Punta Del Este As Exclusive Seaside Resort

[trennod]

Going to Punta, Argentines can take their cars. Florianopolis, not so easy. Plus its closer.

 

[yd_mtl]

The upper classes of Argentina used to vacation in Mar del Plata, but in the 40s, with Peron, it got very popular (aguinaldo and vacaciones laws allowed to the poor people go massively to Mar del Plata) so the upper classes, frightened, wanted to avoid every contact with the masses, it really changed the landscape, and they moved out to another place, more cuter, more quiet, and that will became exclusive with the years.
So during 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, Punta was some kind of a hidden gem, very exclusive, quiet, very homogeneous from the social point of view.
Argentine old upper classes, unlike other Latinamerican countries, always were inspired by the european model of society, taste, elegance, sophistication, etc people linked with "el campo", who lived in Recoleta, near Avenida Alvear, with French architecture, who went to the Jockey Club, 100% antiperonistas, with some kind of rejection to american way of life. That the old rich.
That started to change in the 90s when the "american way of life" enters, all this new richs, a lot of new richs (and new poors of course) and a lot of traditional wealthy families who got poor. Money changed of hands, the financial bussines replaced the agro bussiness, the new richs were people who traditionally belonged to middle class, and had totally different uses and habits of old richs.

Just wondering whether Punta del Este would have superseded Mar del Plata for wealthy Argentines even without Peron, though more gradually and maybe in a different way?

 

[Matiasba]

Uruguays coasts has always been better than Argentines coasts. The Rio de la Plata brings to argentine coasts sediment, dirt, the water has a brown color, rough sea. On the contrary, Uruguayan waters are more cleaner, more blue coloured, more cuter, thats why a lot of argentine people choose uruguay (not Punta) every year.

probably you ll find your answer with this.

 

[Lamb]

yd_mtl, are you writing a paper on this or something? This, together with your previous thread where you against everything kept defending the idea that Brazil should be the holiday spot for Argentineans, just made me wonder where your interest in this topic comes from...

 

[yd_mtl]

yd_mtl, are you writing a paper on this or something? This, together with your previous thread where you against everything kept defending the idea that Brazil should be the holiday spot for Argentineans, just made me wonder where your interest in this topic comes from...

The thing is that I've been obsessed for the past bunch of years with how Argentina and the surrounding region would be different had Argentina fulfilled its economic potential (the best way, in my opinion, being that the British take over the country). I've even made a website about it, and now, for the last little while, I've made major revisions to that type of what-if history. And holiday destinations are a part of that obsession. If the British had been successful in their invasions of Buenos Aires in 1806-07 and had stayed in the region long-term, Argentina would have become a country every bit as modern as Canada or Australia or the United States. It would have developed a Canada-like mixture of English and Spanish. Being a temperate-zone country (suitable for European-type crops) with a small indigenous population, Argentina has been classified as a settler country just like its fellow New World temperate lands - the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand. As such, Argentina as a British colony would have developed much more like Canada, Australia, etc. than India, much of British Africa, etc.

The way I think of all this in terms of where people from the Rio de la Plata would go for holiday destinations, if you're comparing that part of South America with Western Europe, Buenos Aires/Montevideo is like London/Paris; Mar del Plata and surrounding areas are like the coasts of the British Isles, northern France, Belgium, Germany, etc.; Punta del Este and surrounding areas are like the Cote d'Azur or Biarritz or other coastal areas in southern France; the coast of Rio Grande do Sul (and the southern Santa Catarina coast) in Brazil is like the Costa Brava or Costa Daurada in northeastern Spain; and the coast of Santa Catarina in Brazil (from Floripa northwards) is like the Costa Blanca or Costa del Sol in southeastern Spain (and the Algarve in Portugal).

If you compare that part of South America with the east coast of Australia, Buenos Aires/Montevideo is like Melbourne; Mar del Plata and surrounding areas are like the coasts of Victoria and Tasmania; Punta del Este and surrounding areas are like the coast of southern New South Wales; the coast of Rio Grande do Sul (and the southern Santa Catarina coast) in Brazil is like the coast of northern/central New South Wales (inc. Sydney); and the rest of the Santa Catarina coast in Brazil is like the coast of southern Queensland (inc. Gold Coast/Surfers Paradise). The rest of the Brazilian coast is like the rest of the Queensland coast.

If you compare that part of South America with the east coast of North America, Buenos Aires/Montevideo is like Boston/New York/Philadelphia/Baltimore/Washington DC; Mar del Plata and surrounding areas are like the coast of New England; Punta del Este and surrounding areas are like Long Island, the Jersey Shore, and the coasts of the Delmarva Peninsula; the coast of Rio Grande do Sul (and the southern Santa Catarina coast) in Brazil is like the coast from Virginia Beach down to northern Florida; and the rest of the Santa Catarina coast in Brazil is like central and southern Florida. The rest of the Brazilian coast is like the Caribbean or coastal Mexico.

