Elite Traveler November-December 2015

EXPLORE URUGUAY

A weekend in… José Ignacio If the Rat Pack is the reason Punta del Este transformed into a honeypot for the glamorous, the evolution of nearby José Ignacio to a party capital for the world’s elite owes much to its guitar- strumming surf culture. And to the handful of gourmet revolutionaries, led by Argentine chef Francis Mallmann, who first set up gastro shacks there in the 1970s. Undeterred by the lack of running water, electricity or paved roads, they struck the match for the dynamic gourmet enclave it is today. Cruise 40 minutes along the coastal road from Punta del Este’s international airport and you’ll soon be gorging on salt-baked black corvina and calamari at legendary beach kitchen Parador La Huella, or sipping caipirinhas amid the golden dunes at La Susana, José Ignacio’s Le Club 55-style beach club, where long lunches of langoustine carry on to toast flaming sunsets while dancing in the sand. If you’re only in town for one weekend, check in to nearby Bahia Vik hotel, close enough to stroll to the scene in José Ignacio, but secluded enough to wake up and dive straight into the deserted surf. The third opening from art-loving tycoon-turned- hotelier Alexander Vik, its 37 rooms and suites showcase contemporary Uruguayan artists. There are also 11 unique bungalows crafted by native architect Marcelo Daglio out of locally-sourced raw materials and dotted among the dunes. Drop by for coffee and croissant- style medialunas at 3 Mundos,

architect Diego Monteiro’s atelier- turned-emporium in La Barra, while Vik’s concierge team arrange polo lessons at sister property Estancia Vik and craft dining schedules around the summer’s hottest pop-ups. One lesson to learn is that life in Uruguay revolves around restaurants. For lunch and snacks don’t miss Santa Teresita, where Argentine chef Fernando Trocca combines casual, communal, beach-buffet cooking with killer cocktails and a buzzing crowd. Come dinner, it’s a toss up between Ibizan chef Maca de Castro’s Jardín by Sarava, last season’s favorite newcomer, or a candlelit dinner among the pines at Marismo. Wherever you pick, book well ahead – there are days when even playboy restaurateur Guiseppe Cipriani can’t get a table at La Caracola, the gourmet seafood shack set on a sandbank mid-lagoon and accessible only by rowing boat. With space limited to 30, invitations are snapped up months in advance by friends who hop between tables, plotting the evening’s party plans. And with explosive sunsets lingering till 11pm, there’s never any rush. At the beach club, long lunches of langoustine carry on to toast flaming sunsets while dancing in the sand

From top: La Mano sculpture in Punta del Este; dancers at Colonia del Sacramento carnival; poolside at Bahia Vik; chef at Parador La Huella