Sigfried and the others...

... And so came the sun!

Finally, after days and days of grey skies, rain and fog, today we had a wonderful sunny day...

And Punta del Este is a fabulous place with sun, and an awful one with lousy weather.

As any other place, one might say. But I don't agree...

Why?

Because it is my theory that everything men did in this place is mediocre, while everything Nature did here is grandiose.

And with the sunny weather, along came the turists and visitoris. Brasilians, Argentines, Paraguayan and celebrities...

That's a new category of visitors for Punta del Este. And I mean top celebrities as those who go to St. Tropez, St. Barth, Miami or Marrakech. The first one to show up was Kevin Bacon, with wife Kyra Sedgwick. But his visit was a matter of timing... he is in fact shooting in Argentina.

It is said that Uma Thurman is in José Ignacio; so is Naomi Campbell and Eva Herzigova; that Bruce Willis is to arrive on January 4th to be DJ in a private party.

And I found out today that Richard Gere is, not exactly in Punta, but in Minas, Lavalleja. It seems that that particular place in Uruguay has a Budist temple (more like a retreat, actually) near Aguas Blancas, 30 km from town. Gere is a loyal follower of the Dalai Lama and the Budist religion. He was even seen doing some groceries at the Ta-Ta supermarket.

Monday night I went to have dinner at Marismo, an open-air restaurant beyond José Ignacio, which is my absolute favourite place in the East. Tables under the stars, lit only by candles, a campfire in the middle and your feet sunk in the sand. Small menu: only six or seven options to choose for starters, main courses and desserts. It's worth the 35 km to go and return from my house!

And just that very Monday at Marismo I run into Alfredo Etchegaray having dinner with a couple from Las Vegas: he was very blond and was wearing a white jacket with golden drawings.

I don't know why but he reminded me of Sigfried of Sigfried & Roy, the famous illusionists from Las Vegas, the ones with the white tigers! I never got to see them, and I never been to Vegas... but in that dark night at Marismo, I thought of Sigfried.

And it was him!

So I was told later...

Sigfried, having a canle-lit dinner at José Ignacio...