After spending over a month in Argentina, we were ready to cross the river and continue our adventure. If you’ve followed our journey for a while, you’ve probably noticed something: I tend to avoid showcasing the major cities we visit — places like Montevideo. It’s not that I don’t enjoy cities; I just find it incredibly difficult to capture the true essence of a city through photos or a few paragraphs of writing. Cities are living organisms — dense clusters of stories, histories, and cultures intertwined — and a week simply isn’t enough to do them justice.
That said, I still want to give Montevideo a fair mention. To me, it felt like a gentler, more laid-back extension of Buenos Aires. It carried a similar elegance, a welcoming vibe, and that unmistakable South American charm — just at a slower, more relaxed pace.
But where I really want to take you… is to the coast.
Punta del Este
After Montevideo, we headed east to the coastal town of Punta del Este. I had no idea just how upscale this beach destination could be — and trust me, I found out quickly with the price of our first meal. Fortunately, we only stayed a couple of nights, which gave us enough time to explore without breaking the bank.
The great thing about Punta del Este is that you don’t need to spend a dime to enjoy it. Its charm is out in the open — in the way the waves meet the shore, the sculptural coastline, and the simple pleasure of walking through its streets. And that’s exactly what we did.
We visited two standout spots: Pueblo Gaucho and Casa Pueblo.
Pueblo Gaucho is a small heritage park nestled within Punta del Este. It’s a replica town that brings to life the 18th-century world of the gauchos — the South American cowboys with a rich heritage born from the mix of European and Indigenous cultures. By the time we arrived, I had already finished reading Martín Fierro, a poetic novel that had deeply moved me. It was my grandfather who recommended it, saying that — like the gauchos — I’d be wandering these lands. And through that book, I realized something powerful: we all have a little gaucho in us. Visiting this place made me incredibly grateful to still have my grandfather around — and reminded me of how precious life is.
Then came Casa Pueblo — a surreal, cliffside building that looks like it came straight out of a dream. Once the home of Uruguayan artist Carlos Páez Vilaró, it’s now a museum and hotel. I must admit, I didn’t know much about him before this visit. But what stuck with me was his complete rejection of the straight line in architecture. That simple, rebellious choice made me question a lot. Straight lines define engineering. They’re how we measure time, build structures, and define logic. And yet, here was a man who built a palace by defying them. Was it wrong? Wasteful? Genius? I’m still thinking about it.
One of the most moving experiences at Casa Pueblo is the sunset ritual. As the day winds down, visitors are invited to watch the sunset while sipping a drink, as a recording of Vilaró’s voice plays over loudspeakers. His words — about the beauty of the sun’s daily journey and the rhythm of life — hit me deeply. But while everyone was focused on the sun, my thoughts kept drifting to the moon. The moon — my quiet obsession — that lights up the darkest nights and reminds us of humanity’s greatest engineering achievement. I’m not sure why it draws me in, but I do know that Casa Pueblo stirred something artistic in me, and that’s more than enough.
You can catch more of this experience in our video below. Photos can only do so much — the rest, we captured with the tools of our trade.
From polished to primal, we next traveled to a place that feels like it exists outside of time: Cabo Polonio. And yes, I know “magical” is a big word — but this place earned it.
Cabo Polonio
What makes Cabo Polonio magical isn’t just its beauty — it’s the people. Not because they’re overly kind or unusually friendly, but because they’ve made a collective decision that’s rare in today’s world: to live disconnected.
Though electricity was made available in the 1980s, the residents chose to stay off the grid. And that choice — that sacrifice — is the heartbeat of the town. Here, you feel life. You slow down. Your heartbeat syncs with the waves crashing against the peninsula. You realize that you don’t need constant access to power, hot water, or phone signal to be okay.
Technology still plays a role — but a quiet one. Just enough to make life functional without disturbing nature. And that’s where the magic is: it’s not about escaping hardship, it’s about learning how little you actually need when you’re truly connected to the earth around you.
Cabo Polonio teaches you to feel with your heart — not just the temperature or the breeze, but something deeper. It’s a place where you coexist with the raw and wild, and still smile through it all.
We did our best to bottle that feeling in the video we made — check it out below and tell us if we captured even a sliver of what makes this place unforgettable.
After experiencing such extremes — from elegant coastlines to off-the-grid simplicity — we landed in what felt like a paradox: Fasano Las Piedras.
Hotel Fasano
This isn’t a town that grew organically over centuries — it’s a carefully designed world, built by a corporation on 1,200 acres of farmland. And yet, somehow, it moved me deeply.
We only came here because we got a promotion through Amex. We thought we’d rest, maybe enjoy a good breakfast. But what we found was an immersive experience — a pocket of peace and design mastery in the middle of nowhere.
It’s not often that luxury and nature blend so seamlessly. Fasano manages it with grace. The architecture is stunning, the attention to detail impeccable. It’s like a miniature country carved out just for tranquility. I left with one thought: I hope that one day, life is generous enough to allow me to return — not on a credit card promotion, but by choice, with time to spare. This place deserves that kind of appreciation.
You can see it all in our video below. Let us know what you think — and whether you’d want to come here too.
Uruguay marked a turning point for me—one of those rare moments when deeper questions begin to rise to the surface, demanding attention. I’m not entirely sure why it happened here. Maybe it was the headspace I was finally able to create after the challenges and chaos of the countries we had visited before. Maybe it was the stillness. But for whatever reason, something shifted.
In Uruguay, I began to see things with more clarity—what I was doing, where I was headed, and, perhaps most poignantly, what I had left behind.
I stopped worrying about the choices that had once haunted me: leaving the comfort of home, stepping away from a stable job, trading structure for uncertainty. Because here, in the quiet rhythm of this country, I started to realize that success doesn’t come from stability—it comes from within. From your mindset, your self-belief, your ability to keep moving forward even when the path is unclear.
And that’s when the most important question of all got louder in my mind. A question that sounds simple, but carries the weight of a lifetime: “What do I want in life?”
I didn’t leave Uruguay with a clear answer. But I left with something even more valuable—a sense of direction. A readiness to explore that question with intention. Uruguay gave me the space, the stillness, and the perspective to look inward, to reflect, and to begin the work of finding that answer.
Maybe when I return to this beautiful country one day, I’ll have a response. Or maybe, just maybe, I’ll realize that the beauty is in continuing to ask the question.