Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
(snacks UR$35-140; 8:30am-11pm Nov-Apr)
At this teal-green shack half a block from the
bus stop, Señora Neli cooks up delicious empanadas (baked savory turnovers; UR$35)
filled with
siri
(crab) and
pescado
(fish), along with
chivitos
,
milanesas
(breaded cut-
lets), fries and other reasonably priced Uruguayan snacks.
Getting There & Away
Rutas del Sol runs two to five buses daily from Montevideo to the Cabo Polonio turnoff
(UR$395, 4½ hours), where waiting 4WD trucks offer rides across the dunes into town
(UR$170 round-trip, 30 minutes each way).
TOP OF CHAPTER
Laguna de Castillos
Northwest of Cabo Polonio is the Laguna de Castillos, a vast coastal lagoon that shelters
Uruguay's largest concentration of ombúes, graceful treelike plants whose anarchic
growth pattern results in some rather fantastic shapes. In other parts of Uruguay the om-
bú is a solitary plant, but specimens here - some of them centuries old - grow in clusters,
insulated by the lagoon from the bovine trampling that has spelled their doom elsewhere.
At
Monte de Ombúes
( 099-295177)
, on the lagoon's western shore (near Km267
on Ruta 10), brothers Marcos and Juan Carlos Olivera, whose family received this land
from the Portuguese crown in 1793, lead two- to three-hour excursions (per person
UR$400, five-person minimum). Tours begin with a 20-minute boat ride through a wet-
land teeming with cormorants, ibis, cranes and black swans, followed by a hike through
the ombú forest. Departures are frequent in summer (anytime five people show up); other
times of year, reserve ahead. With advance notice, longer bird-watching tours of the la-
goon can be arranged in the off-season for a flat fee of US$100 (one to five people).
Guardia del Monte
( 4475-9064, 099-872588;
www.guardiadelmonte.com
; Ruta 9,
Km261.5; r per person incl breakfast/half-board/full board US$110/150/180)
, overlooking the la-
goon's northern shore, is a now-tranquil hideaway, originally established in the 18th cen-
tury as a Spanish guard post to protect the Camino Real and the coastal frontier from pir-
ates and Portuguese marauders. The lovely
estancia
house still oozes history, from the
parlor displaying 18th-century maps and bird drawings to the kitchen's Danish wood-
stove salvaged from an 1884 shipwreck. Overnight rates include optional afternoon tea,
plus walking and horseback excursions along the lakeshore and into the surrounding om-
bú forest. Meals are served on the ancient brick patio or by the fireplace in the cozy din-
