Beach, sunsets and fishing rods

Most of the country seems to be on vacations. Even those who have to work do it at reduced speed, if they can. Weather is warm - high time for a post about vacations.

Down here, vacations mean those beaches along the River Plate and the Atlantic coast.

I just learned that Rosita Forbes, a British journalist and explorer, visited Uruguay in 1932. She wrote that our beaches were so large that people used them to sleep, eat, work and play for 16 hours a day. Maybe she exaggerated a bit; but 81 years later, people still go to the beach as often as they can.



However, families seem to have less free time now than in 1932. Most hit the sand in the afternoon. If weather allows, they stay until the sunset - and sometimes even applaud the sun's performance, provided it is a good one.

Another very popular activity in vacations is fishing with a rod and reel; there is hardly a middle class family without a fisherman. Heck, our previous president was a rod fisherman. There are few fisherwomen - it looks more like a masculine trait. Or maybe women are just more intelligent?

Fish may be sparse, small and ignorant of the lures, but these issues have never bothered any real fishermen.

Piriapolis harbor is a Mecca of rod fishing. Here is the amateur and rookie fishing section. Pros usually throw long lines into the open sea, at the end of the docks.



In the middle left you can see the row of moored fishing boats. Yachts moor to the right and in the bay itself. Priapolis city and the cerros are in the background. Not a bad seascape to contemplate.