just talk. And
even if it takes half an hour or a whole hour, do it. Play dumb, if you
have to, whatever, but try to get information, which is the basis of
journalism. And mostly when you have YouTube or Twitter
accounts and want to communicate with a lot of people. In this
case, what I managed to gather is that the fire, that fire on August
6th, was caused by (precisely) a fire that initiated in Tienda Inglesa.
The English Store (Tienda Inglesa) that you see separately now,
was a part of the shopping center building. And it had some eating
places, like I was telling you, some places selling hot dogs or
hamburgers, at the exit of the checkout line.

It seems that there (where there were not so many security

precautions) is where the fire started. And on top of that, it was at
night, and out of the tourism season, in August. So I suppose there
was very little surveillance and very few firefighters ready to put out
the fire. For me it was a very shocking thing, because I had been
covering online the whole Ukrainian war. (I’m still doing it every
day). and for me to see a fire in a place that I loved so much and
had been to so many times… it was like a very strong thing, it was
as if suddenly a bomb or something like that had fallen on a
place… that was part of one’s history.

51
Because in the previous trip I was, as I told you, practically half of
the days in that place. I was there morning, noon and night. So
well, it was a very strong moment too, between so many flames
and so much fire of the war, to see the same in a place so dear to
me. There I’m getting close and I’m going to go around a
McDonald’s, which is still there, although it used to be somewhere
else. They had to reformat everything; that was a parking lot. They
had to reassemble everything. Where the Tienda Inglesa is now,
there used to be a parking lot. And this was also part of it…
because the McDonald’s, if I’m not mistaken, was somewhere else.

But, well, there is some kind of a drive-thru here, where you can go
or eat right there. It’s a McDonald’s which, if I’m not mistaken, is
also open 24 hours, as is the one in Gorlero and, if I am not
mistaken, the one in Maldonado. The one in the center of
Maldonado. And well, I’m going around it to give you an idea at
ground level. Sorry about the panning issues. The footage had to
be stabilized because of the GoPro issue. It’s an old GoPro. And
requires software stabilization.

In this case using Final Cut Pro. But well, here you also have an
idea of the place: it’s Roosevelt Avenue, which I didn’t mention
before. I do want to mention it: this is one of the most important
avenues in Punta del Este. There are several commercial places
around, as you can see. Around the shopping mall, in the absence
of the shopping (building) itself, different types of stores began to
grow. There’s a place up ahead also called Tienda Devoto, which
is also a kind of mini-shopping. Although it doesn’t have the
location and importance of this one. Because the importance of
this one is its location.

It is near the beach, it may be more or less 10 blocks from the

beach, from La Mansa. From the peninsula it’s about 15 blocks. So
it’s a really central location. And I think it’s been 20 or 25 years
since it opened. So it was part of the daily life of all the people of
Punta del Este and those of us who visited it. Here I am coming out
of a restaurant where I asked a question. Just where they were
selling some of the GoPro accesory that I hadn’t been able to get,
which I later got at an old man’s store downtown. But well, as

52
always many Uruguayans, they don’t know how to handle tourism
well.

And I say this in a good mood, because it is a country that I love

very much. Really very much. But the tourism issues… they should
educate people about tourism in Uruguay, and they would have
triple or quadruple the number of visitors. Because a lot of people
working in tourism, including restaurants obviously, don’t have
even the minimum training and sometimes they even treat tourists
badly. It doesn’t happen so much with the cab drivers: here we are
just passing by a cab rank, but it does happen in many other areas,
such as the beach clubs (paradores). Or even with people at
stores of different branches: practically all branches. Because that
is also tourism, tourism is not only the tourism office, or the ones
that guide the visits to the museums or the excursions: tourism is
everything. Because when you visit a city like this, which is
predominantly a tourist destination, all the people that work with
the public, should have a training in the attention to the tourist and
the visitor.

And let’s be clear once and for all, and I want to be honest with all
the people: Punta del Este is a city (which is also confirmed by the
same Uruguayans you talk to) practically founded and developed
by Argentines and by money coming from Argentina. So, it is really
incredible that even one who is Argentine, and you can tell he is
Argentine, is sometimes treated in a very impolite way. Although
you have to treat anyone right, no matter if they are Irish, Czech or
Austrian, you have to treat them nicely. Those issues really
surprised me… Here I’m going around, as you can see it’s a huge
property; that’s also why I wanted to show it in its entirety. Here I
am going around and you will see a little bit of the “disaster” area:
what was left of the shopping mall, what was left of the structure; it
was a huge shopping mall. I wish in the previous trip I had carried
all the things I did on this one for video recording… But well, it
wasn’t a trip like this and there wasn’t as much technology.

And I wasn’t as willing to record, because I didn’t have a channel

with so many subscribers. But well: here you can see a little bit of
what was left and its the size too. That’s why I leave all this walking

53
footage, to give you an idea of the size of the place, which for a city
of 100,000 is a lot. They built some sort of similar shopping mall
anyway. But it’s at a crossroads that’s about 10 or 15 km away.
Well, this is a shopping mall here in Punta del Este, Uruguay, that
burned down more or less in August, if I’m not mistaken. It was like
the shopping (center), the only shopping (center) here, shopping
mall or shopping center (I don’t know how you call it in your
country), and now they are renovating it. What strikes me is the
number of fires, because there were also fires in shopping malls in
Russia, Also in Turkey:

well there were several fires. And this caught fire… So… Well, kind
of weird… But this is Punta del Este. It’s summer here. In Europe
they are freezing. And here, well, I’m using a sunscreen.

So… this is a burnt shopping center, but I wanted to come here

because I remembered the shopping center in Russia. In Moscow,
near Moscow, if I’m not mistaken. And I remembered other fires
that were there. There were a lot of fires. This part did not come
out well in the original audio. I said there were a lot of fires
elsewhere. There had been a lot of fires and it had caught my
attention: this fire that had occurred during the war. I still want to
say thanks to Apple for “allowing” this kind of wide angle camera,
which was missing in previous iPhone models, and that allows me
to do these types of shots, which I couldn’t do before.

And the stabilization also works very well. Very good. Look what’s
left of this! Well, this is what shopping malls look like when they
catch fire, like me now under the sun. But well, I wanted to show a
little bit because people from Spain don’t believe it’s summer here.
They didn’t believe me in Barcelona (in 2018) that it was summer
here at that time. But indeed, it is summer. And here, well…

Well, I always leave the commentary on the spot because I think

the experience right on the spot is much more important… … than
what one can say now, five months later. But well, I was telling you
that they inaugurated a new shopping mall in a crossroads in the
outskirts of Punta del Este and that, well, I think it is not in such an
important area as this shopping mall is, which is about the same

54
latitude as La Mansa Stop 6, more or less and also about 20 blocks
or so from the Brava, and about 15 blocks from downtown Punta
del Este, where I was (stopping) basically.

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56
Hello everybody! As an introduction, I am going to show you the
course that you are going to see in the video. This starts here at
the Manantiales stop, that is, at the last stop of the Codesa bus,
that goes from Punta del Este to Manantiales (let’s see if I can
zoom out a little). Well, here we have Punta del Este; here we have
a distance of more or less 8 kilometers. The bus goes all the way
around here, through La Barra de Maldonado. This is the famous
route of more or less 3 kilometers from the beaches that go from
Bikini to Manantiales, among which is Montoya, which is here. And
this is the last section. Well, and what you are going to see now in
images is the last stop of the bus to Manantiales.

And, when I turn here (this is a complex called Terrazas de

Manantiales). And the route along all this beach: first from here,
and then going down and bordering this cape, which will also be
seen. And here is where the whole Bikini beach starts. Maybe it
was a little bit longer trail, because I think I extended a little bit
more to the left. This is the beach resort of Bikini, that is, the
parador. You are going to see that in these 25 minutes of video; I
wanted to make this little introduction (these buildings are also
going to be widely seen). Then, at the end, we are going to get
here, which is the bus stop on the way back. And what I think I said
in other videos, the more or less 5 blocks of lenght of Manantiales,
as opposed to Barra de Maldonado, which are about 10.

Such a route here looks like 1.49 kilometers; in reality I must have
walked 2 kilometers at least… but I wanted to make this
introduction so you have an idea of the location and the zone we
are talking about… Let’s say: both the particular location and the
general location. Here is the El Chorro beach, where the accident
with the Argentinian girls took place. Here is another beach resort,
called Buenos Aires, I think in tribute to the number of Argentines
who live in the area. And here is Punta del Este. It looks like there
is much more distance here, but there is not. There may be about
10/12 kilometers between here and here.

Well, this is like a little introduction, and now let’s go to the

footage… Here I am then at the bus stop, after getting off the

57
bus… and starting to walk to Manantiales beach… There are some
gentlemen… -Well, I film you, I couldn’t take pictures of you, but I
film you… So there you are, look yourselves up on YouTube. -Ok,
thank you. Well, I was saying that there were some gentlemen
there who, when they saw me with the camera, asked me to take a
picture of them. And well: I still didn’t have everything ready

So I had no choice but to film them… This is Manantiales, I’m

walking on Manantiales… and here there is a beach and then
comes El Chorro… Well, there is the commentary on the place,
after having descended. As I always tell you, I love to leave
comments on the spot because they describe the experience a
little better than I can describe it now, 4 months later. I’m walking
slowly towards the beach that… Manantiales beach, supposedly,
it’s called. This is the beach in front of the Terrazas de Manantiales
building. There is also a small parking lot there.

This was on the 9th of January, at about 3 o’clock in the afternoon;

because that’s the time you get to the beach (mostly because of
how strong the sun is in the morning). There is the parking lot I was
telling you about, it is a small beach. Normally, this place is not as
crowded as Bikini beach, which is just around the corner, where we
are going to arrive after doing this virtual walk of almost 1
kilometer. But I wanted to show other beaches that are not the
mainstream beaches. First of all, I apologize for the stabilization
issues: I made the mistake of using a camera that had no
stabilization by default. It is a great camera, the Panasonic Lumix,
but at the time of filming (in 4K in this case) it did not perform any
kind of stabilization, in spite of using a GorillaPod. I had to correct
the 55 minutes or so of the raw video I had. Less than 25 were
useful.

But well, I tried to do my best to show you this because it’s also a
sample of what the place is. This beach itself, as you can see, is
very deserted. It’s a beach that’s not a mainstream beach, as
would Montoya or Bikini be. The beach umbrellas you see there
are from the apartments that are right on the road. But, well, it
caught my attention, being January 9th (still in high season,
practically) the small amount of people (and I had a talk with a

58
person who worked at this kind of apart-hotel; these sort of
apartments that are there) (we) were very surprised by the small
number of people for January 9th. Well, compared to previous
seasons… It’s a pretty exclusive area northwards from here… I
mean, the beaches I showed in the map: El Chorro, Buenos Aires
(there is one called Eden Park) until you get to José Ignacio; even
passing it…

they are all secluded beaches (because some of them don’t even
have lifeguard booths) but they are all “exclusive” places: people
can go there with their cars and have practically the whole beach
to themselves. All beaches very similar to this one. There you can
see in the distance the peninsula of Punta del Este, which, as I told
you, is about 10-15 kilometers away; on the map you can see it
quite well. There’s also these people, which I understand is mostly
the people that were stopping at that hotel/apart-hotel: Terrazas de
Manantiales. And here you can see the width of the beach. As I
said, this is a pretty exclusive area, but, well, there’s a commentary
on the place, which also adds a little bit… Well, we continue here…
That’s where Codesa’s service ends, in Manantiales… and over
there is El Chorro and Buenos Aires.

Here is the beach, (where) there are practically not many people.
And now I’m going to keep going down to Bikini, right? This beach
itself is not Bikini, this beach technically is called Manantiales, as
the place is called; the one that is Bikini is just the beach that we
are going to and the one we are slowly approaching… As you can
see, it has a lifeguard hut, so it is a safe beach, you can go
confidently. It is also quite a wide beach, as you can see. You can
practically take an beach umbrella or a deck chair and nobody will
bother you and so on the other beaches northwards, going to José
Ignacio. There’s all these kinds of beaches, maybe even less
crowded. Comment in situ now…

Well, we continue with this beach, which is north of Bikini: its

neighboring beach. And there’s the bus, the last stop. The Codesa
bus, going to Manantiales, this area; this is the limit of Manantiales.
Well, this is the beach in perspective, a little bit farther away, and
walking to Bikini (beach). On the map, they look like really very

59
short beaches, but when one walks on them, things are really
different: the distances; they feel so much longer, when walking in
sand and walking under the sun. It was a mistake I made in a few
places on this trip. thinking: “well, two or three kilometers is
nothing”… but two or three kilometers in the sand and under the
sun is one thing (also with a UV radiation of 13) and another thing
is to walk that distance in a city or in another place, without these
weather conditions. Well, this is a normal thing, people out there on
the beach playing.

The peninsula of Punta del Este, on the left, in the background.

And here we’re going to start skirting the cape, that’s going to take
us towards Bikini Beach, which is the most famous, best known,
most visited beach in Manantiales. These rock formations are very
common throughout Punta del Este. and, in this case, they mark
the beach changes… These rocks are the ones that delimit the two
beaches, the one over there is Bikini… and this one, which I’m
going to turn here, exactly, it’s a beach whose name I don’t
remember, but it’s the one next to Bikini, going north or east,
passing it on the road. What is important to add is that on that
beach, which is supposedly called Manantiales beach, (and
someone please correct me if it has another name) is that there is
no type of parador (beach resort). I mean, there’s no place to eat,
there’s nothing. It is simply, as I said, a beach to go to; you have to
go with food or (something) prepared.

Or with the car, because you are not going to find a beach resort
there. Only the lifeguard booth. Back there you have the Punta del
Este peninsula. This is a very picturesque area and also very
uncrowded, in general. Bikini is the important beach in the area.
Fishermen are very common around and are probably, local
people, because I can’t imagine a high-class person going fishing
there with the rod; I think it would be in yacht or something… But it
is very common to see fishermen all over La Gorgorita… and in the
the Candelaria (peninsula) area; in a lot of places where there are
rocks it is very common to see them. I’m getting in here into Bikini
itself, having already rounded the cape.

60
Sorry, as I said, back to the camera issue: it’s the best I could do,
really, because the original video had come out in a disastrous
way, despite being one of the best cameras, (because the
Panasonic FZ1000 is one of the best cameras) but really at the
moment of stabilization it could do much better. And well, as I was
saying, thru this rocky area… that normally marks where the capes
are, we slowly make our way into Bikini Beach. We may be at the
limit by now, entering Bikini beach… The beach umbrellas* are
beginning to be seen. Many of these umbrellas* are from the same
real estate complexes, (be they hotels, apart-hotels or apartments
themselves, that are put up for rent). In general, the majority of
people I saw seemed to have those types of beach umbrellas,
which is why I guess… I guess it was people that were stopping at
one of those complexes. And here you have a panoramic view of
the Bikini beach already…

Viewed from that cape, I don’t know why there are places names
missing (in the online maps)… There is also a girl there. Every time
one goes with the camera, a girl appears and starts to swim in the
sea. But well, that’s one thing I don’t handle, it’s rather random. But
I was telling you… there you have a panoramic view. of what Bikini
beach is. From the color of the beach umbrellas you can more or
less guess if it’s people who are stopping in one of those
apartments you see above or if it’s people who are going on their
own.

Normally, in high season, and when the exchange rate is more or

less favorable for Argentina, this place is full, really full, because
I’ve been there before and you can’t walk… not even in this area,
which is the bordering area with the cape and the most stony and
more annoying for bathing, because of the rocks… but well… now,
please see this pan of the Bikini beach: on January 9 is practically
crazy to look like this (semi-empty). If one showed someone this
image of a January 9… If one were to travel back in time and be
shown this image, I wouldn’t have believed it; it’s a beach that’s
normally crowded: it is one of the two busiest beaches in Punta del
Este, together with Montoya. Here I slowly approach one of the two
places to eat there: one is at the parador and one is a little bit
before… You can’t see it on the satellite images, but it’s a little bit

61
before… And here is another panoramic view of Bikini beach…
This is what I was telling you, a kind of mini hot-dog stand, a little
more sophisticated than the one in Montoya.

From here on, I don’t want to make too many comments, so you
can experience what it’s like to be there. But here is Bikini beach
itself. There is also a place for hot dogs… You can also see some
“portable” toilets, which are in almost all the beaches; that’s a good
thing about Punta del Este: that even if there is no parador there
are always public restrooms, I meant, open public restrooms
before. There I approach one of the two places. As I told you, there
is a kind of hot-dog stand and there is this second place, where
you can eat something more sophisticated, although not as
sophisticated as in the parador restaurant itself. Obviously a little
bit cheaper. That kind of street vendors are all over the beaches
(or maybe it’s the same person who walks the 10 kilometers of
beach).

But it is very common and I saw it in many places: That kind of

street vendors for clothes, not so much for food. I saw virtually no
street vendors selling food or drinks. Therem I slowly approach the
lifeguard’s booth: as you can see there were not many people
despite it being January 9th. And by now it should be about 4 in the
afternoon, so people should be coming down to the beach. It’s very
common to see groups of girls on these beaches, both on this one
and on Montoya. Young people are usually separated, girls on one
side and boys on the other. H Here you can see the color of the
sea. You can see it has a muddy tone, because the River Plate
ends a few kilometers from there.

Here… What marked this summer season, perhaps very

noticeable, is the wind and the amount of solar radiation Here…
Well, there you have the waves, which are not as big as Montoya’s,
but they are still quite big Here… One more panoramic view. I have
to say, in all honesty, that the people who go here to Bikini are a
little bit older than the people who go to Montoya. Maybe 20 years
olds and up, and you could say in Montoya they are 20 years old
and below. In general, ok? Because you may find everything…

62
Another panoramic view: Montoya, which is at the other end. And
here starts the restaurant, at the parador. A B Well, the sand, as
you can see, is quite white. Those sticks mark the area where you
can swim, because there are usually rip currents here. O This is
Bikini, here in Manantiales, about 500 meters from where I got off
(the bus). There, the peninsula of Punta del Este. Today is January
9, there are not many people…

As I was saying, there were quite few people: in another year, with
another exchange rate in Argentina, for example 2017, this would
be packed to capacity, because it is one of the two most popular
beaches in Punta del Este and its surroundings. In fact, maybe a
lot of people that were there were not even Argentinian, but
Uruguayan. You never know, because it’s practically
indistinguishable. I’ve had my accent confused with Montevidian,
so just imagine… And here in Buenos Aires we practically can’t tell
Uruguayans apart by their accent. Well, as you can see the sand is
quite fine B Here another panoramic view of the place, also looking
towards the Montoya area, which is on the left… And even more to
the left, the peninsula of Punta del Este… As you can see, you
have an important slope there…

Well, what I’m shooting now is basically… That’s what I was telling
you, that foreground is Montoya’s beach. And this is the slope,
which I also mentioned before: there may be about 5 or 10 meters
of slope between the sand and the shore itself, where the sea
ends… The interesting thing about these beaches is, as you will
see, their amplitude, their width… which is not the same as the
beaches of La Mansa, which, in general, are much shorter; this
allows people to play paddle, rugby, soccer, whatever. Here you
can see well the amplitude of the beaches: maybe 300 meters
between the sea and the road, where the beach begins. Here you
can see the slope, which you notice when you enter the sea: you
practically walk 2 or 3 meters and the water is already up to your
neck. There you can see the slope again… between what are the
houses, where the road ends and the resort area itself. There is
the parador, where you eat very well, it must also be said; it is very
expensive, but you eat very well.

63
What you can notice here, judging by the beach umbrellas, more
varied, is the kind of people: on the other beach the umbrellas
were in general white; they were from apparment’s residents. And
here there are umbrellas of all colors, or no umbrellas at all
(common people, not from the appartments). Although I want to
say that also in most of the beaches you can rent umbrellas. I
mean, there’s usually a person, I don’t know if he’s on his own or
not, but he rents deck chairs and beach umbrellas, so you don’t
need to bring your own. There is the restaurant again, (where) a
couple of days I ate; it is very good. And there you have the
esplanade, which as I was telling you, is huge. And there’s the
whole complex of those buildings, which must be one of the most
expensive in the area. On the peninsula it’s costing about $4,000 a
month for one room and here I was told that an accomodation
could cost up to 45 thousand dollars.

Here you see what I was telling you, boys, playing on the beach…
The other time I had been there, it was much more crowded; in
fact, I couldn’t even get into the beach resort. But it’s better for you
because you can see it in its breadth. Here I am leaving, going up
this slope… Here I had to cut a lot because of the camera
movement… Those stairs must be famous for many… There are
the apartments that are beautiful; many of them have a swimming
pool. And a general pan of the Bikini beach, one of the two most
important beaches of Punta del Este.

There is the parador And here, well, starting to climb To the… well,
one more overview… To the right, there are a couple of high-end
restaurants. Because I also got to walk around this area at night
and it’s… well, those restaurants were more noticeable… attended
by celebrities from Argentina: one can easily find celebrities from
Argentina in the high season. Let’s say in super-high season,
between December 25 and January 6; but you could find any
celebrity from Argentina in one of those restaurants you see on the
right. And here I am already leaving for the interbalnearia (route),
where the bus stop I showed before is. It’s right there, in front of
the bus stop. In general, when one wants to cross, they stop the
cars, something that here in Argentina is not so common.

64
And there just arriving at the bus stop, which in about half an hour
would take me back to the peninsula of Punta del Este. Although
everything technically is Punta del Este. Because maybe you look
for Manantiales on the internet and it does not show up; it will
appear Manantiales as a suburb of Punta del Este, which I think is
what that is…

65
66
First as always I’m going to show you the perspective: where
Punta del Este is, where Maldonado is, where La Barra de
Maldonado is and where Manantiales is: exactly the route I’m
going to do now. In the previous video, video number 50, I had
done specifically this route from here, from this bus stop here,
where the Codesa service ends in Manantiales, bordering all
around here, this zone, until arriving here, to Bikini beach, to return
later. This is a complementary route to the previous one, so for
those who liked that video or like the subject, I recommend them to
watch the video number 50, which is exactly about this route. This
route, in comparison with the previous one, is much longer. Not in
time, but in length: as you will see it’s more or less 3 kilometers that
I walked that day. It was precisely on January 3. I started here, at
the bus stop as well. The previous to the last one, before reaching
the end of Manantiales.

This day what I went down here, where the stairways of

Manantiales are. (there may be more or less a slope of 50/60
meters) and we will go slowly through the center of the beach here.
It was a very long way, always bordering; I didn’t even know at the
time that it was such a long distance: as you will see, there might
be about 1.5 kilometers within this area. But well, bordering all this
beach area over here. This whole area. This is mostly recorded
with iPhone, so it has very good quality. And then, that part wasn’t
recorded, but here’s a beach resort that’s in another video as well,
which is called Casamar Fabric, where rave parties take place: the
electronic parties in Punta del Este at the beginning of the year.
One of the places, not the only one, but one of the places (where
they take place).

And here, it was set up a kind of arena, a kind of stadium, through

which I managed to sneak in. (I don’t know how; I think because I
had a red t-shirt they thought I was a lifeguard) and I came in here,
to use the toilet for a moment. And then I was able to see the
behind the scenes of this show. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to
record. But I can tell you a giant arena was built here, where,
during 10 days (almost), different electronic bands played. Then,
finally, coming back up here to the route; it’s a zone that, to be

67
walked, a good physical condition is recommended. Because it’s a
zone of “cuchillas”, that is, small (and continuous) hills. it’s really
very tiring to walk it (and much more when you have the sun in
front of you, as you will see in the video).

But well, I went through this area here. to pass by the side of
Montoya beach: this area is very classic of Punta del Este, here
there is a disco, which now changed its name. It used to be called
Tequila, and it was one of the most famous discoteques in South
America. And well, I wanted to make a walking tour. of this part,
which I called East La Barra, because the sun just sets over here:
this is the West and here it would be the East, so this area, which is
La Barra, that I had also told you is a little wider than Manantiales
(as you may also have seen above): it’s more or less 10 blocks
wide, 1 km and something. And this is the interbalnearia route. And
well, here I also show the arrival to the shopping center and the
previous blocks. Also a very important supermarket here, which is
called Tienda Inglesa.

So, well, I hope you enjoy the video very much and subscribe to
the channel, if you like it. Here I am right at the Manantiales bus
stop and going down those (more or less) 100 meters between the
bus stop and the beach. As you can see, there is a certain slope. I
estimate it may be about 50 meters between the sea level and the
route* itself. As I had said in another video, this is an ultra
exclusive area. Probably the most famous beach resort (if one
looks at it historically) of Punta del Este. Here you will see a
security cabin, which is very common here in Argentina in northern
BA neighborhoods. And those apartments, which you see on the
left, are absolute luxurious.

That’s where normally Americans, English, foreigners… Here I

continue with this descent, which is also very nice to do: very
panoramic; the difficult thing is going up, but doing the descent is
beautiful. Normally here it’s full of cars, so I recommend to people
in high season to plan where to park, because normally in a high
season (in a normal season and not as lean as this one) this would
be absolutely full. Here I continue this kind of walking tour, making
the descent to the Bikini beach resort. This, as I said in another

68
video, is not as much of a surfing resort as Montoya: (here you
have a little panoramic view of the place) it’s a place to eat, dance,
meet people and so on, but it doesn’t specialize so much in surfing.
Here are the public toilets, where always…. (that’s the good thing
Punta del Este has) you always find these public restrooms in
beach resorts, where you don’t have to pay. You can leave a tip,
obviously, for civility, but it’s not necessary to pay anything.

And there I continue, so that you can see it slowly: the arrival at the
beach resort. It’s quite a long walk, which looks short on the map
(like everything else), but it’s quite long when you do it, mostly
under the sun and after a 20 minutes bus ride from the terminal.
But the scenery, as you will see, is completely worth it: the length
of the beach, the kind of people that go, the music that’s there;
there is a really very beautiful, very scenic and enjoyable
environment. There we approach the parador itself, which usually
has music; I had to erase it because of the YouTube copyright
issues. Please look at these panoramas, you are going to see
them throughout the whole video and they are absolutely
incredible, and even more so being there. But well: see this
parador and restaurant; this is the central restaurant. There are
also a couple of restaurants on the side, restaurants in quotation
marks: they are actually mini food-stands for a snack. But here you
have more elaborate meals.

There is the lifeguard booth; there you can see the beach
umbrellas that are part of the restaurant, where, in general, there is
very good service. And here what I was telling you, the length of
the beaches. Here, unless it’s a historically high season, you’re
always going to find a place, because what characterizes this
beach, unlike Montoya (you’re going to see it somewhere else) is
its amplitude. Well, I’m continuing down here. The lifeguards
generally have a good vibe, although they don’t want to take care
of anything you leave them: that’s a problem if you go alone, but in
general they are very cool. Well, here the girls sunbathing, so
characteristic of Bikini. This is also a dangerous area, I wanted to
tell you, because of rip currents: That’s exactly the way for the
guards to go to help somebody, if it’s necessary. And here, as I

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had shown in another video, the steep area and the steep drop to
the sea.

The sand is not super fine as in certain areas of La Barra, but it’s
acceptable, let’s say: it’s not annoying to walk on. As I told you in
the other video, this was not such a strong season in terms of
people: in another season you would have found a lot more people
on this beach. But it was a day worth being there (nonetheless). If
you get to see a video of Montoya beach, which is going to be
uploaded in the future, you’re going to see more surfers there.
Here I am starting to walk west, and you can clearly see the slope
of the beach. And here starts a comment I made on the spot while
walking to Montoya. Well, a bit of a metaphor for society… This
beach over there, in the background, is Bikini, it’s one of the most
crowded beaches, here, in Punta del Este.

And there in front, there’s another beach, and here in the middle,
there’s absolutely nothing but me. And that’s how society works a
little bit: people gather in a certain place, leaves another huge
space, which seems almost deserted, and gather again later, but,
only from here, when one moves away a little bit, you can notice
some things. But only from here, when you go a little bit further
away, you can see some things. If you’re inside and you’re not
here, you can’t see anything… Well, that was a comment, a color
note, an idea that occurred to me in that place. I was going to post
it to Twitter, but since people there don’t interact too much, in the
end I didn’t upload it, but I liked to leave it here because it’s true:
it’s very noticeable that difference between where people are
grouped together (the cities or towns) and the distance remained.
Well, this is half way between Montoya and… better said, Bikini.
Over there, Montoya, and in total, this is the third one, I counted
three lifeguard huts.

So this is the fourth, there should be a fifth. In total, in principle,

there are four lifeguard huts. Well, this is the fourth parador, which
is not… (there the fourth lifeguard hut) which is not Montoya…
What you’re going to see here is the place they were setting up for
the rave party that day. Let’s remember that more or less from the
25th of December* until the 7th of January there are rave parties.

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And one of them was in that place you see there, called Parador
Casamar Fabric. Here is where I start the hike, the climb, quite
strenuous on that day, towards the shopping mall named OH, at La
Barra de Maldonado.

I think I was originally planning to walk the whole area of La Barra,

but because of the sun… (as I said in other videos, there were
solar radiations higher than 13 UV). I wanted to walk all through La
Barra, but in the end I basically got to the OH Shopping mall only.
Here is Montoya and there is almost a kilometer of walking
between this area and that one. What you see on the left panning
is the Montoya beach parador: another of the most important
paradors in this area. So, you have, going from the northwest to
the southwest: Bikini beach, there’s also an intermediate parador,
whose name I don’t remember, then Casamar Fabric, and lastly,
Montoya, which is the most popular among surfers. Here I am
walking these climbs, these ridges, that are so common in this area
of the Uruguayan coast. In general I recommend, unless you want
to walk a lot as I do (and you like a bit of trekking) going by car,
because in general, Punta del Este and its surroundings are places
planned to be visited by car and traveled by car, and, while you’re
not going to see as much as from the ground, you’re going to get to
all the places much faster. This area, as I think I said in some of the
other parts, is an area visited basically by the upper class of
Argentina.

In general, all of Punta del Este is. But this area (particularly La
Barra and Manantiales) is the top place. Any apartment here may
be costing $10,000 per month. Not to mention the houses (you
won’t see them in this video, you’ll see them in the other one). But
those ones would be on the right… The top most area, where the
1% goes, maybe even the 0.1% of the people of Argentina, the
upper class. And mostly in this summer, when as I said elsewhere,
there was a disadvantageous exchange rate of 3 to 1. In fact,
what’s happening now is that Uruguayans come to Buenos Aires
and not viceversa.

Here you can see one of the many art galleries in the area. It’s
something that is common currency in the place, every “two

71
meters” you can find an art gallery. That also happens a lot here in
Recoleta. In the Recoleta area there are a lot of art galleries. It’s
very common when you go to a rich area to find art galleries. And
obviously also real estate agencies and so on… For example, in
the center of Punta del Este you see a huge amount, the idea is
that every 20 meters you’re going to find a real estate agency…
And the same thing happened to me when I lived in Palermo and
happens close to here, in Recoleta.

Where there’s an area with a lot of economic strength you can see
that: a lot of art galleries and real estate agencies. This is an area
still quite rustic. In fact, it had been a fishing village and they still
want to keep that original rusticism. At night there are not so many
lights, you don’t see that much (paved) sidewalks. it’s still gravel,
only a little bit of the street (asphalted). That’s one of the things
that people value the most here, which is called Uruguay Natural,
and is just leaving the place as untouched as possible by humans.
There you see another one of the art galleries… Here is the place
where it used to be… which now, if I’m not mistaken, is called
Lotos… and it used to be Tequila.

As you can see those are the dates: there are practically 10/12
days at the beginning of the year, where the different rave parties
take place, and where people come (actually from other countries)
to play in the electronic parties. But if you don’t know the history,
google Tequila Punta del Este and you will find the history of the
place, which is a history with practically hundreds or thousands of
anecdotes. Here the aesthetics of the place, very hippie chic. Even
most of the vehicles that one sees, are of high range, as you can
see. In general few people… But in this case… Well, just in this
area, I don’t remember if I left it or cut it out, but I stumbled upon
two ladies, who were just talking about how bad the season had
been and how diminished it seemed. This is on January 3: this is
technically the highest season, the super high season, December*
25 to January 6.

And yet, you see that even though it’s a super sunny, super nice
day (this may be around 4 or 5 o’clock or so in the afternoon). there
are not so many people. And here we continue with this trek. This

72
was recorded with Gopro. These were the two ladies that were c…
who were commenting on this issue. The one you see on the right
is also one of the most important places. And on the left, which
you’re going to see better now, is the English Store (Tienda
Inglesa). There is also one near the burned-down shopping center
of Punta del Este: Punta Shopping.

There is also a Tienda Inglesa here and a pharmacy, which on the

other trip I made, weren’t there. Right there, is one of the bus
stops, but not the stops that are used during the summer season,
the ones that are used during the year, more or less between April
and November. The bus stops used during the summer season,
from about December to January, are in the back. In this case, just
behind the shopping mall that you see now, which is about a block
and a half, it’s the bus stop, which goes all the way on the back, not
obviously along the main road, because of the amount of traffic
normally in the area this time of the year, even now being a lean
summer, quote unquote. There you can see the entrance to OH
shopping mall. Eight years ago it was there too. And there you can
see a grill in front, which I also recommend because it’s quite
cheap. And here you can see the rustic spirit still remains.

Throughout this area I had to mute the audio, because of the music
played in the shopping mall. But when you walk here, it’s as if you
were walking in a dock of the port. You feel the creak of the timbers
and, in general, you see the rustic architecture of the area. There
you get to see a panoramic view to the left, center, of the peninsula
of Punta del Este. There is a pool where a small fashion show was
held. This had been one or two days before, but well, around that
pool there was a parade of models. And before, in the best times of
Punta del Este, models were featured with Roberto Giordano, who
used to host a famous fashion show (can be seen on another of
my channels, dedicated to Argentine television). But well, I was
going to show you this shopping; it’s beautiful, to anyone who likes
architecture I recommend visiting it.

It’s also a shopping mall dedicated to top brands, as the Patio

Bullrich (in Buenos Aires) in the Retiro or Recoleta area. And here
you have: you can see me entering a place called La Panera Rosa.

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Most places, either Tequila or La Panera Rosa, have branches
here in Buenos Aires. It’s common that what you see here: that is,
most of the coffee shops, ice cream shops, restaurants, have a
branch also in Buenos Aires: in Recoleta, in Palermo, or in other
upscale areas. There I was asking one of the two waitresses… this
time the audio didn’t come out so well. Actually, I didn’t want to
leave it, I don’t think it’s ethical, but I did want to show what I got to
record, when I just arrived to the place. This is a place where you
can eat, and in general you can eat quite well.

and it has a very good service. Well, I hope you liked the video and
subscribe to the channel. Greetings!

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75
Hello everyone, I greet you again. In this case, to show you beach
sports that are practiced in Bikini beach in Punta del Este, one of
the most popular among young people. Here you can see two girls
playing paddle. That’s quite common, also because of the wide
beaches that I showed in other videos. Here you can also see the
umbrellas of the restaurant, where I was just finishing my lunch.
Because I think I filmed this from there, from the restaurant. Well,
those are the people you always come across in the videos; but
that’s a normal thing. I tried to improve the contrast as much as
possible, also taking advantage of HDR.

But keep in mind (in this case) that the sun was practically in front
of me. Then it’s much more difficult. But I think, nonetheless, that’s
where the HDR looks best. As I told you in another video, if you
have a television with this kind of technology, I recommend you to
watch this video on the TV and not on the cell phone or tablet. This
is a very rare sequence and I also recorded it for that reason.
There is the parador: just the restaurant and the parador. Here on
the beach, something that I’d seen very few times was happening
and it’s “mixed soccer”, that is, boys and girls playing soccer on the
beach. It’s been about 20 years that I knew of women’s soccer
here in Argentina.

It’s the first time I’ve seen it on the beach (the other time I didn’t
see it)… It’s the first time I see boys and girls playing together…
So well, this would be a good idea for FIFA: to form mixed teams
like the one you’re going to see now. Obviously regulating the
amount of women and men. Because if not, maybe it wouldn’t be
so fair. But it would be interesting for FIFA to set up mixed soccer
championships. Here are people kissing, as if it were some kind of
soap opera. But well, I couldn’t get them out.

I was actually filming what was in the back. They showed up there
and played a sample of “beach” love, also here in this place in
Punta del Este, in Bikini beach. And here a girl that I don’t know
what’s doing. From the position one could think anything… But,
well, I’m also struck by these things… The thing about this beach is
that the public restrooms close at about 7 pm. And obviously in the

76
restaurant, unless you consume, they don’t let you in. So well,
some bushes that are in the background are used for different
purposes, let’s say…

In the background what you can see is the hill where La Barra town
is located. Here we are almost in Manantiales, which is about 3
kilometers away. You can also see where the sun sets. And well, to
also show what the sunset is like in this area. And more than
anything else, how the clouds look and so on. I don’t know if I said
this: it was on January 12; that can also serve as a reference in
case you ever visit that beach on this date. Those are the typical
girls. That’s where the camera went flat…

Those passing there are the “super cool” girls that go to this kind of
beaches. The others were probably Uruguayan or middle class
people. But I wanted to make that distinctive note as well. This
mixed soccer thing, as I was saying, it’s the first time I’ve seen it, I
didn’t know it existed. I mean, I know there are FIFA
championships for men and for women and so are nowadays in
almost every school. But I’ve never seen “coed soccer” like that. It
was the first time I saw boys and girls playing soccer on the beach:
that’s why I filmed it and put it here specifically. It’s pretty
interesting, because a few years ago it would have seemed totally
crazy.

And yet today it’s a reality. This is a specific recommendation for

YouTube, because in this video I didn’t know whether to make this
voiceover or not (i.e., leave the original audio). But well, it would be
nice if two audio tracks could be used for the videos. So people
can choose between listening to me and explaining things a little
bit, like the directors did in “old school” DVDs. Or directly listen to
the original audio. There you see more “super cool” girls crossing
in front of me. And there’s the sunset. As you may notice, it was
quite a windy season.

And here you have a panoramic view: you can see there are a lot
of boys and girls playing; it’s a very wide beach, you can also see
that on Google Earth. There is one of the places to eat, as I said.
And people selling things on the beach. And the different little

77
groups that are forming. This is the main restaurant (that’s why I’m
doing -and leaving-this panning here). And that’s where the boys
and girls were playing, in this area here specifically. Thanks for
watching the video!

78
79
Hi, what we’re going to see now is an itinerary between bus stops 6
and 8, where on January 2, 2023 David Guetta played in Punta del
Este, Uruguay. Here you can see the back of the stage and the
debris left over from the recital. More or less the route is 250
meters; here you can see exactly the stop number 7 and the
Codesa bus; there you can see exactly the stage. More or less
around 12,000 people attended this concert. The other time I had
gone, in 2015, it was held at El Jagüel park, a place much bigger
than a soccer stadium. There you can continue watching… And
now where we’re going to get to is the Roll and Rock* Parador,
which is at stop 8; you can still see some of the cars that were
parked there because of the concert. And there the stop number 8:
Roll and Rock Club House.

A little more specific about the recorded route: more or less from
here. Here ends stop 6, here begins stop 7, and this is already stop
8. The route, as I said in the video, is more or less 300 meters. And
now I am going to show you (these are the maps from mapy.cz,
which are better than Google satellite maps)… Now I am going to
show you Google Maps, where you are going to see all the
references and the place. This is the exact place where the recital
took place: more or less 5,000 square meters, or 55,000 square
feet. And well, here’s specifically the stops… They’re here… stop
6…

Over here is stop 7, which is more or less over here. And over here
is stop 8, which is this place. Just to show you that it’s a super-
central area. Now I will zoom out on the peninsula of Punta del
Este. It’s a fairly central area. And the other time it was done more
or less around here: El Jaguel park. This is where the concert was
held at the Movistar 2015 (Summerfest). Now a much smaller
venue was decided.

I estimate by the smaller number of people who attended (PDE)

last years… (or) that were expected to come to Punta del Este this
year. And well, that. And to recommend to many people, as you will
see it well here, the difference between Google maps and Mapy.cz
maps, which are better. You see the beach umbrellas* for example

80
here; it has more detail. So, well, I’ll say goodbye with this. So it’s
pretty clear where it went. Because it wasn’t exactly stop 6, it was
stop 7. Let’s say, specifically it was stop 7.

And well, for example, a lot of people here were very lucky. Peopl
of these buildings: they practically could see (or maybe record)
David Guetta’s recital, without having to move from their balcony. I
send greetings to all of you and I hope you liked this video.

81
82
Hello everybody, welcome back to the channel. In this case, to
show you the first part of Montoya beach’s videos, in Punta del
Este, Uruguay. Here I am arriving at the beach and going down
one of the many trails there are to get to the shore. Like all the
beaches in the area, it’s a very wide beach: it may be more or less
100/150 meters (wide). There you have a 360-degree pan of the
route and the trail. This is one of the 3/4 trails there are to get to the
beach. As you will see, the sand is quite fine. It’s not as fine as La
Barra, but it’s quite fine.

To the right, we are going to see the soccer field. And just to give
you an idea, this was at about 2 pm on January 5, 2023. And there
you can see: that court is kind of the center of the resort. Of the
parador, in this case, to be more precise. The field is almost always
full, although people start arriving at 4 or 4:30 pm at the beach club.
The kids usually (come late) because they go out at night and the
adults (who were in the morning) because they have eaten and
slept (maybe) a siesta; so the movement starts later. About 5 or 6
o’clock in the afternoon is the peak hour on this beach. Well, as
you can see, it’s a pretty steep area.

You’re going to see a first downhill now. There are 3 in total,

counting from the route: the descent, which is the beach itself; this
little step that you see now; and where the little pool that you’re
seeing is formed. But that’s basically what allows these giant
waves to exist. And that’s why this beach was selected as one of
the best in the world in recent years, for the quality of its waves.
Although it’s a family beach, what you will see the most are
teenagers and children. But it’s practically the beach par
excellence of teenagers in Punta del Este. You have to be careful
when bathing. As you see, one enters the sea and after 2 meters
you have the water up to your neck.

Now what we see is the beach area, specifically the lifeguard

booth. And now we are going to see a paraglider, which are very
common throughout the area of Punta del Este. This is about 10
kilometers from the center of the peninsula, counting from the bus
terminal. And here you can see a little bit of the sand. How people

83
are gathering on the beach. There is a danger flag because it had
been a very windy season. And here we’re going to see something
very common, that works almost like a night club: you’re going to
see girls (in other years there were a lot more). But well, they’re
girls out there waiting for some kind of a proposal (I don’t think I
need to elaborate any further).

This is a shot from the Codesa bus stop. As you can see, there
were quite a lot of cars; we were on January 5th. This postcard
woulb be different 10 days later. And here passes the Codesa bus,
in this area I’m going to zoom out. And in 20 minutes or so you
reach the peninsula. This is recorded on another day and with
another camera, as you can see. No longer an HDR camera, but a
common camera. This is another one of the trails, much closer to
the soccer field, that allow us to go down from the road to the
beach itself.

Unlike the Argentinean coast, these dunes are natural. On the

Argentinean coast it’s very common to plant trees to create long
beaches, but in this case this is natural. And here you have a
general pan of Montoya beach. Here you can see a volleyball
court, a soccer field. This is obviously free: there’s no charge.
That’s a big difference with Argentinian beaches, where there are
huge beach clubs with large infrastructures, but practically all the
services are paid and there’s not even a public bathroom. There
you can see again the enormous extension of the beaches.
(although when you see it on satellite you don’t realize it; that’s
why I also make these videos for possible future travelers to Punta
del Este).

What are obviously paid are those kind of shelters made of straw
to those who are customers of a company, usually a credit card, or
in this case a health insurance company (only their costumers can
rent those). There you will see what I was saying: normally there
are very young boys and girls, teenagers. It’s an area
characterized by that. They gather mostly on the side, which would
be… (there you can see two girls crossing). I was saying that
teenagers gather in groups (you’re going to see that in the next
videos) to the right side of where we’re looking at: let’s say, more to

84
the west, around a hot-dog stand that’s there. Because obviously
eating at the restaurant is prohibitively expensive, not only for the
kids but for almost everybody. A lot of kids go there on their own,
because it’s very common for them to travel from downtown, for
example, on their own, or from other places on their own. And
that’s very common in the whole area of Punta del Este: there are
kids alone walking around at any time.

Greetings and I hope you enjoyed this video.

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86
Hello, welcome back to the channel. In this case, I ‘ll show you one
of my best days in Punta del Este: January 14th 2023, roughly
between 6pm and 8pm, at Montoya beach, more precisely. It was
one of those days that I’d always like to repeat, like (the movie)
The Groundhog Day, that I’d repeat it a thousand times and be
happy if it were so. There are times when all conditions that have
to be met for things to be perfect are met. It’s a mixture of chance
and destiny, but the truth is that everything happens as thought. Or
as thought by someone superior, so that one can be happy for a
few moments. I had very bad days in Punta del Este.

