Another 18 hours on an overnight bus and we arrived in Punta del Este, which to our delight had a clear blue sky and the sun was shining, which woke us up at 6am from our panoramic view at the front of the overnight bus. We checked into our hostel, La Lomita de Chingolo, a small guest house where we lived with a family. The owner Rodrigo took us out in his 4X4 to show us a few of the local sights whilst he checked out the surf for the day. The guest house was located in a very posh housing estate surrounded by mansions with a hollywood-esque vibe and we were about a 30 minute walk from the beach.

Punta del Este is a lovely beach resort for the wealthy in Uruguay, apparently Zinedine Zidane and the King of Spain have recently purchased houses here. The resort appears to be similar to places like Monte Carlo and Cannes and caters for the wealthy with many yachts, shops, casinos and posh restaurants!

We spent our first day in Punta del Este being lazy on the beach, soaking up a bit of sun and relaxing, Ben was impressed with the views on the beach especially all the ladies in teeny weeny bikinis with amazing figures - this was what we expected in Rio not Uruguay. A storm arrived the next day (the bad weather is following us), we thought about moving on but decided to have a day relaxing around the house since it was homely and comfortable and Ben got to watch the Boro game (Boro drew 1-1 with Everton). In the afternoon Rodrigo took us out in the 4X4 to the coast to watch the storm where the sea was very rough and the waves were enormous. On our last day the sun came out again and we hit the beach to make the most of it whilst it lasts and then Rodrigo cooked a fantastic BBQ in the back garden for all the guests (6 of us) on the evening.