The city has much colonial architecture contrasting with more modern buildings. Nowadays it has a scenic shore, typical resort houses, modern buildings, a port with mooring capacity, department stores, restaurants, and pubs. There are several large houses, and gardens lined with plants.
Punta del Este is home to the only Conrad Hotel in South America, also famous for its casino.
Casapueblo
This icon of Punta del Este is an artwork by the Uruguayan painter and sculptor Carlos Páez Vilaró. It sits atop Punta Ballena, as one of the main attractions of the peninsula. The artist began working on the project in 1958, and took 36 years to be completed.
It is universally considered as a “living sculpture”. Inside this masterpiece there are many rooms facing the sea. It also boasts sculptures, paintings and ceramics made by its creator. During the summer season there are sunset classical music concerts. It is possible to view the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean and the sunset over the Río de la Plata in Punta Ballena.
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| finding a friend |
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| Casa Pueblo |
On 5 October 1896 Antonio Lussich bought a terrain of 4,447 acres (1,800 ha), which extend from "Arroyo el Potrero" to "Sierra de la Ballena" and from Rio de la Plata to Laguna del Sauce, land which at that time consisted only of sand dunes and stones. The next year Antonio Lussich started the forestry works which had as objective on one hand, to forest the dry lands in an attempt to stop the high winds that came from the ocean, and on the other, once the forest was established, to encourage birds to inhabit it. In order to do that, Antonio Lussich, thanks to the enterprise of maritime rescue contracts obtained all over the world, could manage to get seeds from numerous continents. He bought seeds, plants and trees from around the world and planted them around his house. The first trees planted were: Tamarix, Sea pines, Eucalyptus and the Acacia trinervis to resist the strong winds and sand.
During December 1979, 182 hectares (450 acres) was donated to the Municipality of Maldonado and then opened to the public. The Lussich Arboretum is one of the most important Forest Reserves in the world.
El Arboretum Lussich a nivel mundial, es una de las reservas forestales artificiales con mayor diversidad de especies importadas y aclimatadas localmente. Cuenta con 400 especies exóticas y 70 autóctonas entre árboles y arbustos.
Un lugar para sentirse en contacto con la naturaleza y maravillarse.
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| Punta del Este- La Mano |
Punta del Este es una ciudad peninsular situada en el extremo meridional de Uruguay, en el departamento de Maldonado. Es uno de los balnearios más importantes de América Latina. Está ubicada sobre una estrecha franja de tierra que convencionalmente separa el Río de la Plata del océano Atlántico —aunque ambas riberas están bañadas por aguas ya marinas—. Cuenta con una población permanente de 12 423 habitantes, cantidad que alcanza los 450 000 durante la temporada turística en verano. Es uno de los centros del conurbano de Maldonado, que en 2011 tenía una población de 135 399 personas. En la Ronda Uruguay desarrollada en esta ciudad, nació la actual Organización Mundial del comercio.
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| Air flower |
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| Punta del Este Harbour |
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| Pancho eating fish |
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| Laguna Garzon Hotel |
Wow, what a fun filled day we had Thursday! We left at 8:00 to go to Casa Pueblo, a very interesting art museum (one of the high lights included hanging out with the local cat). Then we traveled to the national park called Arboretum Lussich where we hiked and discovered many plants that we’ve never seen in the United States before. After we had some delicious pizza in Punta Del Este for lunch, we went to the beach to see the La mano (the hand in the sand.) The next stop was to look for seals in harbor where we found Pancho. Our last sight was walking around their circular bridge. We drank Colet, our new favorite chocolate shake drink on the way back and finally arrived back to the school around 8:00. Everyone had a wonderful traditional meal that evening when they got back home. To be continued….
The kids will be busy all weekend, but we will report back on Monday.
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