I had days of anger, I had days of pain. And I had days like this,
which is the one you’re seeing now. By entropy, by probabilities, or
whatever, sometimes all the conditions are present for the best to
show itself. And this was the case on this day. I don’t know if it’s
worth describing what you see, because it speaks for itself. And it’s
also a bit redundant. But imagine (for a moment*) to be in a place
like this for at least two or three hours. Surrounded by a lot of
young people, a lot of very happy people and never thinking that
you were going to live something like this.

Going to the specifics, this is the Montoya beach, which is located

where the area of La Barra de Maldonado* ends. And these
beaches extend for about 3 kilometers until reaching the other
cape: Manantiales, (where) the famous Bikini beach is located.
Here as you can see, there are teenagers everywhere: it is the
“teenager” beach of Punta del Este par excellence. It’s the only
thing you are going to see. And in female-to-male ratio of almost 3
to 1, which you’re also going to to experience. We are on the right
side of the beach, more precisely on the western side. In the past,
young people used to gather around the lifeguard booth. But now, I
don’t know for what reason, if for a safety reason or why, they
started to gather precisely in this area that is about 100 meters
from the lifeguard booth: right there, where that hot-dog stand you
can see is.

It took me several days to realize this. Because at the beginning, I

had gone to Montoya and didn’t find all the people I expected to

87
find. And suddenly, one day (a rainy day that you can see in
another video) I decided to enter Montoya* from another side, and
that’s where I started to see (mostly) young people. Then I realized
that after several years the young “movida” (excuse the
redundancy) had been moving. to the right side of that beach.
What you see is Montoya on an ideal day. And that’s why it was
named one of the best beaches in the world. Not only because of
the surfable waves (which it has) but also because of the general
enviroment: what’s in the air there, which is what you’re going to
see, repeatedly, in almost half an hour, from more or less 45
minutes of raw footage.

This video alone took me almost a week to edit. So imagine what

this was. But being one of the best days, having been one of the
best days, I wanted the video to look as good as possible, as the
people of the channel also deserve. At the same time, what
happened that day, which was also very rare, was the following:
(this was a Saturday, January 14th, 2023) that a rugby team,
apparently famous (judging by the amount of people gathered
around), put together a beach demonstration of a match. In Punta
del Este what you see, especially in the summer, are girls, girls and
more girls. And that’s what I’m trying to expose here. Some people
are going to criticize me for the number of girls in this video. And
they’re probably going to call me different kinds of adjectives.

But it’s impossible to go to Punta del Este and not show girls. It
would be like going to Bariloche and not showing the snow. Or not
showing even the sand, in this case. But it’s the reality, and what it
has historically been. Just here, an Argentine PR founded a
modeling agency. And it was for many years where the most
important fashion show in South America took place (models and
clothing brands). In this area of Punta del Este, precisely. At one
point, Punta del Este and pretty girls seem to be synonymous.

Besides being synonymous with luxury and variety, as I showed in

other videos. It’s the very essence of Punta del Este what I’m
showing in this video, and I recommend you (because I didn’t do it
from the beginning) to watch it until the end. What also happened
in this season was that… (maybe in an ideal season, which was

88
not this one, every day would have been like that) but what
happened this season is that there was a westerly wind, sorry, I
meant from the east, (in this season there was a lot of wind from
the east and northeast*) then these beaches that are more
“abandoned” to the sea, without any kind of protection, suffer much
from the wind and the people at 6 or 7 o’clock in the evening had to
leave the beach, as there were 30 or 40 kilometers per hour winds,
and that made it impossible at 6 o’clock in the evening to stay on
the beach, but that didn’t happen (on) this day. As you can see,
this was filmed since 6 o’clock in the evening, and it’s going to last
almost (until) 8 o’clock at night. And I could have even stayed
longer: a party was starting. Even late in the afternoon all people
were still sunbathing; they didn’t have many clothes on.

So this is an ideal day in Punta del Este. There is the rugby team,
which I mentioned before, warming up. There was going to be a
big gathering of people afterwards. I don’t quite know who they
are… if anyone wants to participate and contribute information
about who they are (is welcome). I tried searching the internet but
didn’t find the exact nature of this (aparently) rugby sevens team. A
lot of people gathered when the game started. And they looked like
professional rugby players. In the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, as
in Argentina (excuse some sloppiness), rugby is one of the most
practiced sports (mostly by the middle and upper classes of the
countries).

That is an English reminiscence of a certain agro-exporting period

of both countries. The same thing with the railroads, for example.
Here what you are going to see (and It’s very striking) is how
people leave practically all the clothes they have (often high-end,
expensive clothes, along with cell phones and so on) and go to the
sea and leave everything there on the beach, a thing you couldn’t
do here in Argentina, almost anywhere, and myself as an
Argentine found it hard to leave things behind, that’s why, in some
moments like this one, I filmed directly from the beaches (from the
sand). Also because I was very tired: I wasn’t used to walking as
many kilometers per day as I walked on this trip. But here, as
you’re going to see in many parts of this video, people leave things
on the beach. Sometimes groups of 6, 7, 8 people or more leave

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everything on the beach and obviously nobody touches anything.
There are these guys here, I think I’ve seen them in other places,
they usually pose as nightclub employees offering some discounts
and they approach females (usually in pairs) because some of
them find it difficult to do that individually. They are generally quite
approachable girls.

Let’s say: they have their things but they’re pretty approachable. I
remember one of them came to me and asked me why I was
recording. I told her about the channel and that I was going to do a
special on Montoya beach. (in the end, there will be several
specials). But there you have those guys trying to pick up (or get to
a nightclub) those sunbathing girls, of which, as you can see, there
are many. You’re going to see in this video… I don’t know… 90%
girls and 10% guys.

You can see some boys there, but it’s not what you’re going to see
in this video. And in fact, if you did a census on the beach you’d
notice what I’m telling you. Then there’s that desire of the girls to
show off, as you’re going to see pretty much everywhere. I think
these girls (fortunately) have a different kind of mentality than
those in other parts of the world. They don’t mind showing their
body, but they also don’t fill it with tattoos or anything like that.
Pretty simple girls and I think in that simplicity… I mean, they don’t
have purple hair, they don’t have tattoos all over the place, I didn’t
see practically any of them with piercings… in that simplicity is also
their beauty.

Here I am approaching this improvised rugby field. Forgive me if it

wasn’t well filmed but it was something that surprised me a lot: I
didn’t expect to see a rugby match on the beach and I tried to film it
as well as I could. Well, as you can also see, there were other
interesting things, perhaps much more interesting than rugby, that
you could watch on the beach. You’ll also be able to see these
gigantic waves that are very characteristic of this place (there are
several videos about it). These guys are still “chamuyando”, as we
would say here in Argentina, talking to the girls. Probably
pretending to be “tarjeteros” (the ones that allow discounted entry
to the nightclubs or to the private parties that are so common in

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these places). But well: I was telling you about the size of the
waves and people even spaddle boarding on this beach, (with) the
sea so complicated sometimes. Although passing the breaker, as it
always happens, and taking care of the rip currents, It’s more or
less easy to swim.

The issue is to pass the two “wave barriers” that there are: the
sandbanks that form in the breakers and that allow you to get to
where that man is now paddle surfing or stand-up paddling,
however you want to call it. What you’re going to observe (is) that
families, let’s say, coming from the back of the beach to where the
sea is… families are usually in the middle. And the kids in general,
teenagers, stay on the outer part, where the different soccer fields
are, volleyball courts and so on. And they settle, as you can also
see, next to the restaurant, called Moby Dick, in case I didn’t
mention it before. Regarding the sun, what I noticed this summer
(and actually got badly burned a couple of times) is that the sun is
very strong, so I recommend that if you go to Punta del Este take a
good suntan lotion, because you will need it and you will regret if
you don’t use it. That’s what I was saying: practically everything is
already set up for this kind of rugby game; this kind of
demonstration. I was able to get as close to the edge of the field as
possible and record a little bit. The intensity of the Sun can also be
seen in this video: being nearly 7 pm, you can see the strength the
Sun, shining over the horizon.

It’s also very common to see different events of different sports

there, as I had shown in another video, a regatta (e.g.). Also, if I’m
not mistaken, there had been a volleyball tournament. Those types
of international tournaments are very common in Punta del Este in
the summer, which is like the big luxury city of all South America.
It’s something that many other cities, including (some in) Brazil,
don’t have. A lot of Brazilians, in fact, go to Punta del Este at the
end of the year, even though they have spectacular beaches with
warm waters. (these are not hot water beaches, but quite cold, to
be honest). Still, this city is a kind of Monaco or Ibiza. That’s why I
compared it (in one of the first videos) to the Mediterranean, but in
South America.

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Even though it’s not specifically an area of turquoise water
beaches. However, for other reasons, like the ones you’re seeing,
is that this place attracts a lot of people from a lot of countries
(apart from the ultra luxurious downtown area and many
international buildings and hotel developments). On this beach, if
you didn’t bring an umbrella, you can also rent one: there is a lady,
who you can see in some videos, that rents umbrellas and deck
chairs. What you see in the background is the other cape I
mentioned. That is: the cape of Manantiales, about 3 kilometers
away. Also in this place… (there you can see the size of the
waves: the reason why this beach was named one of the best in
the world a few years ago by an international publication) here you
can see the classic groups of girls that form. In general they are
girls, as I say, quite classic: you won’t see girls with lots of tattoos,
piercings or purple hair.

They are normal girls, like the ones in the 80’s, 90’s, 70’s. I mean,
it’s like you also travel in time when you come here. I have an
archive channel and felt that; was very shocked when I came back
to Buenos Aires, as I saw the destruction that some public policies
do to some people. But I think these people, being mostly upper
class and being able to attend, in general, to good schools, are
protected from all those pernicious ideologies that exist today. So,
in other words, you’re going to see normal girls and boys, that still
have not been perverted by any agenda. But they are the least and
are in frank retreat, as you can see in any city of Latin America,
Spanish America or even Spain. That hot-dog stand is very well
known and is quite cheap, but it’s usually full of very young people
and sometimes you don’t feel comfortable. Although as I
mentioned elsewhere, the restaurant is a very expensive place: it
costs at least $30 for a basic meal.

There you see two things: first, the slope before reaching the sea,
which is seen in all this coastal area up to Bikini (beach); and then
the actual waves that form, which are usually over 2 meters. Here
are these girls, who in another moment would’ve been models, in
the golden age of Punta del Este, probably before 2010. But now
there are girls who, while not being models, in reality, as you can
see, look like such. The smartest thing on days like this is to stay

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as long as you can. I couldn’t stay any longer than 8 o’clock at
night, because I was too tired. But if you get a day like this, with
practically no wind, a weekend day, when there’s more people, and
also a day in January, which is when there are more people, it’s
better to stay as late as possible (because also in the evening
there was some kind of “dancing” going on in the kind of nightclub
called Moby Dick, that also has a branch here in Buenos Aires)
and you will be able to enjoy the place more. Besides, many times
there are bonfires: It’s very common to have bonfires, mostly in the
area of La Barra. This is East La Barra.

And in West La Barra, in the area by the mouth of Maldonado

creek, it’s very common to set up bonfires: bonfires at night where
people gather. Apart from the fact that this place in general is quite
permissive, like the spirit of Punta del Este and Uruguay. And in
general, I don’t think there’s anybody watching you or making any
kind of trouble to you. There’s a few more girls than you see in this
place, where practically, as I mentioned elsewhere, you end up
dazzled by seeing so many girls. On top of that, since they are
generally girls from the upper classes or of good economic
position, they look pretty good. Although some of them may not be
so naturally gifted, the wealth allows them to dress quite well and
look quite beautiful, to say the least. Here it was starting to get
dark, so the colors with which the sun paints the people were going
to become… more and more yellowish and less and less white,
like the midday sun. So what you’re going to see now are
aesthetically very beautiful postcards.

Apart from the girls that you’re going to see until the end of the
video. If you are interested in girls, I have in the other channel a
complete video of one of Roberto Giordano’s fashion shows, here
in Punta del Este. Just to give you an idea of the spirit of the place
in that respect: that is: this small town, a sea town, which may not
have 100,000 hotel rooms to receive people, brings together
(except when I go) the best of the River Plate region, i.e.,
Argentina, southern Brazil and Uruguay. So, because of the prices
and the costs, here only the best (in quotation marks) arrives and
makes these beautiful postcards look so nice. It’s not that you
couldn’t find things like this anywhere else: maybe in some

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beaches of Mar del Plata to the south, in the area of the lighthouse.
But not with this density. This is (if one were to extrapolate it to
other disciplines) as the Spanish La Liga or the English Premier
League, where only the best players make it. It must also be said:
there are many Argentines who have settled in Punta del Este,
especially in the last 10 years.

There are many country clubs in the area, as in northern Buenos

Aires. But you still need a great purchasing power (to live here),
because life in the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, specifically in
Punta del Este, is more or less 30% higher than in Spain. And this
based on comparisons by many people on social networks,
coming from, I don’t know, Barcelona. And they found this place
30% more expensive (or even more) than any supermarket or
restaurant in that port and maritime city. Here, the usual: these
girls. I don’t know if the camera is attracted to the girls or the girls
are attracted to the camera, but the truth is that they make a very
good duo. This is Montoya beach, in Punta del Este. It’s about 7
o’clock in the evening.

Many people stay to sunbathe on this crowded beach. And you

never know if it’s a sunrise or a sunset on the sea. Well, now out of
the commentary in situ. Those girls that you see on the left are the
ones that asked me why I was filming. And the ones laughing and
waving, Well, as I said, there are very cool people. Normally if you
approach them wrongly you will be rejected. But in general there
are pretty cool people, both guys and girls here. I mean, I didn’t
feel any kind of discrimination or anything like that.

Although, well, you always have to keep certain rules of respect for
the other person and try not to be aggressive with things. What you
have to keep in mind in terms of the upper classes in general is
manners. As long as you keep good manners, I don’t think it’s
going to matter physical appearance, as long as you keep your
good form. I’ve seen guys speaking rudely to each other and then
at the moment of getting out of the bus they respectfully greeted
the driver. And thus with different things. That is: as long as you
behave in a respectful way, any of these girls are going to give you
an opportunity. . Well, the sun was already starting to set and we

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will start to see these spectacular… here we see the cape of
Manantiales. Here you can see the circular groups of girls, (the
ones) that I had talked about in other videos and in this one and
the boys, that are very dispersed in general.

Some of them dare to approach the girls, but in general, It’s these
circular groups of lone girls that are to be seen. The guys are
usually playing some sport or having them play some sport. A
particularity of Punta del Este is that if you are on the peninsula…
Here you can see one of the paragliders; I don’t know what to call
this sport or discipline, but this was also very common to see in this
area. Some even look like they’re going down on the beach, as if
they were some kind of airborne troop that’s going to descend on
it, because of how low they fly. But that has to do with the liberality
you see in Punta del Este. (I had mentioned it before at some
point) Regarding the Mansa beach and the different disciplines
that take place there, like, for example, jet skiing, no special
permission is required.

And here’s what I was telling you: the sunsets, which are going to
be seen on the west in this case. But if you are in the peninsula
you can practically see the sunset from the west in the area of the
Mansa beach. and the sunrise from the east in the area of Brava
beach, which would be this side. So, if you are in this area you
might also get to see the sunrise. The sunrise on the sea, I mean.
That’s what I was specifically referring to. And there, the colors that
you normally see. And people getting into the sea*: that’s very
common.

The sea, as you may know, is warmer in the afternoon than in the
morning. Even at night is the sea water still warm: it preserves the
heat. There the girls, always with a good vibe. As I used to say to
someone (and I always say ), here you could gather ten girls and
make a… (at random) and set up a modeling agency, because the
truth is they are all very well-dressed, I mean, very beautiful
physically; it’s like you could grab ten random girls and start a
modeling agency. This is already past 7 pm and you can see a lot
of families are leaving and there are mostly young people left: a lot
of young people. It’s also one of the best times to go in the sea, as

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I said a few minutes ago. It’s somehow dangerous, though.
Sometimes rip currents form and practically two meters into the
sea, as you can see in those men on the right, the water is up to
your neck.

What I mentioned before: the spectacular sunsets. This is the

famous golden hour. The spectacular sunsets that occur in Punta
del Este in almost any area. If you were 30 kilometers away from
here, in Portezuelo, you’d also see something similar. Here we
continue with this gentleman who passed about 50 times. Actually
there were several, as you can see, there were several… But it’s
very common this kind of sports. Actually all kinds of sports in this
area of Punta del Este.

It’s striking that in such a small extension of land, in an urban

conglomerate of less than 100,000 people, so many things happen.
That is very surprising about Punta del Este and its surroundings.
In this case, the southern area of the Departmental Municipality of
Maldonado. I also recommend, because of the contrasts you are
going to see now, that you watch this with a MacBook of the last
ones, like the one I have, or if not, on some HDR TV having more
than 600 nits. This MacBook Pro has 1,600 nits of brightness, which
is what allows HDR to look almost like the real thing. If you have
one of the latest TVs from last year, take a look at this matter
because it’s preferable and you will enjoy much more this video
and the rest in a TV of these characteristics: from 600 nits and up,
the ideal being 1,000 nits brightness. Nits is a measure that is
basically candelas per square meter. It’s an old standard, but now
it’s being used to measure the brightness of the displays.

I’m looking at this now, it’s kind of glimpsing me at the moment. It

dazzles me. Because of those colors that can be seen. But if you
don’t have a proper screen you’re not going to see it. You’re going
to see rather dull colors, white with too much brightness. But if not,
you’re going to see very beautiful things like I’m seeing now. So it’s
very important that if you like what you see in this video, don’t just
watch it on the tablet, or switchover between the tablet and the
television. There’s one of the dogs.

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As you can see, it’s kind of a big disco. I don’t know if I mentioned it
in this video or in another, but coming into the night it looks like
some kind of big discotheque, an open air discotheque, with the
difference that here you can see people’s faces, something that
doesn’t happen in discotheques. Basically beach parties have that
advantage, at least when they take place in the afternoon: that one
sees people’s faces, whether it’s a man or a woman, it depends
what you want… who is to be approached, not like in
discotheques. Here the video is ending. It must have been about 8
o’clock at night. These guys would probably be there for a couple
more hours. Maybe much later. Because many, in fact, reside in
hostels or in many houses that are around in this area, bordering
La Barra.

From here to the center of La Barra is less than a kilometer. So,

well, it’s an area that if you have the possibility to stay there…
(there you can see what the restaurant is like, which later becomes
practically a night club) well, you can enjoy more being in this area,
if you like to go out at night and that kind of things, Being
downtown (in the peninsula), you have to take a bus that takes,
between waiting and everything, more than half an hour to arrive.
So, well, I send you a greeting and I hope you enjoyed this video
as much as I enjoyed being there and preparing it for you.
Greetings to all of you.

97
98
Hello everybody, welcome back to the channel! This is the fourth
Montoya beach video, from Punta del Este. The first video was a
general view of the beach. The second showed a few shots of the
beach on a cloudy day. And finally, the third one was a shot of the
girls and the teen scene at that beach in Punta del Este. And this
fourth one it’s going to cover the sea, surfing, waves and shore
topics. And at the end a very interesting part, shot on the last day,
almost at the end of January. I recommend you to get there: it’s
one of the best parts.

This in particular was recorded on the afternoon of January 23rd

and mostly with a Lumix camera: a Panasonic Lumix FZ1000.
That’s why you’re going to see much better quality video than
when I used the iPhone. Mostly in the close-up shots: the zoomed-
in shots. This is going to be important in the surfing part, in the part
where you’re going to see the waves, the part where you’re going
to see people surfing -of all ages practically-. Obviously, the zoom
of an iPhone, as good as it is, does not achieve the quality of a
Panasonic camera, as in this case. The good thing about the last
few days… (remember that this is one of the most crowded
beaches in Punta del Este: actually, I think it’s the most crowded
as Bikini beach doesn’t really have the movement it had). so these
days there are much less people on this beach, which allows the
use this kind of cameras. Because normally… (that’s why the other
days are mostly filmed with the iPhone camera; which is still very
good, because of HDR, but it doesn’t allow this kind of zoom) so in
this kind of days, when you go to any beach, I recommend you this
kind of cameras, because they get very good shots that are
absolutely impossible to take (mostly those with zoom) with an
iPhone or a cell phone.

Cameras with a telephoto lens, either internal or external (i.e. that

can be attached or be part of the camera, as is this case) allow to
make this kind of shots. You can practically show people’s faces
(you can also see this in the 38 videos containing the photos).
Those photos would have been completely impossible to take
either with an iPhone or with any cell phone. That’s mostly an
optical issue: the human eye has a focal length of about 22

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millimeters and this camera, when set at maximum zoom, achieves
400 millimeters of focal length. So that’s a zoom close to 20x. And
today virtually no camera has that zoom (I mean cell phone
cameras). But I repeat: this kind of thing can only be done when
there are few people (as these cases are) because if there are
many people, people will either feel uncomfortable or they’re going
to start asking too many questions that are uncomfortable, and
they end up making you uncomfortable, thus inhibiting you from
continuing to take pictures. So here the ideal is that the target is
about 30 meters away.

With the cell phone that doesn’t matter: with a cell phone you can
film a person practically in the face. But with this type of camera,
the distance matters. And I have tested this in different
environments. So that recommendation for non-videographers (I
think videographers already know that). But (I give) this
recommendation: if you have a DSLR camera, as in this case, use
it in this type of opportunity; you’re going to get some very good
shots, like what you’re seeing: a shot with an iPhone or the best
cell phone wouldn’t have had this clarity. Even if it had HDR (in this
case it doesn’t have it natively). But this image quality is not
achieved with any cell phone currently on the market. As for the
rest, a photographer has to pretend, as if he doesn’t exist in the
world: as if he were transparent; trying to interact as little as
possible with people, because one ends up modifying almost
“quantumly” the object.

Here you can see a fast motion shot of the area, to see the waves
and how clear the beach was. And now let’s start with the surfing
videos. This might be useful for many future travelers: to see the
waves. This summer had been a very windy summer (I said that
also in other videos): we had more or less 30 km per hour of wind
with gusts of 40. That determined that in this summer the beaches
of La Mansa were more populated and that only 5 days I went to
this beach, located in the northeast area of Punta del Este. The
interesting thing is, apart from the fact that there are several
breakers, that you see people of different ages (professionals and
non-professionals): that is, of all types of physical condition. It’s a
beach where almost anyone can try surfing. Although, as I said in

100
other videos (and you see here the size and strength of the waves)
it can be dangerous.

Anyway, it’s a beach that always has at least two lifeguards (also
because of that issue) and it’s always crowded with people; even
on cloudy days, as I showed in the other video. So you don’t have
to worry about that, you just need to know how to swim to get in the
water, because that’s the basics. The water itself is cold, it’s quite
salty. So, you’re going to find more salt here per liter than you
would find in the Caribbean, because in general cold waters have
more salt per liter. But well, here you can see the size of the waves
(there are people who get a good bump) and have an idea (if you
visit this beach in the future) of what to expect. I said it in another
video and I say it again: this was named one of the best surfing
beaches in the world. And not just for the girls, which you’re also
going to see at the end of this video, but because of what you’re
seeing right now: the possibility of surfing at all ages and the whole
length of the beach, which may be about 300 meters. In the
downtown area, at El Emir beach and at the first stops of Brava
beach, there are surf schools (in case it’s the first time you are
surfing and want to learn the basics).

In general, all the beaches of the eastern coast of the Republic of

Uruguay are suitable for this sport. I remember that during the
summer I saw news about the current president of Uruguay,
surfing in a town of Rocha. Here are some girls passing by: you
are going to see more girls at the end of the video, if you are
interested. But well, this video is basically focused on the surfing
thing and the size of the waves and the different tides that you can
see there. Regarding the subject of the sea (some specialist may
correct me) there are two types of swells: the windswell and the
groundswell. The one we’re looking at now is closer to the
groundswell: a bit deeper and taller waves. And the windswell has
the shallow, foamy waves. That’s why when we say in Spanish
“hay mar de fondo” (there’s groundswell) it means there are
problems we don’t know about.

You have to be careful here when you enter the water (you are
going to see it in another part): the slope is quite high and two

101
meters in, the water reaches your neck. Anyway, I estimate these
guys are used to it and go there every summer. But I wanted to
also show how many they are. It took me quite a while to stabilize
this video to make it look good, because it was filmed at almost 400
millimeter zoom. But well, you can see there the nature of the
waves and the amount of people. Here a shot from the beach. And
I warn people: when someone is filming, don’t look at the camera,
because you ruin all the footage. In other words, in classical
cinematography, the camera doesn’t exist: the observer is a kind of
god who looks at things from the outside.

That’s why when a person looks at the camera they’re basically

ruining the tape. There we see a surfer of a certain age, but more
successful than the kids. The salinity issue is noticeable in the
foam, which you see there. (Ed. it’s pretty salty compared to La
Mansa) And there, a panorama (always girls on the beach) of what
the resort itself is (although in other videos of my collection it looks
much better). Here we are getting to the moment of the sunset.
This is filmed with iPhone: you can see the chromatic difference.

It was on the 23rd day of the month: you will see much less people
than in other videos, because those were filmed at the beginning of
the month. Montoya videos appear in chronological order. In this
case, the four videos from 55 to 58 are the ones that show the
different aspects of Montoya beach. The sunsets are incredible
and I always recommend staying until that moment. Here we’re
already on the 29th of January. This is at 4:27 p.m. on that day,
January 29. And this is a walking tour of the beach. At that point I
was wrong about one thing, and that’s the stabilizer.

I never wanted to take a stabilizer to the beach (when I’m talking

about stabilizer I mean gimbal) so that people wouldn’t be
intimidated by this kind of thing, because it’s a big problem that one
can have: to be approached, to be asked questions and that kind
of things… But it’s true that when you have the sun in front and
you’re tired, you don’t keep the cell horizontal* to the ground, and
then you get the twisted footage you have to correct afterwards.
You will see a little less people (and I recommend to compare this
video with the ones from the beginning of the season). So, if you

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want to have the whole beach to yourself, basically go in late
January (or maybe early February). Although there may be some
bad weather in February, especially in this part of South America.
This was a very rare year: February and March were very good
months in Punta del Este; so I was told. But well, at the end of
January there’s not going to be so many boys and girls and you
are going to have the whole beach for you: the most popular of
Punta del Este.

And as I always say (almost philosophically) quantity includes

quality. Hegel said the thesis/antithesis/synthesis was quantity,
quality, measure; economists say it’s quantity, quality, price; but in
this case I argue that quantity implies quality. If you interview ten
thousand people you’re going to have a much better chance of
getting somebody good for the job that if you interview a thousand
or a hundred. That’s common sense and it’s also mathematically
verifiable by probability theory. But well, here you can see the
emptiness of the beach, which otherwise would have been full: I
wouldn’t have been able to walk like that with so much
carelessness. Here’s a drunk who probably fell asleep on the
beach. We continue to see a lot of buildings in the back. Maybe if
you are millionaires you can rent something in any of the buildings
behind and practically walk out to this beach.

Technically, there’s a place called Montoya Reserve, which I don’t

know if it’s state-owned or not, but it’s stamped in all beach
umbrellas, and maybe you could stay there if you want to be close.
I think there’s also a nature reserve: to the back I think there’s a
natural reservoir area. And here we see one of the few girls that
were left at that time on the beach, although at the end you are
going to see some… There is the famous hot-dog stand, where at
the beginning of the month there’s a 30 meters long queue and you
can’t get even close. The sun hits very hard in this area of the
south, even though we are almost thirty degrees south. The sun
beats down very hard in the summer and I think the ozone layer
issues are still there, because basically you would get sunburned if
unprotected for half an hour. At 4 pm I have sunburned myself
badly on the first few days, without protection. So really the

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ultraviolet radiation is something of what you have to be very
careful when going to these beaches.

Also the wind issue, also the wind issue… Avoid going to the
beach if it’s really windy. In this case it was the last day and I had
no choice (and I wanted to show the beach at that moment). But if I
had stayed a few days I’d have gone to another beach. (probably
the ones in La Barra, which are more protected; or to La Mansa
beach, although there is another kind of people at La Mansa, as I
said in one of my first videos). The clouds in the background,
probably dragged by the same wind towards the continent. You
can see the Moon there, so I’m heading exactly east: the Moon
rises in the east and sets in the west, like the Sun. So I am pointing
exactly east.

Those are some kind of bungalows on this beach. But well, they’re
only for members of the company that’s advertised. And here we
see some kids playing volleyball. As I said, beach sports are very
common in these beaches. Also some girls sunbathing, also very
common in these beaches (and now let’s take a closer look).
Those who go to Punta del Este in particular (and to Uruguay in
general) have to understand that it’s a very liberal place. Not so
liberal in the customs like Rio de Janeiro or some areas of Brazil,
but much more liberal than Argentina. So it’s like people are a little
bit more “sexualized”, to say the least: there’s a very “cachondo”
(horny) feeling in the people, as the Spaniards would say.

But well, from a videographic point of view, it allows you to take this
kind of shots, which you’re also going to see at the end of the
video. As I said before, in order to use those bungalows, or
pérgolas in Spanish (we could use that translation), you have to be
a member of the company that promotes this resort or of one of the
surrounding apartments. Somebody correct me if I’m wrong,
because there’s always a greater expert than I, but I understand
that regarding this, no matter how much you pay, you don’t have
access. There is the company that promotes this type of rest
option. But I understand that you can use the soccer and volleyball
courts around without any kind of problem, even if you haven’t paid
anything in the restaurant, nor are member of the company, nor

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live near any condominium around. I recommend comparing this
video with the previous one: 57. There you’ll see the difference in
the number of people, practically at the same moment of the day.
And here is one of the options offered by this parador: Montoya
reserve, which is to do… in this case, to take yoga classes.

(I don’t know if this has a fee or not). There, the people who always
go across the camera: I also ask people not to do it. There’s my
shadow, which shouldn’t come out, but it’s impossible otherwise: I
have to show things and I can’t crop the whole image, I had to
stabilize it enough, for the reason I told you before. So, technically
it’s advisable to use a gimbal: the problem is that people are not
going to relax, are going to be afraid and start to move away. And
the ideal thing is to show the people this way: like if you go to an
ecological reserve and have to film the animals. To try to scare
them as little as possible and be as far away as possible to show
them in their complete naturalness. I don’t really understand this:
what you’re going to see now, but it happened to me on another
beach, mostly on the beach of La Barra with some girls (I
recommend a video about some girls paddle surfing in La Barra). It
happened to me a lot on this trip.

I don’t look like Brad Pitt. I mean, I actually think I have a few extra
pounds. Not many, but some. But I’m not a person like that, like a
model or something. And yet, every time I would get… (even
without filming, without recording) these girls appear showing their
body. Let’s be honest! I don’t think it’s bad, I think it’s good, I think
it’s part of human beauty. That it can be physical, it can be
intellectual, it can be of the soul (if you want) thru good deeds.

But well, physical beauty also pleases the soul quite a lot. And if
you want to see this kind of girls, go to this area, crossing the
Maldonado creek, because behind, as I said in other places, you
are not going to find them. This is like playing in the Major League,
which I said in the other video, in terms of the external beauty of
women. If one is going to film and publish the content, it’s not
convenient to make friends with people nor to speak much: if I had
faced these girls here (probably because of a moral issue) I
couldn’t and wouldn’t want to post their body. I’d “keep it” for

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myself. But I wouldn’t even have filmed it: it would have been
another kind of approach. But well, if it’s for publication, it’s not
convenient in general…

it’s convenient to play fool or to pretend to be a foreigner, if

necessary, in order to get good material. And always be subtle. I
mean, had I approached these girls and said: “Can you pose on all
fours for me, that I’m going to post it on YouTube?” normally they
would have told me “no” and maybe called the police, but me
playing dumb there, like I was making some comment about the
beach and stuff, I get these shots that are pretty interesting, mostly
for the male gender (or sex, rather). Here is one of the last shots,
sorry for the sloppiness. But well, that’s what I was telling you
before, isn’t it? You can see very beautiful images in these beaches
of Punta del Este: absolutely beautiful. In other times… (I
recommend watching Maradona’s life, which is, if I’m not mistaken,
on Amazon) this twenty years ago was an absolute party zone all
over the place: it was a place where you practically breathed sex,
to put it bluntly.

Now, well, it’s a lot more subdued because of some international

agendas. But you can still see certain things that haven’t been
cancelled because of a certain “culture”. Let’s say: the male may
be physically stronger but at the level of beauty, women have no
comparison. And I’ll argue with anybody about that. I send you my
regards and I hope you enjoyed this video.

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107
Hello everybody, welcome back to the channel! In this case I’m
going to show you the OH Shopping center in la Barra de
Maldonado. It’s in the east part of this town. It was inaugurated in
December 2014 and has a total of 3 floors and around 50 spaces
for commercial uses. It’s a meeting place for all the people in La
Barra. And across the street is Tienda Inglesa, another branch of
the supermarket in Punta del Este. It’s a very picturesque shopping
center, built with a very rustic layout, assimilating itself to the
surroundings. It’s also a meeting place; a kind of park (which is
missing in this area of La Barra) where people gather: where teens
get together to have a drink or families to talk to each other.

Let’s remember that the whole area of La Barra is very rough, that
is, there are gravel roads behind. There is a square in front of the
church, but there are no benches or anything like that. In the
foreground we see the ice cream shop named Freddo, one of the
two places to eat, along with La Panera Rosa, which is on the right
side, pointing west. During the first days of January a fashion show
was held right here, on the edges of that pool that you are looking
at. It tried to emulate Roberto Giordano’s model parades of yore.
This was filmed between January 11 and 23, 2023. Here is an on-
the-spot commentary… Well, I’m here at the OH shopping center
in La Barra, this is where I came one of the first days, a girl served
as a waitress around there: in La Panera Rosa.

This is like the center of La Barra. And over there is Punta del Este.
These two buildings are from… This is the OH shopping center,
which is spectacular. This is called La Panera Rosa. I was referring
to a green-eyed female who serves there and is supposedly from
San Carlos, a town near this area. This shopping center burned
down on February 27th of this year. More or less 8 blocks
lenghtwise constitute the center of La Barra.

A subscriber told me how common fires were in Uruguay. I found

out about this (new) fire where preparing this voiceover. It really
hurts me a lot that another shopping mall besides Punta* Shopping
has caught fire. But according to this subscriber (or commentator)
a shopping mall had also burned down in Montevideo. He was

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saying that fires are also common here in Argentina, but I disagree
with that because the truth is that a shopping mall doesn’t catch
fire every 2 months here. This is the third level. Here you’ll be able
to enjoy a small walking tour of the third level of the shopping mall.
The interesting thing are the panoramic views, mostly during the
day.

If I’m not mistaken, the restaurant used to be located on one of

these balconies, so the views were absolutely incredible. Now they
moved it underneath and it doesn’t have the views that you can
see and are going to see. It has a children’s playground in the
back, which is the one that burned down. That’s the restaurant
where I just ate, which is called Barra Alta. And here is another
place… No, no, it’s the Freddo (ice cream shop) downstairs…
Underneath there is a Freddo.

The shopping center is a bit labyrinthine. It really looks… it’s a lot

bigger than it looks. It also has a pharmacy underneath. And there
diagonally you can see one of the two supermarkets of La Barra de
Maldonado, together with El Dorado. The two hypermarkets,
rather. Here you’ll be able to appreciate night views of Punta del
Este. This is part of the tall building that was seen from La
Candelaria, being bordered by the cars that go to Punta del Este.

Right there the cars going to Punta del Este make a turn. And here
the whole of La Barra. They have white lights, they’re coming this
way, they have to go all the way around La Barra, where the bridge
is. … Here is the circumvallation of La Barra and well, the other
one is the eastern point (Punta del Este) Well, I don’t know how
much battery is left, but that may be San Carlos, which you can
see from the bridge when you cross the Maldonado creek. And
there you can see the little houses and San Carlos. There you can
see for a second the playground.

There is also a slideshow about this shopping center that I

recommend and gives* an overview of the shopping center: in this
case I took more photos than I shot videos. This is the “catwalk” on
which the models paraded in that small fashion show. This place is
always with loud music, it sounds almost like a discotheque. I had

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to take the music out because of YouTube and the artists, who
want to get rich off the work of others. Well, now you’re going to
see the heart. Here people were all the time taking pictures of
themselves and putting them on Instagram. There’s some kind of
boxing ring that I’m not sure what it’s used for. At night a lot of
teenagers gather in this area before going out to dance at the
different “casitas” or private parties in the area.

There you can also see the elevator that the mall has. I’ve never
seen people fighting here so I don’t know what’s for. But it’s a
beautiful shopping center. I also posted a video in 2015, a few
months after it opened. And I want to make a special mention to
Leo Sarro, a journalist from Uruguay, who in his Twitter timeline
was mocking the people who came here: I don’t know what’s the
point of making fun of people who go to a shopping mall. But
afterwards this guy was seen in New York. So, well, imagine his
consistency….

One of the last shots of the area. If you want to see more of this
place, you will in the special I’m going to post about the blackout of
Punta del Este, of La Barra de Maldonado. Well, I greet you until
that moment…

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111
Hello everybody, welcome back to the channel! What you see is
one of the famous “casitas”, places where sometimes clandestine
parties take place in Punta del Este. In this case, it’s a closed
party, but there are others which are open. And now I am going to
explain the location of the place and its particularities. I’m going to
make a sketch of what’s going to be seen. The video starts here
and what you see is one of the little houses where the parties takes
place. Here’s the bus stop, here’s the OH shopping center. And
this is the main street of La Barra de Maldonado.

Here is a general map. Where we were before is here: the

shopping center OH. Here is the bus stop and one of the “casitas”
of the many in this area. I mark them this way, at random, where
the various parties are held. Now what I’m going to mark the route
that I made. It started more or less this way: this is Montoya. This is
the beach of Montoya. And I walked all this way, all this way…

this part is not going to be seen, but well: arriving at a place that I
ate, which was here. And finally I came down here: the shot you’re
going to see of the beach and the sky. And then the last thing is a
shot over here of the shopping center OH. In general, I call this
area La Barra Este (East) and this zone La Barra Oeste (West).
And what you see in the different videos mentioning these terms, is
basically a division similar to this. Here are all the beaches of La
Barra: the mouth of the Maldonado creek. This is Posta del
Cangrejo (Post of the Crab). These are small beaches that have
practically no name.

And this is the famous Montoya beach. Well, this as a little

introduction of what you are going to see. Now I’m right at the
starting point, marked with green before. And now a comment on
the spot. Well, this is Montoya, I’m leaving Montoya. There, on the
right, in the middle, is Montoya beach club. And behind are
Manantiales (town) and Bikini beach. It’s, I don’t know… 8 o’clock
at night; it just got dark.

This, as you can see, is an area of small hills, which they call
“cuchillas”. These hills are about, in this area, 25 meters tall. Here

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you can see their slope. I left the video… well, this is one of the
best known hotels in the area. I left the video like this, without
correcting the horizontality, so that the slope would be noticeable,
to the side. Here you can really feel it: it’s quite a rugged area. It
appears to be a town of 5,000 to 10,000 people.

It obviously fills up during the season. But everything you see is

like this: very simple, very sparse. That is: passing the undulating
bridge of La Barra, the only thing you are going to find is this type
of very basic buildings: you’re not going to find multi-story buildings
or anything alike. There is a hippie vibe in the area. Well, I’m
walking from Manantiales, up Manantiales. I am walking along the
main avenue of La Barra de Maldonado. This is a complicated
area to walk, because of the slopes. There I was coming from a
sunny and overall exhausting day and was very loaded with
cameras and other electronic accessories.

But well, there you have an overview of the place… Over here was
the Tequila (bar), I don’t know where exactly it was. Well, I stand
corrected, the place where Tequila was, now it’s called Lotus. and
it’s a block or so back. One block from where I shot, on the same
hand. What you can see in the background, above, on the right, is
the Barra de Maldonado shopping center OH. And to the left it will
appear the branch of Tienda Inglesa store at La Barra. Here’s a
new Tienda Inglesa that they put in that wasn’t there the last time.

I don’t know when that store opened, but it’s quite useful. It’s a
pretty big supermarket. And the closest one is on the west side of
La Barra, about 10 blocks from here. Those 10 blocks are long, as
you can notice. And also, a little bit to the left, a pharmacy and
perfumery in this complex. It’s not super big, it’s not the size of the
English Store in Punta del Este, but well, for the people of the area
it’s of great help; otherwise they’d have to go to the El Dorado
supermarket, which is quite far away. Also, the area is a place full
of cars: as you can see, the streets are always very busy and quite
narrow. The streets in the background are gravel.

In other words, they normally do their shopping center walking or

otherwise, but not by car. Unless it’s a monthly or biweekly

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purchase, obviously. And this, even though it’s poorly filmed, I left
it, so you can see the slope issue. This is the shopping center OH
of La Barra. It’s been here for at least 8 years, the last time I came.
I think I’m going to try to eat something… What you see ahead,
less than 5 meters away, is a very good restaurant to eat, called
Barra Alta. In this case I did not eat there, I ate in some place
called Tatijuana, but I recommend it too.

Well, this is Posta del Cangrejo at night. I don’t know if it’s going to
be seen… but up here is the Milky Way. Over there is Punta del
Este. And Posta del Cangrejo. Well, I didn’t want to make color
corrections here to keep the original atmosphere and so you could
notice, as you saw there on the left, the contrast of HDR, which can
also be seen at night and not only during the day. I only made
corrections in the part where I focus the sky, more or less where
the Milky Way was. These houses have the luxury of practically
having the beach to themselves.

So, the people that rent here or are owners directly go down to
these beaches without any problems. Up there, about 150 meters
from the main street, is Tatijuana, the place where I ate. And here
is, as I said, Posta del Cangrejo; there is some fog. And in this
direction, up, you can’t see it, but there’s the Milky Way. What you
will see on the right is one of those snack bars so common in
Punta del Este. There you can buy all kinds of snacks and basic
food to eat on the beach if you don’t want to eat in the restaurants
around, which are quite expensive. The houses you see in the area
may cost well over a million dollars. It’s one of the most luxurious
areas of Punta del Este, which is already one of the most luxurious
areas of South America.

Well, that’s La Barra shopping center at night. As I had anticipated

from the beginning, there I am zooming in from the west side to the
OH shopping center mall in La Barra de Maldonado and also a 360
degree view (some people can’t tell the difference between 180
and 360º, and I don’t mean the German foreign minister). But well,
there you can see the shopping center that I showed so much in
these videos. I send greetings to all of you and I hope you enjoyed
this video pack.

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115
Hello everyone, welcome back to the channel! In this case I’m
going to show you one of the most beautiful beaches of Punta del
Este: the beach of La Barra de Maldonado, at the mouth of the
homonymous creek. We start with this crab, which are so common
in this area. And we continue with these “pompous” girls, which are
also very common in this area. This happened on January 19, one
of the many beautiful days I had this season. What you can see
there are kayakers, also very common in this natural pool, which is
located at the mouth of this creek. Regarding the pretty girls, they
are as common in Punta del Este as crabs are on the beaches:
you see them everywhere; practically omnipresent. What we see
there is the bridge: the famous wavy bridge of La Barra.

And there, two kayakers trying to get close to the girls. This is more
of a general view. That’s the island of sand and why it’s called
Barra (bar), it normally arises at this limit between a creek -
freshwater-and the sea -saltwater-. You can even play soccer
there, as you can see. It’s not a dangerous beach, although you
have to be careful. Well, this is the beach of La Barra. And that’s
the way where I came in. It must be about 200 meters.

It’s a windy day, so I think there’s a lot of people around here

because of that. I mention again in this video what I mentioned in
other videos: this season was absolutely windy; we had winds
every day of around 30 km per hour in this area. And that
motivated me to venture out here. There we have a little walking
(tour). The entrance to the river is quite steep, as you can see. And
the lifeguards, in general, do not allow swimming across the creek.
What we see here is one of the headlands that are formed. We
have in front of us the island we’d seen before.

At this cape, there are sometimes people fishing. And it also allows
us to see a panoramic view of the area. This is the straight
connection with the sea. What you can see there is the sea joining
-in a kind of estuary-with the Maldonado creek. The creek, I
understand, is called Maldonado after the city of the same name,
founded more than 200 years ago. Here we have these three girls
paddle surfing. I recommend a special video with the pictures I

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took of these girls: there are about 300 photos in that video
slideshow. Unfortunately, it didn’t have the success I was hoping
for.

Maybe because YouTube’s algorithms directly pull it down.

