Introduction: La Girada Punta del Diablo
Yesi, Nacho and their daughter Sarah are a family living in Punta del Diablo. But there are not in the city itself but on its edge. They are offering camping spot at “La Girada mini camping” or a 62’s Beetle as a room at “La Bohemia”. Both are located at the same spot and around their house. Additionally, they provide for guess a share kitchen, dry toilet, recycling spot and hot shower.
Table of Contents
The 1962 WW Beetle’s
This is actually the real stuff, it used to be a WW Beetle from the year 1962 but instead of finishing its life in a junk yard, they gave a second life to this amazing car and make a room out of it. The car is beautifully decorated with lots of colors and flowers. It is equipped with a comfortable foam mattress, pillows, sheets and blankets. It also as small curtain for privacy and comes along towels and an organic handmade soap from a neighbour. Inside the car there also was a torch powered by a solar panel.
The left side door can be open to enter and exit the room, its main window is also open and protected with a mosquito’s net and 2 small windows are also present on each door from fresh air.
Around the car there is a wood platform and a small roof over it to protect you from the sun (not waterproof). It also has a private hammock and light over it.
For us, the car was comfortable even though it was a bit tight where our shoulder would be. It fits perfectly two people but at the shoulder level, let’s say it is not a king side bed.
We spent 2 nights there and would have stayed longer but it was already booked so we switched to a tent.
This was for us the most unique stay we had made so far!
The Camping
First of all, you can either rent a empty spot if you have your own camping gears or if you are a light traveller they can also rent you a tent with camping mattress, pillows and sheets. The tent we had was a National geographic Toronto II which was really good.
There are camping spots around their house and behind the beetles. Around their house, there was a maximum of 5 tents with one having a small tipi over it.
Behind the beetles, there were 4 camping spots. 3 of them have a small tipi over it and one of them is within a kind of dome house.
We spent two night in a tent behind the beetle and it was really cool. The small tipi has solar panel powered light, a small table and two chairs to chill in the morning or at night.
The shared area
Among the share area there are:
- Outside kitchen completely equipped with utensils, plates, glasses, coffee and tea makers, pans and so on. There wasn’t anything we missed.
- Two hammocks
- A fireplace that is light up when its cold at night or to make barbecue
- One shower and WC together behind the house. The WC are dry toilets and the shower has hot water.
- A small bar with 2 highchairs and a big table with benches.
- Also, near the table there are power plugs to charge your electronics.
The kitchen and WC are cleaned every morning by the family, but you still need to clean what you use in the kitchen 😊
On top of that, every is recycled as much as possible. All organic wastes go in the compost, all recycling one in a barrel, piles in a special bottle and so on…
Regarding food, they can also provide dinner if asked in advance for 250 pesos per person. They will ask you what you prefer and what you are eating. It is generally served around 9:30pm (Uruguayan don’t eat any earlier than that). We had it and it was really good, mix vegetables with fish and bread on the side. Plus, they grow their own vegetable on site
The family
It felt like behind at home. We had planned to stay 2 nights but stayed 4 and wished we could have stayed longer. Yesi and Nacho but also the other guests were lie a family. At night, they would make a fire in front of the house and people who chill around drinking beer or wine. Nacho would come with its wine and make it turn without asking anything. One night, they made a big barbecue for everyone to eat. We never saw that many meats behind eaten that quickly 😊
You can ask them anything you want; they will do their best to help you. They also are really helpful when it comes to trip and stuff to do around.
When we arrived, they even picked us up from the bus station and they provided free bicycle to go around town. The bikes are a bit old, but they do the job.
Pricing and booking
Those are the prices per night at the time we were there:
- Beetle: 24 USD
- Camping spot with equipment: 24 USD
- Camping spot empty: 10 USD
- Dinner: 250 pesos
- Wine bottle: 200 pesos
- Beer: 60 pesos
“Every man can transform the world from one of monotony and drabness to one of excitement and adventure.” – Irving Wallace