All these analogies are not to say that conditions are objectively the same in any of these pairs necessarily - for example, New York is clearly different from Buenos Aires (especially in the winter), and the Cote d'Azur is different from Punta del Este. But, they could tell you a lot about what people in, say, Buenos Aires could prefer in terms of going on holiday somewhere (or retiring) if Argentina were a developed country. What determines where Argentines in such a world would go to would be governed (besides by the economics of all of this) by what temperature they're used to (say, highs of 15C in the winter - and coastal Brazil is clearly warmer), rather than any objective criteria (e.g. it's got to be a high of 0C or below to be cold enough to go to warmer climes for the winter). But since Argentina is a Third World country as it is, that automatically changes what Argentines' preferences are, versus those of Britons, southern Australians, or northern Americans, into what the Argentines actually do in terms of going on holiday somewhere. Plus, the travel culture of real-life Argentina is different, the way I hear, than in northern Europe, the US, Australia, or the hypothetical Argentina.

 

[Joe]

Anyone have an apartment for me to rent in Montevideo or PdeE for around a month? I want to check out Uriland.

 

[Lamb]

The thing is that I've been obsessed for the past bunch of years with how Argentina and the surrounding region would be different had Argentina fulfilled its economic potential (the best way, in my opinion, being that the British take over the country). I've even made a website about it, and now, for the last little while, I've made major revisions to that type of what-if history. And holiday destinations are a part of that obsession. If the British had been successful in their invasions of Buenos Aires in 1806-07 and had stayed in the region long-term, Argentina would have become a country every bit as modern as Canada or Australia or the United States. It would have developed a Canada-like mixture of English and Spanish. Being a temperate-zone country (suitable for European-type crops) with a small indigenous population, Argentina has been classified as a settler country just like its fellow New World temperate lands - the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand. As such, Argentina as a British colony would have developed much more like Canada, Australia, etc. than India, much of British Africa, etc.

The way I think of all this in terms of where people from the Rio de la Plata would go for holiday destinations, if you're comparing that part of South America with Western Europe, Buenos Aires/Montevideo is like London/Paris; Mar del Plata and surrounding areas are like the coasts of the British Isles, northern France, Belgium, Germany, etc.; Punta del Este and surrounding areas are like the Cote d'Azur or Biarritz or other coastal areas in southern France; the coast of Rio Grande do Sul (and the southern Santa Catarina coast) in Brazil is like the Costa Brava or Costa Daurada in northeastern Spain; and the coast of Santa Catarina in Brazil (from Floripa northwards) is like the Costa Blanca or Costa del Sol in southeastern Spain (and the Algarve in Portugal).

If you compare that part of South America with the east coast of Australia, Buenos Aires/Montevideo is like Melbourne; Mar del Plata and surrounding areas are like the coasts of Victoria and Tasmania; Punta del Este and surrounding areas are like the coast of southern New South Wales; the coast of Rio Grande do Sul (and the southern Santa Catarina coast) in Brazil is like the coast of northern/central New South Wales (inc. Sydney); and the rest of the Santa Catarina coast in Brazil is like the coast of southern Queensland (inc. Gold Coast/Surfers Paradise). The rest of the Brazilian coast is like the rest of the Queensland coast.

If you compare that part of South America with the east coast of North America, Buenos Aires/Montevideo is like Boston/New York/Philadelphia/Baltimore/Washington DC; Mar del Plata and surrounding areas are like the coast of New England; Punta del Este and surrounding areas are like Long Island, the Jersey Shore, and the coasts of the Delmarva Peninsula; the coast of Rio Grande do Sul (and the southern Santa Catarina coast) in Brazil is like the coast from Virginia Beach down to northern Florida; and the rest of the Santa Catarina coast in Brazil is like central and southern Florida. The rest of the Brazilian coast is like the Caribbean or coastal Mexico.

All these analogies are not to say that conditions are objectively the same in any of these pairs necessarily - for example, New York is clearly different from Buenos Aires (especially in the winter), and the Cote d'Azur is different from Punta del Este. But, they could tell you a lot about what people in, say, Buenos Aires could prefer in terms of going on holiday somewhere (or retiring) if Argentina were a developed country. What determines where Argentines in such a world would go to would be governed (besides by the economics of all of this) by what temperature they're used to (say, highs of 15C in the winter - and coastal Brazil is clearly warmer), rather than any objective criteria (e.g. it's got to be a high of 0C or below to be cold enough to go to warmer climes for the winter). But since Argentina is a Third World country as it is, that automatically changes what Argentines' preferences are, versus those of Britons, southern Australians, or northern Americans, into what the Argentines actually do in terms of going on holiday somewhere. Plus, the travel culture of real-life Argentina is different, the way I hear, than in northern Europe, the US, Australia, or the hypothetical Argentina.