Because otherwise it’s absolutely incomprehensible: there are
close-ups of these 3 girls in more or less 300 photos, high quality
and in 4K. That the girls are cute I don’t have to say: you can see it
from far away; you can see it from here. So I understand it’s a
YouTube ruse so my channel never reaches 50,000 subscribers (or
doesn’t get more views). To give you an idea of what YouTube is:
this channel has 8 million views and I haven’t even been paid $100
in 4 years. But anyway, back to our topic, here’s a beautiful
panoramic view of the beach: it’s a beach frequented by families,
with quite young kids. If I had to do an age analysis of the boys and
girls that go to the beach, I would say… I would say that the kids
that go here are around 10 and 12 years old; that on a really close
beach, that is, Montoya, are 15, 16 and 17 year old; and lastly, that
Bikini beach is visited by around 20 years old and up. So we have a
descending ladder:

Bikini around 20 years olds, Montoya around 16 years olds and this
beach of La Barra around 12 years olds. That’s why you’re going to
see such young kids with their families. There, as you can see, a
lifeguard hut. And the most important, which we will see soon, the
area where you can rent kayaks and paddle surf boards. What you
see in the background is the restaurant -that wooden thing-; the
restaurant of the Fasano hotel, which also serves as a small
“beach club”, where you can eat even if you are not a guest -
although it’s quite expensive-. There you can see that the sand is
much finer than elsewhere.

And these are shots taken from the small gazebo, where the
paddle surfboards and kayaks are rented. As you can see there,
the guys are quite young: not teenagers for the most part. And
here we have one of the boards for rent. I recommend
videographers to be very careful with these shots: it’s very difficult
to adjust HDR colors with so much sun in front of you. What you
see in the back is a kind of forest on the other side of the river… of

117
the Maldonado stream, rather. And here you can see the gazebo I
mentioned before. If I’m not mistaken, the rental of the paddle surf
boards was around 7/8 dollars, which was 300 Uruguayan pesos
for half an hour and twice as much for an hour. So it’s not
expensive -in general-for the experience you have (although
paddle surfing is not easy the first times).

Well, here you can see some girls… As you can see, there are a lot
more women than men. I’ve told you that in other videos. I don’t
know if anybody did any ethnographic study to wonder why, but
that’s seen all over Punta del Este. Also be careful when taking
vertical shots because it’s difficult to stabilize them and use them in
the videos. But well, here you can also see the water clarity and
how people are getting in. I don’t know if I said this at the
beginning. Just in case I repeat it: it’s an area where you have to
be cautious when bathing.

First, because the water is quite cold. Then, because there’s a

clash of currents -caused by the sea inlet. And last, because you
get overconfident thinking that since it’s a pool -as it looks like a
pool-…. you think it’s a swimming pool and you don’t take the
precautions you would take when you go to another kind of beach.
When I was a kid I almost drowned here with my brother, so just
imagine. I think I was 12 years old and there was no lifeguard. But
well, that’s the precaution you have to take whether you’re carrying
kids or not.

You can see this kind of tent, this kind of gazebo, that they set up
where they rent… it’s the only one that I saw on the whole beach.
This is almost the end of the month, so at the beginning of the
month it should be almost full. And there you see two girls; first,
they give them a little training and then, they let them into the
water. Although it’s not a problem - there are actually lifeguards -
but it’s important for parents to be vigilant. From what I found out at
the city center, these boards cost around $600. I don’t know if they
include the paddles or not, but that’s the price. And well, this
serves as a demonstration of how everyone is provided with a life
vest and how they are trained before being sent into the water (and
how girls are always crossing on camera). But well, that was the

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idea: to give you an overview of this area, like in a POV, in the
foreground.

I hope you enjoyed the video and subscribe to the channel.

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120
Hello everyone, welcome back to the channel! In this case, I am
going to show a tour around the area of La Barra. More precisely,
the area of Western La Barra located around this. First I will
explain the route. This is the famous bridge of La Barra: the Leonel
*Viera bridge. And well, the buses goes all this way. This is the
exact stop where I got off. And this is the area where I initially
started walking.

The ANCAP gas station, mentioned in the video, is here. It’s just
around the corner somewhere; you can see it here too. I keep
walking all around here… On this corner, next to the police station,
there’s a place called El Novillo Alegre. The day before… the 18th,
I think the President of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, had been there,
showcasing organic meat. So, since I was going to this beach, I
basically followed the path that later on… I was saying that I made
this path, this way. This can be seen in the previous video I made:
“Beaches of La Barra”.

If I am not mistaken it’s the 61st. Video number 61. It will show a
little bit of this area here. This is the path I subsequently took. But
well, this is where I crossed and met the president’s father: Luis
Lacalle Herrera, the father of the current president of Uruguay,
Luis Lacalle Pou. And that’s where you’re going to see the talk I
had (I don’t want to anticipate anything in advance). Then we are
going to see the exit of that place and the following walk: a hike
that started around here; arrives at this place: this place is a kind of
mini-shopping center, similar in shape (like this) to the OH
shopping center, but on this side, which is the west side of La
Barra, which, by the way, is here (that’s why it’s called a bar,
because it has the shape of a bar -and another bar is also formed
here-). This path is done here.

Then this way; here is one of the panoramic views over there. This
is one of the panoramic views over there: the bridge. In this area El
Novillo Alegre is located. More or less this way you can cross…
(here we have more definition). I more or less I crossed this way…
We have a kind of pub called Popu. This area, (…) is the heart of

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Western La Barra. Here we have the ANCAP gas station on one
hand; it’s very important because it’s the main gas station.

Here we have another great place, which you’ll see later:

Medialunas Calentitas, a historical place in Punta del Este,
absolutely illustrious in Punta del Este. -and specifically in La
Barra. And here we have the second street in importance, where
we are going to see a little place called La Previa, where the
teenagers meet before going to parties… Here is Medialunas
Calentitas, where people go to have a snack after the beach -there
will be a special video about Medialunas Calentitas-and here we
have La Previa: also a small bar where young people gather at
night (apart from the other teenage gathering center on the east:
the OH shopping mall -but that one is more or less a kilometer
away; about 12 blocks or so). And this way the road continues, all
this way… The road continues all this way… This is the “semi-
official” stop, that is, the bus has two stops: one this way and one
this other way.

And I publish this journey to give you an idea of what this area of
La Barra de Maldonado is like at night. It’s an area where there’s
practically no light. The streets, as you can see, have practically no
sidewalks. And you’ll see the complications for someone to go on
foot. It’s an area also planned for the car, despite not being as
urbanized as Punta del Este and having -as you can see-a
checkerboard format. But it’s an area where you have to be very
attentive if you go on foot. Not to mention if you get into all these
areas here… well… because there’s no light and so on…

But it’s not an unsafe area: I want to say that too. Here we have
another map, a little cleaner. So, well, the path that was taken that
day is to go all this way, this way… This is one of the beach
entrances: right here. Then, on the way back, this same route was
taken plus this part here and up to here. That’s what you’re going
to see now. There’s another part: La Barra *East. But for now that’s
what you’re going to see.

Well today is -if I’m not mistaken-January 19, 2023. It’s the second
(bus) stop… the third stop of La Barra, from where (the bus) turns

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the bridge the third one, and corresponds to that of Medialunas
Calentitas on the other side: that’s a corner that’s diagonally
across there. And here is all the nightlife. When nightlife begins,
they meet here at ANCAP gas station or at Medialunas Calentitas
and they prepare themselves before going to parties. This has
been here since I was a kid. I don’t remember (…) And now I’m
trying…

this is the area that faces the Maldonado stream, in La Barra, on its
left bank, that bank that faces the north(east). And I’m trying to go
to one of the beaches here because it’s very windy on the other
beaches. And… Well, this is the transit of cars. Somewhere I’m
going to find a trail to go down. And… Well, my feet are a little sore
from so much walking: I’m walking 5 kilometers a day or so. Here
the sun is very strong: a UV index of about 13, which is much
higher than in Buenos Aires in the summer.

I don’t know where I go down to the beach, but there may be a trail
there, on that way. Here we see the restaurants, which I believe
are already… In other words (…) like Buenos Aires not flat, but
there are little elevations, of 30 to 40 meters. there’s the Popu, a
pub I was told is cool at night. At other times… in early January.
And over there, following this path, is Medialunas Calentitas, a
great meeting point here. On that corner. Oh!

And here I think was… a president. Well, if I’m not mistaken,

Lacalle Pou came here, a few days ago (the president here in
Uruguay). . -A question: did the president come here the other
day? -Yes, sir. -Wow (…) -What do you mean? that (…) everything?
-No, (…) he was here, I thought it was a different place…

-Really did the president of the country come here? -Yes. They had
the lambs there, they were roasting the lambs here, they brought a
special grill for that (…) -Of course, because it was organic meat
too. -Yeah, sure, it was organic meat. -It’s a place… I don’t know….
-Simple.

-You can’t imagine a president coming here…. A road passes

nearby. I don’t know: I imagined him going to a sushi place, one of

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those… some place like that… like the one at the port, you know?
With all the glamour. So that’s why I was asking, because I don’t…
-Where are you from? -From Argentina, Buenos Aires. -Oh, no, no.
-No, besides, in Argentina the president would not be able to go (in
public), because he would be… if the president goes to a park (…)

all. What happens is that I thought Lacalle Pou was more, like, -I
don’t say similar-. but more of an ideology similar to Macri’s,
maybe the people didn’t like him that much, but I was wrong. It’s
like it doesn’t matter so much that, what matters is that he is the
president, but… I imagined a glamorous place. In other words, I
imagined -Another kind of place… -Of course, more by the beach, -
Of course. -Despite being more right-wing, in quotation marks.
He’s not Pepe Mujica, at an ideological level.

-Of course. -They don’t have the same ideas. -It’s not the
president, it’s the person that matters to everyone, no matter who’s
the person holding the position. -It’s a rough place that… I thought
there was a mistake: an Enjoy hotel, like that, all very classy, all… I
didn’t imagine this. A place like this, here. I was surprised: I had
seen him in other events…

but I couldn’t believe it, I looked for this place to see if it was the
same or was another one in La Barra, here, which was bigger,
more like a supermarket, bigger. -Of course. -I’m going to take a
picture of it, if I can. -Ok. Well, there’s the president Lacalle
Herrera. At one point I cut the chat with this lady, when I took the
pictures. I had been talking more or less 5 minutes more, and got
approached by a gentleman, gray-haired, the gentleman sitting
there, so that I stopped talking to her. I thought he was the owner
of the site. And there I was told he was the former president of
Uruguay, the president’s father Lacalle Pou, of whom we were
speaking.

At the beginning I thought I was being mocked, really, because I’m

like that, somewhat disbelieving, shall we say. And well, therefore,
well, At first I was kind of surprised, I had never been in front of a
president, I was like when I stood in front of the school principal,
when I was a kid, with arms forward crossed. I didn’t tell him

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anything and neither did I knew anything about Uruguay’s politics;
it’s not a country that I follow all the time. In fact, in Uruguay, they
follow news from Argentina, so I didn’t want to talk in excess:
maybe he really was the expresident. I only managed to ask for a
photo like I admired him or something. I also wanted to know if
they were kidding me or not, and then check if it was true what they
were saying or not. When I went out of there, I checked a few
blocks later on the Internet that it was really him, and well, that’s
when I post the photo on Twitter, a little bit to show off. But it was
very strange, because I don’t remember if the day before, or the
day before the day before, I had gotten into a fight with a guy at a
gas station, and told him: “The Uruguayans are such and such,
because we built Punta del Este, the Argentines, and you treat us
badly”.

Well, sometimes I get angry… And suddenly, two days later

meeting with a former president of Uruguay was very strong. It’s
also why I asked for the photo, to say: “Well, thank you”. One day I
insult Uruguay, and the other day appears a former president, so
well, that was the anecdote, and here we continue… Well, now I
am going out now about two blocks or so, I exited the beach, I am
well, down there in the background turns the bus I am close to
where I got off, which is near El Novillo Alegre, but this area wasn’t
traversed. Voiceover starts: Just to explain a little bit, I had left at
that time an amusement park, there’s like a children’s amusement
park, when you go up by one of the exits from the beach of La
Barra, and that’s when I I walked thru this area here. To the
playground area there’s going to be a dedicated video, because I
didn’t wanted to cut the momentum, lets’s say, this kind of walking
tour that’s being done by this area of Western La Barra. There you
have a shopping center, a mini shopping center, or just in
miniature, to make it redundant.

It has practically the same C-shape, upside down. And well, they
usually sell a lot of things related to art. There’s also a couple of
places to drink something. It’s not as big as the other shopping
center, but well, it does look quite similar in concept, although it’s
true that the other mall does not sell things of art, and this one
does. So that would be the difference, apart obviously from the

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size, as I mentioned previously. On the other hand, here the nights
are rather lukewarm, not so cold. That’s not what happens on the
coast of Argentina. Here you can see the bridge José Viera, not
Vieira, as I said at the beginning.

But well, is usually called La Barra bridge or the wavy bridge. I

think that the OH shopping center in La Barra is named Oh, based
on how we screamed when crossing that bridge. Now was
modified so that it’s not so abrupt the ascent/descent: it was almost
a roller coaster ride that bridge. Well, there in el Novillo Alegre is
where I met with the former Uruguayan president and where the
current president had came the other day, a couple of days ago.
They sell organic meat. The passing-by propaganda vehicle was
advertising the circus, if I’m not mistaken, called Houdini or
something like that, that was placed in Punta del Este. There was
also a dinosaur exposition, which I don’t know if was part of the
circus or not. But well, I would have liked to go, but unfortunately I
can’t do everything in these trips.

These videos are going to show at least 50 or 60 different locations.

Hopefully next time this mini encyclopedia of Punta del Este can
be completed. Organic, so I was told, means not that it isn’t real
meat nor that it’s vegetarian nor anything like that, but it means
that they don’t use fertilizers; that the livestock eats the pastures
as it was years ago: not being fed weird stuff. Well, as you’ll see
my voice now recorded in a studio-like situation, controlled, it’s
heard quite differently from the microphone voice of the iPhone
that you hear there, so don’t *believe that your real voice is so
different from the one you hear (inside). Returning to the subject
about El Novillo Alegre, I had been called a lot of attention,
because I have Uruguayans considered as normal people, at least
not as crazy as us. So I said to myself: “Uh, these are also with
vegetarian meat and with all those things of the 2030 agenda”. But
no, when I went, I could make sure that in reality what is called
organic meat, it’s not a kind of artificial meat, or something that
tries to look like meat out of soybean, but that it refers to the well-
being of animals and the measures taken about that. There we
have, as I said at the beginning of the video, one of the places

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more centrally located in La Barra de Maldonado, (the second after
the area of the interbalnearia route).

There you can see, I am transiting Popu on the right, a kind of pub;
it doesn’t seem. And there are times when some groups play, but it
doesn’t seem to be… does not appear to be a disco. I don’t think
there are any, in fact, in La Barra today, unfortunately. The only
ones that exist are those of… That is El Popu, an equivalent to
Medialunas, but at night. I was saying that the only discotheques
are those of the center, those of the port, where the people going
are mostly married, or couples, or people being swingers, older,
let’s say. The kids have to go to private parties because of the lack
of discotheques, even matinees. Because they shouldn’t be at a
late-night discotheque, where alcohol is sold; the kids can go out
dancing at a matinee.

But, well, that’s missing here in the Barra. Here is the route coming
from Punta del Este. Here is Fresh Market, which is like a kind of
Disco of here, very classy; there’s also one in the city center. In the
absence of discotheques (places to dance at La Barra), many kids
whether go to the “casitas”, or elsewhere; they are often seen in
the center, in the Gorlero area and in the area of the beaches
adjacent to the peninsula. You see them a lot around. Well, that
supermarket is not so good. The truth is that the Tienda Inglesa
has much better things to offer. There are some very expensive
things there, but not worth it, let’s just say it, frankly.

And here we are beginning to see Medialunas Calentitas. God

willing, I will be able to make a special explaining what means
Medialunas Calentitas for this area. There are Medialunas
Calentitas franchises in other places near Punta del Este and
elsewhere in Uruguay. An attempt was even made to run one in
Recoleta, at Callao and Libertador, but unfortunately it didn’t work
out. Because things also have a lot of to do with* the place. One
thing that can work perfectly in one place can work very poorly in
another. Even though in this case they have the same target,
because the people who live in Libertador and Callao can easily be
the people who visit these places. But evidently the neoclassical-

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French environment at Callao and Libertador is not the same rustic
environment as here.

And people are not calm and on vacation. There are millipilis in
Recoleta too (and when I say milipilis I don’t mean it in a
derogatory manner: I mean it in a way… superhot girl; for me, that
means milipili). But well, there are not as many as here. Here when
one goes to Medialunas Calentitas, it really looks like the entrance
of a modeling agency. He is another one of the great, great places
here. there’s the pizzeria I had mentioned: La Previa. On the right,
on the left, sorry. And there we are entering Medialunas Calentitas,
which is much, much larger of what is now seen…

well, this is merely the entrance. It occupies almost 500 square

meters. It has a bottom, it has several nooks and crannies inside.
In another video I will talk about Medialunas. So, well, there’s the
scenario, where bands perform, especially in the peak season*,
different bands perform and this is absolutely packed. Here I sound
a little like Pausanias talking about places that no longer exist or
that are in full decline as when he toured the Helad. But well, the
idea in these videos is that it’s much easier to film when there are
no people. I could have filmed one of the days I went and there
were people, but I wouldn’t have been able to show it as a whole.

Isn’t it nicer to show it without people? In other words, it’s nicer to

show it in decay. Hegel said that the owl of Minerva just starts its
flight in the sunset. And it’s a bit true about science. Science needs
a certain step away from reality. A certain kind of representation
(sort of artistic) that has ended, in order to be examined well. This
is how science works: as a film critic or literary critic. A film, or
theater play, that only after it has been seen in its whole, can be
analyzed.

That’s why the places I show here usually don’t have people and
can be seen more in perspective and can be watched behind the
scenes . Here is the bus stop that goes to Punta del Este or
Maldonado. There’s Medialunas Calentitas, where I came from.
And it’s much bigger of what one believes from outside. And this is
full on the first days of January. I want to repeat this was recorded

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on the 19th of January, after the high season, which we could say
ends more or less on the 15th of January. Super high season ends
on January 7th, more or less. And here we see what this area is
like at night.

This is always the case: lacking a lot of light, one has to walk with a
lot of care. The only good thing is that you can see the stars and
the Milky Way with total clarity. But it’s such an area, very much to
be visited by car. And see: practically no sidewalks paved roads
and the like. This area, if you don’t know it, is a labyrinth. On top of
that, there’s no light, there’s almost no asphalt. They are all
labyrinthine streets crossing. And now comes the official bus stop,
in both places the bus stops, but well…

There you can see clearly a perspective. I have improved a little

the overall lighting (it’s even darker when you go personally). But
thus are all the internal streets of La Barra. Except for the main
avenue, all the streets inside are like this. Not to mention El Tesoro
area, which would be… which would on the left side. It’s all totally
dark. Here, as I said, I am in transit to the classic bus stop. It has a
stop there, diagonally across from Medialunas Calentitas.

And another one, that I am now going to show. Nothing to do with

other seasons, the buses were practically empty; it was an
incredible thing. Well, I hope you liked this video.

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130
Hello, welcome back to the channel! In this case, I’ll show the route
I took from the beach of La Barra de Maldonado to the church.
Here we have downtown Punta del Este, and here we have
specifically La Barra de Maldonado. What I did that day was to
leave the beach, depicted in the videos uploaded before: videos 61
and 62. I went all around this area here. Here’s the El Dorado
supermarket, that will appear in another video along with
Zeppelines Park, which is here. I went down this street inside here
to go to the church of Our Lady of Rosario, which is right here. And
well, you can see the panoramic views of this area here.

And on the other hand, the main street of La Barra: Eduardo Victor
Haedo Avenue. And this is the church; then there’s the return leg
and a shot of Zeppelines Park, which is here. Well, here we are in
the heart of Western La Barra. There you can see El Dorado
supermarket; and you can also see the Zeppelines Park. Here I
start walking towards the church area. As you can see - and I had
said in other videos - everything is quite rough. Some streets are
paved -some of them-but there are practically no sidewalks.

And in general, as you can see, they are occupied by cars. This is
a very natural area -as I said-very rustic, very wild. I wasn’t
planning to go to mass that day; I wasn’t even planning to go to
church. There, what you’ll see on the side -in a short time-is one of
the best known hostels in the area, called Negrita Hostel: -here we
have a panoramic view to the back-it’s one of the best known
hostels there, where many foreigners go. I personally don’t know it,
but many recommend it. There you can see the dirt, gravel roads.

And what you’ll see on the left… here’s another shot back: the
central street, actually, that goes all the way around, which I
showed at the beginning of the video. And, well, these gravel roads
that I was telling you about; on the upper left you can see a park, I
don’t know if it has a name or not, but it’s the one in front of the
church. And it’s also where the Codesa bus turns. I told you at the
beginning that I was not planning to go to mass that day; it was a
weekday and I wasn’t even planning to go to church: I stumbled
upon it on my way. I think it had been a bad day at the beach: it

131
was all cloudy. And so I decided to walk around a bit. The car you
see there is also a synthesis of the place, because you see
tremendously old things, and suddenly you can see a Porsche or a
BMW. It’s a very big contrast between hippism and what we would
call fashion or “de lujo” here in Argentina.

So we have that contrast between the rugged and the more

sophisticated. Anyway, as I said in another video, these properties
here, that one sees them just like that.. …can be worth even more
than an apartment in the downtown area of Punta del Este. There
you can see that big square, which unfortunately I could not walk
around either, but it’s very nice. I saw a lot of people gathering
there at night as well. You see Negrita Hostel again. And it’s like
everything is close, so it’s more or less 10 blocks by 5 blocks wide.
-if we don’t count El Tesoro, which is the area in the back, where
there was supposedly a pirate treasure. and back there is the
Museum of the Sea, a place I also recommend to visit.

And here I’m slowly approaching the church of Our Lady of

Rosario, where a priest with a German or Polish accent officiated a
mass; I couldn’t really tell. But well, it’s a very simple church, it
reminds me a lot of the one in Puerto Madero. There we have
another panoramic view, the Codesa company bus is just turning
there… …to go either to Manantiales or to José Ignacio. Well: it’s a
church that reminded me a lot of the circular church, which is in…
although this one is not circular, but inside it looks like: it has a half-
circular shape. It looks a lot like the church in Puerto Madero here
in Buenos Aires. There you see again the nature of the ground.
This place is not made much to be walked; it’s made more to be
traveled by car. But well, there you can see the asphalt that is kind
of unfinished, of different colors, the sidewalk that practically
doesn’t exist: only 1 meter wide, where it does.

And well, those contrasts that occur here between simplicity and
luxury, that shocks you the most the first times you come to this
place, because all of a sudden it looks like a poor place: if one
were to show a person some pictures… …he would say: “That’s a
poor place, it’s a small fishing village” or something like that. And
yet, the millionaires of Argentina and South America live here. So

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well, there I’m about to enter the chapel. The devotion to the Virgin
of Rosario is very common in Argentina and that’s also noticeable
here. I just came out of the church, there was mass, and well, I also
participated in the mass. And there were about 30 people: there
were a lot of people. Although, well, most of them are over 40.

I think the former president Lacalle Herrera was there. Although… I

don’t… I think it was him, yes, almost certainly it was him. As it said
in the commentary on the place, I had noticed him, in the mass, in
one of the front pews (I sat in one of the back seats and it was
really weird: as soon as I entered the church the mass began). And
well, at the end and during the mass, which lasted about 45
minutes, I thought I saw him. I had also found him by chance the
day before in El Novillo Alegre, which can be seen in video 62. So,
well, it was a very strange thing. There we can see the Zeppelines
Park, which is an amusement park made of inflatables.

which is very good. Unfortunately it’s just for kids, but well, the truth
is that one sees it and it’s something that’s very good. You’ll see
another video specifically about that park. Well, I hope you liked
this little video.

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134
Hello everyone, welcome back to the channel! In this case, what
I’m going to show you is the Zeppelines Park, which is located
exactly here. This is -as you may know-La Barra de Maldonado.
This is the route that Codesa bus takes through this area (if you
want to visit it directly). Here you can see it a little better: this one
here is the beach of La Barra, as seen in the video number 61. This
is the route: one of the exits (there’s another one ahead, but this is
the one we are going to see now, the one that takes you to
Zeppelines Park). Here’s a very important place: El Dorado, a very
important supermarket in this area of La Barra* ; on the other side,
in the eastern area of La Barra de Maldonado, you’ll find Tienda
Inglesa and on this side El Dorado. And here -where I’m going to
mark now-you’ll find Zeppelines Park. So… this is the location of
Zeppelines Park in La Barra de Maldonado. And here I have one
more image… I mark again where the bus passes: normally you’d
have to go down this way and here you’d find the place I
mentioned. Now let’s go to the images… Here we are in
Zeppelines Park, in La Barra de Maldonado, in Punta del Este,
Uruguay. This was January 19th, more or less at 7 pm. As I said
before, I had just left the beach.

And well, I came across this place that I found spectacular.

Because it’s really incredible to see in such a small place, so many
things, so many children playing, so many families, so many
healthy people. So well, I loved it and it was very surprising. It was
also the same day that I had met the former Uruguayan president
in one of the nearby restaurants. Here you can see the
“zeppelines” (here in Argentina they are called inflables; over there
they are called that way). There are different types of inflatables:
there’s one of a dinosaur, there’s one of a shark, there’s one of a
lion, there’s one of a crocodile. Let’s say: they are different options.

It’s quite a small place -it must be said-, but the density of
attractions is impressive. This is a kind of… I don’t know what it’s
called in other places… here it’s called “samba” -in Argentina-: it’s
a kind of wheel of death. I don’t know what to call it but it’s not big:
it’s a park for kids, around 12 years old. Across the street you can
see El Dorado supermarket; there you can see how it was getting

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dark. Those are the inflatables you’ll see at the end of the video,
when they are fully filled with air. There you can see…

well… the kids on that… on those kind of swings, also a hardware

store*. This is the main street of La Barra de Maldonado. Here we
are recording with an iPhone: you can see the difference in
dynamic contrast. Also you can see the kids there having fun and
jumping around. It was impressive how high they were jumping.
And also that they were very young, which you can see in fast
motion. Very young guys and I got surprised: because I didn’t
expect to find such structure there coming out of the beach in a
place so quiet and so flat as La Barra de Maldonado sometimes
seems to be.

So, well, that’s why I stayed [there] too. and I was very surprised
by the place. On the right -what you are going to see now-there’s a
small place where they sell sodas or “refrescos”, as they say in
Uruguay. And maybe they sell some snack: some cookies to pass
the time. And in the evening they may sell -I didn’t get there to
check-but maybe they sell some kind of hot dog or very basic food.
There you see the inflatables, which were later to be filled.

Also a trampoline bed, where those girls stood. It’s amazing how
concentrated the amount of things are, in such a small place.
There are two bubble balls for lack of one: there are two of those
balls for the kids to play. It’s a very well thought out place.
Apparently it’s a lot. The other trip I made the park wasn’t there.
Apparently it’s a land for sale or rent and they were allowed to…
This is a strange amusement park, which is in front of El Dorado
here in La Barra.

There I showed my surprise at finding this place, so I left the in situ

recording. I said it’s a place, apparently for rent (at least it’s
advertised as a place for rent; [it seems] they were allowed for this
summer to put these things there). But look at the size! At the end
of the video you’ll see a girl jumping out of there. It’s incredible: I
don’t think I would dare to jump from that place. Here’s a small
walking tour of the place. There you see -on the right-the small

136
soda store. Now we are at night: there we have one of the
crocodiles.

There are different types of inflatable animals and different…. a

slide in this case, two slides; there’s a smaller one too. It’s all kind
of compressed and there’s a huge variety. This is a slow pan I
made for you to see. I mean, I don’t know how they have so much
money to buy or rent so many inflatables. It’s an incredible thing.
But well, everything is like that in La Barra, everything is very
simple but…

well: also in that simplicity there’s sometimes complexity. In this

case, one sees a very simple thing but with a lot of fun options for
the kids. I mean, it’s like everything seems concentrated. And
that’s the feeling that I got there: how did they manage to set up
such a park in a 40x40 [meters] lot? We’ll see the shot of that girl
jumping from that very high place, which must have been at least 5
or 6 meters high. Well: this as a demonstration; I wish I could have
record more but, unfortunately, I wanted to give a general overview
and I didn’t have the time to film for so long -and it’s a place with a
lot of kids and a lot of noise-.

I hope you liked it!

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138
In this case I’m going to show La Barra de Maldonado in Punta del
Este. The second specific video on the western zone of La Barra
de Maldonado. Here we are. This is the division between the River
Plate and the Atlantic Ocean, which you can see in another video. I
wanted to show a perspective as well. Here’s Punta del Este and
here’s La Barra de Maldonado. Let’s keep zooming in… . Here we
are on this beach: this is the mouth of the Maldonado creek.

This is the mouth: here’s the Maldonado creek. First, what we’re
going to see are shots from here: from this point, showing this area
and showing the currents. I think this is going to be of great interest
to geographers, geologists and others: by showing thoroughly this
area with some nice shots. Here’s La Gorgorita beach. Panoramic
shots from here and here. This lasts more or less 3 minutes, but it’s
very good as it shows the meeting of the river and the sea.
Afterwards, what you’ll see is a hotel that’s here. What we’re going
to see here -apart from some kids playing soccer-is this parador,
the beach restaurant of Hotel Fasano: a chain of Brazilian hotels
that are even more expensive than the Enjoy Hotel -formerly
Conrad-.

The Conrad [Enjoy] costs more or less in high season about $600
and this one is over $1,000 per day. So, we’ll see a few shots of
that restaurant. And then what we are going to see is…. here we’ll
see some girls taking selfies, also a “sample” of the area. And then
what we’ll see is a sunset shot from this area, that’s shown in fast
motion, but well, if someone asks for it, I can put it in full: there’s so
much material… it must be 25 hours of raw footage at least, so I try
to synthesize it as much as I can. That’s in summary what we’re
going to see in this video. Well, here we have the mouth mentioned
before. There, in the background, is La Gorgorita beach. And that’s
the Atlantic Ocean entering the mouth of the Maldonado creek.

What you see in the back is one of the tallest buildings in this area
of Punta del Este. And here we are beginning to see how the
waters of the river and the sea are coming together, which is what
basically forms the sand bar (Barra). A slightly more panoramic
shot. This was shot at the end of the month, so there were fewer

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people than expected at another part of the season -first days of
January-, but you can see that -in general-they’re quite wide
beaches. (there’s a special video called Playa Esquina de la Barra,
which shows this particular area well). And here you can see the
panning of these waves everywhere: first the waves of the sea and
then, the small waves that form on the left bank of the river. Here I
am in that kind of cape that I showed in the video [at the beginning]
and filming the panoramic view.

That’s the left bank of the Maldonado creek -the one you can see
now-. and those are the luxury houses that are… Around that area
La Barra town starts, specifically. And here we are going to see the
sea itself and the river. Here in front of us is the river, and in the
background the sea. Bathing is practically prohibited in this area.
[…I can do it] (This) is the area where the sea enters the river. [I
haven’t brought] tripod and gimbal and they are a hassle to set up.

The sea entering the river… Well -as I was saying-in this area -
particularly in this mouth area-it’s forbidden to bathe because of
the currents; it’s only allowed to fish further downstream, but in this
area it’s forbidden to bathe, it’s also forbidden to swim across the
Maldonado creek, mainly because of the danger of the currents.
It’s not deep - in one area you can walk - but there are dangerous
currents. And usually on the riverbed there are crabs, which can
also be annoying. Well, there you can see the waves in slow
motion. This was filmed with a zoom of almost 400 millimeters. I
tried to improve it as much as I could.

On top of that, it was recorded with the Lumix camera, not good for
stabilization. But, well, there you can see the waves of the sea
meeting the river. This channel has a lot of geographical things, a
lot of shots… where the curvature of the Earth can be seen, where
the are a lot of sunsets, where sailing clips can be seen: it should
have more geographers watching it. I try to show a little bit of
Nature -since it’s a video channel-and not do what other youtubers
do, that it, showing off themselves…. But well: here we have this
mouth again. That beach across the river, if it weren’t forbidden, it
would be very easy to go swimming and return (in fact, a few years
ago there was no such prohibition). There you can see this

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meeting of waters in the foreground, which also occurs at a higher
level between the River Plate and the Atlantic Ocean, in what I
believe is the largest estuary in the world. (although lately with the
salinity issues, perhaps that river should be renamed Mar Dulce

[Fresh-water Sea] as the Spaniards called it). There we have the

beach: those beaches were shown in video 61. And here we come
back to see this… This is impressive to see when you’re there.
One thing is to show it here on video, but to see it there is very
strong. And as I was saying, it’s a small example of the river water -
fresh-colliding with the sea water -salty. This is also why the River
Plate, despite being shallow, is a difficult river for navigation: the
clash of currents. Well, there we have the beach area itself: people
are leaving.

Returning to the River Plate, let’s remember that the Paraná River
reaches its mouth, coming from almost 3,000 km upwards and also
the Uruguay River, so here in Argentina there’s a huge delta. And
there we can see the classy milipilis: the super cool girls of the
area, that sometimes also appear on these beaches. This is the
great boundary between this hippie chic area of Punta del Este
and the luxurious area, that is, the peninsula and its surroundings.
This is a rather youthful area, with a different spirit. Luxurious too,
but more easy-going, that is, here you won’t see people dressed as
formally as they would in downtown Punta del Este. And there we
can see these sunsets, which I would say can be seen practically
anywhere in Uruguay -at least from Montevideo eastwards-.
Because I saw them on many journeys: during the 30 days I was
there, I experienced these incredible sunsets. So it’s a very
common postcard, but well, I want to show it here in almost every
video, because there’s almost like a cult that people have when the
sun goes down, either here or at the Mansa beach: people stand
up to watch: it’s a kind of hypnosis.

(Let’s remember that both the flag of Argentina and the flag of the
Oriental Republic have the Sun practically [protagonist],
Argentina’s in the center and Uruguay’s on one side). But well,
that’s the importance of the Sun in our rioplatense area. Some
people tell me that I pronounce a uvular R, as the French do, when

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I pronounce the letter R, but well, I don’t know if it’s a matter of
ancestry or what; I really don’t know -it’s not something conscious-.
We return to see the sunsets here; Here we are already in another
day. Here I’m going to show what the hotel [restaurant] looks like; I
couldn’t film much openly: I just did these quick shots. But I wanted
to show the Hotel Fasano -in

this case-: it’s a luxury hotel that’s more or less 12 kilometers away
and there’s a transfer bus that takes you here. And that hotel is
impressive: it’s practically a “country-club” hotel. It has golf
courses, tennis courts, soccer fields; and you can practically rent a
small house in that “country-club” hotel (because it’s not even an
apart hotel, it’s like a country-side hotel). But here we can get an
idea of the bathrooms and the luxury of the place. Look at this!
Right on the beach! This is a beach club, increidibly. So, here we
have the remains of the bonfires that are made in this area.

They are very common. You can see a lot of their remains in
another slideshow I uploaded. Here we have bonfires at night.
There you can see a little of the walkways. It’s a very quiet area,
very relaxed. There we have those girls. There’s also a slideshow
of these girls having their photo session -not only of these girls, but
of this western area of La Barra.

And there’s the vegetation: also an important thing I wanted to

show. Well, there’s the Isla de Lobos lighthouse. Here are the
beach recliners. It’s not necessary to be a guest of the hotel to use
the beach or the restaurant -that’s what I wanted to clarify-. So,
well… here we have a girl preparing… There we are in full swing
with the girls taking selfies. These girls were then approached by a
20/25 year old boy: these are rare things that happen in Punta del
Este. But well, greetings to the guys who faced her…

And here we have the sunset itself. If we were in Playa Mansa at

the same time, we would see the same people looking at the sun
hypnotically. It’s a sun that really hypnotizes them. And well, it’s
almost a metaphysical thing, because it’s a kind of attraction that
one feels for the sun and for staying there filming it. I remember
going to this area as a kid and filming the sunsets with my father’s

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camera. It’s a hypnotic thing and it extends from Casa Pueblo -
about 20 kilometers away-to here. Here we’re going to see it in fast
motion. If you want -as

I said at the beginning-I’ll upload the video in normal camera so

you can appreciate it better. Well, these sunsets that can be seen
in the whole area of Punta del Este - in those 50 kilometers from
Piriápolis to José Ignacio - are all incredible, that is, they are all
hypnotic. So, well, I hope you liked this video. I tried my best: I
welcome any kind of criticism and comments. I expect a little more
feedback from the people who watch the videos: don’t be afraid, I
mean, I’m not going to block you or anything -unless you are
disrespectful. Greetings to all of you!

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144
Hello, welcome back to the channel! In this case, I’m going to show
you the round trip of the Codesa bus, which basically goes from
Punta del Este to the area of Manantiales, about 12 kilometers
away (although it has other sections that reach José Ignacio, about
20 to 25 kilometers away). What I’m going to mark now is the exact
place of the bus terminal, this one here, and in perspective here.
Buquebus (ferry company) coaches also arrive here and go to
different places. It’s about here. You can go this way to Maldonado.
To Punta Ballena following this way and so on… The route I’m
going to show is as follows: it all starts here (in this area here you’ll
see a route that I recorded with my cell phone, which is the route
within La Barra de Maldonado, where the streets are going to be
shown).

This La Barra de Maldonado specifically. The bus will come this

way, and come out this way, by this place. It will continue around
here; where you can get off at Montoya beach. After Montoya’s bus
stop, it goes everything around here. It has another stop here:
Bikini beach. And then it ends here, in Manantiales. And then it has
a route, going northeastward to José Ignacio. This was recorded
on the spot with the cell phone.

In what we’re going to see next I’m practically not going to do

voice-over: I’m going to let you see what it’s like sitting there on
that bus and looking at the panoramas, the wind, feeling it; as an
immersion at the site (if you have virtual reality goggles, use them;
this is very good). I will only start a voice over when needed, in the
next 30 minutes, to explain a few things, but if not, I will speak as
little as possible. So well, just to tell you that. And here’s the route I
took, more specifically. Now it starts. Those that are heard in the
back are the famous millipilis, the super hot girls from there, Punta
del Este. This in other times would have been full to the brim but,
being a lean season, it’s like this. At times it’s like traveling on a
school bus, I confess.

That’s the beach club named Roll and Rock at bus stop 8. This is
the beach club called Montauk at the bus stop 10. This is another
shot, of a later day, overlapping (may be in part). But the idea was

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to put together the stretch as much as possible -realistically
possible-with different shots of different videos. Let’s say: there’s
not a single video from which everything has been taken from end
to end. The idea is to reflect as closely as possible the route.
Those going to Uruguay for the first time and specifically to this
area, be careful with the traffic police: they are very severe with
fines. I remember as a child having already experienced that with
my dad.

Well here we are before crossing the bridge of La Barra, the

famous La Barra bridge. There’s another video special, with 2 or 3
more crosses that I filmed. But well, this one I think is the more
depictive of the site: and, well, besides it followed all the continuity
of the route. This is where starts officially the town named La Barra
de Maldonado. This is another crossing of the bridge: another
approach to the crossing. What you’ll see throughly here is the
forest, bordering the bridge, this area, this margin right of the
stream and where are carried out different types of recitals; I don’t
know if also there were a couple foodtrucks. There you can see the
-as

I told you-people who get together to take part in a kind of picnic.

And there you can see the foodtrucks. Other than that, here are
held different recitals and rave parties. There’s the bus driver
speaking to a person. In general, they are very kind: they greet
when you step in, greet when you leave. Nothing to do with the bus
drivers from other countries or cities. If I’m not mistaken, this area
previously was not blocked, that is, could be accessed to reach the
beach directly. In fact, I believe that they used to rent kayaks there.

Now you can see they’re doing some venture. In the background,
what you see -halfway through the screen-is precisely the limit
between the Atlantic Ocean and this creek named Maldonado. I do
not recommend getting off here, because there’s no beach: the
only thing there is a swampy area. In fact, one day I tried to reach
the beach this way and I muddied both sneakers. So please know
there’s no beach here. Don’t get off on this stop if you want to go to
the beach. I don’t know if you heard what it said there on site. We

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were just by the ANCAP, the gas station paradigmatic of this area
of La Barra.

We have just passed by El Novillo Alegre, visited before by the

president of Uruguay. And now it will appear the 12nd police
department of here of Maldonado. The place you see now was
during almost 15 days… During 15 days, there were parked the
cars of the argentinian girls that died in the accident. They were
exposed there, exactly, where we pass by. There’s a small forest…
There’s a special in another video about that church you see
behind. And this one, if I’m not mistaken is the only park that’s here
in La Barra.

As you can see, is not urbanized; that’s why people meet much
around the OH shopping center. This video tries to emulate those
train ride videos [on Youtube] Those from the Netherlands or
Norway, showing the entire route of a particular railroad. In this
case, to be useful for people visiting. Here’s a closer view of the
church in La Barra. This goes all thru the back streets. The bus
used to pass on the main street but now it makes the journey in the
back, three or four blocks away. These houses you see here, as
simple as they may seem, can cost several tens of thousands of
dollars for a month.

Right here is the OH shopping center stop, which leaves you near
the Posta del Cangrejo beach. In the neighborhood of the main
street you can see the church. Here where the bus turns, just one
block ahead, is the stop where you have to get off to go to Montoya
beach; that’s why the video cuts off exactly here. And here begins
the return leg. This was recorded with another camera but this is
the stretch… (there’s the OH shopping center behind) this is the
return stretch to the peninsula of Punta del Este Here you can see
the rusticity of this area, which I had mentioned in other videos.
Here it will be clearly seen. Behind, we can already see the church,
so we are approaching this central area of La Barra de Maldonado.
And here you have a side view of the church.

And this is the square I mentioned before, seen from the return leg.
And also to the back, is the neighborhood named El Tesoro. This is

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an area that, in spite of having a lot of sand, has a lot of trees and
vegetation. The interesting thing - and you’ll see here - is that there
are all kinds of houses: there are houses that look like a poor
person’s house -look here-and there are houses that look like
those of a millionaire -in exactly the same area, sometimes side by
side. This is Medialunas Calentitas, an iconic place in Punta del
Este -and specifically here in La Barra. There will be a special
video about Medialunas Calentitas.

This is located practically on the left bank of the Maldonado

stream, about two blocks away. But well what you saw there is an
icon of La Barra de Maldonado. Here we begin the journey that will
take us to the Lionel Viera Bridge, which you can see in the back;
the classic bridge of La Barra. I remind people that at this point
there’s no beach and that if they come down here the only thing
they are going to find is mud. There’s only a beach on the other
side of the creek [at this position], but it’s not like the beaches on
this side. Usually local people and a lot of fishermen go there. It’s
like the “poor” margin of La Barra de Maldonado, that right margin.
On this bridge, the ascent and descent used to be much steeper:
all the people used to shout “oh” and that’s why I think they called
the shopping center that way.

Now it looks like they corrected it a little bit because it doesn’t feel
the same. The roundabouts that you are about to see are very
common in Punta del Este and I would say, in Uruguay. So if you
are going by car, be prepared. Mostly we the Argentines: we are
not accustomed to roundabouts -or to driving well through them.
And here we continue to see the forest I had mentioned in the first
few parts of the video. This area, where the bus turns, is called La
Gorgorita; it’s one of the iconic areas of Punta del Este. There’s
also a beach called La Gorgorita, where fireworks are usually
displayed at the end of the season. Quite a rocky area, but well,
some fishermen like this part.

This section is from another day, but I wanted to reconstruct the

whole trip from Punta del Este and back as accurately as possible.
I wanted to say one thing that I was remembering: that in the
previous trip - in 2015 - this bus was always full, but full like a bus in

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the middle of downtown Buenos Aires. It was practically a school
bus full of people, crammed together. I had no choice, because
also at that time I hadn’t rented any kind of car, as it’s quite
expensive, but I wanted to point this out: in other summers, if you
have to go in a crowded summer, you won’t find the bus like this. I
was just looking at the last crowded seasons -there you can see a
little bit of the sunset-; the last bursting season was in 2018, due to
the exchange rate; this varies greatly depending on the exchange
rate between the peso and the dollar in Argentina. When there’s an
overvalued exchange rate, this is full of people and when there’s a
super devalued exchange rate -as was the case this summer-
there’s almost no one. So, well, don’t think in general that always
this bus is going to be that clear.

