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Uruguay The Coast
Stretching east from Montevideo along the Río de la
Plata are
the departments of Canelones, Maldonado, and Rocha. The
inland
portion of Canelones is an area of small farms and truck
gardens,
which produce vegetables for the capital. It was
relatively poor
in 1990. Many inhabitants of the department's small towns
also
commuted to jobs in Montevideo by express bus. Along the
coast
lie a string of small seaside towns (balnearios),
from
which more prosperous employees had also begun to commute.
Farther east in the highly developed department of
Maldonado lies
the major resort of Punta del Este. This has been
developed as a
fashionable playground more for Argentines than for
average
Uruguayans, who found it too expensive. With its hotels,
restaurants, casino, and nightclubs, Punta del Este was a
major
export earner, and it dominated Uruguay's tourism industry
(see Tourism
, ch. 3).
Vacationing Uruguayans of more modest means were
concentrated
in smaller resorts such as Piriápolis and Atlántida, which
are
closer to Montevideo. Beyond Punta del Este in the still
mostly
undeveloped department of Rocha, a number of communities
had
sprouted along the unspoiled Atlantic coast with its miles
of
sandy beaches and huge breakers. These small vacation
communities--such as Aguas Dulces and Cabo Polonio, both
in Rocha
Department--were entirely unplanned and lacked essential
services. In many cases, simple holiday chalets had been
built on
public property adjoining the seashore without any legal
title to
the land. In 1990 the authorities in Rocha Department
announced
plans to regulate and improve this development in hopes of
encouraging visits by higher-spending tourists.
Data as of December 1990
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