Where did that interest come from? The what-ifs are interesting, but real life depends on so many factors i dont think you could generalize so much. And all of the coast from Argentina to Brazil is atlantic, not mediterranean so i suppose the more southern coasts in S-A are like the more northern ones in Europe. Uruguay being similar to the coast of Portugal. Germany isnt on the Atlantic by the way, and their northern coast doesnt really have a beach culture in the way that the rest of the European atlantic coast has. Im just curious mostly as to what point youre trying to prove? That what-if Argentineans would definitely go to what-if Brazilian coastal destinations?

 

[yd_mtl]

Where did that interest come from? The what-ifs are interesting, but real life depends on so many factors i dont think you could generalize so much. And all of the coast from Argentina to Brazil is atlantic, not mediterranean so i suppose the more southern coasts in S-A are like the more northern ones in Europe. Uruguay being similar to the coast of Portugal. Germany isnt on the Atlantic by the way, and their northern coast doesnt really have a beach culture in the way that the rest of the European atlantic coast has. Im just curious mostly as to what point youre trying to prove? That what-if Argentineans would definitely go to what-if Brazilian coastal destinations?

I love geography/travel, and that includes anglophone and Latin American countries. In terms of Argentina and environs, I feel that there's a missing link in terms of Latin America not having a country that's wealthier per capita by far than any other country in a developing region the way that in modern Asia it's Japan plus South Korea and other Asian Tigers, in the general Asia-Pacific region it's all of these and Australia/New Zealand, in the Middle East it is Israel plus the Gulf Arab states, and in Sub-Saharan Africa it's South Africa (despite South Africa itself being only a middle-income country). Of course, in the early 20th century, Argentina was the wealthiest country in Latin America per capita. As well, I feel there's a missing link in terms of South America being the only continent not having been taken over in whole or in part by the British (except Guyana and the Falklands), and in terms of Argentina being a New World temperate country attracting a lot of European settlers and yet not being part of the formal British Empire either before or after the American Revolution (though Argentina was very much a part of the informal British Empire, along with the rest of South America).

In terms of holiday/retirement destinations, the way I've thought about it for the hypothetical British Argentina is that sunseekers from the Rio de la Plata (aka the River Plate) go to the beaches of Buenos Aires Prov. (inc. Mar del Plata), Uruguay (inc. Punta del Este), and southern Brazil (inc. Floripa and Camboriu) in the summer, as in real life. The way it differs from real life is that sunseekers from that same region go to the beaches of the tropical Brazilian coast, and to some extent those of Ecuador, Colombia/Venezuela, the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico, and Florida, during the winter. Another way it differs from real life is that there's more retirement migration from the Rio de la Plata to the general Floripa/Camboriu region (maybe also some locations in the Argentine interior, like Cordoba or Misiones) esp. in the winter and to the general Punta del Este region (maybe also to Mar del Plata) esp. in the summer. (In real life, a number of South Americans of all ages have moved to Punta del Este to seek greater security than in their home countries.)

I used to think of Rio de Janeiro as the primary winter retirement destination for BA/Montevideo people, given how much warmer that is, but the fact that there's so much crime there - coupled with the fact that Floripa/Camboriu is more of a vacation destination for real-life Argentines - has made me realize recently how Floripa/Camboriu would be the main winter retirement destination instead. While Floripa/Camboriu is not quite as warm as Rio in the winter, it's still quite a bit warmer than BA/Montevideo.

It seems to me that when thinking about all of this, the best models to work on would be the east coast of Australia in terms of climate (whereby the temperatures - at least in winter - are similar to those of the east coast of South America latitudinally) and Western Europe (whereby there's an international border to deal with when going to warmer or sunnier climes for beach holidays, versus Australia or the United States). For one thing, winter temperatures in BA/Montevideo are quite similar to those of Melbourne, Australia, and those of Floripa or Camboriu are quite similar to those of the Gold or Sunshine Coasts in Queensland (quite popular with a lot of Melbournians and other southern Australians in any season). Also, British people visit beaches in their own country (like Bournemouth, Brighton, or Blackpool) in the summer...but also go to Spanish beaches (which also serve as a winter retirement haven for Brits); so too, real-life Rio de la Plata people visit beaches like those of Punta del Este and Mar del Plata in the summer...but also go to Floripa/Camboriu (which could serve as a winter retirement haven for Rio de la Plata people).

 

[trennod]

But Argentinas beaches are ugly the only thing that makes them bearable are the girls (and guys if your a girl) and the weather. I dont think they would ever be attractive to holiday makers.

Your thinking outside the box but I think over-simplifying and generalising a little too much.

You writing a thesis or just a web site? Not sure BA Expats is an overly credible source

 

[Ceviche]

But since Argentina is a Third World country as it is,

You clearly have no idea, what a 3rd world country means.

Argentina is NOT a 3rd world country.