Also, what I noticed is that a lot of people who used to stay on the
peninsula now chooses to rent something in La Barra, so they
don’t have to go all this way; the previous summer I was here had
also been a lean summer, and yet this bus was much crowded.
This is at night. Here, what you are going to see in the evening is
lots and lots of teenagers coming and going to different parties. I
noticed that at bus stop 12 there was a lot of movement. And then
[you have] the private parties: all the buildings that have been built
on the right side of this route -returning to the peninsula-have
amenities, where many times there are parties held. I was telling
one person that this area -Punta del Este in general-is as if you
had 20 Puertos Madero side by side, here in Argentina. I remind
people not from Argentina that Puerto Madero is the most
luxurious neighborhood, the most expensive and the most modern
in Buenos Aires. In the background you can see some of the luxury
buildings; this entire 8 km stretch is fulll of luxury buildings, the
most expensives in Punta del Este.

Another day and the particular thing is there were more “common”
people on the bus: it was a bus that first went to the Punta del Este
terminal and then to Maldonado; so it’s like you can see local
people. To the people of Argentina: as you can see, this is a
colectivo; I call it an omnibus to use the local terminology, as
should be used, but it’s not an omnibus in the sense of “colectivo
de larga distancia” or “long distance bus”, it’s really a colectivo.

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The colectivo in Uruguay is either called “ómnibus” or “bondi”. It’s
also called “bondi” here in Argentina, but that’s more vulgar: the
usual is to call “colectivo” this vehicle in Argentina. Here we are
arriving at the peninsula. This was by bus stop 6, that is, the bus
doesn´t go all along the coast, but at stop 6 -more or less-it goes
inland. Those are the classic “milipilis”: the girls I was telling you
about.

I think you can look up on the internet how to characterize them. In

general, they are middle, upper middle or high class girls, very well
dressed and with a very distinctive accent. This may be by stop 5
and it’s another restaurant zone apart from that of the peninsula
itself. What you’ll see here is a quick shot arriving at the terminal;
there will be another specific video of the terminal itself.

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151
Hello everyone, welcome back to the channel! In this case, we are
going to see two crossings of the Leonel Viera bridge, connecting
La Barra de Maldonado to Punta del Este; a bridge built in 1965 by
Leonel Viera. It’s a bridge 150 meters long and 10 meters wide in
each of its sections. It was the third bridge to be built: the two
previous ones had been broken by different natural events. And
what you are going to see now is just two bridges back and forth:
the first one, which is the original one, and another one, which is 20
meters to the side, which in this case represents the return [to
PDE]. It’s considered one of the most important architectural works
in Uruguay and even has a poem by Neruda dedicated to it. We
are now approaching the bridge (in video number 66 is the round
trip bus ride, where there are more or less three crossings to the
bridge, but this one is specifically dedicated to this crossing itself:
these are different shots than in the other videos and you can even
see the sunsets, as you’ll see now). It’s a prestressed concrete
band bridge, which allows both vehicular and pedestrian
circulation.

In addition, it’s 150 meters long -what we are crossing now-and has
a total of three spans -30, 90 and 30 meters each-, which can be
noticed in the two small slopes that we climb and descend. What
you’ll see now from the left is a small forest, where different types
of recitals and concerts are held. As far as I could read, it was
requested by the owner of a well-known hotel in La Barra: the
Posta del Cangrejo hotel -which now is also a beach-to make the
crossing easier, because the previous bridges had been easily
broken. And here we continue to see this beautiful forest on the
left, where concerts and camping meetings are held. As I said at
the beginning, it was primarily a single bridge and later - in 1999 -
the other bridge was added. I mentioned in another video that
apparently this bridge had been refurbished in terms of its slope
level, but apparently this wasn’t the case: apparently it feels less
abrupt simply because the bus is going slower or because there
are fewer people on the bus -a matter of inertia-. But there have
been - at least that I have read of-no modifications in the last 10

152
years so that it doesn’t feel like a roller coaster, like it felt before.
So probably what we were feeling was either because the bus was
going faster, or because there were more people on the bus and
that generated more inertia. I think the same thing must have
happened with this bridge that happened with the Laguna Garzón
bridge -which is in José Ignacio and about 30 kilometers away: that
at the beginning, the villagers themselves didn’t want a bridge to
be there, so that not too many people would arrive - and the place
would remain natural, but in the end because of the touristic
circumstances and the number of people who really wanted to go
they had to. But it’s a similar circumstance to the bridge that was
built near Laguna Garzón, approximately 30 kilometers from here. I
can’t read Neruda’s poem: I think it’s a little bit too risky -and
they’re going to censor my channel-, but it’s a poem written by
Pablo Neruda when he was a guest of the then president of
Uruguay (Eduardo Víctor Haedo), in the house he was staying in
La Barra de Maldonado. The ones depicted there are the classic
milipilis that you’ll see in this area. In other years, this bus was full.
But, being a lean season, the situation was different.

What you’ll also see -and couldn’t be seen in the other 35 minutes
long video about this route-are these buildings present in the 8
kilometers that go to Punta del Este. They are impressive: all of
them have amenities of all kinds and portray well the opulence of
the area.

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Hello everyone, welcome back to the channel! In this case, I’ll
show you the Punta del Este bus terminal, located near stop 2,
Brava or Mansa beach -whichever way you want to see it-. What
you see behind is Gorriti Island, which also has a spectacular view
-just to give you an idea of the position of the terminal. There’s also
a kind of synagogue or Hebrew center next to the terminal. And on
the other side - on the opposite side to this view - we would see the
Los Dedos monument and the skate park. Buses leave from here
to practically everywhere: to Rocha, to Montevideo, to José
Ignacio, to La Barra -track precisely filmed in another of my
videos-, to Manantiales, to Piriápolis… Well, it’s like the second
great [bus] hub of all Uruguay, after Montevideo itself (which I
believe is called Tres Cruces terminal). There we continued to see
the island of Gorriti and the people walking and strolling, so you
can notice the centrality of the place.

Here, two blocks away, to the right, it’s the Enjoy Hotel. So we are
in the middle of [downtown] and here, passing this place, going
towards the peninsula, Gorlero Street begins. I fast-forwarded this
a bit so it wouldn’t be so boring. Now we’ll see a walking tour: to
give you a perspective of what you see before taking the bus to La
Barra. And here it starts… “Well, shooting here at the terminal, on
January 26, that is, finishing the first fortnight.” Well, I stand
corrected - first of all: it was the second fortnight that was ending
this January 26. As you can see, lots and lots of buses.

Also, what you appreciate here is the pulse of Punta del Este:
people coming and going. Also these pretty girls: it’s also a place
that if you wanna see pretty girls is very good, because they are
either going to La Barra and José Ignacio or arriving and coming to
Punta del Este. Punta del Este is a great place for pretty girls.
There you can see the buses, which are of all kinds, in slow
motion: there are “colectivos”, as we call short-distance buses in
Argentina; there are medium-and long-distance buses (I have
even seen a bus coming from Paraguay near the terminal). Inside
the terminal itself - which is not visible here - there is practically
everything: there’s a kiosk, there’s a place to eat; obviously there
are restrooms; the different desks of the different [travel]

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companies… The companies Buquebus and Colonia Express
arrive here [as bus tranfers coming from ferries]. The terminal itself
is quite large; although it doesn’t look so, it’s quite large.

It’s very well situated and - in general - the people treat you very
well and inform you likewise (in fact, here I am approaching to ask
a person about the Codesa bus, which normally stops here). There
you can see people waiting; many of them about to leave.
Unfortunately, this was a low season in that regard: very few
people; most days* I saw people leaving [here]. Again a shot
depicting the coast. This is at night; you can see all the “milipilis”
getting ready to go out (at least those staying on the peninsula).
Here I was just talking to a homeless man next to me. There are
also many beggars in Punta del Este -it must be said. But well,
here the nightlife can also be sensed.

And these are people who treated me very badly. I make use of
this opportunity to expose them: I was told I had to check in here
and in fact it was in Montevideo [stood in a meaningless queue];
so I specifically want to denounce them.

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157
Hello, I greet you all again! In this video you will see something
quite sad, related to the automobile accident that occurred on
January 4, 2023, at the first kilometer of route 104, which connects
the town of Manantiales with the outskirts of San Carlos, near
Punta del Este. Two Argentine girls -allegedly models-died in this
accident and seven other people traveling in two cars were also
injured, including a businessman, who was imprisoned here - near
Punta del Este - for this incident. The video will loop until the end,
when it will appear on a map exactly where it happened. From a
personal point of view, I will say I was very impressed by this
crash, because it was one of the first days - I didn’t mention it right:
it was January 4 at noon -I understand-. As I used to go to this area
of Manantiales or La Barra every day, I saw these cars there, next
to the 12nd police station of La Barra. I’ll try to talk about what’s
official, what’s known about the case: drugs were found on both
the deceased and the main suspect in this car accident. What I will
say - from an objective side - is that these people weren’t known
beyond their intimate Instagram sphere or the people who followed
them.

Let’s say: they weren’t known models here in Argentina, nor they
had an audience outside Instagram and no one knew the people
who followed them. But it does help me to talk about the things that
happen here in Punta del Este and the excesses that are
committed almost every summer: that almost every summer
there’s some kind of accident or death or event of this kind. It’s a
kind of Ibiza - you see? - where the English go to the Spanish
islands and carry out all kinds of unpermitted acts. Well, that’s how
it is with many Argentines here and, well, it happens to me too: you
go there and you feel liberated, you feel like you are in another
country. In general, there’s not so much police control on the
street; Uruguay is quite a liberal country in that respect. And then
this kind of things happens. They weren’t girls from an upper class:
they weren’t the classic milipilis I talked about before; they were
middle-class girls.

From what I was seeing on Instagramm for different things they

became known but they weren’t upper class girls and it’s not the

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upper class girls who do this kind of things. At the exit of one of
Casamar Fabric’s parties; at the entrance of one of their parties -
better said-when I was leaving the place, when the party was
about to start, I saw a parade of girls dressed in black. I don’t want
to suggest anything special, but something similar happened
recently with a Brazilian girl, here in nearby Recoleta
[neighborhood]. Evidently some girls, for paying for their studies or
to buy some things, end up doing some sexual favors - maybe, you
never know - or end up participating in parties that often end in
such tragic ways. But obviously the milipilis - the upper-class,
young girls - don’t need to prostitute themselves - far from it; so
they’re not the ones who participate in these things. They can
indeed participate in parties, but they’re not going to be dating a
person 20 or 30 years older. Even from the model of the car, one
sees that…

well, a little bit of their social background. I was struck by the fact
that the Uruguayans kept these cars here for so long: I don’t know
if it was an administrative issue, I don’t know what it was about, but
I think it made a lot of people aware of the dangers that sometimes
occur, when you least expect it, when you are relaxing on vacation.
Because disasters happen when we least expect them, don’t you
think? As the saying goes: “What we expect rarely happens, what
we least expect usually happens”, So, well, that’s when this kind of
things happens. I wanted to make that comment. Now I’m going to
show a map, where this accident - this tragedy - happened. Here I
am going to show a perspective of the area where the accident
occurred and its surroundings. Here we have Punta del Este,
together with Punta Salinas -the exact limit between the River
Plate and the Atlantic Ocean-.

Here we have Maldonado, and here we have La Barra de

Maldonado -both West and East La Barra, which is this part here-.
From here we continue along the interbalnearia route: route
number 10 named Juan Díaz de Solís. And here we meet Route
104 -this is called the Manantiales roundabout-. This route 104:
exactly one kilometer [up] - where I’m going to [zoom] in now-is
apparently -according to all the sources-where the accident
occurred. It would also be logical because of this small bifurcation

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noticeable here. Also because - according to what I read - this
happened 5 kilometers away from a very well known museum, the
one at the Pablo *Atchugarry foundation. Basically - as you will see
- the museum is approximately 4 kilometers from where the event
may have occurred. -all reports say it was one kilometer into route
104.

So I understand that the accident happened exactly around here. It

may also have happened there because of the bifurcation. And
what makes me more certain that it happened there, is that it’s
more or less 5 kilometers from the Atchugarry Foundation and
Museum. So well, this is the probable site where the accident
happened and what I was watching during all those days -
practically 20 days of the month- [the destroyed cars] was exactly
at Police Station number 12. Here I used to pass by with the bus -
there’s El Novillo Alegre-; here I used to pass by with the bus every
day and here at the entrance, were the cars you saw in the
previous pictures. I saw them every day and one day I remember
that I went off of the bus -which is on another of the slides-: one
day I got off at one of the bus stops and walked here. That’s when I
took the pictures of the two cars.

What really caught my attention is that in this area you could see
the cars on the street like this: anyone could have set them on fire
or could have - in some way - modified the evidence. But it’s a
place that - as you can see - has very little space and it’s not an
area prepared for these things. So this is the place where the cars
were stored and this one here - I think - is the exact place where
the accident happened.

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161
Hello everyone, welcome back to the channel! What you are going
to see in this video is this beach here, called El Emir: exactly this
one here. The walk is going to start exactly here -at this point-, with
panoramic views for this area here. And it’s going to go all this way,
like a small walking tour, up to this area, where the beach we are
talking about is located. The video about the [hermitage of the
Lady of] la Candelaria will appear elsewhere. Here we’re already
at this cape, which represents the start of El Emir beach, pointing
to stop 1 and 2, where the beach and the Los Dedos beach club,
plus the monument Los Dedos [The Fingers] are located.

I believe this promenade was built in the 1960s and before it only
reached Playa de los Ingleses, the beach after the one we are
haeding now -El Emir. This beach “El Emir” is named after a
Turkish emigrant (actually an emir) who lived in Argentina and built
a house here in the 1920s, because he liked that beach. Let’s
remember that Punta del Este, after Mar del Plata and Piriápolis,
became the destination par excellence of the Argentine upper
class. This beach is a deep beach, with very strong waves; some
even call it dangerous. If we had to position ourselves, it would be
the “minus 1” or “minus 2” stop of Brava Beach: we are always on
the first beaches of the Atlantic Ocean on the seaside of the
Oriental Republic of Uruguay. In this case, the second after Playa
de los Ingleses [first oceanic beach]

Therefore, these beaches are very windy and quite steep in some
cases. As you can see here, it’s also a favorite beach for fishermen
and surfers. And what this 20-story building marks is the beginning
of La Barra de Maldonado: this allows us to see 10 kilometers
away -more or less-, where La Barra de Maldonado begins and
have a panoramic view of the around 40 bus stops that make up
the Brava Beach, the one we are now seeing in its entirety. For
those who like precisions, this is taken at noon, approximately 1
p.m. on January 7, 2023. This beach has two boundaries: one is the
rocky promontory that we are looking at and the other* is the
hermitage of the Lady of la Candelaria, which we’ll see in depth in
another video; There may be about 400 meters longitudinally
between one place and the other. To give you an idea of the

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danger of the place, the rocks and the tides, here there was a
shipwreck of an Argentine ship in 1965, of which there are still
some remains. I understand that many years ago there were
lifeguards all year round (not now, but in the past, there were)
because these beaches have people living nearby during the
whole year and they don’t stay as cold as the rest of the beaches.
Here we see the rocks, so characteristic of this area.

This area itself is very central: we are two blocks away from
Gorlero Street and practically three blocks from Plaza Artigas.
There we see the beach itself, on the right, in the background.
Apparently it used to be larger and because of the new promenade
-whose entire route will be shown in an upcoming video-the beach
lost a lot of its length. There we see a mine finder; this surprised
me very much. I don’t know why anyone would put a mine -or
something dangerous-on the shores of Punta del Este, maybe he
was looking for some metal, I don’t know… but I thought it was
weird (if anyone has information on this subject, I would appreciate
it; I spent thirty days in Punta del Este and he’s the only person
looking for metals that I saw). Here we are already on the beach
itself; already placed on El Emir beach. Apparently -according to
what I’ve been reading-it’s like a classic beach… the most classic -
along with Playa de los Ingleses - of Punta del Este, which would
be an equivalent to the Bristol in Mar del Plata, for example. In
other words, it’s the classic locals who visit this beach; it could also
be compared to La Perla beach [in Mar del Plata]. And here we
have -with unedited sound-what was the wind and swell of this
season, whose days mostly exceeded 30 km per hour of wind*.
And there we see the building that marks the beginning of La Barra
de Maldonado. And here’s the rocky promontory, where this beach
called El Emir is located. It was a coincidence, but just these days
the Emir of Qatar himself was here in Punta del Este. -I’m not lying
to you: during the first days of the month, the Emir of the Emirate of
Qatar was seen here in Punta del Este, Uruguay. I send you my
best regards and hope you enjoyed this pack.

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164
Hello everyone, welcome back to the channel! In this video -
number 71 - we’re going to see the hermitage dedicated to Our
Lady of Candle, the patroness of Punta del Este. Apart from being
the patron saint of Punta del Este, Santa María de la Candelaria is
the patroness of the Canary Islands and has Her origin in Tenerife,
between 1392 and 1400, when some Guanche Indians found an
image of the Virgin - at that time black - on the islands. Well, here
we can see the usual “milipilis”: the typical girls who are going to
appear everywhere in Punta del Este -they’re practically part of the
landscape. The feast is celebrated on February 2nd and
commemorates the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple in
Jerusalem and the Purification of the Virgin Mary. “Santa María de
la Candelaria” was the first name given to both Punta del Este and
what’s now known as Maldonado [city], along with the
homonymous bay. This name was given on February 2, 1516,
when Juan Díaz de Solís took possession of the area of the River
Plate on behalf of the Spanish Crown.

There are the “milipilis”, that are always going to show up

everywhere, and make a kind of contrast to Saint Mary, which at
the time was also a kind of “milipili” [by age]. There’s Our Lady of
Candle, who’s the patroness of here, of Punta del Este. I like Her
because She looks a lot like Saint Lucy, one of my favorite saints.
Obviously, She is different, because She is a Marian invocation; I
don’t know if you know there’s only one Mary, who has different
invocations -in this case, Candelaria [Candle]. And She carries
candles (Candelaria); has lights (…) [as Saint Lucy] Here are
people worshipping Her; I want to respect that.

[I’m] getting a little bit closer…. The Virgin’s image was in a very
small hermitage before and now the hermitage of the Marian
invocation has one as She deserves. As I was saying there, a few
years ago - eight years ago; the last time I visited this place - the
hermitage - in quotation marks - was approximately one and a half
meters high and about one meter wide. Here you can see all the
names and dedications to the Patroness of Punta del Este. There’s
a parish dedicated to Santa María de la Candelaria - or Our Lady
of Candle -, located between 5th and 12th Streets. What can be

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seen in the back is El Emir beach, shown in the previous video.
And here we are panning towards the southwest area, where the
Atlantic Ocean meets the River Plate -and also Los Ingleses
Beach, which is a little bit closer. As I said before, it’s one of the
foundational parts of Punta del Este

-as I told in a previous video. This is a rocky promontory -obviously

a natural one. At the end of the peninsula there was a salt mine;
that’s why there’s a place called Punta Salina, to be seen in an
upcoming video. It’s a rather dangerous area to walk on -especially
if you wear flip-flops. I recommend going in sneakers, as I did. But I
can tell that even going in sneakers, I wasn’t able to reach the sea
itself, because of the difficulty of the stones and all the algae,
which can make you slip. Besides, it’s full of seashells and gulls, as
you can see. You can also see how windy it was during those days:
in that season - in those 30 days there was an average of 20… (Isla
de Lobos there) of 20 km/h

[winds] per day. And that’s what I was telling you about: the rocky
promontory, where this hermitage is located, dedicated to the
second most popular Marian invocation in all Latin America, after
Our Lady of Guadalupe. With this view of El Emir beach, I say
goodbye and hope you liked this video a lot.

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167
Hello everyone and welcome back to the channel! In this case, I’m
presenting you one of the best videos of my visit to Punta del Este
and a video that you probably won’t find anywhere else - in terms
of completeness. It’s the full way around the Punta del Este
peninsula, which was done - more or less - in three hours - as it
says in the video -, making stops that resulted in spin-offs at Punta
de la Salina - which will have its own video - and at Las Mesitas,
which is shown here (a very little known place) and it will also have
a spin-off of the beach here, but that will be shown in this same
video. Practically nobody I’ve seen on Youtube has a video in 4k
HDR at 60fps of the complete tour around the Punta del Este
peninsula. Except for the last kilometer, it’s recorded with Gopro
Hero 4 Black at 2.7kK and 60 frames per second. It consumed
almost 3 batteries and comprised 60 gigabytes of raw footage. It’s
completely stabilized and one of the best videos you’re going to
see in the channel. Except for the videos of the girls in the Bikini
and Montoya* area, this is the best of the channel and also a
document that has even a certain historical value: practically no
one walking does the [entire] peninsula; they usually do walking
tours, but they’re all partial.

So now I’m going to show part by part. Hopefully you enjoy the
video. I’m going to do like with the other video: commenting when
it’s important and, if not, leaving it untouched, for you to enjoy if
you have any kind of virtual reality goggles. Here we have a little
preview of the route, which starts at bus stop 1 of the Mansa and
ends at bus stop 1 of the Brava, covering almost 5 km. Here we’re
seeing what it’s like to pass over El Emir beach and Playa de los
Ingleses. We will soon arrive at… there’s Punta de la Salina - the
exact limit between the River Plate and the Atlantic Ocean -;
there’s going to be a special video about that. Now we’re
approaching Las Mesitas: there will also be a special video about
this one. Here I recommend the part of the port, which is very nice
visually: really very beautiful to see.

And here I continue to one of the first beaches of the Maldonado

bay - before arriving at bus stop 1; there will also be a special video
about that. And it ends here, by the tourist office. This is already

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the beginning of the tour. It took place between 1 and 6 pm on
January 8, 2023*. Here we’re starting at bus stop 1 [Brava beach].
This promenade was inaugurated on February 23, 1979, along with
the bus terminal of Punta del Este*, also displayed in another of my
videos. It bears the name of José Gervasio Artigas, the national
leader of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, and extends - as I told
you - for approximately 5 kilometers along this area, where the
peninsula begins: between bus stop 1, Brava beach and bus stop
1, Mansa beach.

As for the solar radiation, it was tremendous: that’s why I will be

seen [in] several parts of the video, like this, just putting on
sunscreen. Because of the the three-year drought and different
climatic factors - for example, a lot of wind and lack of clouds - the
UV index on most days was around 13, a very high index. You’ll
see people of all ages during the tour - although I’ll never know if
they were doing the full tour. What I do recommend is to bring
plenty of water - of course -, sunscreen and having the cell phone
with battery, just in case - it’s downtown Punta del Este, but you
never know when you’re going to have an emergency and there’s
practically no one on the beaches at the limit [between the river
and the sea], as they are practically deserted; beaches in
quotation marks because it’s mostly rocks. So now I’ll leave it for
you to enjoy - if you have any glasses or virtual reality goggles.
Before finishing [this introduction], what surprised me a lot was the
following: the vehicle fleet of this place: you’re going to see some
spectacular cars - absolutely top of the line. So those of you who
are fans of cars will also enjoy that. Here we’re approaching El
Emir beach; there’s a special video about this beach that doesn’t
have images from this video and explains the history of this beach.

The people who go to this beach are pretty classic: they don’t go to
see the groups of girls and kids from La Barra or José Ignacio; the
type of people who come here is different. I would compare it
perhaps to La Perla beach, in Mar del Plata - something like that -:
mostly older people or people who want to be alone sunbathing
and very few families in general. So know what to expect if you
visit this beach. As I said in its dedicated video, it’s a supercentric
beach: here we are two blocks from Gorlero [street] and one block

169
from Plaza Artigas, practically the central square of Punta del Este.
In other words, the typical people who go here owned an
apartment for 50 years - maybe even more - and say: “I just cross
and go to the beach and I’m not interested in the youthful scene,
nor am I interested in celebrities, nor in the snobbish beaches of La
Barra or José Ignacio.” [Suitable] for that kind of people - super
quiet - not interested in that high profile. But [that’s] the people who
go there like; one [like me] who goes every few years tries to take
advantage of what’s most interesting, which is precisely La Barra,
the beaches of Montoya and Manantiales, where the best scene is.

Here we have the hermitage of Our Lady of Candle, which has its
own video with other images, exclusive to that video. Most of
what’s in this video you’ll only see it here: I don’t like to reuse
material. But there you have an overview. And if you want to know
more about the hermitage and the history of Our Lady of Candle, I
recommend you that special video. That hermitage is where El
Emir beach ends. If anyone is interested in how this was filmed -
because I do tell the secrets of filming, unlike other people -: this
was recorded using a harness, placed about the height of the
heart. I was watching the channel of a kind of rag-picker, who used
this camera setting when looking for the products discarded by
Americans: a rag-picker youtuber; but well, he was wearing this
kind of harness and it seemed interesting to take it on this trip -
because it leaves the hands free, as you can see, to be able to
take pictures. And the problem of the accesory that goes on the
head - that I also have - is that as one moves one’s head too much
- to look everywhere -, the video becomes too shaky.

Even with this one you need to use stabilization: what you are
seeing is stabilized; otherwise it would be practically impossible to
publish. But I recommend you to use this type of harness if you
want to achieve a video similar to this one and not the one on the
head, because it will turn out very badly. Here we approach the
“Playa de los Ingleses” [Englishmen beach], so called because at
this point - by 17th Street -, a group of Englishmen - at the
beginning of the last century - used to drink tea while looking at the
horizon. It’s a fairly short beach, has very fine sand and is quite
rocky - so in general it’s quite dangerous for swimming. According

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to what I read, it used to be a little wider, but with the construction
of this promenade in the late 1970s, its width was greatly reduced.
As for the social conformation, it’s very similar to the previous
beach: don’t expect many “millipilis” in this area; it’s a beach… -
despite being right in the center of Punta del Este - it’s a very
lonely beach, very small. Here you can see what looks like a
lifeguard hut; frankly, in some official pages it says there’s no
lifeguard service, but to me it’s look like it has; that remains to be
confirmed (because the bad thing about doing journalism and
dissemination on the Internet is that someone who’s an expert on
the subject always appears and corrects you in the slightest detail).
So well, check before you go, check it out exactly when you visit
this beach with the tourism office to find out if there’s a lifeguard
service and until what time, because - even though it doesn’t seem
- it’s a very windy and rocky area; quite dangerous.

Here we should already be near the lighthouse and you may notice
that, in spite of being January 8th - one of the highest points of the
season - there’s absolutely no one: just some fishermen or that
couple you saw there, but you can see it looks like a deserted area.
It’s important - and so I was taught as a child - when you see
anglers to watch out if they’re about to cast the rod or scream like
me that you’re going to pass by, because you can have any kind of
accident with the hook. What you see there is the flag of the
Oriental Republic of Uruguay. This is the area of Punta Salina,
which is the exact limit - it’s the tip of the tip of Punta del Este -
where the Atlantic Ocean officially ends and the River Plate
begins. This limit is obviously movable - it’s a purely legal limit - but
as a milestone serves the flag you saw before and that kind of little
fortification there. Here in this area it’s getting windier and windier: I
think it must have been gusts of 60 km/h - added to the fact it was
windy on any beach in Punta del Este, because of the climatic
issues I mentioned at the beginning. But imagine that the South
Atlantic Ocean meets here the River Plate, which is like a large
estuary formed by the Paraná and Uruguay rivers. Regarding the
flag of the Oriental Republic, I understand that those bars
represent the 13 departments - those blue and white bars - and

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that the Sun is the classical Inca Sun, also present on the flag of
the “non-Eastern” Argentine Republic.

It’s actually called the Oriental Republic because at the time it was
a province named the Oriental [eastern] province and later, when it
became a Republic and separated from the Argentine
Confederation (United Provinces), remained as the Eastern
Republic. Historically, it was an area of dispute between Spanish
and Portuguese; in fact, the Portuguese called it the Cisplatine
Province (the province on this side of the River Plate). This is a
square in Punta Salina to commemorate the milestone that is the
division between the Atlantic Ocean and the River Plate and what
you see in front - that green part - is the Plaza de los Ingleses,
which remembers the battle of the River Plate, disputed between
the Ajax, an English ship, and the Graf Spee, a German ship. I
repeat that there will be a special video on Punta Salina, which I
recommend. [In] this video, as it deals with the Punta del Este
peninsula tour, I’m not including it - it would make it too long - but I
recommend that video as there’s very little footage [about it]. And
there you can see the anchors of the different ships that
participated in the historic battle of the River Plate in World War II.
Here you can see the anchors of the two ships and now we’re
leaving Plaza de los Ingleses to continue with the tour. There I’m
approaching a couple benches, which look very similar to those in
a cemetery in Whitby, Northern England - the part facing the Baltic
Sea, practically - and that inspired…

well… Bram Stoker’s trip to Whitby inspired the novel Dracula,

which in turn inspires the name… this nickname I’m using here in
these networks. But: see this bench? It reminded me a lot of that
image of Mina and Lucy on the cliff. In this case, it wasn’t so high -
there were also no dead people underneath -, but it reminded of
that, because it’s called Plaza de los Ingleses [Englishmen
Square]. So well: I wanted to make that comment. I don’t know if
you heard it right in the original audio: here we start to turn the
peninsula; what you see on the right is Gorriti Island (this is nearly
the halfway point). This tour - as you can notice - may be done by
car and obviously also by bicycle; there are some who do it
running - not at this time of the day, naturally.

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The only problem [if running] is the area where you get to the port:
more “obstacles” appear, people, as well as objects or buildings.
But to go all the way around you have to do this same route (from
Brava stop 1 to Mansa stop 1): that’s basically the complete round
trip around the peninsula of Punta del Este; if another type of lap or
another type of video shows up, ignore it because it’s not the
complete route. This is Gorriti Island, located in front of Punta del
Este, right here where the River Plate begins and a few meters
away - about one kilometer away - from Punta Salina. People don’t
know it, but when the British invaded this area - the River Plate - in
1806 - if I’m not mistaken in the first invasion - one of the forts
[defending it] was there on Gorriti Island - and another was at stop
19 -: one of the strongholds, in quotation marks, one of the
defenses. And they invaded, that is, they managed - as when they
entered Buenos Aires - for a while to get into the city; in fact
reached further, attacked not only here Punta del Este, but also
Maldonado, which is more or less 5 kilometers away from the
peninsula - although it’s the same urban conglomerate [now]. And
further up is a city about 20 kilometers away: San Carlos. In total,
the Punta del Este-Maldonado-San Carlos conglomerate has
135,000 inhabitants - nowadays, at that time much less - but they
got there - about 20 or 30 kilometers inland. So the English also
invaded here, that is , not only invaded they Buenos Aires and
Montevideo, but also here, and that was one of the defenses: the
Gorriti Island, which has a natural park of several hectares - I don’t
remember exactly how many.

Punta del Este is a relatively new city: a city that may be less than
100 years old; the real city was San Fernando de Maldonado
(that’s why the festivities of Maldonado are called “fernandinas”).
And San Carlos, the first of all [to be founded], was basically the
limit, as there was always [a] very big fight between the Spanish
and Portuguese in this area. Butfrom here they were able to see
the British - that is, they started to see the Englishmen - and began
what would later become the reconquest: they lost at the beginning
but won at the end. Just to show this part of Punta del Este… This
was something I uploaded to Twitter but, as the people there either
don’t interact or end up blocking you without having existed any

173
kind of interaction, I post it again here in extenso. It’s paradoxical
that even though the English were defeated - and obviously
Spanish is spoken in the River Plate -, in Punta del Este there’s
precisely that square of the English [Plaza de los Ingleses] -
shown before -, the beach of the English [Playa de los Ingleses],
and also the Winston Churchill square (which is where the skate
park is located, to be shown in an upcoming video). There’s the
English Store [Tienda Inglesa] too, not to be diminished.

What you start to see on the left is a place called Las Mesitas: a
kind of natural pools made up of the same rock formations that
compose the perinsula of Punta del Este; it’s a place that very few
people know about - it’s almost a secret of Punta del Este -; it will
be shown in an upcoming video; was part of this same project but
in order not to make the video longer than 75 minutes, I preferred
to cut that segment; but I recommend that you specifically watch
the video that deals with what we’re seeing on the left, because it’s
a beautiful area of Punta del Este, where scuba diving is possible,
where one can be calm, because very few people go - I’m telling
you it’s a secret, don’t tell anyone - but well, that stairway, that
we’re seeing there, is the entrance to that “beach”. This is the me
coming out of that promontory, out of those natural pools called
Las Mesitas, practically at the tip of the peninsula of Punta del
Este. Now you see that the camera looks much better; it’s because
it had been getting dirty with the sea mist and saltpeter. So if
anyone makes this return trip - or a similar one along the coastline
- be aware of this: don’t leave the GoPro housing dirty or clean it
every 10 minutes - more or less - so that the image is not blurred.
Just in case: what we start to see in front is the Maldonado Bay,
which basically constitutes what’s known as Playa Mansa and is
composed* - as well as the Brava beach - of about 40 bus stops,
more widespread, that is, the stops are further and further apart -
and it ends in the peninsula of Punta Ballena; there’s also an area
that’s quite nice to visit, which, if I’m not mistaken, is called Punta
del Chileno - or something like that. One thing I had forgotten to
mention at the beginning, regarding protections: wearing a hat;
now there are hats with moderately wide brims, not the classic
caps, but a kind of fishermen hats, which also cover the back of the

174
neck and have ventilation; these are also necessary for walking
this distance under the Sun. Here we are already approaching the
first restaurants of the port. There are two or three blocks of
restaurants: very similar to Puerto Madero in Argentina.

They’re prohibitively expensive: imagine that if a standard

restaurant in Punta del Este costed three times what it costs here
in Argentina, a restaurant of this kind can cost up to 50 dollars per
person. -not including wine, obviously. These restaurants are
dedicated to different types of seafood and fish - although you can
also eat other types of food, they’re basically dedicated to that. And
I have to say that I ate at a restaurant downtown that wasn’t of this
class, ate fish and was very good quality; so I think if you eat here
it will really be worth the investment. And here, from the port,
different types of boats leave - that’s what I’m trying to show. There
are different boats to Lobos Island; the most common is the one to
Gorriti Island; although yachts can also be rented by a group to
make some of the tours. There are all kinds of options, so I
recommend that when you arrive you get well informed at the
tourist office, as there are a lot of nautical options of all kinds -
kayaking paddle surfing, jet skis, even renting a mini yacht. At
some time it was said that the mooring costed here around $10,000
per month in high season; now I estimate that the prices must be
higher.

But for me personally - many people may get angry - this area is
very reminiscent of Monaco - the center of Monte Carlo - for the
level of luxury and the yachts seen, owned by multi-millionaires
from virtually anywhere in the world. And here we have started to
stumble upon people; that’s why I was telling you that this tour, if
you want to do it running it’s a bit complicated because in this
case… with a bicycle there might no problem, as you could use it
on the street, but running you’d have to skip people, slowing down
and so on. Here we see what might be the first milipili in 51
minutes, indicating the type of people who go to the other beaches
in general: older people, couples - some with very young children
who want peace and quiet and not to walk so much. Here in the
port there are a lot of nightclubs; they are quite expensive - I must
say - and in general - sometimes - very old people go, but it’s also

175
an experience visiting the different discos here. As you can see, I
tried to skirt the sea as much as possible - that was the idea of the
tour. Maybe you could cut the way by going a little behind - I went
always skirting the coast as much as possible. But if you want to
do this a little bit shorter you can - look carefully at the maps and
you’ll find a way to do it properly. Here going to the right - that is,
instead of turning left, where I’m going to turn now, going to the
right - is the block where the most important nightclubs are located:
such as Manantiales Point, Soho or Moby Dick.

To get to Punta Salina - the tip of Punta del Este - I walked along
the promenade - which is the longest or most scenic way - but you
can also take one of the buses at [Brava] bus stop 1 and get near
that place. Or else go walking down Gorlero - until the end of
Gorlero, 14th street - and then aim for the lighthouse, descending
practically in a straight line from there - that will be three blocks,
more or less-to Punta Salina; it’s another option so you don’t have
to walk so long and can get there [easily]. As you may have seen
before - apart from having a huge car fleet - there’s a huge sailing
fleet in Punta del Este; the Yacht Club Punta del Este, in fact, is
one of the places we passed by. Here’s a person walking
backwards so that you can’t see her face; maybe she’s a famous
person or at least she thinks she is… But I was going to tell you
that many people… nautical sports are very common in the
northern area of Greater Buenos Aires, for example and there are
many people [who] like to do this voyage in their own yacht: from
Buenos Aires to Punta del Este, which I estimate will take - at least
- 12 hours. There’s always this dispute between the so-called
telurocracy or thalassocracy: one that gives predominance to the
inner zones of the continents and the other one giving
predominance to the seas. I consider it to be a kind of false
dilemma fallacy, because in reality what you have to look for is the
best of all worlds.

The sea always raises that question of freedom, that question of

loneliness and the inland has other kinds of things… I live in a city
like Buenos Aires, which is a port city, so obviously I’m not going to
have the perspective of a a person living in Córdoba, La Rioja or
Southern Patagonia (Patagonian southern mountain range) but I

176
can tell you that I like both things, that it’s not mountain or sea, for
me it’s mountain and sea; in fact that happens a lot in Barcelona,
you see the mountain and the sea - and it also happens in the
southern areas of Brazil. This wooden boardwalk I estimate would
resemble the original promenade; let’s remember that everything
that has been transited until now was a ceramic promenade. But
regarding what I was saying: basically the Roman Empire is
represented as the telurocratic empire par excellence and the
Hellenistic period - the Greek expansion - as thalassocracy. There
are differences - naturally - between the mentalities of Greeks and
Romans: the Greeks were great philosophers and the Romans
very pragmatic people - not that there were no philosophers, but
they had philosophers who were sometimes more inclined to
individualism and other more practical, everyday issues. Greek
genius always made use of diversity. When one reads from the
pre-Socratic to the Hellenistic thought, will find different opposing
schools, that is, a great encyclopedism. This is not so much found
in Roman thought: it’s more of a Stoic or Epicurean kind of
thinking, always focused on the individual.

The Greeks, on the other hand, were of a more universal

perspective; sailing allowed them to get to know different cultures. I
believe that the Greeks were intellectually superior, at least in
abstract thinking. And I think modernly that dialectic is between the
Germans and the British. The British are quintessentially
thalassocratic and the Germans are rather telurocratic - some are
more focused on practical things and others on more abstract
things. Coming back to our topic, I’d like to mention that one of the
characteristics… - because of the winds, the drought and all the
climatic issues mentioned - the heat brought a lot of jellyfish to
Punta del Este; specially here to the Mansa beach, and even as far
as Montevideo -, so beware [of] that if you go through this area
with a similar climate. Here, with this mixture of soil and green, it
seems as if we were in Montevideo; but we’re going to enter the
beach itself - please recall that until now, in this riverine area of the
Punta del Este peninsula, we only saw a rocky shore. And here, in
what is equivalent to stops 1 and minus 1 of the Brava that I
mentioned before - which corresponded to El Emir and Playa de

177
los Ingleses - there are also a couple of beaches - essencially the
Mailhos’ Pier beach, to be discussed in a separate video. Those
are the beaches we’re going to start walking on now.

Just so you can see the chromatic difference - and especially for
videographers - : this was recorded with iPhone, so it maintains a
much better stabilization; in addition, you can see a lot of stronger
colors. What we have on the left is exactly the Maílhos pier, with a
history similar to El Emir beach: I think a Portuguese or a Brazilian
set his house on this place about 100 years ago and that’s how the
pier was named. Anyway, I have to say that making this one-and-
a-half hour trail with an iPhone, a gorilapod or a gimbal would have
been very tiring. So if you have a moderately good GoPro - mine is
from 2014, not new at all - it’s a good idea to do this track with it and
a harness; everything will look much better. Those who we saw on
the side - after almost an hour and a half - are the only group of
milipilis that we will see throughout this journey: just to give you an
idea of the kind of people who go to these beaches and don’t be
disappointed or say that I didn’t warn you beforehand. Here we’re
slowly approaching the beach at the 1st bus stop of La Mansa, of
which there’s a special video; here we’re entering this beach. A
mistake I noticed in many foreigners is believing that Mansa beach
- which is the one we’re seeing in the bay of Maldonado, that forms
the Mansa beach - means Punta del Este and practically no
importance is given to the beaches of La Barra or to the beaches
of the Brava; they believe Punta del Este is only this that we’re
seeing and miss everything like José Ignacio, Manantiales itself,
the beaches around Manantiales and Portezuelo beaches - just
past Punta Ballena -; so that’s a mistake of “non-Argentine” tourists
here. Now we enter stop 1 of Mansa beach.

This is the end - after 2 or 3 hours - of the way around the Punta
del Este peninsula. That’s the tourist office. This is one of the first
bus stops of Mansa beach. I hope you enjoyed this video and
subscribe to the channel, if you liked it - that’s the tourist office.

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179
This is already the beginning of the tour. It took place between 1
and 6 pm on January 8, 2023*. Here we’re starting at bus stop 1
[Brava beach]. This promenade was inaugurated on February 23,
1979, along with the bus terminal of Punta del Este*, also displayed
in another of my videos. It bears the name of José Gervasio
Artigas, the national leader of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,
and extends - as I told you - for approximately 5 kilometers along
this area, where the peninsula begins: between bus stop 1, Brava
beach and bus stop 1, Mansa beach. As for the solar radiation, it
was tremendous: that’s why I will be seen [in] several parts of the
video, like this, just putting on sunscreen. Because of the the three-
year drought and different climatic factors - for example, a lot of
wind and lack of clouds - the UV index on most days was around
13, a very high index.

You’ll see people of all ages during the tour - although I’ll never
know if they were doing the full tour. What I do recommend is to
bring plenty of water - of course -, sunscreen and having the cell
phone with battery, just in case - it’s downtown Punta del Este, but
you never know when you’re going to have an emergency and
there’s practically no one on the beaches at the limit [between the
river and the sea], as they are practically deserted; beaches in
quotation marks because it’s mostly rocks. So now I’ll leave it for
you to enjoy - if you have any glasses or virtual reality goggles.
Before finishing [this introduction], what surprised me a lot was the
following: the vehicle fleet of this place: you’re going to see some
spectacular cars - absolutely top of the line. So those of you who
are fans of cars will also enjoy that. Here we’re approaching El
Emir beach; there’s a special video about this beach that doesn’t
have images from this video and explains the history of this beach.
The people who go to this beach are pretty classic: they don’t go to
see the groups of girls and kids from La Barra or José Ignacio; the
type of people who come here is different. I would compare it
perhaps to La Perla beach, in Mar del Plata - something like that -:
mostly older people or people who want to be alone sunbathing
and very few families in general.

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So know what to expect if you visit this beach. As I said in its
dedicated video, it’s a supercentric beach: here we are two blocks
from Gorlero [street] and one block from Plaza Artigas, practically
the central square of Punta del Este. In other words, the typical
people who go here owned an apartment for 50 years - maybe
even more - and say: “I just cross and go to the beach and I’m not
interested in the youthful scene, nor am I interested in celebrities,
nor in the snobbish beaches of La Barra or José Ignacio.”
[Suitable] for that kind of people - super quiet - not interested in
that high profile. But [that’s] the people who go there like; one [like
me] who goes every few years tries to take advantage of what’s
most interesting, which is precisely La Barra, the beaches of
Montoya and Manantiales, where the best scene is. Here we have
the hermitage of Our Lady of Candle, which has its own video with
other images, exclusive to that video. Most of what’s in this video
you’ll only see it here: I don’t like to reuse material.

But there you have an overview. And if you want to know more
about the hermitage and the history of Our Lady of Candle, I
recommend you that special video. That hermitage is where El
Emir beach ends. If anyone is interested in how this was filmed -
because I do tell the secrets of filming, unlike other people -: this
was recorded using a harness, placed about the height of the
heart. I was watching the channel of a kind of rag-picker, who used
this camera setting when looking for the products discarded by
Americans: a rag-picker youtuber; but well, he was wearing this
kind of harness and it seemed interesting to take it on this trip -
because it leaves the hands free, as you can see, to be able to
take pictures. And the problem of the accesory that goes on the
head - that I also have - is that as one moves one’s head too much
- to look everywhere -, the video becomes too shaky. Even with
this one you need to use stabilization: what you are seeing is
stabilized; otherwise it would be practically impossible to publish.
But I recommend you to use this type of harness if you want to
achieve a video similar to this one and not the one on the head,
because it will turn out very badly.

Here we approach the “Playa de los Ingleses” [Englishmen

beach], so called because at this point - by 17th Street -, a group of

181
Englishmen - at the beginning of the last century - used to drink tea
while looking at the horizon. It’s a fairly short beach, has very fine
sand and is quite rocky - so in general it’s quite dangerous for
swimming. According to what I read, it used to be a little wider, but
with the construction of this promenade in the late 1970s, its width
was greatly reduced. As for the social conformation, it’s very
similar to the previous beach: don’t expect many “millipilis” in this
area; it’s a beach… - despite being right in the center of Punta del
Este - it’s a very lonely beach, very small. Here you can see what
looks like a lifeguard hut; frankly, in some official pages it says
there’s no lifeguard service, but to me it’s look like it has; that
remains to be confirmed (because the bad thing about doing
journalism and dissemination on the Internet is that someone
who’s an expert on the subject always appears and corrects you in
the slightest detail). So well, check before you go, check it out
exactly when you visit this beach with the tourism office to find out
if there’s a lifeguard service and until what time, because - even
though it doesn’t seem - it’s a very windy and rocky area; quite
dangerous. Here we should already be near the lighthouse and
you may notice that, in spite of being January 8th - one of the
highest points of the season - there’s absolutely no one: just some
fishermen or that couple you saw there, but you can see it looks
like a deserted area. It’s important - and so I was taught as a child -
when you see anglers to watch out if they’re about to cast the rod
or scream like me that you’re going to pass by, because you can
have any kind of accident with the hook.

