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Global Citizens

~ a blog for Tourists, Expats and Locals

Global Citizens

Tag Archives: Carilo

It’s over…

07 Monday Jan 2013

Posted by katti in blog

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Buenos Aires is empty, Carilo, fresh fish, Lo de charly, Punta, punta del este, Why on earth

punta05

The holidays are over, the new year has begun. Summer has started. And, Buenos Aires is empty.

How a huge city like this, always so busy and loud, can become so quiet and empty in such a short period has always been a mystery to me. Right now the city is empty. Now you can cross big busy lanes when the light is red, but also, shops are closed, restaurants are on holidays, and all you see is tourists. Many Many tourists.

The heat is too much to do anything, and how the tourists manage to sit on the top floor of the open tourist busses, I don’t know, but I suppose the urge to see and to get to know this wonderful city is really big. Unfortunately now the city is not as is usually is. It is completely different. It is like another world. Maybe it is not quite dead, but it certainly is sleeping.

punta02

But where did all the people go? You would say that most Argentines are in Punta (Punta del Este in Uruguay), for ages this has been the place to be for the well off, although nowadays it is not just the rich that go there, but also the huge middle class.

punta04

I was lucky to be invited to go to Punta in December, that is when everything opens although it is still as good as empty. In restaurants you are received by tens of waiters, literally waiting for a client, and you are treated as a god. The beaches are as good as empty, and you can easily drive around without being stuck in traffic. This is probably when Punta is the nicest…

punta01

I don’t really understand the hype, it is nice, yes, but to me it is a strange and very artificial place, full -realy full- of houses and apartments, and for 3 months a year there are people, lots and lots of people, the other 9 months is it dead and empty. I am told that in winter they even turn off the traffic lights…

Uruguay does have a few pros, and one of them is certainly the delicious fresh fish. We were absolutely delighted with Lo de Charly in Manantiales, where delicious fresh fish is served in an excellent way. Charly might be Argentine, his fish certainly isn’t!

punta03

But when it comes to beaches, to me, nothing can beat Cariló in Argentina… it is a lot quieter, more beautiful, and not so artificial, but if next year we are invited to Punta again, we will definitely not hesitate to accept the invitation. Hehe.

Let the summer begin!

PS pictures taken between Punta Ballena and Jose Ignacio, with in the middle Punta del Este, Uruguay

empty dunes

10 Tuesday Apr 2012

Posted by katti in blog

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

4tracks, beaches, Carilo, dunes, empty dunes and beaches, Why on earth

Empty beaches and empty dunes, I love them. Quite difficult if you live in Europe I would say. In Belgium we have wonderful beaches, but we have such a short coastline (67km) and there are so many people (10 million Belgians, plus Germans and Dutch that like our coast more then they like theirs), that in order to see it relatively empty, you must go in winter and when the weather is horrible. That’s not so hard –waiting for horrible weather I mean. I would avoid the beach at any other time of year.

When I still lived over there, we used to spend each month of august in the south of France. Yes we were that kind of Belgian. Around the end of July we would stuff our car full of luggage, as much as it could take -including the two kids in the back-, and we would drive 10 hours southwards. The south of France is not only the closest place where the weather in summer is generally perfect, we Flemish are also naturally good in French, having had more French in school then one can handle –that is probably why they call it our 2nd language. Our neighbors, the Dutch, are usually much more courageous and they take it a lot further, no matter what language they speak, they drive until the south of Spain, the south Italy,… we don’t. During these months of august, my feet never touched the sand, I mean : did you ever see the French beaches in august? There is no place to put your foot!

So it comes as no surprise that I love Argentina and its empty dunes and beaches. There are beaches where you can take your dog, you can take your ATV (4-track/cuatri) or even go to the water with your jeep. Totally unthinkable in Belgium or the south of France. Of course you can’t do this on Playa Grande in Mar del Plata –probably the most crowdy beach of the country-, but the coastline is so long that there are lots of places where all this is possible.

We usually go to Cariló, because they have real nice empty dunes there, and –not in the least- because we have friends there. With a son who is absolutely crazy about everything that has wheels and engines, Cariló is beyond doubt his top 3 of favorite places in the world. From the second we arrived there he would take the 4-track and be gone with his friend all day.

Nowadays, this same boy lives in the all-concrete and paved roads city of Ghent, where 4-tracks are not only forbidden, they are useless. (And the ‘poor kid’ can’t even drive a car, as after 10 weeks in Belgium, he still didn’t get his ID, so he still couldn’t go for his drivers license. Didn’t we think that these things would go faster in a first world country?)

But the fact that my son is ‘stuck’ there, doesn’t stop us from going to the seaside here. Although the huge empty dunes of Cariló have lost their magic to me -they are his territories and driving through them knowing that he’s not around with his 4-track just reminds me even more of his absence. The rest of my family doesn’t really mind, they love the dunes too much to be scared off by some emotional twist. And while they were off, I went for a long walk with my friend on the almost empty beach, which is almost as much fun.

Although the beach was quite empty, the center wasn’t. Easter week, or Samana Santa, is obviously a top touristic weekend. Too cold to lay down on the beach, but perfect to go shopping and have lunch in the center. The center is small but compact, with nice shops and good restaurants. I just love Cariló!

Cariló

25 Sunday Jul 2010

Posted by katti in blog

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

ATV, beach, Carilo, dunes, seaside, Why on earth, why un earth

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

If you are considering to spend some time at the seaside, then Cariló is certainly a good option. It is located about 350 km from Capital, between Pinamar and Villa Gesell. Cariló is rather small, and has a ‘center’ of about 2 (short) streets, with lots of shops and restaurants. All the roads are sand roads, and Cariló is situated in the middle of a forrest, which makes it cool and gives a lot of shade in summer.  There are many places to stay, we chose for an hotel/appart, right on the beach, which was really nice.

There are lots of appartments close to the sea, but not one is higher then 3 floors, and as soon as you go inland there are only houses. It is a very nice and tranquile place, where the ATV (cuatri) is a popular way to move around. At the outskirts there is a place in the dunes which is really beautiful, where you can go and drive around with your 4×4 (car or ATV). We even drove all the way south of Mar Azul for more (empty) dunes.

You can also go horsebackriding on the beach, or just have long walks, or chill on the beach, but for that last part, I suggest you wait until summer :).

I love Cariló!

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