Tuesday, July 21, 2009

History of Punta del Este

    The first European to be know to have set foot in the region where now is Punta del Este is the Spanish explorer Juán Diaz de Solís in 1516 (please see History of Uruguay part I). There he found the entrance to the Rio de la Plata, which he thought was a way to reach the Pacific Ocean. He named the place Cabo de Santa María (Cape Santa Maria). 50 years later the fort of San Fernando was built there.

    In 1829, the cape was named Villa Ituzaingó by Francisco Aguilar who drew the plans of the city to be and began building. Aguilar, a very wealthy man, used the land for agriculture and manufacturing of ceramic tiles. He was the fist ship builder of Uruguay, and also raised cattle and went into politics. He was Mayor of Maldonado and Senator. He was also given by the President exclusive rights to hunt for whales, of which plenty could be found near the coast.

    In 1843 the peninsula and the Gorriti Island were sold to the brothers Lafone. They used it as saladeros, the process of salt-curing the meat. At that time the only way to go from the Punta to Maldonado was in carts and the way was very difficult as it was mostly sand with lots of dunes. To make this easier Aguilar brought dromedaries that were much more adapted to this kind of terrain.

    In 1889 the first hotel was built. At that time the town was inhabited by fishermen, customs officers and the lighthouse keepers. But during the summer the population increased with people coming looking for a place to rest. Many of the inhabitants were thinking of developing the town into a seaside resort similar to Biarritz in France or Brighton in England.
   
    In 1907 a ship called "Golondrina" arrived to the port full of people from Buenos Aires and Montevideo, that had been invited by the Society "Balneario Punta del Este". That year the town had been officially named Punta del Este by President Claudio Williman.

    From that moment it never stopped growing, to become what it is now. One of the most important seaside resorts of South America, and a center of the international jet set. Properties in the zone of Punta del Este, specially heading east towards José Ignacio, are now valued in millions of dollars.

    If you haven´t been there you should visit it. It´s worth it

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A Friend Away From Home

I too am a foreigner. I have the advantage of coming from a country that is just round the corner. But I spent most of my childhood and adolescence as a foreigner, so I understand very well what it like is to be away from home. We could say that I became an expert in creating a home away from home. In times when there was no Internet and no cell phones, one had to get used pretty fast to life in new, far away places. And it was at those moments when one learned to really appreciate a friendly face, a soothing voice and a warm handshake. One felt that even living in a different culture and hearing a different language, one could find, and one always did find, a friend to make one feel a little less lost and lonely. Uruguay is very similar to Argentina, so it took no effort for me to feel at home here. Specially when the reason that brought me here is a lovely Uruguayan lady. We´ll get into that later on. But it really amazed me to find such a large quantity of foreigners, mostly from countries that are not so close at hand, living in this beautiful country. I have had the opportunity of meeting some of them. And I thought: "wow, even if the weather is great, it must not be so easy living far away from countries like Canada, USA, Switzerland, India or France. But I have been there so I can understand the feeling. And then I thought, what can I do to help them feel less far away? Could I find a way of becoming their friend away from home? I would really like to. I know Uruguay and the Uruguayan culture very well. I speak some of their languages. I understand them. Yes, I think that might work. I´ll try to help them and become their friend. And that is what I want to do. I am here to help you, to understand you and to try to make your stay in this great country as pleasant as possible.
Just ask, we´ll see what we can do.
Alex