What you see there is the flag of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay.
This is the area of Punta Salina, which is the exact limit - it’s the tip
of the tip of Punta del Este - where the Atlantic Ocean officially
ends and the River Plate begins. This limit is obviously movable -
it’s a purely legal limit - but as a milestone serves the flag you saw
before and that kind of little fortification there. Here in this area it’s
getting windier and windier: I think it must have been gusts of 60
km/h - added to the fact it was windy on any beach in Punta del
Este, because of the climatic issues I mentioned at the beginning.
But imagine that the South Atlantic Ocean meets here the River
Plate, which is like a large estuary formed by the Paraná and

182
Uruguay rivers. Regarding the flag of the Oriental Republic, I
understand that those bars represent the 13 departments - those
blue and white bars - and that the Sun is the classical Inca Sun,
also present on the flag of the “non-Eastern” Argentine Republic.
It’s actually called the Oriental Republic because at the time it was
a province named the Oriental [eastern] province and later, when it
became a Republic and separated from the Argentine
Confederation (United Provinces), remained as the Eastern
Republic. Historically, it was an area of dispute between Spanish
and Portuguese; in fact, the Portuguese called it the Cisplatine
Province (the province on this side of the River Plate).

This is a square in Punta Salina to commemorate the milestone

that is the division between the Atlantic Ocean and the River Plate
and what you see in front - that green part - is the Plaza de los
Ingleses, which remembers the battle of the River Plate, disputed
between the Ajax, an English ship, and the Graf Spee, a German
ship. I repeat that there will be a special video on Punta Salina,
which I recommend. [In] this video, as it deals with the Punta del
Este peninsula tour, I’m not including it - it would make it too long -
but I recommend that video as there’s very little footage [about it].
And there you can see the anchors of the different ships that
participated in the historic battle of the River Plate in World War II.
Here you can see the anchors of the two ships and now we’re
leaving Plaza de los Ingleses to continue with the tour. There I’m
approaching a couple benches, which look very similar to those in
a cemetery in Whitby, Northern England - the part facing the Baltic
Sea, practically - and that inspired… well… Bram Stoker’s trip to
Whitby inspired the novel Dracula, which in turn inspires the
name… this nickname I’m using here in these networks.

But: see this bench? It reminded me a lot of that image of Mina and
Lucy on the cliff. In this case, it wasn’t so high - there were also no
dead people underneath -, but it reminded of that, because it’s
called Plaza de los Ingleses [Englishmen Square]. So well: I
wanted to make that comment. I don’t know if you heard it right in
the original audio: here we start to turn the peninsula; what you
see on the right is Gorriti Island (this is nearly the halfway point).
This tour - as you can notice - may be done by car and obviously

183
also by bicycle; there are some who do it running - not at this time
of the day, naturally. The only problem [if running] is the area
where you get to the port: more “obstacles” appear, people, as well
as objects or buildings. But to go all the way around you have to do
this same route (from Brava stop 1 to Mansa stop 1): that’s
basically the complete round trip around the peninsula of Punta del
Este; if another type of lap or another type of video shows up,
ignore it because it’s not the complete route.

This is Gorriti Island, located in front of Punta del Este, right here
where the River Plate begins and a few meters away - about one
kilometer away - from Punta Salina. People don’t know it, but when
the British invaded this area - the River Plate - in 1806 - if I’m not
mistaken in the first invasion - one of the forts [defending it] was
there on Gorriti Island - and another was at stop 19 -: one of the
strongholds, in quotation marks, one of the defenses. And they
invaded, that is, they managed - as when they entered Buenos
Aires - for a while to get into the city; in fact reached further,
attacked not only here Punta del Este, but also Maldonado, which
is more or less 5 kilometers away from the peninsula - although it’s
the same urban conglomerate [now]. And further up is a city about
20 kilometers away: San Carlos. In total, the Punta del Este-
Maldonado-San Carlos conglomerate has 135,000 inhabitants -
nowadays, at that time much less - but they got there - about 20 or
30 kilometers inland. So the English also invaded here, that is , not
only invaded they Buenos Aires and Montevideo, but also here,
and that was one of the defenses: the Gorriti Island, which has a
natural park of several hectares - I don’t remember exactly how
many. Punta del Este is a relatively new city: a city that may be
less than 100 years old; the real city was San Fernando de
Maldonado (that’s why the festivities of Maldonado are called
“fernandinas”). And San Carlos, the first of all [to be founded], was
basically the limit, as there was always [a] very big fight between
the Spanish and Portuguese in this area.

Butfrom here they were able to see the British - that is, they started
to see the Englishmen - and began what would later become the
reconquest: they lost at the beginning but won at the end. Just to
show this part of Punta del Este… This was something I uploaded

184
to Twitter but, as the people there either don’t interact or end up
blocking you without having existed any kind of interaction, I post it
again here in extenso. It’s paradoxical that even though the
English were defeated - and obviously Spanish is spoken in the
River Plate -, in Punta del Este there’s precisely that square of the
English [Plaza de los Ingleses] - shown before -, the beach of the
English [Playa de los Ingleses], and also the Winston Churchill
square (which is where the skate park is located, to be shown in an
upcoming video). There’s the English Store [Tienda Inglesa] too,
not to be diminished. What you start to see on the left is a place
called Las Mesitas: a kind of natural pools made up of the same
rock formations that compose the perinsula of Punta del Este; it’s a
place that very few people know about - it’s almost a secret of
Punta del Este -; it will be shown in an upcoming video; was part of
this same project but in order not to make the video longer than 75
minutes, I preferred to cut that segment; but I recommend that you
specifically watch the video that deals with what we’re seeing on
the left, because it’s a beautiful area of Punta del Este, where
scuba diving is possible, where one can be calm, because very few
people go - I’m telling you it’s a secret, don’t tell anyone - but well,
that stairway, that we’re seeing there, is the entrance to that
“beach”. This is the me coming out of that promontory, out of those
natural pools called Las Mesitas, practically at the tip of the
peninsula of Punta del Este.

Now you see that the camera looks much better; it’s because it
had been getting dirty with the sea mist and saltpeter. So if anyone
makes this return trip - or a similar one along the coastline - be
aware of this: don’t leave the GoPro housing dirty or clean it every
10 minutes - more or less - so that the image is not blurred. Just in
case: what we start to see in front is the Maldonado Bay, which
basically constitutes what’s known as Playa Mansa and is
composed* - as well as the Brava beach - of about 40 bus stops,
more widespread, that is, the stops are further and further apart -
and it ends in the peninsula of Punta Ballena; there’s also an area
that’s quite nice to visit, which, if I’m not mistaken, is called Punta
del Chileno - or something like that. One thing I had forgotten to
mention at the beginning, regarding protections: wearing a hat;

185
now there are hats with moderately wide brims, not the classic
caps, but a kind of fishermen hats, which also cover the back of the
neck and have ventilation; these are also necessary for walking
this distance under the Sun. Here we are already approaching the
first restaurants of the port. There are two or three blocks of
restaurants: very similar to Puerto Madero in Argentina. They’re
prohibitively expensive: imagine that if a standard restaurant in
Punta del Este costed three times what it costs here in Argentina, a
restaurant of this kind can cost up to 50 dollars per person. -not
including wine, obviously.

These restaurants are dedicated to different types of seafood and

fish - although you can also eat other types of food, they’re
basically dedicated to that. And I have to say that I ate at a
restaurant downtown that wasn’t of this class, ate fish and was
very good quality; so I think if you eat here it will really be worth the
investment. And here, from the port, different types of boats leave -
that’s what I’m trying to show. There are different boats to Lobos
Island; the most common is the one to Gorriti Island; although
yachts can also be rented by a group to make some of the tours.
There are all kinds of options, so I recommend that when you
arrive you get well informed at the tourist office, as there are a lot
of nautical options of all kinds - kayaking paddle surfing, jet skis,
even renting a mini yacht. At some time it was said that the
mooring costed here around $10,000 per month in high season;
now I estimate that the prices must be higher. But for me
personally - many people may get angry - this area is very
reminiscent of Monaco - the center of Monte Carlo - for the level of
luxury and the yachts seen, owned by multi-millionaires from
virtually anywhere in the world. And here we have started to
stumble upon people; that’s why I was telling you that this tour, if
you want to do it running it’s a bit complicated because in this
case… with a bicycle there might no problem, as you could use it
on the street, but running you’d have to skip people, slowing down
and so on.

Here we see what might be the first milipili in 51 minutes, indicating

the type of people who go to the other beaches in general: older
people, couples - some with very young children who want peace

186
and quiet and not to walk so much. Here in the port there are a lot
of nightclubs; they are quite expensive - I must say - and in general
- sometimes - very old people go, but it’s also an experience
visiting the different discos here. As you can see, I tried to skirt the
sea as much as possible - that was the idea of the tour. Maybe you
could cut the way by going a little behind - I went always skirting
the coast as much as possible. But if you want to do this a little bit
shorter you can - look carefully at the maps and you’ll find a way to
do it properly. Here going to the right - that is, instead of turning
left, where I’m going to turn now, going to the right - is the block
where the most important nightclubs are located: such as
Manantiales Point, Soho or Moby Dick. To get to Punta Salina - the
tip of Punta del Este - I walked along the promenade - which is the
longest or most scenic way - but you can also take one of the
buses at [Brava] bus stop 1 and get near that place. Or else go
walking down Gorlero - until the end of Gorlero, 14th street - and
then aim for the lighthouse, descending practically in a straight line
from there - that will be three blocks, more or less-to Punta Salina;
it’s another option so you don’t have to walk so long and can get
there [easily].

As you may have seen before - apart from having a huge car fleet -
there’s a huge sailing fleet in Punta del Este; the Yacht Club Punta
del Este, in fact, is one of the places we passed by. Here’s a
person walking backwards so that you can’t see her face; maybe
she’s a famous person or at least she thinks she is… But I was
going to tell you that many people… nautical sports are very
common in the northern area of Greater Buenos Aires, for example
and there are many people [who] like to do this voyage in their own
yacht: from Buenos Aires to Punta del Este, which I estimate will
take - at least - 12 hours. There’s always this dispute between the
so-called telurocracy or thalassocracy: one that gives
predominance to the inner zones of the continents and the other
one giving predominance to the seas. I consider it to be a kind of
false dilemma fallacy, because in reality what you have to look for
is the best of all worlds. The sea always raises that question of
freedom, that question of loneliness and the inland has other kinds
of things… I live in a city like Buenos Aires, which is a port city, so

187
obviously I’m not going to have the perspective of a a person living
in Córdoba, La Rioja or Southern Patagonia (Patagonian southern
mountain range) but I can tell you that I like both things, that it’s not
mountain or sea, for me it’s mountain and sea; in fact that happens
a lot in Barcelona, you see the mountain and the sea - and it also
happens in the southern areas of Brazil.

This wooden boardwalk I estimate would resemble the original

promenade; let’s remember that everything that has been transited
until now was a ceramic promenade. But regarding what I was
saying: basically the Roman Empire is represented as the
telurocratic empire par excellence and the Hellenistic period - the
Greek expansion - as thalassocracy. There are differences -
naturally - between the mentalities of Greeks and Romans: the
Greeks were great philosophers and the Romans very pragmatic
people - not that there were no philosophers, but they had
philosophers who were sometimes more inclined to individualism
and other more practical, everyday issues. Greek genius always
made use of diversity. When one reads from the pre-Socratic to
the Hellenistic thought, will find different opposing schools, that is,
a great encyclopedism. This is not so much found in Roman
thought: it’s more of a Stoic or Epicurean kind of thinking, always
focused on the individual. The Greeks, on the other hand, were of
a more universal perspective; sailing allowed them to get to know
different cultures. I believe that the Greeks were intellectually
superior, at least in abstract thinking.

And I think modernly that dialectic is between the Germans and the
British. The British are quintessentially thalassocratic and the
Germans are rather telurocratic - some are more focused on
practical things and others on more abstract things. Coming back
to our topic, I’d like to mention that one of the characteristics… -
because of the winds, the drought and all the climatic issues
mentioned - the heat brought a lot of jellyfish to Punta del Este;
specially here to the Mansa beach, and even as far as Montevideo
-, so beware [of] that if you go through this area with a similar
climate. Here, with this mixture of soil and green, it seems as if we
were in Montevideo; but we’re going to enter the beach itself -
please recall that until now, in this riverine area of the Punta del

188
Este peninsula, we only saw a rocky shore. And here, in what is
equivalent to stops 1 and minus 1 of the Brava that I mentioned
before - which corresponded to El Emir and Playa de los Ingleses -
there are also a couple of beaches - essencially the Mailhos’ Pier
beach, to be discussed in a separate video. Those are the beaches
we’re going to start walking on now. Just so you can see the
chromatic difference - and especially for videographers - : this was
recorded with iPhone, so it maintains a much better stabilization; in
addition, you can see a lot of stronger colors. What we have on the
left is exactly the Maílhos pier, with a history similar to El Emir
beach: I think a Portuguese or a Brazilian set his house on this
place about 100 years ago and that’s how the pier was named.

Anyway, I have to say that making this one-and-a-half hour trail

with an iPhone, a gorilapod or a gimbal would have been very
tiring. So if you have a moderately good GoPro - mine is from 2014,
not new at all - it’s a good idea to do this track with it and a
harness; everything will look much better. Those who we saw on
the side - after almost an hour and a half - are the only group of
milipilis that we will see throughout this journey: just to give you an
idea of the kind of people who go to these beaches and don’t be
disappointed or say that I didn’t warn you beforehand. Here we’re
slowly approaching the beach at the 1st bus stop of La Mansa, of
which there’s a special video; here we’re entering this beach. A
mistake I noticed in many foreigners is believing that Mansa beach
- which is the one we’re seeing in the bay of Maldonado, that forms
the Mansa beach - means Punta del Este and practically no
importance is given to the beaches of La Barra or to the beaches
of the Brava; they believe Punta del Este is only this that we’re
seeing and miss everything like José Ignacio, Manantiales itself,
the beaches around Manantiales and Portezuelo beaches - just
past Punta Ballena -; so that’s a mistake of “non-Argentine” tourists
here. Now we enter stop 1 of Mansa beach. This is the end - after 2
or 3 hours - of the way around the Punta del Este peninsula. That’s
the tourist office.

This is one of the first bus stops of Mansa beach. I hope you
enjoyed this video and subscribe to the channel, if you liked it -
that’s the tourist office.

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What we will see in this case, is the route of the first beaches of the
port of Punta del Este. This is Punta del Este: the peninsula itself.
And we will see this route entering here to the beach, where the
wooden promenade ends and passing by the Mailhos’ Pier beach -
which will have its own video - and bordering all these beaches
here, until reaching Mansa Beach, stop 1. What we have on the left
is exactly the Maílhos pier, with a history similar to El Emir beach: I
think a Portuguese or a Brazilian set his house on this place about
100 years ago and that’s how the pier was named. Here we’re
slowly approaching the beach at the 1st bus stop of La Mansa, of
which there’s a special video; here we’re entering this beach. A
mistake I noticed in many foreigners is believing that Mansa beach
- which is the one we’re seeing in the bay of Maldonado, that forms
the Mansa beach - means Punta del Este and practically no
importance is given to the beaches of La Barra or to the beaches
of the Brava; they believe Punta del Este is only this that we’re
seeing and miss everything like José Ignacio, Manantiales itself,
the beaches around Manantiales and Portezuelo beaches - just
past Punta Ballena -; so that’s a mistake of “non-Argentine” tourists
here. Now we enter stop 1 of Mansa beach. I hope you enjoyed
this video and subscribe to the channel, if you liked it

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Hello everyone and welcome back to the channel! In this case,
what we’re going to see is the tip of the Punta del Este peninsula:
the exact boundary - that is marked here - between the River Plate
and the Atlantic Ocean. I’m going to start from this part here by
walking through all the stones - through this kind of landfill here -
until I get here, to the milestone - and even a little further - that
divides the River Plate and the Atlantic Ocean. This is one of the
few videos on YouTube on this subject, so I hope you enjoy it;
you’ll also see the Great Britain Square and the remains of the
Graf Spee and the Ajax, as well as a very special bench - here -,
which I recommend at the end. This is the end of Punta Salinas.
Supposedly, it’s the exact limit between the River Plate… rather,
let’s start [on this side]… between the Atlantic Ocean - that’s over
there and over there - and the River Plate - panning now - is that
way; that is, here to my right… - this is about as far as you can go
and I have waves very close - this is where they meet - officially,
because it’s a limit movable [by Nature] - but officially the River
Plate and the Atlantic Ocean - or At_lantic - meet (Spaniards
separate the “AT” from the “LA”; they cannot pronounce the
[syllabic] group TL, such as: tla, tle, tli, tlo, tlu). Over there is the
River Plate, the Uruguayan flag [here], [La Mansa beach] on the
other side and here’s the limit; there, Playa de los Ingleses, further
on El Emir beach and further on Brava beach, and even further is
the Manantiales complex, which begins with Montoya - and lasts
more or less 3 or 4 km - and [still] further down the road is José
Ignacio.

Here we have water from a drainage - I don’t know really - and

there’s also an outlet on the other side, on the Maldonado creek -
about 10 kilometers from here - and makes a bit of a mess.
Nonetheless, I don’t know why the water looks muddy, whether it’s
the sand or or the wind, or what. This is the very limit of the ocean
and the River Plate, the river there. [Over there] the Playa de los
Ingleses. This is the landmark, which basically separates Punta del
Este - the end of Punta del Este -. The audio will come out really
bad, but this is the milestone. and back there [is] the Atlantic
Ocean and over there, the River Plate. It’s a pretty big peninsula.

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This is the farthest part I reached - the farthest at the tip of Punta
del Este - and here begins the way back. “You are here, at the
southernmost point of Uruguay, latitude 34 degrees, 58 minutes, 27
seconds South, longitude 54 degrees, 57 minutes, 8 seconds. The
waters of the River Plate and the Atlantic Ocean meet here. The
outer limit of the River Plate is delimited by Punta de las Salinas
(Punta del Este - Uruguay) and Punta Rasa (Cabo San Antonio -
Argentina). In the middle of the 19th century, the German Luis
Burmester exploited a salt mine in this area of the peninsula, giving
rise to its current name.” This is the Atlantic Ocean or Atlantic
Ocean, as the Spaniards would call it - it’s a small difference. Right
there is the whole area of La Brava [beach] and so on… This one
looks like a bench in the town of Whitby, in Yorkshire, in the north
of England.

And on a bench like this - which was on the edge of a cemetery

that actually exists - is where Mina Harker and Lucy got together to
chat and there was a dead body underneath. It was a higher place
than this: a cliff. The cemetery is still in Yorkshire. And this is the tip
of Punta del Este. I mean, I’m turning around and going (…).

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[What] we are going to explore in this case is a place that’s over
here: more or less between 7th street and the General Artigas
boulevard; an area called Las Mesitas [The Litle Tables]. [Now] the
location on Google Maps with satellite view. It’s called Mesitas - as
you’ll see in the video - because of the little tables here, as if to
have a drink. - and it’s a very little known beach in Punta del Este.
Here we are already in the place - actually this was done on the
same day of the complete tour of the peninsula, which has a video
that I highly recommend. It’s a great place to relax. The only
difficult thing is to cross that kind of “bridge” - there we have the
Gorriti Island. That bridge must be 40 centimeters wide - at most -
and it’s usually wet; and on top of that, in the most complicated
part, is made of wood.

For this reason I recommend - in general - not to go fully dressed,

as I did. Here you can see the little tables that have given the name
to this the place. This crossing is not for everyone. It reminds me of
the Indiana Jones crossing in “The Last Crusade”; just have faith
you will not fall, and you will not. Here you can see the two natural
pools that got formed, separated by the bridge. The one on the left
is where the scuba diving takes place and supposedly has a depth
of 5 meters; on the right one - from what I saw - you touch the
bottom and I even saw kids playing [there]. -What is the name of
this place?

-I don’t know, I have no idea. -I thought it was called the pool of I

don’t know where. -What? -It’s a natural pool. -Yes, right there. -But
no one knows about this. -The truth is that if you don’t get here on
foot (or they tell you about it) you can’t imagine it. -But if I have to
come here with a car or a cab, how do I find it?

-It doesn’t even have a name. -It doesn’t even have a [bus] stop:
it’s a little pool over there. I didn’t come in a bathing suit today,
that’s why [I ask]. -It’s spectacular. -But it’s kind of built [as an
attraction]. They made all those things to cross it. -No one
comes… -But when you have higher tides, doesn’t it get
complicated?

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-It does, indeed. When you have waves it gets complicated. -Huh?
-It’s complicated when you have waves. -But do tides here vary lot?
You’re a local, I see. -No, I’m not. -Oh.

-But(…) -But with the issue of the tides, is there much difference? -
When the wind blows here, there are huge waves. -Oh, maybe the
water gets up to there. -It’s hard to get in, because of the waves. -
But it’s really good. -If you stay in the back, you can still come.

-It’s warm in there, I guess, the water. -No, you get in and… -I
always stumble upon these beaches all dressed up: when I don’t
bring a bathing suit I find beaches… -You start swimming out. -It’s
great. I want to come (that’s why I was telling you): Maybe it’s
called “little beach of.. I don’t know… ‘the horizon’”…

I mean, it’s like a secret, right? If not, there would be 300 people
here. -You have to come by car or… -But how far are we from the
port, where the restaurants are? -We’re close. We are 6 blocks
away. -Oh, well, then it’s not so much.

-3 blocks; there are similar beaches around. -It’s great. There are
pools [that] I saw are formed usually in the Pacific islands… well,
in all the volcanic islands, like Hawaii and so; I saw little pools like
these there. But I didn’t know nor imagine somthing like that here. -
There are several. - Are there several?

- And way ahead as well. - I didn’t see them backwards: I’m touring
the peninsula. I’ve been walking around for over an hour. - No,
but… - And I did not find… - No, on the side of… Casapueblo, on
that side there are also many small pools. -

Oh, in Punta Ballena. -But here you have these. Here’s a nerdy
commeny: you may have seen that in the previous scene the
horizon looked curved. The more curved the camera lens is, the
more curved the horizon looks; in 360° cameras you see
everything like a big circle. And when one is in the place - naturally
- the horizon looks flat. And there are many discussions on
whether the Universe is flat or spherical. The truth is that when one

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represents it in a plane it looks spherical. And when you are in the
spherical “plane” - in 3D reality - it looks flat.

Depending on how you look at it, the Universe is either spherical or

flat. Yet another proof: I have more in the channel, but yet another
proof that the Earth is round. That ship, that’s over there, would go
up if the Earth were flat, but it’s sinking. That’s why the sailors
knew - and mostly, those who saw it from port -: as the ships were
leaving, they were sinking on the horizon. Well, that’s the
commentary in place: from one view you perceive that the Earth is
flat, unless you can see from far away, as in this particular case
[telescopically]. Because there are people who say - correctly -
that the Earth is spherical, but then argue that the Universe is flat,
not realizing that these things are observer-dependent, like
quantum [Physics].

Hre are some people from diving: supposedly these waters are 5
meters deep, and you can presumably also swim about 150 meters
[offshore]. - be careful with the boats; it’s the only issue I have
been told about; and it’s called La Mesita or something like that, or
La Mesa, La Mesita. And we are 500 meters along the coastal road
- more or less - from the lighthouse, I mean, from the tip [of Punta
del Este]. Here they are submerging, and this is supposedly 5
meters deep - that’s why they are scuba diving -; it’s a kind of pool.
I was also told that it depends on the day. And that the water was
quite cold that day, despite the fact that it was above 30 degrees
Celsius outside; if you go there, just in case, take along - as I said -
a bathing suit, and beware of jellyfish. What you can see behind is
the Bay of Maldonado and Playa Mansa. This is one of the buoys
used to delimit the path of the ships.

What can be here seen - although there’s a specific video on the

subject - is the limit between the Atlantic Ocean and the River
Plate. Here’s more of the outer limit of the River Plate. This is just
the return to the promenade and I recommend also wearing
sneakers to do this path - otherwise it’s very dangerous. It seemed
to me - in general - that it was local people from Uruguay there, not
so many milipilis - nor upper class people. And there you can see
the wet catwalk I was telling you about [at the beginning]. In the

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foreground, the little concrete tables, which give this place its
name. About 100 meters up the road there was a similar site, but
due to time constraints I wasn’t able to explore it. I send greetings
to all of you, and I hope you enjoyed this video.

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Hello everyone, welcome back to the channel! In this case, what
I’m going to show is the neighborhood of Manantiales, 12
kilometers away from the Punta del Este peninsula and around 3
kilometers away from the town of La Barra. As you can see, it’s
quite small - smaller than the town of La Barra. Now let’s see a
detailed explanation of the route. This video starts with a shot from
here: the bus stop of the Codesa company; some shots that show
what La Barra de Maldonado looks like. Afterwards, what you’ll see
is is a shot - a block ahead, more or less this way - showing the
lighthouse. And finally what we’re going to watch is a passage
through this place - on one of the last days -: a short approach to
Bikini Beach (to be fully shown in another video; a night view of
Bikini Beach, specifically). And lastly, we’re going to view is a very
important part - at night- (filmed right after the Bikini beach tour): a
sort of walking tour around here; here you’ll witness a very
important place called “No me olvides”

[Don’t forget me], which has been in the area for more or less 20
years. We are going to see Manantiales’ nightlife - on one of the
last days of January - until arriving at the bus stop over here. And
also - if I’m not mistaken - on the other part of the video there’s
going to be some footage of this area here: the beach of
Manantiales and both El Chorro and Balneario Buenos Aires
neighborhoods. I hope you like it; Manantiales is a beautiful area to
get to know: it’s like La Barra de Maldonado, but more compact
and modern, from one point. Here we’re just at the bus stop of the
Codesa bus service. What we see in the back is the forest behind
La Barra de Maldonado - which was not shown in other videos;
that area is partially called El Tesoro and is more or less 4 or 5
blocks inland - counting from the beach. It’s a wooded area and
quite dense - as you can see - (and they even have places to
stroll). Here we already notice this central area of Manantiales -
where Manantiales exactly begins -; to the left, the descent to
Bikini beach, as it will be said now.

- This is downtown Manantiales, there’s the descent to Bikini

beach and this is basically Manantiales [Springs] at 5 p.m. on
January 9, 2023. I keep confusing the years, as happened in the

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video of the way around the peninsula…. There we have the
central street of Manantiales, more or less 4 blocks long (unlike the
main street of La Barra, which is about 12 blocks, if you go along
the whole East and West La Barra). This was recorded at the end
of the day when the journey from Terrazas de Manantiales to Bikini
beach took place - a special video which I recommend. This is one
of the best places to eat seafood in this area, which is even more
luxurious than La Barra de Maldonado. This would deserve a
separate video, but as I have so much material that I try to
compact everything as much as possible: it’s a spectacular shot of
the island of Lobos and the Punta del Este lighthouse - the
lighthouse on the island of Lobos, as there’s another lighthouse in
the center of Punta del Este -; it’s a sunset shot in one of the most
beautiful slopes that lead to Bikini beach. What I was going to say,
which is important for you to understand: in this area, luxury
increases as you travel further eastwards: starting in Brava beach,
it grows in La Barra, hiking here in Manantiales - even more
expensive than La Barra - and then finishing at the José Ignacio
area - the most pricey of all -; and there’s even a place more costly
than that, .i.e., Laguna Garzón - with some boutique hotels around.

Summarizing, the further northeast* you travel, the more

expensive it gets - you can also observe this in the car models
appearing. And that - as I was saying - is one of the ways out of
Bikini beach. This is Terrazas de Manantiales - what you see on
the right -; there’s a video of a walking tour around this area,
starting from this precise bus stop. That route takes you to José
Ignacio and Balneario Buenos Aires, a little closer. That bus we
observed was near a place called El Chorro - a little town -, where
the accident of the Argentine girls occurred. Looking at the streets
you realize this place it’s not as rustic as La Barra. What you see
there is an art exhibition that was taking place - I didn’t get to
record it; I was really very tired -; but there was some kind of
meeting or art exhibition there - I don’t really know what that was, if
someone can tell me, I would appreciate it. And here you notice
the vehicle fleet of the area, even more surprising than the one in
La Barra de Maldonado, about three kilometers from here.

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What you can see behind is the Atlantic Ocean “untamished and
pure”; there aren’t here so many protections as in the border of the
River Plate, at Mansa [beach], so everything is more dangerous. I
said it in the Bikini [beach] video, but I’ll say it again: this is an area
of absolute luxury - as you can see ahead, there’s even a sentry
box. There you spot one of the most luxurious restaurants; it’s full
of celebrities in high season. There you’ll sight one of those blue
buildings. Here you also observe the luxury of the area - this is
luxurious even for Punta del Este or La Barra -; I don’t know if it’s a
tourist complex, but surely an aparment complex. It has its own
internal street - just so you can notice the luxury of this area. If I’m
not mistaken, these buildings even have swimming pools [and] a
view of the Manantiales Bay.

This is practically a walking tour, I will leave it with the original

audio or in situ commentary. - This is Manantiales at night at the
end of January. - Well: that’s “No me olvides”, one of the best
known places here. Here I add a note: it’s impossible to stop over
in Manantiales and not visit “No me olvides”; it’s really one of the
paradigmatic places of the zone - if not the most - ; it has usually a
band playing and, as I was telling at the beginning of the video, a
history of more or less 20 years. Don’t think that this will always be
the case: [it’s like this] because it was filmed at the end of January
- in a lean year, perhaps the leanest of the last 10 -, but normally
this would be crowded. - Well, I continue the walk through
Manantiales at night. The only place - a nightclub - seems to be
“Don’t forget me” - which is restaurant also - there’s the vibe; the
others… here’s one open, like a couple around the corner, in the
descent to Bikini beach but there’s not much going on - and it’s
Saturday night.

That’s Manantiales Point; there’s another one of the franchise in

the harbor [at the peninsula]. There used to be a disco around
here… I can’t remember… – that day, but I’m doing this on a
Saturday night, to see a bit of the nightlife here, and there’s 3 open
places so far, shh!!! [disappointment] Well, the one we just saw is
Manantiales Point, one of the busiest in the area in the past - now
empty - and the other one was on the side of the road on Bikini’s
descent. Apart from “No me olvides”, displayed in the middle of the

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video, I confirm that there’s not a single genuine nightclub in the
area - i.e., virtually no place to go dancing. In the old days there
were at least 2 or 3. Apart from the fact that the nightlfe moved to
the port area, where there’s a mixture of everything: local people,
people who come from Piriápolis, who come…

Well: to go dancing you have to get some contacts in this area and
look for a private party - that’s the only available option [here].
Several times I talked with people who worked in those parties,
who told me - I found them mainly at bus stops - there were many
of them. But you have to get a contact: try to get one on Telegram
or ask around - everything is handled [like that] in this sector.
There used to be discos in La Barra and here in Manantiales, but
not anymore; and those in the harbor have some problems: they
are few, small, crowded and don’t attract the high-level. I want
people from Europe and the United States to understand it
correctly: this is an equivalent to traveling to Monaco or Ibiza -
somewhere very top, very exclusive in Ibiza - where you get close
to the jet-set, to the people from the elites, to celebrities and so on.
- “This is wilder than La Barra”. As I said there, indeed, this place
has parts - which you see here - even more rugged than La Barra,
although the central part is much more developed: superior. And
here we reach the last bus stop, which would take me - in half an
hour - to the Punta del Este peninsula.

I send you my best regards and hope you enjoyed this video.

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Hello everyone, welcome back to the channel! In this case, to
show you one of the most classic beaches in Punta del Este, called
Mailhos’ pier beach - the one we are looking at here: you’ll see a
small walking tour on Mailhos’ Pier [itself] round trip. And then
you’re going to watch some shots from one of the bars here. I hope
you like the video and subscribe to the channel. - Well, there’s a
pier here, passing the port - Don’t know if it’s bus stop 0 or 1. This
is a dock that’s here, passing the port.

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Hello everyone! Welcome back to the channel. This video -
number 78 -, will take us across one of the most beautiful routes -
through the interior of La Barra de Maldonado, this area I’m
zooming in on now. I’ll depict a preview of this walking tour: I got off
here at the Codesa bus stop, then continued across here - where
the OH shopping mall is -, afterwards my path advances all this
way - up to this point -; here I find a person with a heart problem - I
obviously couldn’t film much, as the conditions were not the ideal,
let’s say; then the journey progresses all in this direction - in this
area you’ll watch a very picturesque building; and finally, I carry on
this road, arriving to Posta del Cangrejo, the final destination. In a
next video I’ll show a walking tour specifically of all this area here
(La Posta del Cangrejo). You can also see these two little beaches
here [in this video]. Now, let’s move on… -

Well, here [I] got off the Codesa bus, near La Posta del Cangrejo, -
where I’ll try to go to now - and near the OH shopping center - on
my right. From here - from La Posta del Cangrejo - Montoya
[beach] is really close, almost nothing. Here at night there’s a
spectacular - almost pristine - sky: you can appreciate all the stars
from this very place (there’s a video uploaded before, portraying
this). Here - on the right - is the OH shopping center, a prominent
meeting point here - and strategically placed, more or less 3 or 4
blocks to the left is Montoya beach. Here I should go down to La
Posta del Cangrejo. This, in the first days of January - so I was told
- explodes with people. I’m going down this way, while I’m at it.
Here’s the Tienda Inglesa, if I’m not mistaken.

Here you can glance at the steep slope: I don’t know if it’s going to
be aprecciated in camera, but the slope is quite pronounced and
that makes the waves on the beach big as well - like at Montoya.
It’s 2.30 or 3 p.m. Here, another great construction (…) There goes
the police (…) - They are in reverse, and on a downhill slope. - Did
something happen? - What? - Did something happen? - No.

A man there went into [cardiac] arrest, but they resuscitated him.
An ambulance just came in because a guy went into [cardiac]
arrest. Well, here I started talking to a guy who was over there. I

208
want you to understand that it’s very difficult to record stealthily in
these cases - and I don’t know if morally approvable -, but
“journalistically” I had to do it. There you’ll see a little of the man
who fell from grace. Here you can see a panoramic view of these
two little beaches, whose name I couldn’t find - mentioned in the
introduction to this video; I think people don’t go there much - as
you can see, there aren’t even lifeguards - because it’s quite rocky.
That tall building you see is where La Barra de Maldonado begins.
What you see on the left is the peninsula of Punta del Este.

I feel an unbelievable rotten smell. And one guy had a heart attack,
but at least he was alive - it could be noticed. And the police had
arrived, whom I followed on my way down here; it’s more or less 2
or 3 blocks up [to reach the road]. Here’s one more panoramic
view of these two unnamed beaches, bordering the Posta del
Cangrejo. There are actually two beaches - or three, counting the
Posta del Cangrejo - [descending] perpendiculary from the OH
shopping mall. This is the building I mentioned in the introduction:
it’s actually a house - as you can see - but so big that it looks like a
building. It’s the kind of house featured in Hola magazine or in
Caras magazine - or in architecture magazines. This is the last
panoramic view we’re going to see of these beaches that are on
the descent of the OH shopping center - going down straight to the
shore.

This is behind the Posta del Cangrejo - a walkway is there. There -

in the background - the beaches of La Barra start. After having
taken some pictures, we continue: a little bit of the entrance to this
beach that I had not visited until today - if I’m not mistaken, it’s
January 17, 2023. It’s a very small beach.

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Hello everybody, welcome back to the channel! In this video -
number 79 - we’re going to see the area of La Barra, more
precisely this beach here, called La Posta del Cangrejo, after a
hotel with the same name that existed in the area. We are going to
make this way to get to the rocks here and back, until we get to the
footbridge here. I want to clarify, because in the other video I said
that these beaches didn’t have a name and they do: they are
called La Boyita. I send greetings to all of you and hope you enjoy
this walking tour.

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Hello everyone, welcome back to the channel! We are going to see
in this video - number 80 - a walk through the internal streets of La
Barra, starting from here - La Posta del Cangrejo, of which video
number 79 shows a walking tour -, then continuing all the way over
here - you can grasp what this construction site looks like, there’s a
very good shot of it - and finally, we approach the footbridge here
that takes us to Montoya, this large beach here. There’s also a
second route attached, at the end of the recording: a pedestrian
walkway that you can notice here, and a stroll through these 100
meters or so, to achieve a panoramic view of Montoya. There are
basically two ways to make this route connecting Montoya with
Posta del Cangrejo: one is this road over here - skirting the coast -,
the other is the path shown in this video which, as I showed before,
goes all this way. And also there’s another video [78] displaying
the following route: starting here - at the bus stop - and going all
the way down to arrive here, at the Posta del Cangrejo. In total,
there are 3 videos [showcasing this zone]: 78, 79 (Posta del
Cangrejo walking tour) and 80, which covers all the way from here
to here.

I hope you like it. I add one thing, that’s important: this is not the
coastal trail - the coastal itinerary is normally published, so it’s very
rare to find this path on YouTube. And I recommend it especially to
people who like architecture and cars, because you are going to
see both at a very high level. This is a parallel [road] that… well,
it’s a parallel [road] one that supposedly connects Posta del
Cangrejo - this one - with Montoya. I have [walked] 300 meters and
I estimate 500 meters more [to walk]. [I came out of] La Posta del
Cangrejo and now, where I am going down, is Montoya [beach].

These days there’s a very strong wind - 30 kilometers per hour. In

fact, the last two days I didn’t come here because of that. At La
Posta del Cangrejo the wind was practically unnoticeable, so this
can serve as a [note], in case someone has to come through this
area and don´t want to endure the vicissitudes of the tremendous
wind there is - about 30 kilometers per hour, with gusts of 48,
according to the forecast. And you have to calculate at least one
kilometer, between Posta del Cangrejo and this place. There are

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some beaches in between*, but they don´t have anything
[interesting] - they are stones, practically. And here I am just
entering Montoya [beach]; no one seems to be here, but well… it
took me 11 minutes to get here from the Posta [del Cangrejo].

I’m walking from where Montoya starts; behind me - right there - is

La Posta del Cangrejo and this is where Montoya beach starts.
There’s a lot of wind - more or less 33 kilometers per hour - then it’s
almost impossible… there are few people bathing and huge waves
and so, few people on the beach, compared to yesterday, when it
was full.

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Hello everybody, welcome back to the channel! In this video -
number 81 - we are going to do a track through the western area of
La Barra de Maldonado, starting here, in the bus stop of the
Codesa company and near this gas station here - named ANCAP.
Let’s see a little bit this area of West La Barra of Maldonado: we
are going to walk around here - watching the panorama, the cars
and so on - until we get here - basically along the beach and
bordering the whole coast. It’s a route that I don’t recommend so
much, as there are two problems: first, that there is - as you will
see in the video - quicksand - some areas are very muddy and you
can sink -; there are also crabs - in one place I literally had to step
on live crabs -; and then the other reason why I don’t recommend it
is because - as you’ll see - part of this area is almost private
property, so I at one point I had to ask a guy if I could go on -
basically near this dock; and that’s the problem, that theoretically
the coasts, the coasts of Uruguay like the coasts of Argentina are
property of the State, but sometimes you have to go in - for
example, this area here - through places that are almost bordering
private property. So that’s the point. The only good thing you can
see is this first island of La Barra de Maldonado - the first sand bar
- and you can also see in perspective what the Maldonado creek is
like, how these sand conglomerates are formed and so on. I think
that overall it was one of the most beautiful routes I did. The bus
stop is there, I’m going to do the reverse route to go down to the
beach - yesterday I went the other way and now I’m going to try to
go this way.

This is the beginning of the beaches here, at La Barra. - One

question: can you walk there, to the beach there? Can you go
walking? - Of course. - But is there [something] like this to walk on?
Here I can [step] like this [not sinking] -Can I go like this?

-Yes, you can. -Okay. Well, I just came all the way up the coast
[walking] to get here - which is not recommended. I hope I don’t

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fall. It’s all mud. It looks like quicksand - and in one part it’s all
crabs, it was the hardest part.

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Hello everyone and welcome back to the channel! In this case, I’m
going to show the route from the peninsula of Punta del Este - from
the bus terminal - to the Piriápolis terminal - a city about 40 km
away, as you’ll see. This is quite a long route; it wasn’t completely
recorded, but the most important parts were. Everything is going to
start here - in the terminal -; the route is marked here, practically
the exact track. Everything starts here, at Artigas boulevard; then
continues along Roosevelt avenue, to drive down at bus stop 25 to
the coastal road. The interesting thing here [are] the downtown
areas - it’s like a virtual tour of the downtown areas of Punta del
Este. All the previous videos talked about beaches and [in] this
one you’ll visualize… because this is recorded minute by minute -
that’s, live, practically uninterrupted - all this area of Punta del Este
- even past Punta Ballena, as I am going to say now. Here you’ll
appreciate the different neighborhoods of Punta del Este: the
Cantegril - here - , this area with low houses…

Punta del Este is a real city nowadays. A horizontal city rather than
a vertical one, a rather extended city - but a huge city indeed. And
here we continue along this road: this route is also very panoramic;
you’ll look at all of the beaches of La Mansa, of which unfortunately
I wasn’t able to make any specific video - very far away and I went
without a car - but you’ll be able to examine what the beaches in
Mansa beach are like. Here you’ll notice a place that’s very well
known for its viewpoint: Punta del Chileno, which I’d also have
liked to visit but was unable. I’ve been busy in the last few videos -
and in the trip in general - with this area here - La Barra,
Manantiales and so on. That’s what I explored on this trip - and
there’ll be a video as well of the beach at bus stop 30. It may be
interesting for those who don’t know Punta del Este and are
planning a trip, to watch a complete view of all this course, which
goes first to Punta Ballena and then to Piríapolis. There’s also an
area here that I highly recommend: you’ll observe some panoramic
views from “the back of the whale” - the top of Punta Ballena - (the
pathwat doesn’t reach the tip of Punta Ballena; in fact, if you do it
on foot, it’s quite a long way).

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And there’s another video I recommend on the channel, from Casa
Pueblo, that I shot on the other trip. And continuing this way…
along this same route - marked with yellow - it’s this quieter area -
close to the airport -: the Solanas distric first (also an area of great
luxury, but a different kind of luxury, it’s like something else; Punta
del Este is 20 cities in one, like Buenos Aires). You’ll be able to get
an idea of what Solanas is. And here we are going to get closer…
(a nudist beach here, called Chihuahua; there’s a video of the
previous trip to this beach, obviously not showing the people, but
showing the place) and then we’ll continue until here - Portezuelo
distric -; This is where the live recording will practically end.
Portezuelo is a more remote area and calmer than Solanas. I’ve
been taken there a couple of times as a kid. There are beautiful
beaches: everything in Punta del Este and Piriápolis is beautiful.

And every beach is like every neighborhood in Buenos Aires: each

beach and each place has its own spirit, its own architecture, its
own people. And here we follow this way - this area was recorded
in parts. Only this path of myrtles was recorded - I don’t know what
it’s called -, that the bus takes. It’s partly captured; the descent was
partially recorded - not in the greatest quality, but recorded. And
then a very interesting, internal tour, through the streets of
Piriápolis (the route between Piriápolis and Las Flores, where the
Pittamiglio castle is located, will be shown in other video). What we
are going to see in this one is only the arrival - not to make it so
long -: only the arrival at the bus terminal. These lines are not
accurate; I didn’t have the time to point out the exact streets: the
bus takes different internal paths, around here, by Piriápolis; but
we are going to arrive here and the last kilometers are recorded -
the last kilometer and a half - and the internal route through
Piriapolis all the way till here. And that’s where the video ends; it’s
going to be another one video that will deal with the trail from
Piriapolis to Las Flores, but now you’ll witness basically this one.

I highly recommend it to people not familiar with Punta del Este, as

the other videos dealt with very specific topics and this will depict a
more comprehensive overview. Here is the roundabout just outside
the Punta del Este bus terminal. What we are going to see now is
the terminal - which has a specific video. Here we can see it in

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perspective and, to the left, is the skate park and Gorlero street.
And now we are starting to enter Artigas Boulevard, which will take
us along the first part - there’s the terminal and the buses from
different countries. Long ago - important to say - there used to be a
train coming through here - I just recently found out, I didn’t know.
In the past, a train used to pass through here, terminating - having
its final station - where today is the Punta del Este bus terminal.
What you are going to spot here is the Enjoy Hotel - formerly called
Conrad -, which has been there for about 20 years: one of the most
emblematic in the area.

