Punta del Diablo

I kept hearing all these great things about this place called Punta del Diablo. Everyone kept saying it was really nice and cheap. The guide book I read made it sound like a fantastic little village with a really nice beach and no tourists. I was expecting to have a really excellent couple of days here before making my way up to Iquazu. How silly of me...

Let me tell you about my nightmare:

When I got here, I found out that there is not even a bus terminal, let alone a tourist information desk. That was easily surmountable since the bus happened to stop in front of the police station. I asked the policeman for directions to the nearest hostel, which he kindly gave. This was the last friendly person I talked to in Punta del Diablo.

I found the hostel with relative ease, but they were out of room (so much for this not being a touristy area) so they pointed directions to the only other hostel - as if talking to me was something degrading to them. Needless to say the other hostel was full too, and was also manned by some very rude and unfriendly people.

I now had nowhere to stay, a heavy bag on my back and the sun shining down almost unbearable heat, but the worst was yet to come.

Most of the people who come here stay in cabañas. These are basically little shared houses and they quickly became my last resort to have a roof over my head for the night. These cabañas are normally a cheap alternative for people travelling in groups, but since I was on my own I was looking at a pretty expensive couple of days, that is, of course, if I could find one at all.

The first place I went to had no cabañas left, obviously, as this place is not very popular with tourists. Still with my heavy bag and the sun pounding on me, I walked around until I found another place that rents these cabañas. A place run by the rudest elderly couple I have ever had the misfortune to come across. The man (who seems to be the one who runs the business) never spoke, he only ever mumbled and never even took his cigarette out of his mouth to do so. Even when he saw I was struggling to understand what he was saying. After a considerable amount of time the woman finally decided to step in and translate what he was saying into some sort of coherent Spanish. They were telling me to come back in half an hour, as they might have something then.

I don't thing that I have ever had to wait so long for 30 minutes to be up. I realised that this was probably my last chance to have a place for the night. It did seem that my luch was changing, however, because when I walked back into the office, they now had a place - nothing more than a shack with a toillet (but no toillet seat) and no shower - for me. Seeing this as my only opportunity, I grabbed it with both hands and told them I would take it for two nights.

I was asked to pay up front for both nights at 500 pesos a night (10 pounds). Quite expensive for South America, but it won't ruin me. Nonetheless, I did not have that kind of cash on me, so I asked where the nearest cash point was. Their answer is what will make me hate this place forever. there are no banks in Punta del Diablo. But not to worry, they were telling me, they accept Argentinian pessos. Thanks to this I had just enough in the two currencies to pay for the two nights, but this left me more or less pennyless and with no way to take money out.

Back I went to the police station to ask them how to get money, and if it was at all possible. I pointed to a kiosk where they sell bus tickets to the nearest town, an hour and a half away, which is where you need to go if you want to get some cash. Thankfully I had enough money to pay for the bus ride, but I had to wait until the morning for the next bus. I dread to think what would have happened to me if I did not have enough money to pay for the bus.

Thankfully my bad luck was at an end the next day. I woke up, got the bus, went to Chuy, took money out, and suddenly felt much better. I could actually enjoy my lunch; something which did not happen durring the meal the night before.

Chuy itself was a pretty nice little town just on the boarder with Brazil. Comhow this allows it to have shops on the main street selling duty free goods. When you take into account how cheap everything is here, it's amazing that they can have discounts on anything. It was really tempting to just buy everything, but I don't have any space in my bag as it is, so buying more stuff would be pretty silly.

On arrive back at Punta del Diablo, it became clear that it was this place that was giving me bad luck. Possible a curse cast by the devil, I don't know. The town had experienced a power outage in my abscence which fried the computer screen of the bus company. It didn't helpt that bitch behind the counter was ruder than ever.

Our conversation went something like this:
Me: Can I go to Monevideo tomorrow?

Bitch: I don't know. (She turns away making me think that she will ask someone. Eventually she turns around glaring at me as if to say "Why are you still here?")

Me: When will you know?

Bitch: I don't know.

Me: Why don't you know?

Bitch: My screen doesn't work.

Me: When will it work?

Bitch: I don't know

If my Spanish were a little better I would really have liked to give her some serious shit, but instead I walked away furious.

Not knowing what to do, I went to eat dinner, whish probably the best decision I had made since deciding to go to Punta del Diablo, because I met a really nice French couple that explained to me that I could buy a ticket on the bus, completely bypassing my friend the bitch.

On my last day in this aptly named hell hose, I went for a walk around and realised that it is actually a very nice place. What a shame that this string of unfortunate events made it impossible for me to enjoy myself. The beaches are very beautiful, and the fact that all the buildings are no more than two stories tall makes it very cute.

I'm back in Montevideo now, on my way up to Gualegauychu, a small village in the north of Argentina that starts carnival celebrations now. To get there I will have to go back down to Buenos Aires, which is in the completely opposite direction, because Gualegauychu is inaccessable from Uruguay, despite it being just on the boarder. This is because of the river that separates the two countries.