About Uruguay: Cool Stuff to See

In my continuing series on Uruguay, I've talked about the Uruguayan cuisine, the culture, the people...today I'll share a couple of my favorite things to see in Uruguay.

Uruguay is a place that one could visit many times and still not see all the cool things there are to see there. In Montevideo, there are lots of gorgeous historical and architectural locations, but you'll do well to visit them with a Spanish-speaking guide, as the signs explaining each location's significance are all in Spanish. 

Two of my favorite things to see in Uruguay are found in Punta del Este, just up the coast from Montevideo. The first is the hand sculpture on the beach (photo, right, thanks to James in Manchester). I'd seen this sculpture in National Geographic and elsewhere since I was a child, but never remembered it was in Uruguay until Leo and I were vacationing on the coast and happened upon it. The sculpture is occasionally covered in graffiti; the government has it cleaned from time to time.

Another cool thing to see in Punta del Este is the sea lions who live in the harbor. If you're from the States, then when you think of "sea lion," you probably envision the sea lions at the zoo - sleek, frisky creatures with narrow heads that end in small sniffers. But the Uruguayan sea lions are much more lion than the ones we Americans know, and have large manes and broad, feline-like noses. They're surprisingly tame and this one (photo, left) was basking in the sunlight less than 8 feet from where I stood.

The story goes...we'd spent the afternoon in the harbor, having gone there specifically to see the famed sea lions, who live in the harbor and frolic on rocks and cement alike. We'd searched for the sea lions everywhere we could think of, and struck out at every turn, so we stopped for lunch at a harborside restaurant, where we enjoyed some stunning fish, fresh from the sea.

After lunch, I was snapping what I figured would be a fairly "artsy" photo of a snail crawling up a wall, when Leo walked over and said, "I want to show you something."

In full artistic photographer mode (let's be honest here - I'm no Ansel Adams, but I sort of know my way around an SLR), I said, "I'll be right there, just one second..." and then, in fairly dramatic fashion, Leo replied, "Sue, if you don't come right now, you'll regret it for the rest of your life."

Well, that got my attention, so I followed him around the corner, and there it was, mere steps away, in all its glory - a single, alpha male sea lion, with enough scars to make me believe he was not only big, but old, too. It was absolutely incredible - like nothing I'd ever seen.

He was massive, and as he sat there basking in the sun, he was so lazy and so totally relaxed, he made me a little sleepy. It was a brilliant, unparalleled moment in Uruguay, and if you ever have the chance to visit, I highly recommend that you seek out your own sea lion moment.

Stay tuned for more on Uruguay and other places around the world in the coming weeks!