Here you’ll also watch the interior of the bus. I think the round trip
ticket costs about 10 dollars, 5 dollars one way and 5 dollars return.
All in all it’s quite comfortable [the trip]. This is the COT [bus]
company. The Enjoy is almost like a Las Vegas hotel: it has a
casino, a convention hall, obviously a theater - and almost a beach
of its own. It can’t have its own beaches due to Uruguay’s
legislation, but it does have its own beach club and its own disco,
called OVO, about which there’s a video from my previous trip. -
Did it connect? - Yeah. -

On its own. - Hahaha. I understand that this is where the train to

Punta del Este used to run. Here we took Roosevelt Avenue; the
other part of the roundabout would have taken us to San Carlos or
Maldonado. If anyone thinks this is boring, take a look at the
Norwegian train routes, lasting about 12 hours, filmed in their
entirety and where the only you can see is white because of the
snow… But, actually, the idea is to show what the city is like. Let’s
say: there are many walking tours, many bike tours or bike rides,
train rides, but there are not so many “bus rides” here; so just to
contribute something to this YouTube community. That’s a little bit
of the variety I was telling you in Punta del Este: those were
condominia that could practically appear in any suburb of any city;
there are all kind of choices.

- Maldonado. As I was saying, here we are arriving at the

Maldonado bus terminal. You can see something I also noticed on
the way back - mostly then -: the volume of construction in Punta
del Este. In practically every block there’s a building being erected.

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This is the Mautone sanatorium which, along with the Cantegril, is
one of the two most important sanatoria in Punta del Este. Actually,
the historical one is the Cantegril, where Maradona was
hospitalized, but this one has grown a lot too. The Cantegril was a
few blocks behind on the right; now we are looking at the left side,
towards the sea. Here an old lady will appear asking for tickets, so
I quickly comment that we are turning down near bus stop 25 of La
Mansa beach, towards the sea.

- Good afternoon, tickets please. - Good afternoon, where do you

get off? - Good afternoon, where are you going to descend? -
Thank you. - Good afternoon. - Good afternoon. - Good afternoon,
where do you get off? -

At bus stop 8. - Bus stop 8? - Good afternoon, where do you get

off? - Good afternoon, you told me you were getting off at stop 17. -
Where… near the castle. - That’s where it is… - Will you let me
know? -Yes, yes, I will let you know, no problem. After those two
roundabouts we go down towards the sea - and as I said at the
beginning - this video only includes the part up to the Piriápolis
terminal: the trail that goes up to the 17th stop near the castle will
be shown in other video, not to make this one too long. What really
struck me about this area is not only that they don’t have fences: in
Manantiales, in general, the houses don’t have bars either; but it
caught my attention that they didn’t have sentry boxes, as they do
in Manantiales area. This is at bus stop 25 of the Mansa and you’ll
see practically the whole Mansa beach, until reaching the Punta
Ballena hill.

There you can see Gorriti Island in perspective. This bay of

Maldonado, which comprises the stops of the Mansa beach, is
more or less 10 km long and one of the best natural harbors in
Uruguay: in fact, as seen in other videos, here is where cruise
ships normally anchor. There we have another panorama of Punta
del Este and Gorriti Island. We can also see that the beaches are
becoming narrower in width. And here we are arriving at a
viewpoint called Punta del Chileno, which many people don’t know
and offers impressive panoramas of the peninsula of Punta del
Este. In fact, one of my plans was to go there to take good pictures

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of the peninsula, but in the end it got complicated. I recommend
arriving at night only to see the lights of the peninsula from this
position: it’s an impressive thing. You can see it in some of the
other videos - although it’s not the same as seeing it in person.

Filming without light is very difficult, but I can tell you that what you
feel when you get there and see all those lights is an overwhelming
sensation. What really strikes me is that in a sandy terrain forests
grow, because, for example, in the area of the Argentine Atlantic
coast, trees had to be planted in order to create beaches, because
practically all of them were were very short. And here it’s
impressive the amount of trees - I understand that because of their
variety are all natural - found all along this coastline of almost 50
kilometers, from Piriapolis to Punta del Este or José Ignacio. -
Lomo de la Ballena, Punta Ballena. Here you are going to catch
one of the most important panoramic views of Punta del Este: this
bay that’s formed between Punta Ballena - the one we are now
climbing - and the cape that practically closes Portezuelo beach.
The beaches that we here see are basically Solanas - first - and
Portezuelo - behind. The beaches of Solanas and Portezuelo can
also be reached by bus but, as you’ll notice, it’s a much longer trip
than the one that leads from Punta del Este to La Barra or to
Manantiales. In other words, if you are staying on the peninsula, in
a hotel on the peninsula, your option* is: going to one of the
beaches of the peninsula - which have their particularities - or if
not, to the beaches of La Brava, or La Barra, or Manantiales -if you
want to go further; but coming all the way here takes practically an
hour - I warn you about this because on another trip I did it.

What really hurts me a lot [surfing] the internet is that some people
are sold this as Punta del Este and this is actually the outskirts of
Punta del Este - practically reaching the airport. They tend to think
Punta del Este is this and miss all the areas I mentioned before,
that you can see in the other videos. I’m not asking you to watch
the 100 videos that are going to make up these packs, but you
should be well informed before going to Punta del Este, because
they’re going to sell you one thing for another. I’ve seen a lot of
people who say, “I went to Punta del Este,” put together some
videos on Youtube and the only things pictured are the beaches of

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Solanas and Portezuelo, without even showing the peninsula - it’s
a total madness. I left these jumps in the editing room to show that
this video is recorded complete - practically uncut - only [there are]
a few cuts, for technical reasons, e.g., the image is blurred, only
here is the first important cut: all of the above that you saw is
uncut, it will have been cut for a minute at most. Here you can see
a bit of the Uruguayan countryside. Uruguay is a country with an
enormous agricultural wealth. At the time, they used to specialize
mainly in sheep, but now they specialize in practically all livestock,
crops… they also have areas of mills… but agriculturally is one of
the regions with most fertile plains in the world, along with the
Pampa plains.

In other words, when Portugal and Spain were fighting over this
area, it wasn’t only because it was an entry zone to the River Plate
- and through it to the Paraná river and Paraguay - but because the
area itself is very rich: an area of enormous wealth and, in fact,
today Uruguay is the richest country - I believe - looking at
development indexes throughout Latin America or Ibero-America.
Some people say that Uruguayans are the good Argentines; I’m
not going to say that because some people are going to get angry
with me, but I will say that in this country the culture of the River
Plate persists, and here in Buenos Aires, for being a multicultural
city and for many things that happened in history, it was lost… but I
have the sensation that Uruguay is like traveling back in time and
seeing what Buenos Aires was like 100 years ago [culturally]. Here
we are climbing a hill that I think is called Cerro del Toro - someone
may correct me, but what’s certain is we’re going up and down a
hill. Here we are entering Piriápolis. The peculiarity of this city is
that its streets have the same name as those in Buenos Aires. It’s
a city actually designed to attract a certain Argentine upper class
during a time when Argentina was the richest country in the world
and so it was built to make the Argentine people feel at home; in
fact, the most important hotel - to be seen in another video - is
called Hotel Argentino and it’s like the successor of the golden
years of Mar del Plata, when it became urbanized and a highly
populated.

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Seems like some people are “running away” towards the
northeast: from Punta del Este to La Barra, from La Barra to
Manantiales, from José Ignacio to some exclusive beaches of
Rocha; it’s as if certain people - very high class people - want only
tranquility and a beach for themselves and to gather in meetings
and thus, all of the urban agglomerations are moving to the
northeast. Piriapólis is today the destination par excellence for
Uruguayans on vacation: practically there are very few Argentines
[here]; the issue with Punta del Este is that - even for a
Uruguayan, even for a European - it’s very expensive. In this case,
I was lucky enough to get a big discount at the hotel and was able
to travel - I got some unexpected money as well -, but if not, I
wouldn’t have been able to [go], it’s a prohibitive place - as
expensive as Monaco, Ibiza or any top beach in Europe. Here we
are approaching the terminal. In the next video - which will be, if I’m
not mistaken, the 83rd - you’ll see the entire route from the terminal
to the Piriápolis beach stop 17. And now, what you are going to
watch is a cut of the arrival with Buquebus on January 31 [other
day], as I hadn’t recorded that part with this camera.

I recommend you also the other video [84] and the following
segment. - Well, incredibly, the Buquebus is picking up people in
Piriápolis [tone of resignation].

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Hello everyone, welcome back to the channel! In this video -
number 83 - we are going to see an internal way between the
Piriápolis bus terminal and an area near the Las Flores beach, on
the outskirts of this city. In the previous video - number 82 - we saw
the complete route from Punta del Este to the Piriápolis terminal. I
complement that track by going through the internal streets of
Piriápolis, then taking the Promenade of the Argentines and seeing
some beaches around here, including a kind of waterspout. This is
the terminal, a little before leaving. Here we have the hut I wore for
protection, and here’s a preview of the Hotel Argentino - or
Argentino Hotel -, which you’ll see in a few minutes. Sometimes
Buquebus coaches make a stop here as well to pick up people,
even though, for example, in the first leg to Punta del Este it didn’t,
but on the return trip, it did. It will depend on whether there are
passengers or not.

At the time, there was also a direct Buquebus that reached here, to
this city of Piriápolis. The city itself was founded in 1890 by
Uruguayan pioneer Francisco Piria, who bought some adjacent
land to the mountain - or hill - named Pan de Azúcar, one of the
highest in Uruguay and about 10 kilometers from here. I said it in
another video, but this is the “Punta del Este” before it was a Punta
del Este. In fact, Punta del Este used to be called Puerto Ituzaingó
or something like that. This was the classiest tourist site of
Uruguay, and of practically of the entire southern cone before
Punta del Este came into being, that is, in the late 19th and early
20th centuries, in what was historically known as Belle Époque,
before the First World War. [As I said] in another of the videos,
most of the streets have Argentine names, have names like those
in the city of Buenos Aires, the streetnames are practically similar
to those of downtown Buenos Aires and specifically chosen to
appeal to the Argentine public. In this street you’ll see three very
important things. First, the 11th police deparment of the
Municipality of Maldonado.

Second, the Piriápolis Hostel: I don’t know it, but from the size it
seems to be quite important in the area. And the third thing you’ll
see is the city’s polyclinic. Just to show you how rationally planned

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the entire city was. And here we’re getting closer to see from the
side what today is called Argentino Hotel, and it used to be called
Hotel de los Argentinos. It’s a great hotel - I have already told you -
designed as Buenos Aires at the end of the 19th century and the
beginning of the 20th century, with all the luxury, same as the rest
of the city [of Piriápolis]. What you see there in the center is Cerro
San Antonio, which used to be called Cerro de los Ingleses,
because it’s a kind of natural harbor used for smuggling at a
certain time during the Viceroyalty [of the River Plate]. And here
we started to wander, to drive around the Rambla de los
Argentinos itself, which lasts more or less 6 kilometers in its
entirety.

As you can see, it’s similar in its architecture to the classic

European spas of the Belle Epoque. It looks a lot like Odessa, it
looks a lot like Monaco, - maybe like Biarritz -, like many seaside
resorts of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in
Europe. In fact, Mr. Francisco Piria had traveled throughout
Europe and had been educated in his early years there. So he
wanted to duplicate [those ideas] here. It’s also very similar, for
example, to Odessa in terms of the sea: it’s greenish and has
practically no waves, as Odessa and the Black Sea. That’s what I
was telling you about: the tranquility of the sea, technically a river
by the Treaty of the River Plate, but more like a sea than a river
because of the salinity and very similar to the Mediterranean and
the Black Sea. This hill can be climbed by chairlift: it’s in the videos
of my previous trip. And also - if I’m not mistaken - there’s a
hermitage dedicated to the Virgin at the top.

I repeat what I said in the other video, this beach today is not so
much visited by Argentines as it was in the past (80 or 90 years
ago) but mostly by Uruguayans. Regarding the nomenclature of
the beaches, they are managed in the same way as in Punta del
Este: by a system of bus stops. Here we are going to travel
basically from the first stops to stop number 15. Uruguayans
determine the names of beaches by the number of bus stop where
the vehicles pull over. As a note of color, because what we see in
front of us almost looks like rails, Piriápolis also had a railroad
system in its time, similar to the one in Punta del Este, which

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reached directly to the center. As you can see, in general the
beaches are short, very similar to the last stops of Mansa beach,
where the bay of Maldonado ends. They are short, quiet beaches,
where you can swim. You’ll not see the luxury of Punta del Este,
you’ll not see yachts or jet skis, nor those “flying” surfboards.

It’s like a big pool, very similar to the Mediterranean beaches,

much cheaper than Punta del Este. Punta del Este on this day,
which I think would be January 17 or 18, was practically with half
occupation and here the beaches were almost full. Here we are
approaching bus stop number 8, for your reference. This area is
practically unknown to Argentines, who generally go to Punta del
Este and come to Piriápolis for a day trip, as they only go along the
promenade and don’t drive along these beaches, that we are going
to see now and that I had never seen in my life - I confess. If it
hadn’t been for the medieval fair I was heading to, I wouldn’t even
have gone so far. I’d have only gone to downtown Piriápolis, and
that’s why I recommend this zone to many Argentines who might
be watching me, because these beaches are… These little
houses, which practically have a beach of their own! Take a look!

There you can see a kind of jet ski. For you to compare with Punta
del Este, where there were dozens of jet skis, dozens of yachts,
dozens of people paddle surfing, kayaking, that is, nothing to do at
that level with Punta del Este. Much more tranquility. This one we
are going to see now is called Playa Hermosa and, as you can see,
it’s quite beautiful. There you can see the waterspout that had
formed. The day before it had rained so I didn’t go to the medieval
fair. But luckily I was fortunate enough to be able to shoot these
images. Here you can see it even better and in close-up.

Here’s a comment for videographers. This recording would

normally have been done by any of you with a GoPro attached to
the window. But imagine that with that type of camera you couldn’t
have zoomed to the horizon and notice what I found in this case:
the waterspout. Anyway, I recommend a camera with stabilization
and not this one I used. Because I really had to spend many hours
in the editing room to improve the image. There you’ll see young
local people that caught my attention both at the arrival and in the

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return trip, as they looked very similar to the people in poor
neighborhoods sorrounding Buenos Aires. In fact, I don’t
recommend that you take the bus back from the bus stop 17 at
night as myself - almost at 11 o’clock at night - because it’s a little
complicated and you may be approached by people who look
dangerous. Most Argentines don’t know this area because the
road that is taken by Buquebus or traveling by you own car is
above this one.

Here we are traveling the Juan Díaz de Solís coastal route that
stops at each beach resort and it’s much longer the distance than
the freeway that takes you to Montevideo. And here we are at bus
stop 12 for those who want to know. The bus I took from Punta del
Este was operated by the COT company and it cost more or less
$5 each way. Here we are going to see the interior of the bus and
the hills that border Piriápolis: Cerro San Antonio - as I mentioned
before -, Cerro del Toro, (where the technical failure that left Punta
del Este without electricity at the end of January occurred) and
other hills with different names. But well, what I wanted to say is
that the city of Piriápolis is surrounded by hills. And there we see
something that looks like a small chapel. And now a builder’s yard.
Builder’s yards are everywhere in Uruguay.

And they are very common. They are what we call in Argentina
“corralones de materiales” but they also sell hardware, do-it-
yourself and maintenance stuff. When you go to Uruguay you’ll
always see advertisements everywhere for builder’s yards. And
you’ll see builder’s barracks everywhere. In Buenos Aires,
Barracas [lodges, barracks] is a neighborhood. I hope you can
notice the importance of construction in Uruguay. Greetings and I
hope you liked the video.

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Hello everyone, welcome back to the channel! In this video -
number 84 - we’re going to cover the route between bus stop 17 of
the beaches of Piriápolis and the Pittamiglio Castle - in the town of
Las Flores, which corresponds to that bus stop. This video - 84th -
is complemented by videos 82nd, from Punta del Este to Piriápolis,
and 83rd, which shows the internal streets of Piriápolis up to the
place where this video starts. I just arrived at Las Flores beach
resort, in the 17th bus stop off Piriápolis: [near] Pittamiglio Castle,
which is 1.46* km away. It’s about 5:00 p.m., January 22, 2023. This
is the beginning of the 1.46* km route. Punta del Este, the terminal,
the bus, and here, where I’m arriving now, is a 1.5 hour drive, not
the 50 minutes I was told. It’s about 4:55 p.m.

What will be interesting to see on this tour? What the Uruguayan

countryside really looks like: what the inner zones of the
Uruguayan field look like, mostly in this department of Maldonado,
bordering the Atlantic Ocean. As for the 1.46* km, having all these
little hills that you’ll notice, ups and downs, is actually more than
that. Here in the castle there’s a medieval fair. Yesterday [I didn´t
come because] it was a bit cloudy; today is Sunday and yesterday
it extended from 4 p.m. until 11:00 p.m. In fact, I remember it had
rained the day before - a Saturday - and this was on a Sunday, a
day I would have normally gone to the beach, but I preferred to
come here to disconnect myself a bit from everything that was
happening in Punta del Este. The measurement of kilometers -
when you look at them on maps -, and this is specifically for people
new to hiking… sometimes when measuring by satellites, straight
lines are measured - there aren’t actually straight lines on the
Earth’s surface, there are curved lines -, but satellite
measurements don’t take into account terrain features. So, those
1.46* km here, geodetically calculated - on the supposed surface or
curvature of the Earth - were actually more.

If we were to pull a thread from one end of the route to the other, it
would probably measure [more than] a mile, because of the ups
and downs that you’re now going to see. Here we are going to
transit a sort of bicycle lane or road shoulder. I don’t think it’s a
shoulder because a car won’t fit*, - you’ll notice throughout the

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video. But this bicycle lane, the problem it has… - also for trekking
purposes - When you walk on a piece of land, you always have to
see the cars coming from the front. In other words, you always
have to go the wrong way in the lane the cars are coming from. So,
going to the castle there was no problem at all - there was this kind
of shoulder -, but the problem was the return, because if you came
back along this side of the road, - which according to the rules of
hiking would be incorrect, as you’d have cars coming from behind -
you could be in danger of being run over, so I had to return on the
other side of the street, which didn’t have any kind of shoulder. In
some places I had to walk straight across a ditch, and making
some kind of lights at the cars coming from the front. This is a
typical thing poorly constructed: it’s neither a bicycle lane, nor a
path, nor a road shoulder.

It’s a thing that one doesn’t quite know what it is, but causes
problems when trekking. And one last thing I will add, because
here you can’t see it in the video - or rather, you can’t hear it - but
in one part there was a barking dog. It’s important that you carry
some type of pepper spray, - when walking in this area -, as you
never know what you might get close to, and what type of dog
breed it may be, or which person may approach you. And pepper
spray in most countries - fortunately - is still legal. So… in other
times - a generation or two ago - other type of element would’ve
been used to defend yourself. I remember when I went to the
mountains of Córdoba as a child - there were snakes in that place -
and a snake pepper sprayed, I don’t know, it would be kind of
dangerous. But at least carry pepper spray, as it’s the basic
defense against any kind of attack, whether of a person or an
animal, in this type of trail.

This is the entrance to Pittamiglio Castle.

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234
- This is also found in Entre Ríos. Do you call these hills
“cuchillas”? - You mean, this event? - These hills here. - What? - I
read 1.20 km [on the map] : I thought it was all flat and it turned out
that there are little hills. Do you call these hills “cuchillas”, like in
Entre Ríos?

- Yes, indeed. - That’s the most tiring part: a kilometer and a half on
flat land is one thing, and another to have to ascend 50 meters… -
The slope. - The slope… Besides, you can’t see the cars, so it’s a
bit dangerous… because at night… - (…) - At night, the problem is
the cars and I didn’t bring the head lamp, which I should have
brought but I don’t know

why [I didn’t]. - (…) - Yeah, the head lamp and also something
[flourescent] in the back so I can be seen. The other time it
happened to me in La Barra - I crossed the wrong way. By La
Barra, I mean Manantiales - I crossed in an area where there was
no light. You always have to cross where there’s light, even without
a [pedestrian path] - it was all black, I crossed, I didn’t see anyone
and a motorcycle passed that didn’t have lights. I escaped by
miracle, as I crossed in a dark zone - obscure, between two
separared streetlights. I could indeed see, but I didn’t know if the
other person…

I don’t think he saw me, you know? And the only thing I did was to
cross, but when I realized a motorcycle passed by… a motorcycle
without the front lamp - I don’t know how they let them circulate.
And I said to myself: “How could it be that it didn’t have a front
lamp?” and when I was getting near, I met a car that was almost for
scrap, you know? But, well, I’ll see how this place turns out. - The
entrance there… - Is there any place to eat here? -

[Nods] - This ends at 11 p.m., right? - [Nods] - It’s okay. - Hello,

welcome. - Thank you. - Here you have 4 tickets. - Perfect. -
Pittamiglio was a kind of metaphysician… -(…) -

It’s okay. - How much is it? - Are you going into the museum or the
fair? - What time does the museum close?? - We are open until

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11:00 p.m., we close at 11:00 p.m.. - Can’t I visit both? - Yes, we
have a 400 pesos [10 USD] combo for both tickets. The museum
alone is worth 150, and if not, the fair alone is worth 250 (?).

- It’s okay. I thought the museum was closing now, but it isn’t. Is
there a guided tour? - It’s self-guided, it’s a multimedia museum:
you’ll come across spots to listen, read, videos to watch. It’s
intended to be self-guided. - I want both tickets. - Both? - Yes, both.
-

Or one of the two? - No, I want both. - For one person? - Yes, for
one person. - How big is the museum? -

Inside you’ll notice it’s small. What Pittamiglio wanted is to play

with the illusion: it looks like a huge castle, and when you enter,
you’ll see it’s more or less small. This one is yours, this bracelet is
for you to wear and circulate throughout the fair and in here. - Is it
only one? - Only one. - Good. Does she ask me for it and place it
on me? - Oh, and where’s a place for lunch? - There, there you
have…

- I mean hot food. -Yes, there you have. You can enter. - Good. -
Do you want me to guide the the simple tour here? (!) - No, no, it’s
self-guided. (??) - Go ahead.

You circulate. - Hi, how are you? Do you have the ticket for the
museum, worth 150 pesos? - I’ve already payed for it. - Really? -
For both tickets. - That’s not the ticket.

(?) - She says it’s not the ticket. - No, he already paid for the
museum as well. - Go ahead. I think you can all come in. You can
all enter. As you can see, they wouldn’t let me in - I don’t know why
-, but here we’re inside the Pittamiglio Castle, built by a kind of
Uruguayan alchemist named Humberto Pittamiglio, who lived from
1887 to 1966, son of Italian parents from an extremely poor family.
He was basically educated in the Christian faith since he was a
child - baptized - but later met Francisco Piria - the founder of the
city, located about 7 kilometers from the castle, named Piriápolis -

236
and got into the mysteries of the occultism, a thing that was very
common at the time though.

These photos (all the photos I took along this trip) are featured in a
slideshow, one of the first 40 videos in this playlist, where each and
every one of the photos appear, in 4K definition. I say this because
a lot of young people may not know it, but any video from this
platform can be downloaded with some programs and from there
extract captures - or screenshots - containing the images. For me
it’s better than what I was doing before, that is, uploading it to Flickr
- a social network that practically nobody uses - or to Instagram,
which is full of foolish people, to put it mildly, or into purely
commercial purposes, as opposed to a few years ago. Here we
start to see the castle. As I don’t know if I said it or not, it’s a house
- I was told at the beginning -, it’s a very small house, that is, it
looks much bigger than it really is: it’s a pretty small place. You
should know - because I was not allowed to do visit them - there
are two towers at the top - which you can see in the photos - that
can be accessed. I saw that normal people, who were tourists,
were accessing them. Here we are going upstairs.

There’s a myth that Piria had managed to… Not Piria, I mean
Pittamiglio, had the Holy Grail. They were friends anyway; they
were practically into the same subjects: occultism, hermeticism
and so on. Let’s remember that Hermeticism is named after
Hermes Trismegistus, whom I recommend you to turn to - to study
about him - in order to understand the subject of occult sciences,
because they exceed what this video is about. The so-called
“metaphysics” by Aristotle, what’s next to or beyond physics - the
world we see - and what occupies religions. There we see a
goddess that I don’t know if it’s Diana. Evidently, it also has a
Greco-Roman component. It mixes everything: the Egyptian, the
Greco-Roman; it even mixes the medieval, when alchemy had its
most important period.

Please keep in mind that alchemy is the precursor of chemistry

and its greatest exponent was Paracelsus, who believed be more
than Celsus. But here we are going up to the first floor - also very
small. It looks much bigger on the outside than it really is. It must

237
also be said that Mr. Pittamiglio, apart from being a hermetic, was
an important Uruguayan architect and businessman: he erected
quite a number of buildings in Montevideo, and also undertook
commercial projects quite successfully. That’s very common in
Uruguay: it also happened with CasaPueblo, built by a kind of
entrepreneur, artist, architect*… you can see this is a very
common practice in Uruguay. And here we see the facsimiles,
which appear photographed one by one in the slideshow. In the
video with the slideshow - one of the first 40 videos of this playlist -
you’ll be able to see each one of these photos, which in turn, if you
are interested in the topic, I recommend you to look for, doing a
reverse photo search and looking them up on Google first and then
in the Internet Archive, because most of these books are available
today. If not, you also have the HathiTrust* library, with 8 to 10
million books.

Let’s say: the three basic sources for old books are the Internet
Archive, Google Books and HathiTrust*, one that has a kind of
elephant as a logo. Then there’s Jstor, but that’s if you have
university credentials. There are also available Google Scholar
papers and obviously academia.org* for people… But that’s
already more academic, more “technical.” If you don’t handle basic
topics you’re not going to understand it. It’s like showing person a
mathematical theorem when he doesn’t know how to add. So try
yo start with the basics on this topic: first from metaphysics and
then moving on to alchemical topics specifically. It’s clear that
there’s much more in reality than what we see and, in fact, science
proves it, with the different types of waves of the electromagnetic
spectrum, with microbes and bacteria, atoms - things we can’t see
with the naked eye.

So there must be a thousand mysteries and perhaps even several

parallel universes, which we cannot see. And those things can’t be
appreciated just by looking at them: so it’s important to explore
metaphysics a little, as the empirical sciences themselves will
always be very limited to precisely what they have in front. Their
method is correct though. It must be said that out of logic - mere
logic -, their method is correct. What happens is that they don’t use
the dialectics that would allow them precisely to understand more

238
of the complexities and negativities of reality. Here we see the
bathroom. It’s amazing that it has such a small bathroom too -
looks almost like a hostel’s. We continue to see these rooms.

There are very few rooms. I wanted to get to the tower* but they
wouldn’t let me. There’s the Eye, a kind of Masonic, occultist sign.
Maybe Pittamiglio was a Mason; I don’t know. I don’t want to mess
with Masons, because I already have enough problems. But they
are also related. What Masons do is basically create a rational
religion, which for me is a contradiction in terms, as religion is
dominated by faith.

It can indeed be understood by reason - through theology - but

basically the required attitude is faith. In reality, faith taken as such
is necessary for all sciences, because there are particular
premises - at least that reality exists and that truth can be known -,
which are accepted by all the sciences - and these premises
cannot be proved per se. In other words, you can never get out of
your mind. One can never know if everything one is seeing is a
representation or not. But that’s why I liked so much to come to this
castle and escape a little from Punta del Este’s vibe, as it took me
to a more immaterial and not so materialistic plane; i.e., not seeing
practically, well… intimate parts of everyone. You have to come
with time here. I was in a hurry, because I had the medieval fair,
what I was most interested in, so I did it very quickly. This raw
video may be less than 30 minutes long.

And besides, there were 3 rooms. But if you want to do it right,

[come with time], as the castle has a backyard that’s very
interesting. You can appreciate it in the videos that follow - the
videos about the medieval fair. What I wanted here is to show the
museum. This video is dedicated to the museum. As you can see,
a Minerva owl also appears, which represents wisdom. There are
also quotations from Greek and Latin philosophers - I mean,
there’s a little bit of everything in this place. This was recorded -
obviously - with a GoPro that poses as a bodycam.

And I reiterate that each of the things you see, if you want to watch
them in detail, download the video, try to download the video

239
somehow, which is in the Internet Archive too. This is also what I
wanted to say: all the videos I upload here - a week or two after
uploading them - are duplicated - exactly as I upload them - in the
Internet Archive. So this is not about making money. I’d surely love
to be rewarded a little more by Google, but it’s not about making
money. In other words, a day in Punta del Este is not even worth
what I got paid from YouTube in the last 5 years. But well, coming
back to our topic, we are already down in the first floor. It has a lot
of a real castle. The most beautiful part of the castle can be seen in
the video* where the medieval fair is portrayed.

What we are going to see now is the bookstore. As you can see,
there are a lot of children, who will also be displayed in the video*
about the medieval fair. Here they had books on a little bit of
everything: occultism but also some by Osho and all the New Age
stuff. I thought that was kind of weird, as medieval times have
nothing to do with Hindu culture. In other words, European
medieval times are different from the Hindu culture. So it seems to
me that they mixed up things that didn’t have much to do with each
other. I included this part just to show you a full panorama of the
museum. I recommend it to you in general if you want to visit this
area near the city of Piriápolis, close to Punta del Este in Uruguay,
- the Oriental Republic of Uruguay.

Greetings to all of you and I hope you liked this video.

240
241
Well, this is the entrance to the medieval fair (…) [at] Pittamiglio
Castle. - Did you get it from here? - Yes. - Hello. - Hey, just a
question… - [Nods] - Would you take a picture of me with my
[camera]? - Yes, I would. - A selfie won’t look good, I think. If you
can, [look] through the viewfinder…

Well, you’re my age, you must know… - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Come
on, you come on. - Is the lens [ready], did you leave it like that? -
It’s ready. It’s in auto [mode] anyway.

I don’t want to complicate you. It should take 3 pictures every click.

- There it is. - Hey, here… sorry. - Hello. - What are you doing?

A show of hanging someone? Here everything is open to the public

for those who want to take a picture as cutting off a head. - I’m
afraid to be taken a picture there, I don’t know…. I mean, the
gallows … I’d take a pic of myself there but… - What soldier, what
tribe are you from? What would you be? Teuton, Saxon, Hun? - No,
neither Saxon nor the other.

Celt, pure Celt. - Huh? Oh! Celt. From what area? Did you know
that the Celts extended from Ukraine to Ireland? . - It’s not that they
were Celts, it was the language. - There were Indo-European
tribes.

- Indo-European, indeed, sir. - Let’s see, tell me about the Indo-

Europeans. - You’re the one talking, I’m listening to you, you look
like you know, and I always love to get my wisdom from those who
know more. - Well: the Indo-European peoples were tribes that had
domesticated the horse, they knew metal… - Great horsemen, and
very mercenary of the Romans. They worked a lot with the
Romans. - No, the Romans are descendants of the Indo-
Europeans. - No, I know, but when Rome was in Europe, the
Celts…. - The Celts are an Indo-European tribe related to the
Romans, a subtribe called Italo-Celtic.

- Two years ago I was painting a mural made in Spain of knights.

They are some black horses, petite, and the Celts (?) are doing a

242
whole thing there and they never know… - What are these?
Agendas? - Indeed, they are notebooks. - Oh, they are not books. -

No, they aren’t. - And this symbol? I saw it everywhere. What does
it mean? - This is the Viking compass. They used it on the ships for
finding the way. -

The Vikings? - Yes. - Oh! And that owl is Minerva’s? - Yes. Thank
you. - Hi. This… - You can grab it. -

No, [I mean]: what’s this? Is it for sale? - Some of the artifacts are. -
And… - (…) traditional. - How much does the axe cost? - That’s the
one they use for keeping on (sic); I have it as a sample. - Let me
see.

Something about 600 [pesos] (15 USD)… You have hooks (sic)
phygulas (sic) - What ware these things? - They are pendants,
that’s the circle of the earth, the spiral, arrowheads. - That’s a good
one. - These are between 400 and 500 [pesos, 10/12 USD]. - 400?

[10 USD]. - That Thor’s hammer: is it the only one you have, or you
have it in another presentation? - No, I have this one, which I have
on repeat. You have arrows. - Well, I like that Viking vibe. I can buy
that. But… Let’s see, let me see… How much did you tell me?

- This is 400 [pesos]. This one is 450 [pesos]. 500 [pesos] for the
shield with the the amulet I was telling you about. 450 [pesos] the
snake.

- And this is made of… What material is it made of? - This is all
iron, all wrought iron. Later, when the sun goes down, we will light
the forge - when the heat drops a little. - Well I’ll take this one -
That one in particular?

- I think they are different. - Yes, there’s no one alike. They are
handmade, you see. - Of course, yes. - They are similar, but… -
What are you doing at the end, a bonfire? - We are going to light
forges.

243
Would you like a bag? - Yes, please. - Do you know the
medievalists from Buenos Aires: “Ferias Medievales Argentina”? -
Yes, I know them a through Facebook but I’ve never met them.
Well, because… - I once went to [a fair] at the Raggio School, in
Núñez [Buenos Aires]. - I haven’t participated in those fairs.

- It was a little bigger than this one. - But they organize [fairs]
almost weekly. - Of course, there are many in Argentina. - I have
participated in other kinds of things. Count it, I’ll give it to you. - Is
there an association alike in Uruguay? - Oh, wow. - Is there?

- If there’s one here? - Is there an Uruguayan medievalist

association? - No, there are groups that can be queried. Right her,:
there are clans. They get together and organize events. That kind
of things. - Clans are families too?

Or are they [civilian] clans? - They are medieval clans. For

example: Vuelo de cuero, Vallartes. Some of them are German… -
There were some Germans, of course. I know a group [on the
Internet] called “Die Irrlichter”, who are some girls, a lady, who I
believe has two daughters and they sing like… in old German, in
Latin, in old French, that whole vibe. - Thank you.

- No, thank you. - No fights? I wanted to start a fight. - OK. - To

provoke someone, to see a fight. Can I provoke someone? - Any of
us.

It’s going to be bad for you but… - Don’t you perform like a fight
simulation? - Hand to hand, indeed. - With what? With a sword? -
No, hand to hand. -Oh, I saw [some people] grabbing each other.
Hand to hand, like medieval boxing? - It’s a traditional Nordic
wrestling. - Oh.

What is it like? -It’s called lausatök combat glima. -Oh, I didn’t

know. -Here in Uruguay, basically… - I went to a couple of
medieval fairs in Argentina and I didn’t… - They don’t really do it. I
do it because of a teacher I have in Chile.

244
In fact, he is the one monitoring me. - And basically, what would it
use, upper or lower limbs? - Both, superior or inferior, but above all
the idea is… - As Greco-Roman? - No, the Greco-Roman grabs.
This is about pushing someone out, to get away: it was used as a
game and a battle tactic to be able to push somebody out. - Like
judo, right?

You have to flip the other, when the other falls to the ground [you
win]. - In real life, you could be caught by the other and have to
escape. You knew not if he was armed. - Sure, for infantry fighting
porpuses. - But it was also a family game. - I used to employ it with
my brother without knowing…

- Hello, how are you? - I’m good. Oh, I was looking for… Do you
sell [axes] or just manage this [fairground game]? - I manufacture
this kind of weapons: this is a replica of a Danish steel axe, for
example. What an elite Viking would use: oak handle - oak or ash;
whatever they had access to. - Carrying that they won’t let me
travel. - It’s not a weapon; actually, it has no edge.

- Alright, but go and explain that to immigration authorities… -

Thank you very much, I hope you have good luck. - Thank you. -
And well, then we do axe throwing. This artifact is thrown away - a
replica of a Franciscan throwing axe. You’re going to see me in
another video throwing that axe. In this case it costed 2,000
uruguayos, about 50 USD.

Because of customs restrictions, I couldn’t buy it. It was an axe

supposedly like the Franks’, that’s why it’s called Francisca.

245
246
Well, here’s a person… We are at the medievalist fair in Uruguay.
Here’s a person submitting to… simulating a hanging on the
gallows. There he is… if he falls, haha, he doesn’t tell the story -
here are the guys [preparing it]. - Oh, he really died! [laughs] Well,
almost… - Total realism! -

If had really died, it was good for YouTube, for all social networks,
spectacular, I mean… But didn’t look… it was ethically
condemnable. - Total realism! - Surely… it looked really good. I
don’t know how much I owe you… in money, I don’t know. - Man, if
you wanna die, do it, but don’t f*ck around… - Dying, I don’t
know… I don’t have money, but okay.

- No problem. - How much is [this bill] worth? I don’t know. -

Nothing, thank you. - Is it okay? Wait. I have more…

- It’s ok, no problem. - Is it? - It’s perfect! - I don’t know how much
this money means… Wair, let’s see if I have more… I contribute
with this. Something is better than nothing. -

Yeah, man, it’s really good, thanks. It’s very nice of you. - Oh! Do
you get paid here? - Who? No, we don’t. You pay us with your
presence.

- Oh! Some “druids” there. - Yes, they are from our clan. But if you
don’t wanna die on the gallows… - I’d better stay away, right? - (…)
- Yea, maybe… - What are they doing? Wanting to fight?

- Wangaaaa! - Stand over here and after I fight with my brother,

we’ll make room for you. - All ready? - “Warming the face”, that’s a
slap, boys. - What are you doing boys? Weapon fight or…? This is
the man seen in the previous video - number 86 -, recorded with
GoPro. . This one was recorded entirely with the Panasonic Lumix
FZ1000 and here they’re simulating a sword game.

- If you can look through the viewfinder, better. It’s filming now, you
don’t have to do anything: just aim at me and set the zoom as wide
as possible. I want a broader panorama. - I’ll tell you about this. -

247
Please, I want to have it recorded on cam. - Oh! You want to
learn… You grab it from here: like this.

There. You put one foot forward. - Are you right-handed? - Yes. -
OK, try this movement. The axe goes forward. Give it the strength
to go forward. Push it forward.

Strong and full-bodied, fot it to go [forward]. - Is this already

filming? - Yeah. - Oh, it’s been a while. Wait until I focus on you.
Pleae stand over here.

- How far away! I’m not going to hit. - No, no, this way. - You’re
going to film me from behind. - I mean… do you want (…) to be
shown? - I don’t know how strongly to spin it.

- You don’t have to. You just push it forwards and it’ll spin. - Oh,
sh*t! - No “topspin” needed? - No, no. It spins solely. Just push it
onwards.

Its own weight makes it rotate. - Tell me you filmed that! - Tell me
you filmed that! - I stuck two. - Yes, they were recorded. - People
will believe me, it’s real! - Not a set-up or anything.

All in the same shot and continuous. - I had a bad day, I felt the
anger. - Did you see? It’s a way to get rid of the anger. . Of course.
- You don’t have bow and arrow. In Buenos Aires [fairs]they had
bow and arrow.

- We don’t have bow and arrow. - Better. - Not really, it may be

worse when closer, just that. - Of course. - There’s a group of
archers over there in the background. - At the fair I went to in
Buenos Aires 4 years ago —at Raggio School; look it up on the
Internet (Raggio Technical School, uploaded in 2018); they had
bows but no

[axes]. - Those without much training used the spear: the most
basic thing for…. - But you have to throw it away: I mean, once you
throw it away… - No, not necessary: it’s inexpensive. - This is the
easiest thing to do because you keep your distance. This is the

248
most basic weapon. - I saw how the Greeks threw the javelin. . - It
wasn’t thrown: it was hand-to-hand combat.

- It can be used in hand-to-hand combat, but also (…). It’s a

weapon that maintains distance. I’s 1.80 or 2 meters [long]. - Why
didn’t the one with the longest spear win? If I had a 5-meter spear I
could win. - It’s not the size. Well, this was on January 22, 2023.
This fair lasted two days: Saturday and this day

[Sunday]. It had rained the day before. On the subject of throwing

axes and spears, I have to say that it’s easier to throw the axe - in
general - than the spear. With the spear you need a much better
balance. And to throw the axe well, you have to throw it
downwards. And you’ll see in the replays - if you watch that part
back - that it automatically turns 360 degrees around itself.
Basically it’s like you have to throw it down - about 45 degrees -
and it will automatically turn around and stick to the object you
want. It wasn’t a big place.

I estimate it occupied a whole block - at least the castle and the

backyard. The backyard will be shown in another video. Here I’m
showing the fair itself, also to be seen in another videos. These
videos are basically separated according to the camera that was
used to record them. The first video - 86 - was shot with a GoPro.
This one - 87 - was shot with a Panasonic Lumix. And video
numbers 88 and 89 were recorded with the iPhone. The interesting
thing about this area - you’ll see it at the end of these shots - is the
hills that look like a movie’s [computer-generated].

They are incredible, almost like the wallpaper of Windows XP.

Absolutely stunning mounts to see. And here I’m already heading
to the archery area. - We’re still here at the medievalist fair, in
Piriápolis - in the outskirts of Piriápolis -, at this place called Las
Flores. The difference between this fair and a previous one is that
they performed this sort of visual test to discover which eye was
dominant. I didn’t see it elsewhere and looks like they may be
swapped: that is, a right-handed can have a left dominant eye. The
mounts I was telling you - they look like the Windows XP
wallpaper. I will exhibit here the process of buying tickets.

249
Be careful [if living in Argentina] when you go to Uruguay: the
currency has the same name - peso. It may seem to you that it’s
less - 50 AR pesos is nothing - but the difference in exchange rate
at the time was 1 to 10, so be careful. - How much does it cost? - 50
pesos. - Each shot? - 3 shots. - Give me 6 shots, 2 packs.

- Ok, 2 packs of 3 shots. - What do you shoot with? Any [of the
bows here]? - Not those, all the equipment there [Ed. it was a toy
bow]. - Enjoy! - Thank you! - We have to do a little test to find the
dominant eye. - OK. - Do you notice it?

You’re going to have to do like this with your hands. Thus, with a
small hole in the middle. That’s fine! Now lift up your hands and
through that hole look at me, at this eye. - That eye? - Yes. - You
are right-handed. OK?

Tell them you’re right-handed. They’ll place your body for the
archery practice. OK? - You are right-handed. -No, I’m not. -You’re
looking at me with your right eye; if you close your right eye you
won’t see me. Did you see? By doing so, both eyes can’t focus on
the object you want to look at: just one. -

Is there anyone left-handed and “right-eyed”? - I’m right-handed

and “left-eyed”. - When you have an ophthalmological test, does it
confirm that you see further with one eye? - Yes, I see more with
this eye. When I close it, everything looks darker. - Me too, I don’t
remember which one sees the most. - Of course. -

So what do I have to do? - Tell him you’re right-handed. (…) - With

the right hand on your face. - Stand here, facing me. A little more.
Keep it there. - But back [in Buenos Aires] they taught me to shoot
with less fingers.

- This is the [correct] technique: three fingers below. - Oh… - That

wasn’t so bad, was it? - No, not at all. What you can see behind is
the sea. These are the shots of the sunset. And I recommend you
to continue watching: you’ll see some spectacular sunsets. These
are the hills I was telling you about. There you will start to see the
food truck area.

250
There were several of them: some closed, others open. I don’t
remember the prices, but Piriápolis is much cheaper than Punta
del Este. Still, compared to Buenos Aires it was expensive. It
caught my attention that one of the places didn’t have remaining
smoothies. Here we see the archery yard from a distance. And
here you can appreciate this spectacular sunset. A “two suns
effect”: the sun went down about 20 minutes ago and over there, it
seems to be another sun, that you can now notice. An effect that I
only saw once in my life - that I can remember.

The sun had set… I mean, the sun was technically below the
horizon - I checked that through an app - but you could still view
that “bounce” of the sun in the clouds there, as if there was another
sun in the area I was pointing at. It was as if there were two suns;
it’s an effect I don’t think I’ve ever seen in my life. In the place
where I was focusing it seemed that the sun was setting but it was
actually setting where the golden zone is - that golden-yellowish
area. What you’ll watch is that color - practically the color of a
forge, like some melting, forging iron; a color I rarely saw in my life.
It’s obviously much stronger when you observe it on site. Even
though we are working with HDR here, HDR is still a hundredth of
the brightness you see in reality. So I’m going to leave it here in its
entirety.

There’s an upcoming video that contains the iPhone shots and the
shots of the night festival, which I highly recommend. Well, I was
just remembering one thing. This festival had very few tables. I ate
on one of 2 or 3 available tables, so remember to carry a beach
mat, if they do this festival again next year or another.

