2028 Jan 29,30: roadtrip to Punte del Diablo

Rented a car & headed up the coast toward Brazil, to Punte del Diablo.

First stop, Museo de Autos, inland from El Chorro, just east of La Barra:

Next, just across the street to the Fundación Pablo Atchugarry. Remarkable:

On to Jose Ignacio. Matthias sez this is where models & football players go. Not sure we saw any…lunch at El Mostrador de Santa Teresita:

The beach & point:

We coughed up the ~ $3.50 to climb the narrow spiral staircase to the top of the lighthouse:

Back on the road, through a relatively sparse stretch:

To Pa Paloma, on Cabo Santa Maria:

And our first mexican dinner For a long time, at La Cantina Mexicana, recommended by Nathalie. Very good food, outta this world margaritas:

Drove the rest of the way to our hotel in Punta del Diablo in the dark.

The Brasileirissimo Pousada - a Brazilian family operation. We were greeted by their charming daughter Marcella, she showed us the ropes.

Here are the grounds at sunrise:

The stand-out item here is the breakfast - haven’t seen such an elaborate spread in some rime. Marcella sez it’s typical in Brazil, maybe we need to rethink our plans and go there:

The town is a bit run down, but interesting for a quick stop:

Went in to see Laguna Negra, billed as being literally black. Fun dirt road in, but a bit of a disappointment:

Playa La Esmeralda, Nathalie’s favorite. Indeed beautiful, and goes for miles. Just a quick stop, schedule beginning to play a role:

There is a famous and oft-visited cape along the coast, Cabo Polonio. Its a national park; there’s a 1/2 hour bus that you have to take from an entrance at hwy 9 (the coast road) to get there. There’s a small town with unpaved streets and no cars, and a cape, I imagine something like Point Lobos. Well we got there after 1 and were concerned about getting the car back, so we decided to skip it. Come back sometime when we can spend the night (there are a few accomodations).

Mid day, stopped in at La Pedrera. We liked; felt kinda like northern Cal or Oregon:

Down the road from there, we realized we weren’t going to make it all the way without buying gas. Then we realized there weren’t very many gas stations along the coast. Crossroads - inland to Garzon (on our list, home of a famous restaurant Leslie knew about) or continue to José Ignacio, where we knew there was gas. Garzon’s a town, they must have gas, right? Went for it; stopped at the 1st store & asked. No gas. Not much of anything, as it turned out - a ghost town:

Drove slowly, AC off, watching the guage, made it to José Ignacio & bought gas. Now, gotta get the car back by 6. Touch & go, made it at the stroke of 6.

Walked home, an hour. Along the way: