Luis Lacalle Pou’s lonely surf and the postcard of a summer without Argentines in Uruguay

The image of the president of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, surfing almost alone promises to become the first post of an atypical summer departure for the seaside resorts of this country, because they will not yet receive the mass exodus of Argentinian tourists due to coronavirus restrictions.

We know that Lacalle Pou, whenever he can, takes his board and tries to disconnect while surfing. “As a surfer, he went into the water to enjoy the first swell of the year”, wrote Leandro borda on his Instagram account, to accompany the photo he took of the Uruguayan president in the water.

Did Lacalle Pou take advantage of the first hours of 2021 and to surf the coast of The Dove, a traditional spa located in the department of Rocha, in the north of the country, and which started the season without the typical presence of Argentinian or Brazilian tourists.

Did the Uruguayan authorities establish, on December 21, the total border closure until January 10 to try to contain the circulation of Covid-19. In addition, gatherings with an agglomeration of people were banned for 2 months.

Tourism with border closures

Uruguay has closed all its air, sea and land borders with the deployment of armed forces in all border regions of Argentina and Brazil. Thus, Uruguayans and residents will not be able to enter, except those who bought their ticket before December 16.

Towns that present a health risk will be checked by the police and fines for contempt of this law will range from $ 922 to $ 30,700.

“A large part of the visits are lost, that of many Argentines and Brazilians, but a large number of Uruguayans come who have not come before. Usually those who rent the houses in the coastal area, the most expensive, are Argentines. and this year when they were Uruguayans because they knew they could not leave ”, he explained to Bugle Eduardo, who lives in La Paloma and knows how the tourist activity works in the region.

He regretted that the city is preparing to boost its offers and expand the flow of foreign tourists it receives each summer.

“La Paloma was preparing for the arrival of another audience, things got better and places were prepared for walking and running. But unfortunately that didn’t happen,” he explained.

He explained that the lack of foreign tourism was partially covered by the arrival of Uruguayans themselves, who opted for local destinations also due to the inability to travel to other countries.

“There are a lot of Uruguayans but they stay a few days, at most five or ten days”, he said and compared: “The difference with the Argentinian is that he comes and has 15, 20 or 30 days“.

He acknowledged that “people who make a living from tourism suffer the consequences” of this phenomenon.

“Everything has changed so much with the issue of the pandemic. Restaurants must close at 12 p.m. and are at 50% capacity. It has been a year of loss but not only because the Argentines did not come. It has been a year of loss due to the pandemic which caused a catastrophe and in some jobs it is felt more than in others, ”he summed up.

Eduardo explained that the expectation is that the border closure does not last beyond January 10 because, he remarked, “Argentines, Brazilians have to come” and the rest of tourists from other countries like Paraguay and Chile.

As the summer season approaches, Uruguay is going through its worst moment since the start of the pandemic with the arrival of the “first wave” of Covid-19, the community circulation of the virus and Montevideo in the “red zone “.

The country has accumulated more than 19,100 cases of coronavirus and 181 deaths from the disease.