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Hi everyone, welcome back to the channel! Please watch this one
—the 88th video of my Punta del Este trip of 2023. What we’re
going to see is something that you’re not going to see on any other
channel. It’s a “double” sunset, as if there were two suns. First,
you’re going to see the sun setting over the horizon and then —in
chronological order— you’re going to see a kind of second sun
coming out and reflecting through the clouds, about 30* degrees
above the horizon. This is one of the few videos on YouTube on
this subject. If you want to use it, you can —with my for permission.
I hope you enjoy it.

It is —as I said— in chronological order and without cuts or any

kind of retouching. This was filmed from one of the courtyards of
the Pittamiglio castle, in the town of Las Flores, near Piriápolis —7
kilometers from downtown Piriápolis— and about 50 kilometers in
a straight line from downtown Punta del Este, in the Oriental
Republic of Uruguay. It was recorded on January 22, 2023,
between 7.23 pm and 8:07 pm. As I said at the beginning, it’s in
chronological order, and more or less around 8 pm is when that
second sun effect starts. It doesn’t have to draw any attention that
these “metaphysical” things happen in the castle that was part of
the heritage of an alchemist: of a famous Uruguayan alchemist like
Humberto Pittamiglio. Well, the sun has just officially set, but this is
very strange, it seems as if there were two suns: one there and the
other there; it’s like the same sunlight below the horizon is
reflected in the clouds that are above, and poses as if there were
two suns. It’s impressive.

This is the very rare effect, as if there were two suns: one that has
set over there, and one reflecting in the clouds —as they are 2000
meters high, the sun is still reflected. I’ve never seen this before.

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[Applause] It just got dark here. There’s a remaining sunset over
there. And so people continue to partake in this medieval fair. Here
in Las Flores —Las Flores coastal village— at the Pittamiglio
castle, near Piriápolis, in Maldonado, [administrative dapartment]
Eastern Republic of Uruguay. There’s the gallows, the stocks…
This is the Pittamiglio castle. - Are you from here? - Yea, how are
you?

- How are you? - This is a distillation workshop for plants to obtain

essential oils: oils containing all the essential features of the plant
—the aroma, all their particular benefits. - What can you tell me
about alchemy? Where they looking for the philosopher’s stone? -
Yea, that’s a way of calling it: alchemy is an action. The art of
transmuting things that are mutable. - That happens all the time.

- Right, yeah. - Even myself now: I’m transmuting, changing. - The

more we pair with it, the more alchemical we are. That is: the more
we work on those changes to obtain better results —more pristine
results. It’s the art of transmuting —the art of changing. - What is it
used, distillation? - Oh, that’s perfect.

- It’s very similar to… - A branch of alchemy was [aiming] for (a)
more pure… - You have similar methods —as far as I can see— to
a chemistry lab, right? - Yeah, yeah, it’s like… - The mother… - The
mother of chemistry.

- Ok. - [To other person] Is it ok to say that? - [Other person] What?

- That alchemy was also the mother of chemistry. - [Other person]
Yes: it’s mother chemistry, of pharmacy, of [the knowledge] on
metals and pigments, of metallurgy… - All included along nature
sciences, right? - And do you believe?

—I love the topic of Faust. I studied some German. He existed. -

Faust? - Faustus, Dr. John Faustus —Iohannes Faustus. Lived in a
city in Germany —he was a real person— and one day his
laboratory exploded. These things are dangerous, you know? -
Yeah, sure, sure.

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-And then, like… [Laughs] What happened? I don’t know if that
happened to you or are afraid of that to happen. —because of what
I said. - No, it’s ok. - Did I say something [wrong]? I haven’t slept for
many hours —I might have said something I didn’t mean. -

No, we indeed say that one day we’re all going to blow up. This is
not an alcohol still, though. - Oh! A still! I couldn’t remember the
word. - That might explode: you may have alcohol leaks. We
extract essential oils, not alcohol. So it won’t explode, like in the
prohibitionist era movies.

- The legend was based on the use of alcohol stills —that might
have happened to Faust. Then the legend came out, saying he
made a pact with Mephistopheles. But the guy was real: there’s a
house in Germany, claiming that John Faust lived here. Then
some works were composed. Firstly, by Marlowe —an Englishman
— and then by Goethe —a German. But it happened in Germany,
basically. But it actually happened: the guy went overboard with all
this stuff.

- Hello, welcome! - Hello, thank you.

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Hello everyone and welcome back to the channel! What we’re
going to see in this video —the 91st— is this route between this
beach here, [which I call] Esquina de La Barra Beach, and this
beach here, which is Desembocadura de La Barra beach —the
latter available in videos 61 and 65. This —unlike the other videos
— was filmed with an iPhone, so it has another type of quality and
another kind of perspective, as it was filmed at atmost the end of
the month. Here we skirt the mouth of the stream and get almost to
the tip of the cape that forms there. Greetings, don’t forget to watch
the other videos: there’ll be another video showing the arrival to
this beach and there’s a previous video that shows the Posta del
Cangrejo [beach], located here. I’m going to stroll from here, the
beach next to the Posta del Cangrejo [beach] —in La Barra,
overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, which is over there.

And here begins La Barra de Maldonado —the mouth of the

Maldonado stream into the Atlantic Ocean. This beach —if I’m not
mistaken— is about 500 meters long and has at least 3 [lifeguard]
huts —that I’ve seen— and a restaurant over there. There you
have a soccer beach field. Over there is the tallest building in the
area, visible from the [hermitage of Our Lady] of Candle, at the tip
[of Punta del Este]. Here you can appreciate the exact place
where the Maldonado creek goes into the Atlantic Ocean. I had
[filmed] it before, but not as complete and it’s awesome. Now I’m
going to get exactly there.

This beach is visited by families, like the Posta del Cangrejo, and
unlike [Montoya]. It’s just a little bit more (…). And, uh… Here is
where the sea meets the land —I mean, the sea meets the stream.
This stretch is not even 100 meters [wide]. And… the beach is
basically over there. It’s like Posta del Cangrejo, the beach right
next to it —there’s not much difference. Both face the Atlantic
openly, but aren’t [naturally] protected like the others and don’t
have waves as big as Montoya and the rest [Bikini, La Brava, etc.].
And here’s a huge plain —it must be about 200 meters up to there.

And this… is where the river and the sea meet —technically
named an estuary— but you have to be careful as there’s a huge

258
slope underwater. Here we have the outright Atlantic Ocean. And
that’s where the river and the sea meet. I mean, the river “comes”
to the sea. On this beach there are some tremendous sumps (in
fact, if I wanted to step in, my feet won’t probably touch the
bottom). The sand is very treacherous —very thin— and you end
up sinking fast on the sea or river bed. The sand is more compact.
There’s a video similar to this —number 65—, showing exactly the
same route but coming from the other side and without reaching
this beach, named “Esquina de La Barra” or “Duende Azul” —
whatever you want to call it.

In video number 65 there’s another shot —not taken with iPhone,

but with Panasonic Lumix— of this same area, where we are going
to go into now. I remind you that this video is number 91. There are
mostly families here and groups of boys and girls, which you’re
going to observe: they’re kind of separated —as at Montoya or at
Bikini [beaches]. You have the center [of the beach] and groups [of
teens] kind of far away from that center, located in this case there.
The important thing here is that there are at least two beaches in
La Barra [mouth] and, technically, that’s the best one. What I just
said is very important: these are two separate beaches with two
different types of sand, one skirting the river and the other
bordering the sea —and each one with its own lifeguard hut.

That’s very important. We continue with the tour alongside this

beach of La Barra. There are few people because it’s already
January 24th —I think— and if we were at end of December, it
would probably be full. It’s a very long beach: it’s one of the longest
—or widest— that I saw; I don’t know if I measured 200 meters on
Google [maps]. The only bad thing is they don’t let you swim in this
whole area (they only allow swimming in an area over there;
lifeguards think they are the only ones who know how to swim).
Eight years ago, I filmed* something similar.

At that time, I had an iPhone 6 —if I’m not mistaken—, now this is
an iPhone 13 Pro Max, practically a [professional] camera within a
cell phone. I think [8 years ago] I was able to record 2 minutes and
now I can record like this —in one run. Plus, [I have] the other
camera, a Lumix —a Panasonic with Leica lens. This [part], for

259
those who are interested, was recorded with the wide-angle lens
[camera] that comes with the Apple phone, more convenient to
use in these cases as it’s more resistant to shaking issues and the
final image resulting blurred. The only issue with the wide-angle
lens is the optical deformation appearing at the edges of the
image. And here is the other beach. You can notice very well the
slope that it has —incredible. This depends on each day, it
depends on the tide, but —if the tide doesn’t come in— you can
get there.

I’m at the very tip: the other day I couldn’t get here. But it depends
a lot on the tide. Basically… What’s this? It kind of ends in La Barra
area and falls a little bit. There may be less than 50 meters to that
point. Here you can walk a little more but… And… here’s these two
sort of peninsulas.

It’s very deep here and there the river meets the sea. There is the
Maldonado [creek]. I’ll continue with this, down by the beach. I’m
going to see how long that place [the Fasano beach club] is open.
Here you can also notice the wind issue, present during the whole
season, with that danger sign [the PELIGRO flag]. The one that I
approach here is the Hotel Fasano’s beach club, part of a luxury
hotel —a hotel almost in the countryside—, 12 kilometers up the
Maldonado creek, that even has a golf course. There you have the
famous paddle surf boards that you can see in videos 61 and 65. In
that small beach club you can eat something, even if you are not
staying in the hotel.

The only bad thing is that it closes early, around 7 p.m. - [Milipili
speaking] I knew because… I knew all your cards, idi*t, what you
did… Here a lot of girls and boys get together, mostly at sunset —
teenagers. Not as many as in Montoya beach —the beach par
excellence for teenagers— but they do gather quite a lot. There
were also remains of nightly campfires. Let’s remember that this is
La Barra de Maldonado, the youth and teen area of Punta del Este.

This is the quiet atmosphere that’s experienced in the evenings at

La Barra de Maldonado: I recommend you the other videos on this
subject. Greetings!

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261
Hello everybody, welcome back to the channel! In this case, we’ll
watch the video number 92: the route that takes us to the beach
that I call “Esquina de la Barra” —although others call it “Duende
Azul” (Blue Goblin), because of this little street that you here see. It
starts here: exactly at the Novillo Alegre [restaurant]. More or less
around here, I had a discussion with a lady, at a place that sold
junk and didn’t want me to film. It was a good thing at the end, as I
can explain why you can film at some places and can’t film at
others: the legal issues —and I can also send greetings to that
lady. And here we’re going to appreciate this beach, also pictured
in two more videos: in a tour from here to this beach over here. It
also has a video of its own, which —if I’m not mistaken— will be
the 93rd. The thing about these beaches is that, as they don’t have
[nearby] bus stops, they cannot be named after them —and have
practically no names at all.

The only name I found for this beaches is “Desembocadura” [river

mouth], but actually these are distinct beaches —in fact, there are
three [separated] lifeguard huts. This one has a name: La Posta
del Cangrejo; and this one —so I read— is called La Boyita. Here
to the right we have Montoya. But this beach here —a separate
beach, with different currents, another type of people and a
different kind of sand— doesn’t have any name. You can’t refer to it
as: “The beach at bus stop 54,” because there is no bus stop there
—at least during the summer season. I send you greetings and
hope you enjoy this walking tour and the little discussion I had.

I’m walking from here, from La Barra —near the ANCAP [gas
station]— 700 meters forwards to explore two beaches —places at
least with two lifeguard huts— from… The beaches on [the left
bank] of La Barra are basically two: I’m going to the one most… to
the one at the cape. This is Maldonado creek’s left bank, in La
Barra. Another day I did the reverse route, and had to go through
the mud to get to the first beach*. The idea is to visit all the
beaches along the Maldonado creek —from one end to the other.
Around the ANCAP [gas station], we find the most important
meeting point, after the OH

262
[shopping center]: Medialunas Calentitas [tea house] is there, as
well as other places —it’s like a second [shopping] center. The
second most important [bus] stop is there. I had come here at
night: it’s a mini shopping ccenter. An art gallery… There are…
(…) from the other shore of La Barra How different things look
during the day than at night! That’s the exit [to the beach] I walked
through the other day and now I’m going to explore the third one.
There’s El Dorado [supermarket]; this is a place where I ate, which
is very good, it’s called Mavericks —or Mavricks, as the Americans
would say.

There is a well-known art gallery: Zuloaga. I think the descent is

the one from the other time; there was a little bar, that was called
Surfo; I think it’s there: the downhill I haven’t transited yet. It’s a
town itself —a village—; it’s got everything. I passed here the other
day too. This place is really weird. I don’t know what they sell: it’s
like scrap metal. - Hi, can I help you with something?

- What is it, scrap metal, that you sell? - No, it’s not scrap. - Scrap: I
meant, discarded stuff… - You can’t film on the premises, you
know? - What’s wrong with you? This is a public road! - No, you
can’t film the premises: it’s private property.

- Well, but this is a public road. - Yes, but you can’t film the place. -
This is a public road. - [Crazy old woman grumbles] - Bye-bye.
That was a crazy old lady.

I didn’t want to get into a fight with her. That guy showed solidarity
with me. I didn’t want to get into a fight because one can’t argue
with foolish people, because the foolish end up being two —one
cannot lower oneself to the level of foolish people. But I do
comment to all the Uruguayans who may watch me that WHEN A
PLACE HAS PUBLIC ACCESS, YOU CAN FILM IT FROM THE
OUTSIDE. That’s in Uruguay and also here in Argentina. So, if you
have a place that faces the street —e.g., a retail store— you can
carelessly record from the outside and there will be no problem, as
it’s a semi-public place (almost public, as it has public access).
Recording the inside of a house would be more controversial. In
case someone from Uruguay —or even Argentina— is listening to

263
me: when an unbalanced person —of this kind— appears, running
a retail store and not wanting what he/she sells to be filmed —a
fortiori when the goods are placed on the sidewalk, a public place
—, they have “small” legal knowledge problems.

I’m not a journalist, but if I were, I would investigate that place —I

posted the photos on Twitter at the time—: the place was named
“lo de Mauricio”. The Argentines will understand what I’m referring
to and what she was selling was —as you saw— mostly pots and
pans, in an area where a rent —this is one of the most expensive
areas of Punta del Este— may cost no less than 10,000 dollars per
month. Therefore, it’s evidently dubious how that lady makes a
living selling bathtubs, lumber or used benches. If I were a
journalist —or a Uruguayan prosecutor— I would investigate this
lady, whose face is going to be shown also in the video thumbnail.
What we see over there —on the side— is a place called Surfo: on
that corner there was a little bar the other time —eight years ago
—, where all teenagers gathered at night —obviously, they weren’t
allowed in the nightclubs. I noticed on this trip that the teenagers
gathered mostly in the OH shopping mall. I used to take the bus
right behind the shopping center, so I always saw them —I always
stayed until late at night in La Barra. - This is where the street turns
and starts the way to the OH shopping mall and all the [important]
places.

Here there was a little bar, but I didn’t see it anymore. This poses
as if it were a big country [club] —same as central José Ignacio or
Manantiales village. This is the way people move around: very
freely, there’s practically no fences. I mean, it’s weird. the streets
are narrow. It does look like a weekend cottage or a country club
area —I don’t know how you call them in your nations. -

Shall I come with you, or shall we wait here? - No, just pick up
Guisa and Nacar. [NB. Uruguayan dialect, people names] Here
you can see the amplitude of this beach, that forms like a big
semicircle —like a big corner—, which may have a radius of
around 200 meters. - This would be the north-facing beach of La
Barra. And that’s the beach club where I was before, that faces
north —sorry, indeed, that faces north-east. East is ahead and

264
right there, the south. What I saw on this beach —and I didn’t want
to leave it unsaid—: there’s a lot of old people and the beach itself
doesn’t have good waves, as you will see (it has a strong current,
but not good waves).

This sand here —in La Barra— is much thinner than the one at
Montoya, a kilometer from here. And this is very common also in
Mar Del Plata: this solid sand floor. As you can notice, this beach
being on a cape, is very windy, really very windy and it has a kind
of compacted sand, which is not so common in the other beaches
around. In fact, it caught my attention that there were so many
people on this beach —the truth is the beach itself is quite ugly and
very windy. This beach’s shots will be shown in an upcoming video
—this is meant to be a walking tour— and I didn’t want to go off
topic.

Greetings!

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266
Hello everyone, welcome back to the channel! In this video —
number 93— we’re going to see this beach here, which I’m calling
“Esquina de la Barra Beach”. It’s a different beach —basically this
beach here—; it’s a different beach than this one here, that has its
own lifeguard hut over here. —this one has it about here. It doesn’t
have a name per se. I call it “Esquina de la Barra Beach”; others
may call it “Duende Azul”, because of this street that you can see
here. There are three videos about this beach: this one —number
93— and the previous ones —number 92 shows all the way over
here, and there is one showing the route from this beach to this
beach, video number 91. I send you a greeting and I hope you
enjoy this video! Playa Esquina de la Barra Playa Esquina de la
Barra Playa Esquina de la Barra Playa Esquina de la Barra Playa
Esquina de la Barra Playa Esquina de la Barra Playa Esquina de
la Barra Playa Esquina de la Barra Playa Esquina de la Barra
Playa Esquina de la Barra Playa Esquina de la Barra Playa
Esquina de la Barra Playa Esquina de la Barra

267
268
The power went out in La Barra de Maldonado. Unbelievable! It’s
the heart of Punta del Este and we have no electricity. “The heart
of Punta del Este”, [I mean], the outskirts of Punta del Este, but it’s
the coolest area and basically there’s no light: the power is out. It’s
very strange, but… that’s the way it is. I was talking to some
antique dealers over there. There we have the Moon that honors…
—hope you can notice it— Turkey: the Moon appears along with
what I think is Venus.

So, to the Turkish people that follow me —I like you—: we have the
Moon and the star! And we’re still without electricity here —at
least, in La Barra de Maldonado. [Tweeted] This is more private,
but here [I am] without electricity, walking along the main street of
La Barra* —all the restaurants [owners] want to kill themselves, I
presume. This… well. There’s electricity only in the shopping mall;
power is out in all [the rest] of La Barra. - Can I ask you a question?

- Yeah. - Is the power out in all La Barra? - Yes, up to José Ignacio.

All of it. Punta del Este has electricity. This area [is where the
power is out]. - Oh, this area. Completely?

- Yea. - I was told the shopping center had light, but I don’t know.
And when did this start? - About an hour and a bit ago… - And is it
common for this to happen? - No, it’s not. - Oh, OK.

Well… I’m going to see what I can find. Of all the restaurants none
had food. -No, none of them. They’re all closed. - There was an
[open] pizzeria. Could it be? Because of the gas oven.

- Oh, maybe up ahead. - OK… - There’s a pizzeria over there on

the corner but is not operative. - Oh, how strange! - It’s never
happened to me, it’s not common, is it? -

It’s not. - OK. Well, just to know. Thank you. - Hello. - Hello. - How’s
it going? - All OK? - Yeah.

- We are without electricity. - I wanted to know if I could use the

bathroom. - Yes, come on in, come here. You know where it is,
don’t you? - Yes, I do. - Come on in —there’s no light, though.

269
- I came with the cell phone anyway. - Go ahead. -OK. Here’s the
OH shopping center, the only one with electricity, as it apparently
has an [electric] generator. I had also seen another place that
apparently had an [electric] generator in the area where the curve
of [Juan Díaz de Solís] route begins. So I’m going to try to eat
something here, but I don’t think I’m going to make it. The only
place that has electricity is the OH shopping center. Oh!

And Tienda Inglesa behind it. - Why is that? - Hahahaha. There’s

the OH shopping center, which has some electricity. A little
panoramic image that I’m taking from here, from the shopping mall.
According to what I was told, from the bus stop 26 of Brava [beach]
up to and including José Ignacio —more or less 25 km along the
route— and obviously its side resorts, are without electricity —for 4
hours now. I detected the outage at about 7.30 p.m. And there you
can see that only… —this place is crossing La Barra— and only on
the peninsula that’s over there —that must be about 20 kilometers
away, I mean, less than 20 kilometers, 10— …there’s electricity.

But this whole area here —both on one side and the other— has
been without electricity for 4 hours and, according to what some
people here —from Maldonado— told me, it’s the biggest power
outage they remember and —for example— I just saw a freight
that they hired to throw the ice cream out of Freddo [an ice cream
shop] —the ice cream was completely melted— and I suppose the
same will happen with the food of all the restaurants having a
freezer, which are the majority. So this whole area here, now being
after 11 o’clock at night… You’re not going to notice it, because this
is the only place —along with the other one— that has an [electric]
generator, but all behind me is without electricity too. I mean,
everything looks dark; all the people here are without electricity.
And they must be, I don’t know, at least 50,000 people. Because
[the power outage] is from bus stop 26 at Brava Beach.

So well, just ending this little report; I hope it’s worth to anyone.
[Uploaded to Twitter] Four hours have passed and power is
completely out —all within this place. There you can perceive the
power outage’s extent. This is a bus going to José Ignacio. The

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power is still out; it’s after 12 o’clock. I’m at the bus stop: total
darkness. No light at all.

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Hello everybody, welcome back to the channel! In this case, we’re
going to see a practically unprecedented event that took place in
La Barra at the end of January 2023. A power outage that lasted for
almost 10 hours and extended from around bus stop 26, here, to
José Ignacio, which will be more or less… here. These ca. 25
kilometers from here to this area were without electricity for
approximately 12 hours. First of all, I recommend you to watch
video 94A*, that displays the raw footage —in case you don’t want
to watch this explanation, I basically uploaded the raw footage
there, without color grading or any additional comments. Here I’m
going to make all the additional comments and explain exactly on
the map the route [I took]. It was a day when I had left the beach of
La Barra —more or less around here, this area I’m showing you.

First, I came across a couple of antique dealers —more or less

around here—: these people sold things from the second world
war and similar. I stayed talking to them until 7:30 p.m. or so, when
we realized that the power was out —during our talk there was still
some sunlight left. That’s when I started my way: the road through
the central street of La Barra, called Eduardo Victor Haedo
Avenue. This was basically the road —the one in blue. About the
track itself, I’m going to append some notes… First of all, this
material is practically unique —in fact, when I posted it on Twitter I
got a lot of likes and retweets—; it’s practically an unprecedented
thing that hasn’t happened in 40 or 50 years —thus its historical
value. After that, I found an open pizzeria, the only one. Because of
this power outage issue, there were only two places with
electricity,: the OH shopping mall and Tienda Inglesa —the OH
shopping mall over here, and Tienda Inglesa over here.

Nonetheless, I found a pizzeria in this area that was still open —I

don’t know how, but it was. That surprised me quite a bit: people
were still eating, even though it was early; this [power outage]
happened at about 7:30 p.m. or so and the hike starts at about 8
p.m. It was also interesting —I’ll draw it around here— that a moon
resembling the Turkish [flag] appeared: a moon along with planet*
Venus, noticiable at the beginning of the video. Then there’s a talk
with a policeman a little bit further on —about here. I recommend

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something in these cases that might be helpful: you know that I
generally… I don’t do direct interviews. I don’t know how to do
them either… apart, I would need a cameraman —I frankly
wouldn’t be able to; I do this kind of “short, hidden camera”

[interviews], where people tell me about what they think. And I

believe they’re more natural than interviews —any TV interview or
YouTube channel you watch, will always be staged; it’s always
very difficult for the interviewee to speak naturally, like in real life —
and that’s what usually happens to me when I go out here in
Buenos Aires for a walk, I start chatting with someone for half an
hour and they tell me a lot of things; it’s kind of natural for me. Let’s
say: I tell them things and so do they; the idea is to mirror that
[encounters]. Obviously, I can’t record everything —not even the
videos in this channel can reproduce complete talks of one hour,
only five minutes are [normally] presented. But those are the talks
in which I learn what people think about a certain situation, what a
certain profession is like or what a certain place is like. So that’s
very helpful: when it’s low light you can leave [the phone
recording]. That’s what happened to me by chance here: I left the
camera on, in order to use the flashlight and people didn’t realize I
was recording them; they only saw a cell phone used as a
flashlight and weren’t looking at my phone screen —besides, it
was absolutely dark.

That’s a tip to people who might find themselves in a similar

situation. Say: “I’m just using the phone with a flashlight, as there’s
little light” and you can film some journalistic event or other kind
that has some relevance. The video you’re going to watch now is
color corrected —the other was not, I left it as it was, it didn’t make
sense to show a power outage in a video with perfect lighting,
totally improved. So that results in two videos: 94A, which has the
raw footage and 94B —this one—, where the color is enhanced.
This video remained practically untouched though: I refrained from
stabilization, to make it look more natural, showing a person
walking —as it really happened to me— and suddenly
experiencing something unique, that occurs once in 50 years, and
knowing not what to do, finding all the restaurants closed, et
cetera. I only found something to eat at Tienda Inglesa, place I

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recommend, as they prepare some delicious empanadas. I ended
up sitting there, in the OH shopping mall, at night, eating
something —as all people were running around to the OH
shopping center

[for charging their phones]. Exactly here —where I draw a mark—

is the OH shopping center. It’s a neuralgic point of La Barra,
together with the other neuralgic point, more or less around here
—near Medialunas Calentitas. I have doctor’s handwriting almost.
Here’s a restaurant, where I was treated very well. If they watch
this: thank you! It may be more or less around here. It’s named
“Tatijuana” —in this case, they let me use the toilet.

Here —inside the OH shopping mall— there’s an ice cream parlor

named “Freddo”, very well known in Argentina, where a lot of
teenagers usually gather —years ago they gathered mostly in this
area here, next to the surfboards store “Surfo”, at a tiny bar, and
they would hang out there; now they’re basically gathering here, in
the OH shopping mall, and especially at the Freddo ice cream
shop. These shots are unique shots that practically nobody has: all
of La Barra was without power; you can see the peninsula of Punta
del Este; plus, [in] this video the color was improved using artificial
intelligence software. It’s also an innovation in the channel. Even
though Youtube says I have 10 views per video, I know I have
more. I also upload to other networks: this video will be on Odysee,
Rumble, the Internet Archive and soon, I will duplicate it on more
[websites] —YouTube is now a gang of scammers. The video ends
with a walk through here: here’s the stop of Codesa bus, the
famous Codesa bus —meaning Eastern Buses Company, Limited
Liability. I basically spent 4 hours there, apart from the time on the
beach.

It was one of the best days because of these unforeseen events,

that made me like this trip very much. When everything is planned,
like when you go to Europe and they put you on a bus and set a
schedule to you, starting 8 a.m. and mandating: “Go to the Louvre,”
and then “Go somewhere else, to the Opera House,” there’s
practically no place to improvise; trips like this are boring and feel
like high school trips. You won’t find this anywhere else: La Barra

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district is very little examined on Youtube —if the algorithm worked
properly it would recommend these videos. This concludes the
introduction. I hope you like the video: the color is improved. It’s
clearer, more aesthetic than the previous one, which consisted of
practically raw footage. Greetings to all of you! The power went out
in La Barra de Maldonado.

Unbelievable! It’s the heart of Punta del Este and we have no

electricity. “The heart of Punta del Este”, [I mean], the outskirts of
Punta del Este, but it’s the coolest area and basically there’s no
light: the power is out. It’s very strange, but… that’s the way it is. I
was talking to some antique dealers over there. There we have the
Moon that honors… —hope you can notice it— Turkey: the Moon
appears along with what I think is Venus.

So, to the Turkish people that follow me —I like you—: we have the
Moon and the star! And we’re still without electricity here —at
least, in La Barra de Maldonado. [Tweeted] This is more private,
but here [I am] without electricity, walking along the main street of
La Barra* —all the restaurants [owners] want to kill themselves, I
presume. This… well. There’s electricity only in the shopping mall;
power is out in all [the rest] of La Barra. - Can I ask you a question?

- Yeah. - Is the power out in all La Barra? - Yes, up to José Ignacio.

All of it. Punta del Este has electricity. This area [is where the
power is out]. - Oh, this area. Completely?

- Yea. - I was told the shopping center had light, but I don’t know.
And when did this start? - About an hour and a bit ago… - And is it
common for this to happen? - No, it’s not. - Oh, OK.

Well… I’m going to see what I can find. Of all the restaurants none
had food. -No, none of them. They’re all closed. - There was an
[open] pizzeria. Could it be? Because of the gas oven.

- Oh, maybe up ahead. - OK… - There’s a pizzeria over there on

the corner but is not operative. - Oh, how strange! - It’s never
happened to me, it’s not common, is it? -

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It’s not. - OK. Well, just to know. Thank you. - Hello. - Hello. - How’s
it going? - All OK? - Yeah.

- We are without electricity. - I wanted to know if I could use the

bathroom. - Yes, come on in, come here. You know where it is,
don’t you? - Yes, I do. - Come on in —there’s no light, though.

- I came with the cell phone anyway. - Go ahead. -OK. Here’s the
OH shopping center, the only one with electricity, as it apparently
has an [electric] generator. I had also seen another place that
apparently had an [electric] generator in the area where the curve
of [Juan Díaz de Solís] route begins. So I’m going to try to eat
something here, but I don’t think I’m going to make it. The only
place that has electricity is the OH shopping center. Oh!

And Tienda Inglesa behind it. - Why is that? - Hahahaha. There’s

the OH shopping center, which has some electricity. A little
panoramic image that I’m taking from here, from the shopping mall.
According to what I was told, from the bus stop 26 of Brava [beach]
up to and including José Ignacio —more or less 25 km along the
route— and obviously its side resorts, are without electricity —for 4
hours now. I detected the outage at about 7.30 p.m. And there you
can see that only… —this place is crossing La Barra— and only on
the peninsula that’s over there —that must be about 20 kilometers
away, I mean, less than 20 kilometers, 10— …there’s electricity.

But this whole area here —both on one side and the other— has
been without electricity for 4 hours and, according to what some
people here —from Maldonado— told me, it’s the biggest power
outage they remember and —for example— I just saw a freight
that they hired to throw the ice cream out of Freddo [an ice cream
shop] —the ice cream was completely melted— and I suppose the
same will happen with the food of all the restaurants having a
freezer, which are the majority. So this whole area here, now being
after 11 o’clock at night… You’re not going to notice it, because this
is the only place —along with the other one— that has an [electric]
generator, but all behind me is without electricity too. I mean,
everything looks dark; all the people here are without electricity.

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And they must be, I don’t know, at least 50,000 people. Because
[the power outage] is from bus stop 26 at Brava Beach.

So well, just ending this little report; I hope it’s worth to anyone.
[Uploaded to Twitter] Four hours have passed and power is
completely out —all within this place. There you can perceive the
power outage’s extent. This is a bus going to José Ignacio. The
power is still out; it’s after 12 o’clock. I’m at the bus stop: total
darkness. No light at all.

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Hello everybody, welcome back to the channel! In this video —
number 95—, what we’re going to see is the skate park of Punta
del Este, installed in the Winston Churchill square. This square is
located between Gorlero [Avenue], 31st Street, El Mesana —the
street that limits with bus stop 1 of La Brava— and the Punta del
Este [central] roundabout, which is right next to the bus terminal. It
was inaugurated on Thursday, February 17th, 2022, almost a year
and a half ago. It used to be a public parking lot, and in part
remains as such —having preserved the same number of parking
spaces, arranged in a different way. This project has several years
of planning. The initiative came from a group of neighbors and
friends in 2009, after the demolition of the skate park installed in the
Plaza Artigas, which was previously the other big [meeting] point
of Punta del Este.

It was a space considered part of the city’s identity. It occupies

approximately 1,900 square meters and has a parking lot that
continues with the functions of the previous one —the whole
square was itself a parking lot before. It’s located right in the most
central area of Punta del Este, where Gorlero Avenue begins —
more or less 6 or 7 blocks down the street, the lighthouse arises—
and marks the most central area in the peninsula of Punta del
Este. It’s a meeting point, where people of practically all ages
gather. Here you see this female skater who seemed to me
spectacular. She’s the best skater I’ve seen in all the days there.
This video comprises footage recorded on January 27th and
January 29th, 2023. This skater that you see was better than the
men.

It must be one of the few sports where you can notice a woman
superior to men. I watched a lot of skaters those days —I was
there several days and experienced a lot of this practice, as I
stayed in a nearby hotel. But I was amazed at the skill of this girl:
she looked like the Maradona or the Messi of skaters —both male
and female. The rink is next to the bus terminal, so if you exit using
the gate facing the peninsula, you’re going to find it right ahead. It’s
also a teenage gathering center —like the OH shopping center
area, in La Barra, for example, or the area near Medialunas

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Calentitas and the ANCAP, also in La Barra. So, starting at 12
o’clock at night, it could be said that “things” happen here: it’s
placed near the bus stops 1 and 2 of the Brava Beach that has
quite a few “hidden” places. Therefore, if you go with your girlfriend
or boyfriend you can make good use of this area and find [a place]
or meet new people —if you’re going alone. I’m going to leave this
running to the end now.

I don’t have time to do a full voiceover, as I would like to. I’ll display
a very interesting conversation with a gentleman who caught my
attention: he was the owner of one of the fields around —there are
many fields around the Maldonado area— that was suffering a little
bit from the drought. And I was remembering some things about a
country that is in conflict today and was lacking water —or didn’t
have a running water service. Thus, they had to drill wells deeper
and deeper. The gentleman was having a conversation with his
wife at that moment and I entered the conversation and started to
ask him questions inquiring about the following issue: the drought
suffered in Uruguay up to half of this year —2023—, when the El
Niño season started —as we are now. Before, we were
experiencing La Niña, a dry season, and now, El Niño, a wet
season —in general a prosperous one for the Southern Cone
countries. And thus I started talking to this gentleman: I
recommend that conversation —at the end of the video.

It’s quite didactic about the the issues with the lack of water and its
consequences on cattle raising, among other things. There’s also a
complementary shot from that exact corner of this skatepark. Also
in this small square —in one part— there’s a monument dedicated
to Winston Churchill —another sign of the English influence in the
area. So, I send my regards; may you enjoy these images —
there’s another version I can upload with enhanced colour, I
preferred to share this one in order to preserve the original tone of
the night and avoid looking too artificial; but if someone asks me I
can upload the other one. I send you greetings. Enjoy the video
until the end —I forgot to mention a place [appearing at the end]
called El Quijote, which sells all kind of stuff and I super
recommend! Greetings!

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See you in the next video! - I have problems with the water the
animals drink. - Oh! - But I have the wells: the problem is that they
break the water troughs, they’re desperate! The wells deliver less
water; you have to be constantly checking. They drink much more
water than we you do. - Of course. -

The animals spend [all day] in the shade and [drinking] water.
They aren’t interested in eating. They only go out to eat when the
sun goes down, in the afternoon. - Sure. (…) we [also] eat less. -
It’s amazing, you see their condition and say: “Wow, there’s food
and they’re in a perfect condition.” - Excuse me, sorry to barge in. -
No problem.

- Can’t they drill the wells into deeper water reservoirs? - Uhm…
Yeah, in normal conditions… I can tell you what happens to me in
my wells… - Supposedly there are several levels. - There are. I
didn’t know. What it happens to me is that there are some that hold
less water. Indeed, I estimate there’s a greater possibility.

In normal conditions they were all impeccable. But the other day,
the water well driller said to me: “I went to one [well]; sometimes
you have to stretch it out a little bit, we’ll make it 4 or 5 meters
deeper and the underground water will flow.” - Yeah, I don’t know
where, in which place I asked, when I was passing by and…
indeed: depth is the key, the issue is how far down you have to go;
but you’re always going to find water. - Uh? Basically, you’re
always going to find [water]. - Well, there are tricky places.

There are places more complicated than others: in the past, they
were 30 meters deep and held water and now they tell me:
“Sometimes you have to drill 4 or 5 meters deeper.” - Well… - But
there are places where drilling 70, 80 or 90 meters they don’t find
water in normal conditions. But, indeed, I understand what you say:
if you go 100 meters deep —maybe 150 somewhere— you’ll find
[water]. - There’ll be water somewhere: there’s always water
underground. Up to a certain level, right? - I think so.

- I mean, it’s 6,000 kilometers to the center of the Earth. - [Laughs] -

Hahaha. - And they are (…) - I actually stay calm because of the

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wells. - But a lot of cattle died, or not?

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Hello everybody, welcome back to the channel! In this video —
number 96 of this trip to Punta del Este in 2023— we’re going to
see this tour through the beach at bus stop 30 of Brava beach, that
extends all over this area here. Here’s Brava beach and here’s
Mansa beach [N. B. Stormy and Calm beaches respectively]. I
decided to go for a walk on this beach: more specifically, American
Express Beach Club. It’s a beach that whenever I passed by, when
going to the beaches of La Barra —the most visited by me—, I
always saw a lot of cars. This was filmed practically at the end of
the month —January* 26th or 27th—; and finally I decided to
explore the place, to know what this beach location was like.

What I basically found at this site is an infrastructure… —I don’t

know if wholly visible here— much sophisticated than those of the
beaches here, that you can notice look more natural, reflecting the
slogan “Uruguay Natural,” that the country branding utilizes. In the
images of the video it’s not so bad. [Along] the route you can
appreciate the beach club’s facilities, which are quite impressive.
You can observe those places here —kind of mini changing rooms
— like the ones at classical* seaside resorts —for example, the
Lido, in Venice, at a certain epoch. And like those still in Mar del
Plata, let’s say. There used to be similar facilities in downtown
Punta del Este, about 30 or 40 years ago. I’ve been doing some
research on this topic: [those big structures] were removed with
the adoption of the concept of keeping everything as unaffected as
possible [natural].

It’s a beach frequented by quite young people —old too. It seemed

to embrace a lot of children like this beach here, at the mouth of
the [Maldonado] stream. I hope you enjoy the video: I spent quite
some time editing it. I send greetings to all of you —I think this is
going to to be the only voiceover. [In situ comments from now on]
This is the 30th bus stop, that always [has] a lot of cars. It’s the
beach club… I mean… the most visited beach I saw —at least in
the last few days.

During the first [days] I saw a lot of people in Manantiales —mostly

at Bikini [beach],in Manantiales. We are at bus stop 30 and it’s a

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pretty cloudy day. That’s why I took the opportunity to come here
for a while: because I don’t think I’ll be able to sunbathe today. And
I’m going to explore this spot that’s so crowded all the time: what
may this place have? As you can see, there are a lot of cars. I had
come here the first time in 2014, or 2015*: It was a fairly populated
beach club, but not as good as the others. Nothing to do with
Montoya, [which] was empty [the days] before.

Until yesterday, the beach of La Barra was partially empty. . I don’t

know why there are so many people here, but I’m going to see
what’s inside. An incredible vacant land there! . I continue now the
entrance to the beach club located at the 30th bus stop, after
having been treated badly in the restaurants —as always. This
would be… the entrance to the beach, which has more facilities
than the other ones [at La Barra and Manantiales]: a kind of
shower, an ice cream parlor, and there are some kind of exclusive
cabins, which I don’t know, they may cost… like 100 dollars, I was
told. These ones are cheaper. And exclusive for American Express
[members]. Those are the huts (huts, cabins, depending on the
country).

The beaches don’t seem to have as many waves as Montoya and

the rest. This is the cabins —or huts— area. This beach —in
general— is quite superior to Montoya, but —as always— they
treat people badly, it’s the modus operandi here (treating people
badly) —at least the first time. [N.B. if you overcome that sort of
trolling, you’ll have “passed” the test] ummm… A hot-dog stand
right there —or something similar. A volleyball court, like in
Montoya and the beach, where now I’m going to step on. We have
the stand here, where they sell hot-dogs. There —in the
background— you can distinguish the peninsula.

It looks quite like Montoya actually. [N.B. Coming ahead is a chat

asking if the kids would bother me if I laid down at the back part of
the beach] —If I lay down there, the kids in the afternoon (like at 6
p.m.) will start to play soccer, paddle or rugby. [Right?] - No, what
happens here is that there are girls playing volleyball. You’re going
to have fun, as you can look at the girls playing volleyball, kind of

286
carefree. The girls, 6 on each side; it’s all girls jumping. Very
interesting. - (…) -

Anything you want, we’re at your service, okay? - OK, perfect. [N.B.
they were clearly speaking to me in an ironic tone; at no time did
girls playing volleyball show up, as in Montoya or Bikini; in these
cases it’s convenient to play naïve, get information, and then check
if true or not; in any case, he who looks foolish will gather more
details than someone who appears smart; I recommend that
attitude. Greetings!]

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Hello everyone, welcome back to the channel! In this video —the
98th of this trip to Punta del Este in 2023— we’ll see a tour from the
beach located at bus stop 30 to La Gorgorita viewpoint, located
here, at the mouth of the Maldonado stream. It’s a route —as you
can see, approximately 1.5 km long— hiked on January 26, 2023,
and that offers impressive panoramic views —as it was made at
sunset— and portrays these beaches of the last bus stops in Punta
del Este before arriving here, precisely at the mouth of the
Maldonado stream and the town of La Barra. I hope you enjoy it a
lot: it was recorded with a GoPro Hero 4 Black at 60 frames per
second and fully stabilized. The last part was recorded with an
iPhone and has even better quality. I send greetings to all of you
and hope you enjoy this footage very much! There you can see the
kind of cabins, huts or gazebos that this beach club has —the
American Express Beach Club.

It was one of the few beach clubs that had them. In fact, as of La
Barra, no other beach club had this sort of facility. And I wanted to
say that this took place after sunset, so all you’re going to see now
—apart from watching me tying my shoelaces— is footage
recorded when the sun was below the horizon. So all those
incredible perspectives you’re going to watch have to do with that,
with the famous “golden hour”. Well, this is the end of this beach —
the one at bus stop 30th— and that’s the beach that should be the
one near La Barra: La Gorgorita. And there you can see the Punta
del Este peninsula. It’s already dusk: the sun set below the
horizon. Well, we are getting…

the Virgin’s inside [that shelter]. And we are now arriving at La

Barra. The other part is in the GoPro [camera]. Now I’m arriving —
past the Virgin shelter— to the viewpoint of La Barra. And… well,
the golden hour is over. And… I’m approaching a viewpoint. And…
we’ll be able to see something with the remaining light.

With the remaining light, you can look at La Barra: it’s the exact
viewpoint to examine La Barra de Maldonado, that is, the entrance
of the sea into the Maldonado stream, extending* some 50
kilometers inland and flowing, here, into the sea. In the last 150/200

289
meters there’s no beach at all —only rocks— and here’s this
viewpoint, [to] which I never came, not even before, when I was a
kid. It’s the viewpoint… to the whole La Barra area. It’s impressive
how many cars there are, considering the condition (?) of the
beach.

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Hello everyone, welcome back to the channel! What you have just
seen in this video —number 99— of my 2023 Punta del Este trip
are absolutely incredible shots, with absolutely no retouching, from
bus stop number 32 —between 32 and 33. A corner called La
Gorgorita —the viewpoint called La Gorgorita—, at the end of
Punta del Este’s Brava beach and where the Barra de Maldonado
exactly begins. It’s a rocky promontory, where the end-of-season
fireworks are usually celebrated. There we can see these views,
that look as they were made by a computer program; but they
weren’t, they are absolutely real, and here you can enjoy them. I
didn’t want to ruin this footage too much with my voice. Now you’re
going to see some people fishing.

You can see the whole walking tour between this place and the
viewpoint of La Barra in the previous video —number 98. I send
greetings to all of you —there you have the fishing people that can
be seen during the tour— and I hope you enjoy this one, visually
one of the best videos of the channel.

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Hello everyone, welcome back to the channel! In this video —the
100th in our collection of videos on the 2023 trip to Punta del Este—
we have this panorama of the beautiful village named La Barra de
Maldonado, whose official foundation dates back to the year 1914*,
when some Argentine and Uruguayan families began to reside
permanently in the resort. The resort itself borders with El Tesoro,
which is the northern part —in this case, on the left side of the
screen. This resort has always been a rather luxurious one. The
first families were —obviously— aristocratic and wanted to get
away from the luxury of Punta del Este and the conglomeration of
people that was already there. The official birth of La Barra de
Maldonado is set on February 8, 1914. Its origin is related to the city
of San Carlos; in fact, it’s considered today part of the the
boundary between the Municipality of Punta del Este and the
Municipality of San Carlos, [both] in the Departmental Municipality
of Maldonado. There we see the sunset.

There’s a specific video about the sunset itself, and another one
from bus stop 30 to this place, which could be either bus stop 34 or
32, depending on the webpage, because it’s not clearly specified.
There we see the sun, which had already set about 30 minutes
before and you can appreciate this boundary zone between twilight
—in one part— and night —in the other. This was enhanced with
artificial intelligence (it actually looked quite a bit darker). This
beach here is called “La Gorgorita.” “Gorgorita” is supposed to be
a kind of bubble. It has two meanings: one refers to a bubble and
the other to the sound that birds make. In Spanish, it can be said
that a bird “gorgorites,” so any of both meanings could be the
correct one. I was reading that there are many birds in the area, so
the name may be related to birds.

