CABO POLONIO AND THE PURPOSE OF LIFE

Four hours by bus is what it takes to reach Montevideo airport —taking route 10 up to km 264½—from the entrance to Cabo Polonio.

Located in Rocha, Cabo Polonio seems not to know that the world outside spins in a different way. We crossed dunes and woodlands and we traveled along seven kilometers riding over that metal beast that would buffer us from the entrance up to the beach.

The breeze is cooling us down and the houses are like white and colored little squares that take shape as we draw near . These little houses lied down one day, playful, almost naked, over a green lawn hill. People in Cabo Polonio comes to and fro. That is why there is not one single person from the first settlers, as told by one of the oldest town villagers. Not all can endure so much silence and loneliness.

There are no paved roads or electric lines. There are two or three shops, a couple of bars and restaurants of every category and the «go-ahead» hippies open their handicrafts and souvenirs premises.

The intense winter cold embraces a couple of brave and lonely guests until summer returns with visiting young guys from many parts of the world. They walk alone on the beach, day and night, mesmerized by their reunion with silence.

It looks like no one has told Cabo Polonio that the world has an “important” race against existence. It is a protected area that has not yet succumbed to human stupidity. Anyone can visit it, anyone can find a spot on the beach from where he can gaze at its wonderful sea, take a dip and talk to strangers that tune in with congeniality, or, as they say out there, to the full.

In contrast with the ridiculous affluence of Punta del Este, Cabo Polonio is still one of the few sites that preserves the purpose of life: the simple beauty, those small things, the orange light of the sun about to set, a star-lit street, a cabin with candles, and the sound of a laugh bursting in the dark.