It’s basically a fishing space both from one side and the other.
What we are looking at belongs to San Carlos, as viewed from the
part that composes the municipality of Punta del Este. There is a
monument dedicated to the tail of a whale; normally, during non-
summer seasons, whales can be seen breeding in the area. There
—as you can see— are the classic fishermen. It’s a very rocky
area, like I said in another videos. It was an area —at the time—

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only reachable by boat; it was very difficult to build [enduring]
bridges over the Maldonado stream. In fact, some bridges were
constructed before the current one —i.e., the Leonel Viera— and
were destroyed. The Leonel Viera [bridge] dates back to 1965.

There we see some very strange lights, that looked like they were
calling Batman —I don’t know what that was. What I wanted to say
—which is important— [is] that now the monument changed its
name —because of the 500th anniversary of the first voyage
around the world— and is called Magallanes-El Cano. Let’s
remember that Magallanes passed close to this area on his
journey to circumnavigate the world, which was completed by Juan
Sebastián Elcano —or Juan Sebastián de Elcano. Greetings! I
hope I have given you a good summary of La Barra de Maldonado,
which officially has less than 1,000 inhabitants.

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Hello everyone, welcome to video number 101 of the January 2023
Punta del Este trip!In this case, the first of 4 videos about the city of
Maldonado,depicting a walking tour into an internal route,until
arriving at the San Fernando de Maldonado Square. The tour
starts here at the bus stop; you will be able to explore the internal
streets. At the same time, in the video I’m going to teach about
Maldonado’s history. You’ll be able to behold the Dragons’
Barracks here on the side,of which I’ll also try to make some
comments. And in other videos, you’ll enjoy both the Cathedral of
San Fernando de Maldonadoand the former Maldonado City Hall
—now an arts center—, which we find here. On the way back,
you’ll transit the route from here —where I’m zooming in now;these
two and a bit blocks —two and a half actually— to the bus stop
located here,to return to Punta del Este. I hope you enjoy these
videos about the beautiful city of Maldonado.

And here we start walking from the bus stop of the CODESA
company through the streets of Maldonado, the fourth largest city
in Uruguay in terms of population —after Montevideo, Salto and
Paisandú—, according to the 2011 census (the 2023 census has
not yet been completed). It has a population of about 80,000
inhabitants. This doesn’t count the 13,000 inhabitants that at the
time of the 2011 census lived in Punta del Este (now there must be
much more because there has been an enormous Argentine
emigration). Here we approach Viana Avenue. Viana was the
founder of the city, officially established between 1755 and 1757. It
should also be noted that Maldonado is the capital of a
department: the “Intendencia Departamental de Maldonado,”
which has about 180,000 inhabitants according to the 2011 census.
There are several municipalities within the Department. The most
important ones are: San Carlos, having the greatest historic value
—the oldest city in this department— and then —obviously— the
municipality of Punta del Este, and Piriápolis.

The official name of the city is San Fernando de Maldonado and its
origin is due to the lieutenant sheriff Francisco Maldonado, who
remained in the bay of Maldonado in 1530, when the seafarer
named Sebastian Caboto left for Europe after arriving here. The

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one we are going to see is the Channel 7 TV tower, serving
Maldonado and Punta del Este, one of the most important
broadcast stations in the area. And here we continue crossing this
Viana Avenue. The city has a neoclassical cathedral —to be
shown in a future video—, whose construction began in 1801, but
due to different political issues in Uruguay —that endured many
wars in those years— only got completed in 1895. I’m going to step
out of the historical data: I’m going to say that any city in the
province of Buenos Aires —for example— looks like this. And that
the contrast is very striking: because it’s close —as you saw in the
initial map— to Punta del Este and yet looks like another planet.
You can watch the cars, the number of motorcycles (not common
in Punta del Este, neither in La Barra area). So, it’s like a town in
the Pampa plains, bordering a city like Punta del Este —which
looks like Miami, frankly.

Therefore, this contrast is breath-taking; and I recommend

travelers to Punta del Este visiting this city too and —if they can—
even the city of San Carlos, which even has an earlier history —
having been founded approximately 10 years before. In the
previous trip, half of my days were spent in Maldonado. Not this
time: I was physically very tired and there were very good beach
days. Overall, it was a very good season because of the issues I
mentioned in other videos about the drought and the amount of
sunshine there was. I went to this place to buy special packaging
for the suitcases, essential when traveling. I’d like to advise
potential travelers to use Buquebus instead of going by plane.
There’s no such things as excess baggage and the number of
packages you carry; when taking a plane you’ll have to pay
overweight. In this case it wasn’t convenient —as there was a
huge exchange difference—

but if someone watches this video in 5 or 10 years, Punta del Este

and Maldonado are cities where you can buy practically
everything. There were items in that kind of stationery shop
[Polygom] not available anywhere in Buenos Aires. And packaging
is very important when traveling: in this case, I came back with two
suitcases —the same amount I left with— but on the previous trip I
came back with four. In this town you’re going to find everything

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related to luggage, also very well priced. People going to Punta del
Este for long periods of time often end up buying at supermarkets
here: a city practically the size of Buenos Aires’ federal district, i.e.
the autonomous city of Buenos Aires, not including the suburbs. I
stopped by to ask about prices at this hotel —sort of a refurbished
tenement— and it cost almost 50 dollars per day —to give you an
idea of the [high] prices, even here in Maldonado, about 5
kilometers from downtown Punta del Este. The one we see there is
a kind of Maldonado court of justice. If I’m not mistaken, it wasn’t
there the previous trip; that is, it’s a new building.

Let’s continue with the historical record: the city was the scene of
the battle of Maldonado in 1816. I remind you this city was part —
since 1776— of the River Plate viceroyalty —created in that year—
until 1810, when the May Revolution started —all of Uruguay
[actually], including the Jesuit missions to the north. They
depended on the Buenos Aires administration, one of the 8
intendancies of the River Plate viceroyalty. This city was the scene
of a battle in which Manuel Oribe and Antonio Lavalleja fought
against the Portuguese, who always invade —for pleasure— the
Eastern part of the Uruguay river. The city, in turn, was the seat of
Uruguay’s first constituent congress in 1836, who drafted the
country’s first constitution. And, as a colorful note, it was part of the
department of Rocha —it wasn`t an independent department, and
was part of Rocha until 1884. As I said before, the city has an area
equivalent to the city of Buenos Aires: 192 km2 versus 200 km2 of
the city of Buenos Aires -not including the surroundings areas [of
Buenos Aires].

But, as you see, it’s a much flatter city, without buildings. It’s a
horizontal city* and not a vertical one; Buenos Aires has 3 million
people in the same area. The entire Maldonado department —
including the municipalities of Aiguá, Garzón*, Maldonado, Pan de
Azúcar, Piriápolis, Punta del Este, San Carlos and Solís Grande—
has almost 5,000 km2. So, all in all, the department —of which this
is the capital— is much larger than these 200 km2, which are
indeed a lot —as I told you, the same area of the autonomous city
of Buenos Aires. Here we’re approaching the historic center of the
city, where you will see the Dragons barracks, one of the most

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important buildings in the city, together with the cathedral of
Maldonado. The barracks were built by order of the governor of
Buenos Aires —in charge of this area— called Juan José de
Vértiz, between 1771 and 1797. It’s important to say that it housed
the corps of Blandengues of the Banda Oriental [N.B. Uruguay
before Portuguese invasions], where the national hero of Uruguay
—José Gervasio Artigas— took military status (i.e., graduated from
the military and did his residency) in 1797.

The barracks currently function as a didactic museum dedicated to

Artigas. Barracks that I recommend visiting, very well rendered.
Also a very quick visit: it takes 20 minutes —just one block— and it
showcases the history of the League of Free Peoples, which
included northern Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Corrientes, Misiones
and Córdoba, an alternative to the other “Argentina”: the Argentina
of the Congress of Tucumán —some also called it “Eastern
Argentina” for that reason. Now we’re going to see a
commemorative plaque, which is going to repeat what I said
before: “Municipality of Maldonado — 260th anniversary of its
foundation process.” Here we continue: on the right we visualize a
sculpture and painting center, and further in the background we
encounter the police station, both painted pink. And we notice on
the left a theater: the Fernandino Theater —named after San
Fernando de Maldonado. It’s important to say that this city suffered
both English invasions: the first from October 29, 1806 to February
7, 1807, and the second British invasion since June 16, 1807. until
September 4 of the same year.

In total, this area was invaded by the British for 5 and a half
months. There we have another shot of the Maldonado police
headquarters. On the left we anticipate the cathedral —to be
portrayed specifically in another video—, as well as the square,
also be shown in another presentation. We’re exaclty looking at the
cathedral. Here you can see me with my gear returning at night, to
make all the packaging for the return trip. This was filmed on
January 27th. Since it had been a cloudy day, I ventured to this city
—unfortunately only once on the whole trip. On my last one, I had
visited her many days.

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Well, just to give you an idea…. This was also enhanced with
artificial intelligence —with the program I recommend below. You
may notice that the streets are square in shape —of an almost
perfect square, unlike Punta del Este—, and similar to the classic
checkerboard disposition of all Hispanic cities —like Buenos Aires
and Montevideo, for example— and overall most cities in Latin
America. It’s very common too this type of alleys —with narrow
streets, with space for cars. All this is very common, at least in the
River Plate region of the Southern Cone [in South America]. As
you can observe, this looks like any other city or town in Buenos
Aires

[Province]. I watch it and picture myself any city or town; I don’t

want to name any of them so that nobody feels offended or alike —
I mean offended by not mentioning those cities. We are going to
get a little closer into an area where plastics are also sold, with
hardware stores, with “barracks”, as they call them [builder’s
yards]. We’re going to approach “Tata,”” a supermarket like the one
that used to be here in Buenos Aires —I think it was called Casa
Tía. A lot of people go shopping at that supermarket. We are about
3 or 4 blocks from the central square, where there’s also a
McDonald’s and places to eat cheaper. If you are in Punta del
Este, it’s a 5-minute drive away —the city is adjacent to the other.
This is the exact block…

I’m about to take the “ómnibus”… —as they call it, or “colectivo”, as
we call it. They also call it “bondi” and we also call it that way [it’s
slang]. Here I was about to take that bus, that was going to get me
back —in practically 10 minutes— to the beautiful city of Punta del
Este. So, well, hopefully…. Now we will also pass through a
beautiful wooded area. The most beautiful thing is these narrow
streets; in Buenos Aires they practically destroyed them —they
made some very strange pedestrian streets.

Just to show you what this city is like, that looks like another world.
Maldonado is the prototype of Hispanic city or village, in front of
Punta del Este, which is an “international city,” OK? It’s a city with a
different type of construction, much more modern and not so
Hispanic.

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Hello everyone, welcome back to the channel! In this case, we’ll
watch video number 102, showing a walking tour around the main
square of Maldonado, called exactly San Fernando de Maldonado.
There is a later video —the 103rd— that will deal with the cathedral
and —on the other hand— number 104, which is going to display
the mayor’s office, now called Paseo San Fernando. This square
was founded by Governor José Joaquín de Viana, who gave it the
name of San Fernando in honor to King Ferdinand VI of Spain.
Remember also that Saint Ferdinand —Ferdinand III of Castile—
was canonized by the Catholic Church and it is to whom is
dedicated this cathedral that we’re going to see in a future video.
The square has an area of 8000 m2 and a rectangular shape, with
four streets that delimit it, namely: Sarandí, 25 de mayo, 18 de julio
and Florida. It also has a monument dedicated to the hero José
Gervasio Artigas, which we’ll see at the end. As you can notice, it
has a landscaped design and wooded, with benches and rest
areas.

In turn, it hosts many cultural events. It has an area with children’s

playground and is surrounded by cafes and restaurants, apart from
being —as I said before— a space used for concerts and cultural
activities. The inauguration date is considered to be 1755, basically
when the foundation of San Fernando de Maldonado took place,
with the purpose of avoiding Portuguese intervention in the area.
This particular zone depended on the governorship of Buenos
Aires at that time and Montevideo was a separate governorate. For
that reason, this park and this town were created. A short distance
from the square is the Mazzoni Museum, which houses a collection
of art and historical objects. It is near the School of Art of
Maldonado, which has produced outstanding artists and
contributed to the cultural environment of the city —quite rich, as
you will see.

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Some of the places that surround the square (other than the ones I
mentioned before, i.e., the Cathedral and the Police Station): the
Paseo de San Fernando, which is a cultural space, the
McDonald’s, at the corner of 25 de Mayo and Sarandí, and the
Argentine Consulate —useful for Argentines who have to do some
paperwork in the area. On the left side of the screen starts the
Sarandí pedestrian [street], which lasts 3 blocks and where there
are offers of all kinds: gastronomic and commercial. Here we have
the monument dedicated to Artigas, who —as mentioned in the
previous video— was formed in this city, more specifically in the
Dragones barracks, to later actively participate in the
independence of the Banda Oriental from the Spanish Crown. It
underwent many reforms, but it is still the main meeting place of
Maldonado. There you have the church; it’s all painted in pink —
unbelievably— like the Casa Rosada here in Buenos Aires; I don’t
know whether it’s related to that or not. I highly recommend visiting
this beautiful square and this beautiful city.

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I can’t believe I’m here at the center of Maldonado, at the church of
San Fernando de Maldonado! Look at this! What an incredible
experience! I remember traveling with my family when I was a kid
to Punta Este and coming here. This place, this city or town —now
it’s more of a city than a town—, was founded between 1755 and
1757. This is the central square and this is the cathedral of San
Fernando de Maldonado. Look at that!

I don’t know if it’s going to be open —if it is, I’ll get myself inside.
This is Maldonado! I mean, those idiots were on the beach! [N.B.:
It had been a cloudy day and I had noticed a lot of families on
Punta del Este beaches]. These are the places that (…) Please,
look at this place! [N.B.:

Lacking an introduction, this is video number 103 of the collection

of the Punta del Este 2023 trip, recorded on January 27th of that
year]. Well I’m coming out of this beautiful, beautiful cathedral of
San Fernando. I’m still a little bit excited to be here —it’s a very
strong felling! Greetings and see you in the next video!

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This is the place, where the old municipality used to be, in
Maldonado. And there are violin lessons there. It’s like a cultural
center. Hello everybody! I’m coming in with a voice-over to tell you
about the San Fernando cultural center in Maldonado, part of video
number 104 of the 2023 Punta del Este trip collection. This building
was constructed in 1909 as a military barracks to house the infantry
of the Eastern Army [Ejército Oriental] and was later used as a
penitentiary. In 1985 the building was restored and rehabilitated,
becoming a space for culture and education. For 12 years before, it
had functioned as a clandestine detention center during the
Uruguayan dictatorship.

It was declared memorial site of Maldonado by the Departmental

Municipality on June 27, 2014. This place is home to the Municipal
Conservatory of Music, the Municipal School of Dance, the
University for the Elderly and the Puppet Museum (unique in the
country). The municipality of Maldonado, which is now located
elsewhere, was also here before. This center is located on 25 de
Mayo Street between Sarandí and 18 de Julio, in front of San
Fernando Square. It was built on the site of one of the first houses
in Maldonado, owned by the Veyra-Galup couple, which hosted the
politician José Lucas Obes in 1826. The Paseo de San Fernando
houses temporary and permanent exhibitions of painting,
sculpture, photography and other artistic expressions. In addition,
the Paseo de San Fernando is part of the Historic Circuit of
Maldonado, that includes other sites of interest such as the
Cathedral of San Fernando —seen in another video—, the
Watchtower, the Dragons Barracks —also partially seen in another
video— and the Ramirez School. Now, you’re going to see some
kids learning to play violin and then, a short conversation with the
doorman of the place.

I hope you enjoy this video and I send you my best regards —as
always. The Paseo de San Fernando, in Maldonado, Uruguay. —
Excuse me? —They sign up in March when registration opens. —
Oh… Is it a school or what? —Of course. —Like a primary or
secondary school…

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—Indeed, the only difference is they teach music. Only that.
Musical instruments only. —So it would be like a… I don’t know…
a cultural center… —Yes, that, of course. —And, what was this
place before? —It used to house 4th Engineering Battalion.

—So that’s the museum… —Please realize that even with the
crisis you [the Argentines] have, we exploded of yachts and it was
a spectacular season –imagine if we were at economic parity. —
But all the argentine money is coming here. —Can you imagine if it
were more or less cheap for you? —But [this crisis] is convenient
for you, as many Argentines —including the owner of Mercadolibre
— are coming here, and they’re generally well-to-do Argentines:
upper middle class and above.

And they are Argentine investments, they said that… the other day
I heard on the news, that in Colonia they were going to build a
second city… I don’t know… like a second residential
development, as in Montevideo and in Punta del Este. And that
they were all Argentine investments, since Argentines cannot
invest in Argentina —we cannot— … First, because they kill you
with taxes, then there’s insecurity, you don’t know if the
Government is going to confiscate the money. They are chasing
each other… Now they are charging a tax to those who sell used
things. If I sold this used jacket and they’d charge me a tax.

Can you understand that? Even if I sold this jacket for 15 dollars on
Mercado Libre —if I don’t like anymore—, then they withhold…. I
don’t know… 2% or 3% of the sale. They are crazy! Used stuff…
They no longer know where to get money from. That is, they
impose taxes on me: for every consumption here I pay 5 different
taxes.

The official dollar plus 5 other taxes that were invented —I don’t
know what else they are going to invent. The Qatar dollar! They
invented a dollar for a world cup: is a country that looks like a joke.
It’s a country that looks like… You may see it as a comedy. But it’s
convenient for you —many Argentines are coming. As long as they
aren’t too many…

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Hello everyone, welcome back to the channel! In this video —
number 105 of our trip to Punta del Este— we’re going to see is a
place situated here, on the peninsula, called Pueblo Narakán,
located at 676 Juan Díaz de Solís Street, on the peninsula of Punta
del Este. Here I’m arriving at the place: it’s more or less 10 blocks
away from the skate park and the Punta del Este bus terminal, was
inaugurated in August 2022 and Frenkel played. —Are you from
here? —Huh? —Are you from here? —Yes.

—Is there a concert today? —Yes, Diego Frenkel’s. —When does it

begin? —He is now playing. —There? —Right there, what you now
hear. —Do I have to consume something?

—Only an artistic cover, worth UYU 330 [9 USD]. You can look
inside, without obligation. —Thank you. Here I’m entering the
brewery and gourmet pizzeria called Bier, which is part of this
complex. Diego Frenkel was playing, former member of La
Portuaria music band. Part of this recital will be shown in an
upcoming video: more or less 10-15 minutes were recorded in high
quality HDR. Here we already have a view of the port, which is
literally a block away.

We are in the peninsula … in the … at the tip of the Punta del Este
peninsula —save the redundancy. And here we observe this
cultural space, very similar to the Paseo La Plaza in Buenos Aires
—obviously much smaller, but similar in concept. And there we can
also see the cellar: a special gourmet wine cellar, where wines and
tapas were served. It was very well set, very well illuminated. In
general, the service is also excellent: I was very surprised. I went
two or three times to this place. There you have a screen where —
honoring my nickname— they were playing images from the
Dracula movie.

There will appear an image of… well, when the ship carrying the
count crashes —unmanned— into the coast of Whitby, Yorkshire
—I’m going to try to pronounce it right, so no one gets angry.
There’s Dracula to try to scare me a little, —it’s a love-hate
relationship with the place. A newspaper clipping will appear,

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meaning the cargo [of the ship] was carrying a frightening thing —
that’s what it means [explaining for Spanish-speakers]. After a
storm, the ship crashed that brought Count Dracula, who later
attacked Lucy for the first time at Whitby Cemetery. There I’m
going down a little bit around the place. This is the brewery: it’s a
craft brewery. The environment is beautiful.

And the musicians who play are first-class. The Argentine DJ

Bobby Flores had been there, to play discs at the underground
cellar. I think there are some photos of that in the slideshow. Each
of these videos has a corresponding slideshow —for newcomers
here. And here’s the atelier, where you can find elements of art,
design, antiques and framing. And there we have an overview.
Also on the other side —in front of the brewery— there’s a small
tee house, serving artisan coffee. And here we are seeing a little
bit of the tables…

I think we are about to go up; we are going to the second floor. I

estimate that before —even though I was told it was closed— this
was an old house with a swimming pool in the back or some kind
of hostel —I don’t know. I know it was inaugurated —I checked that
on the internet— more than a year ago. It appears to have been
some sort of house with a backdrop. There I’m crossing this
corridor —dangerous and translucent. And well, there you have…
is actually quite a big place, quite large and quite cozy as well. Now
I am going to be scolded for getting up here… —They told I could:
the waiter told me so.

How are you doing [to the waiter]? The waiter told me I could…
Okay, [I get down]. —If you want to get to know the place, go
ahead, don’t worry. Just in case you were [sitting down to eat]….
—I don’t know, he told me… It’s all right. I continue here through
this dangerous bridge they have built —I see this is going to
become a short. But well: it’s a beautiful place.

I will now name some of the musicians who played. Here you have
a panoramic view. —Oh, how are you doing? Today I came for a
walk —I’m about to leave and was packing my bags. This is safe,

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isn’t it? -It is. —And I wanted to come yesterday, but was really
tired. Was the recital cancelled?

—Yes, today it was very quiet. —And when did this Salinas guy,
who had been recommended to me, play? He did during the
weekend: Friday and Saturday. —Do you know what happens?
There are days when I sleep badly, days when I wake up late, days
when I go somewhere else. It resembles a bit the Paseo La Plaza
in Buenos Aires; I don’t know if you have heard of it. —No, I didn’t.
—It’s a venue with a passageway inside, with theaters, bars, old
books stores —I mean, collectible books.

Was this someone’s house? —I don’t know. —But here.. —It’s

been closed here for a long time. —The place is fine; unlike over
there, where there’s a house. Yesterday I came up here. They
were putting…

This is as far as I got the other day. The other day I visited. The
place is really nice. What a thing! —Yes, look at the view! —If I had
come on January 1st, would I have found it full? —Yes, indeed. —
Was all this filled with people?

—We welcomed the year up here with people. —And how much
would have it cost? I mean, the entrance fee. More than 3000 UYU
[80 USD] for sure… —The dinner. And this… this is a fancy area.
—Yes, it’s quiet there, it’s good. —You can’t imagine how many
people I found; I came with a cab; we took Gorlero

[Avenue]. It was really crowded, there was a lot of people. —There

are always many people on Gorlero. —I asked everybody, I think
there’s more or less consensus on this: it was one of the best
seasons in several years. There we have the names of the bands
that played: As you can see, there is a lot of jazz, a lot of
independent groups, a lot of soloists; Bobby Flores was in the
cellar —as I said. And apparently, there’s a place with the same
name —I don’t know if related or not— in Cabo Polonio, which is to
the north, in the department of Rocha. And I wanted to clarify —as
I did in the slideshow videos— that Narakán is a plural declension.

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I don’t remember if it’s an accusative of the word “hell” in Sanskrit.
In other words, it would be: hells, to hells… any verbal complement
—direct or indirect— but always referring to hell in the plural.
“Naraka” is the noun in singular for hell.

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Hello everybody, welcome back to the channel! In this video —
number 107 of our collection of trip to Punta del Este in 2023— we’ll
visit this nightclub called Soho, located in the port of Punta del
Este, along with some other places I’m going to show. In total,
there are 5 nightclubs. First of all, Moby Dick —to the right of what
we’re seeing. Then Soho, the one we’re going to watch in this
video. We also have this one: Patio Puerto. Borgia too, which
seems to be the coolest of all.

—with the VIP lounge on top. And then, to the left-most area —not
visible, next block— (here we have a perspective of what the zone
looks like), we have Manantiales Point. All kinds of people go here
—as you can note—, but it’s not the super cool people: there are
people from Uruguay, people from Maldonado (from Uruguay [I
meant] other places than Maldonado). These shots were taken at
the end of the month, but, for example, I also had to go to Moby
Dick one day —which has a branch here in Buenos Aires— and, I
don’t know, there were swingers of… I don’t know… over 40. So,
this place is very diverse. And then there’s the OVO nightclub, that
I mentioned in other videos —there’s a special video in the
previous trip.

All kind of people go here. It’s not like before, when you had the
nightclubs of La Barra, which were more exclusive. Here you find
everything. The ideal thing is to get some contacts for private
parties: here come all [kind of people]. With this introduction, we
start right away with the video. Here we appreciate the little streets
that lead to the harbor. This was recorded on January 30 at night.
—the

last day before I left. There you can notice this nightclub, pub and
restaurant —called Soho. It’s a place that’s actually open all day: in
the morning you can have a breakfast, a lunch at noon, an
afternoon snack, food in the evenings; and from 12 o’clock at night
(that’s when I was about to be moved from the table) it’s set up like
a dance floor and people start dancing. It’s one of the coolest
places: it has 2 or 3 bouncers at the entrance. It also features some
dancers —you’ll see one at the end. I had already been moved

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then —that’s the female dancer. Now you get an overview of the
place, which also serves as a restaurant and is one of the best
known of the place.

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Hello everyone, welcome back to the channel! In this video —
number 108B of the 2023 Punta del Este trip collection— we’re
going to enjoy the fireworks party that started from the viewpoint
situated here —called La Gorgorita— on January 28, 2023 at 10
p.m. The performance lasted approximately half an hour and
featured special fireworks, quieter than the usual ones. This
content —unlike video 108A— was enhanced with artificial
intelligence, so you can compare and perceive the differences. I
left the other one [untouched], to preserve that night’s [unique]
ambience. Nonetheless, this one was improved with AI.

Now, it’s time for some context. First, La Gorgorita viewpoint

changed its name: now it’s called Magallanes-Elcano, as I said in
the previous video —a special video I made about it. Then, the cab
had to drop me off about here. As a consequence, the route you’re
about to witness is this one: from here, all the way across to
somewhere here, where I encountered a vantage point. And I want
to mention —in case some people come back this summer— that
this area completely collapses. Now, I’m going to display some
pictures of the moment. This area you behold —because of its
shape— is like a big funnel and, in its last blocks, gets filled with
cars. Therefore, be careful to be on time and so on [N.B. be
mentally prepared, stay patient].

And afterwards, naturally, the exit is also a tremendous chaos, like

you’re going realise at the end. You’ll be able to watch me waiting,
here, at the bus stop, to return to the peninsula. This is a sample of
what the bus terminal looked like on that day: it was everywhere so
congested that there wasn’t even a coach to reach the place. In
this case, I had to take a cab that cost me more than 20 dollars.
There you can examine some pictures of the offgoing. And this one
—which you are viewing here— was the situation at 11.29 p.m.
That’s why before I was advising you to be careful when goinh by
car; even so, you’ll be forced to park five blocks away and spend at
least an hour to get out of there. After this little introduction, let’s go
to the AI enhanced version.

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Well, these are some fireworks celebrating the end of… the month
of January —the end of the season.

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Hello everyone, welcome back to the channel! In this case, we’ll
watch video 109 of our 2023 Punta del Este trip collection. These
are night shots enhanced with artificial intelligence, and recorded
with the iPhone 13 Pro Max. This is exactly the crag underneath La
Gorgorita viewpoint —now called Magallanes-Elcano. What we
see in front of us is La Barra de Maldonado at night. There we can
appreciate this small fishing area. This was all enhanced with
artificial intelligence and recorded in the cinematic mode of Apple’s
phone. We here have are the waves, at night, approaching the
Maldonado creek.

This was recorded —as I said before— after the fireworks party,
which can be found in video number 108. We are going to view
now —those are the cars leaving* the party—…. the beautiful
Barra de Maldonado at night, one of the classiest areas in all South
America —the Southern Cone. Here’s one more shot. All of this
was enhanced with AI software, apart from being recorded with the
cinematic mode of the iPhone. Here we are at bus stop 34,
approximately 8 km from downtown Punta del Este —from its bus
terminal. There we have the sky; that should be the Milky Way.

One thing from the previous video that I wanted to say, as a side
note: many people had to use this area as a restroom —due to the
lack of toilets, after the beautiful fireworks seen in the previous
video. Here are the last buildings of La Barra de Maldonado and
this kind of cliff. And here we sight a shot hardly ever seen on any
channel —foreigners coming to Punta del Este know absolutely
nothing about the place—: the lights of Punta del Este, from
approximately 8 km away, at the entrance of the Maldonado creek
into the ocean. This shot is unique —it’s practically nowhere—;
unfortunately, the people of Maldonado and Punta del Este don’t
know how to adequately promote worldwide their [natural]
blessings; Humbly, one tries do that from here. There we have La
Barra district back. A big thank you to the people watching the
shorts, quite successful all things considered: I’m reaching a
slightly bigger audience —I mean, younger in age, larger in
quantity. I recommend visiting this area of Punta del Este: it’s a
paradise, where you have everything: from luxurious to rustic

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things, all types of food, all types of places, all types of people and
it’s for all kinds of budgets as well —if you know how to search for.

Best regards, hope you enjoyed this video.

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Hello everyone, welcome back to the channel! In this video —
number 110 of the 2023 Punta del Este trip collection— what we
are about to see are some unpublished shots of the Bikini beach
club, located in the village of Manantiales, on the outskirts of Punta
del Este. A video with unpublished images actually, recorded on
January 29, 2023. Here we’re descending the famous stairs that
lead to the beach —more precisely, the famous ramp. It’s a super
sumptuous area, as I said in other videos: the most luxurious,
expensive and prestigious zone of Punta del Este and its
surroundings. There we have a shot at night that you won’t find on
any other YouTube channel: on one side, Punta del Este —where
we are looking at— and La Barra de Maldonado —right there is the
super-luxurious part I introduced before. And that’s Bikini beach
club at night.

You won’t find this footage on any other YouTube channel: it’s
completely exclusive to this medium. Here we are already
approaching the staircase —properly— I mentioned at the
beginning. In the summer it’s full of people, mostly from the upper
classes of the entire Southern Cone. Here we notice the beach
club. This was filmed just the night of the fireworks, at
approximately 1 a.m. We now spot those lights —I didn’t know if
they were calling Batman or what. What can partially observe —in
the center— is La Barra de Maldonado sector and further to the
left, the peninsula of Punta del Este.

And here we sight these upscale homes. This place, as I said

before, is called Manantiales —I guess because of water springs
nearby. And here we have another of the shots, where you can
appreciate the dwellings at night —the few dwellings actually, in a
distric at most 5 blocks wide. There we continued upstairs. The sea
is obviously on our right. The space was completely empty of
people —not a single person on the entire beach. I was hoping,
even if it was late January, to find at least a couple or some guys
having a drink, but there was absolutely no one there —I was a
little surprised by that. That same day I recorded* another video,
where you can contemplate Manantiales neighborhood at night.

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There you can look at the beautiful perspectives of the peninsula of
Punta del Este. This locality is quite accessible from the bus
terminal: just take the Codesa coach and mention Bikini beach in
Manantiales; between 20 and 25 minutes you’ll get here —
departing from the Punta del Este terminal. Here’s another
beautiful panorama. There I’m already on the beach itself —on
Bikini Beach itself. I expected to see couples or groups of friends
having a drink, but it looked all “dead” —as we here say. La Barra
quarter wasn’t dead, though; there were more people at night.
There we witness these spectacular buildings and this small
walkway, which normally —in the high season— is absolutely
packed with people.

It’s a 3-kilometer beach up to Montoya (I mean, the bay between

the Montoya cape and this beach’s represents more or less a 3
kilometer walk). And here I’m walking up the catwalk, as in another
video, where I stroll along this path —maybe number 50 or 51.
There’s one video depicting the hike from Terrazas de Manantiales
to here and another one showing Bikini beach itself. I wanted to
give you this night view of the place. I send you my best regards
and I hope you enjoyed this video. Greetings to all.

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Hello everyone, welcome back to the channel! In this video —
number 111 of our Punta del Este trip collection— what we’re going
to see is an absolutely paradigmatic place, a place more precisely
at La Barra de Maldonado, called Medialunas Calentitas. As can
be observed, this site is at the mouth of the Maldonado stream —
near its path into the Atlantic Ocean— and is one of the most
classic, historical, decisive, nostalgic, essential of La Barra de
Maldonado. It’s where basically all the people rush to have tea
after the beach. It’s a location full of joy, boys, girls, teenagers,
parents, people of practically all ages, who gather in the afternoons
to eat the best croissants in Uruguay. It showcases —as you can
notice— live bands. It also has a huge capacity —what you view is
only a part of it—, of about 400 square meters in total. I want to
make a clarification —one that needs to be made in these cases—:

La Barra de Maldonado and Manantiales are quite aristocratic

places; they are not the center of Punta del Este —that we could
call bourgeois or liberal. In contrast, money doesn’t matter much
here and the lineage or the contacts are more relevant. What I
mean is the following: if you visit one of these places —whether
this one or others in La Barra— you are likely to be treated badly
the first few times, as a kind of rite of passage, to determine if you
get angry and stop going. The important thing is to stay calm —as
much as possible— and somehow keep going. You’re going to be
treated badly the first time, not so bad the second time, and better
the third time, until —eventually— you’re going to be accepted.
That’s how aristocratic things work. I also want to add that this is
the place par excellence of the milipilis —the super sexy girls you
witnessed in Montoya beaches’ videos. They come here in the
afternoons for tea.

Therefore, if you want to show up and get close —or at least take a
picture from a distance— of these beautiful girls, so well-dressed,
you have to necessarily stand in an endless line and strive to reach

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this spot —beyond the things I said, it’s going to be worth it. I
wanted to add —lastly— that this was recorded on January 29th.
And that if instead of going on January 29 I had gone on December
29 the place would have been full. And what follows now is the
recital you foretasted at the beginning.

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Hello everyone, welcome back to the channel! In this video —
number 112 and last one— of this Punta del Este trip collection,
what we’re going to see are parts of this road. Leaving Piriápolis —
here you can view exactly the points where the videos were
recorded— passing through Cuchilla Alta, San Luis, La Floresta;
also passing through Parque de Plata, Atlántida; and Ciudad de la
Costa —skirting Ciudad de la Costa— until reaching the outskirts
of Montevideo, where the previous video begins —that is, the first
video of this collection—, which is a round trip through the
Montevideo’s promenade. So this is the route, basically —where
the thumbnails are pinned— that we are going to depict in this
video. While we perform this tour of the beautiful Uruguayan
countryside I wanted to share some conclusions regarding the
result of these 112 videos, comprising this trip during the entire
January 2023 to the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, more precisely
to the city of Punta del Este, in the department of Maldonado. First
I’m going to say that I thought I’d have much more success. I really
didn’t think I was going to have so few views.

In fact, nowadays I watch a lot of channels on YouTube

showcasing Punta del Este and some of them that are just starting,
have more views than mine, that’s been available on this platform
for 8 years. They have videos not even recorded in 4K, or with a lot
of technical problems. Let’s not talk about HDR, because I think
that if you ask those people what HDR is, they will probably say
that it’s some disease or some technical artifact. That catches my
attention a lot! It does so because my first videos —slideshows—
depict practically everything Punta del Este has: the beautiful
women are shown in very high quality, as its spectacular buildings,
and obviously all its natural riches (the beaches, the sunsets, and
others). . So frankly it’s incomprehensible. Something that only
God would know why it was like that, why it IS like that, as God will
also know why the shorts are so successful —a format I honestly
confess I don’t like. . But beyond that, because fate is something I
don’t handle, and that no one can handle, right?

As a Roman saying goes: “A great man can come from a hut,” so

no one controls destiny or who’s going to win the lottery, whether a

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poor or a rich. But I do handle my intentions a bit. And I’m going to
say that my intentions were: first, to thank the people of Punta del
Este very much —who in general treated me very well— and the
same goes for the destination; for having been able to visit that
beautiful city, one of the cities I like the most in the world, and it
was a dream, and every time I step on it I feel at another level of
reality, in a parallel universe. It’s like the island of fantasy, where
dreams come true. That is for me Punta del Este. For the people
whom it was shown on YouTube Punta del Este doesn’t arouse the
same. I don’t know why. It’s not the same to be there —or many
personal things— but for me Punta del Este has an almost
magical, metaphysical, totally supernatural meaning —I would say.

The second purpose was to raise the channel a bit —nothing had
been posted for two years. A lot of material had been uploaded to
the other channel, Haker TV —a retro channel about Argentine TV
—, but nothing had been uploaded to this channel for 2 years, and I
wanted to somehow revive it. That was the other reason why all
these videos were made, in total, from the first day I started
ordering the material, —mid/early February— it has taken me nine
whole months. These 112 videos took me 9 whole months —part-
time, not full-time work— but at least 4 hours a day. The third
purpose —which I mentioned in some other comments— was
precisely to get a little away from the following situation: as you
might know, I’m a Twitter militant —I don’t know it I’ll continue to be
— for the issue, regarding the world conflict between globalism
and sovereignty of nations —obviously on the side of
sovereignism. And the truth is that the year 2022 was a very hard
for all of us who militate on that anti-liberal, anti-globalist side. And
this also helped me as a therapy —both going to the place and
then editing the videos—, although it was a lot of work.

And it was a great aid to forget a little bit of that, to get away from
that. I’m going to continue, though: my ideas are the same. The
situation in the world cannot remain the same. It’s an absolutely
intolerable situation. The differences between rich and poor can
also be seen here: they can also be appreciated in these videos.
These people are the 0.1% richest in the Argentine population. And
there is a 40% poverty in my country and a 10% of indigence. So

332
this may also encourage —while we go through Montevideo,
outside Montevideo— to reflect a little on that issue.

And also meditate on why certain footage succeeds —on how our
society may be wretched. One has to show certain things to
achieve views —if one tries to be a virtual guide, as a modern
Baedeker— practically get 20 views per video. Baedeker had
been… people had another culture level before. I’m not a person
who considers himself super-cultivated —just someone who tries
to think and get informed. And I’m sure I did my best possible job
here. And that’s why it hurts a little, not for me —I mean, I know I
did my best— but for a society that prefers to back of a woman
than to learn a country’s culture, a city, a place. So that was the
reflection I wanted to make —while we approach Montevideo,
probably Ciudad de la Costa.

I hope these videos have been useful to someone. At least each of

the videos had more than one view —more than one person saw it.
And maybe more than one was useful. I am satisfied with that.
Obviously, with these numbers, the next trip I will practically not
film. And if I do, it will not be published —unless someone
specifically begs for it. But if not, I won’t. I don’t like to be bothering
people with content that they may not interested in.

Or that they think that a person of another kind can explain it

better. Unfortunately, other people’s videos about Punta del Este
contain a huge amount of errors. . And it hurts me that not even the
people from Punta del Este and Maldonado correct the nonsense
they spread. Greetings! I hope you enjoyed this collection.–

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Table of Contents
041 - Montevideo's Promenade by Montevideo's
2
Promenade
042 - Arrival in Punta del Este by Arrival in Punta
12
del Este
043 - Casamar Fabric Beach Club by Casamar 14
Fabric Beach Club
044 - Mansa Bus Stop 1 by Mansa Bus Stop 1 18
045 - McDonalds at Gorlero Street by McDonalds 26
at Gorlero Street
046 - Gorlero Street and its sorroundings by
30
Gorlero Street
047- Brava Bus Stop 1 by Unknown 38
048 - Central Punta del Este by Central Punta del
44
Este
049 - Punta Shopping Center by Punta Shopping 48
Center
050 - From Terrazas de Manantiales to Bikini
Beach by From Terrazas de Manantiales to Bikini 56
Beach
051 - From Bikini Beach to the OH Shopping
Center in La Barra by From Bikini Beach to the OH 66
Shopping Center in La Barra
053 - Sports at Bikini Beach by Sports at Bikini 75
Beach
054 - Backstage of the David Guetta concert by 79
Backstage of the David Guetta concert
055 - Montoya Beach, January 5 and January 9 by 82

334
Montoya Beach, January 5
057 - Montoya Beach, January 14 by Montoya 86
Beach, January 14
058 - Montoya Beach, January 23 and 29 by 98
Montoya Beach, January 23
059 - OH Shopping Center, La Barra de Maldonado 107
by OH Shopping Center, La Barra de Maldonado
060 - East La Barra by East La Barra 111
061 - La Barra Beach, January 19, 2023 by La Barra 115
Beach, January 19, 2023
062 - West La Barra, January 19, 2023 by West La 120
Barra, January 19, 2023
063 - On the way to La Barra church by On the way 130
to La Barra church
064 - Zeppelines Park, West La Barra by 134
Zeppelines Park, West La Barra
065 - La Barra Beach, January 24 and 25, 2023 by 138
La Barra Beach, January 24
066 - Round-trip journey to La Barra - Bus ride by 144
Bus ride
067 -Crossing La Barra Bridge by Unknown 151
068- Punta del Este Bus Terminal by Unknown 154
069 - Deadly car accident of Argentine girls at El
Chorro by Deadly car accident of Argentine girls at 157
El Chorro
070 - El Emir Beach by El Emir Beach 161
071 - Our Lady of Candle by Our Lady of Candle 164
072a - All around the Punta del Este penisulta, with 167
an introduction by All around the Punta del Este

335
penisulta
072b - All around the Punta del Este penisulta,
without introduction by All around the Punta del 179
Este penisulta, without introduction
073 - Beaches near Punta del Este Harbour by 190
Beaches near Punta del Este Harbour
074 - Punta de las Salinas by Punta de las Salinas 192
075 - Las Mesitas by Las Mesitas 195
076 - Manantiales by Manantiales 200
077 - Mailhos Pier Beach by Mailhos Pier Beach 205
078 - From the OH Shopping center to Posta del
Cangrejo Beach by From the OH Shopping center 207
to Posta del Cangrejo Beach
079 - Posta Cangrejo beach by Posta Cangrejo 210
beach
080 - From Posta del Cangrejo beach to Montoya
beach by From Posta del Cangrejo beach to 212
Montoya beach
081 - Quicksand in West La Barra by Quicksand in 215
West La Barra
082 - From Punta del Este to Piriapolis by From 218
Punta del Este to Piriapolis
083 - From Piriapolis to Las Flores by From 226
Piriapolis to Las Flores
084 - From the Intercoastal route to Pittamiglio
Castle by From the Intercoastal route to Pittamiglio 231
Castle
085 - Pittamiglio Castle near Piriapolis by 234
Pittamiglio Castle near Piriapolis
241

336
086 - Medieval Fair at Pittamiglio Castle - Part 1 by
Part 1
087 - Medieval Fair at Pittamiglio Castle - Part 2 by 246
Part 2
088 - Sunset on the sea, from Pittamiglio Castle in
Piriapolis by Sunset on the sea, from Pittamiglio 252
Castle in Piriapolis
089 - Tour of the Pittamiglio Castle near Piriapolis 254
by Tour of the Pittamiglio Castle near Piriapolis
091 - Walking Tour from Esquina de la Barra Beach
to Desembocadura Beach by Walking Tour from 257
Esquina de la Barra Beach to Desembocadura
Beach
092 - On the way to Esquina de La Barra beach by 261
On the way to Esquina de La Barra beach
093 - Esquina de La Barra beach by Esquina de La 266
Barra beach
094a - La Barra Power outage - January 25, 2023 268
by January 25, 2023
094b - La Barra - Light Cut-off January 25, 2023 -
COLOR CORRECTED AND COMMENTED by 272
COLOR CORRECTED
095 - Skatepark Punta del Este by Skatepark Punta
279
del Este
096- Beach at bus stop 30, Brava Beach by
284
Unknown
098 - From the beach at bus stop 30 to La
Gorgorita viewpoint by From the beach at bus stop 288
30 to La Gorgorita viewpoint
099 - Sunset from La Gorgorita by Unknown 291

337
100 - Night shots of the town of La Barra de 293
Maldonado and of the Maldonado stream estuary
by Night shots of the town of La Barra de
Maldonado
101 - Maldonado Walking Tour by Maldonado 296
Walking Tour
102 - San Fernando de Maldonado Square by San 302
Fernando de Maldonado Square
103 - Cathedral of San Fernando de Maldonado by
305
Cathedral of San Fernando de Maldonado
104 - Paseo de San Fernando by Paseo de San
307
Fernando
105 - Pueblo Narakan - Punta del Este peninsula 310
by Punta del Este peninsula
107 - Soho nightclub, Punta del Este harbour by 315
Soho nightclub, Punta del Este harbour
108b - Fireworks Party, annotated and enhanced 318
with AI by Fireworks Party, annotated
109 - Night shots of La Barra and Punta del Este
from La Gorgorita viewpoint by Night shots of La 321
Barra
110 - Bikini Beach at night by Bikini Beach at night 324
111 - Medialunas Calentitas EN by Medialunas 327
Calentitas EN
112 - From Piriapolis to Montevideo by From 330
Piriapolis to Montevideo

338