IL Postcard

Where in the World Is Lee Harrison?

Date: 03/22/2008

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Discover more about Uruguay in International Living Postcards—your daily escape

This is a question we here at International Living ask ourselves about twice a day…where the heck is Lee Harrison writing from today?

Our man in South America takes his brief to explore the continent very seriously and rarely lets any grass grow under him before he’s off to his next adventure.

That’s why it didn’t surprise us when we started getting Lee’s notes from Uruguay’s northern coast and interior. Lee’s mission now is to flesh out the story of Uruguay beyond the towns of Montevideo and Punta del Este, his usual stomping grounds.

And he’s making great progress. “Finally,” he wrote the other day, “we’ve covered the entire coast…from Montevideo to Brazil.”

First Lee gave us a frame to fit the Uruguay coast into, saying that, starting from Montevideo, Punta del Este is about a third of the way to the Brazil border. His latest discovery in that stretch: a town called Atlántida.

“Atlántida turned out to be the nicest residential environment we saw anywhere on the coast,” Lee reports. “The streets were lined with tall, mature trees, and it had attractive beaches and a few nice restaurants and sidewalk cafés.

“Generally speaking, foreigners don’t buy here. It’s mostly for Uruguayans…and the prices show it. We saw an attractive duplex on the water for just $32,000, and a large, very nice single home for $80,000, both with frontline water views.”

That’s what Lee is best at…finding the deals.
Also along that same stretch of coast between Montevideo and Punta del Este is Piriapolis, where Lee reports that someone he knows bought a roughly 200-square-meter house on a point overlooking the ocean for $110,000. “Waterfront condos here start at $78,000 for a one-bedroom and go to $150 for a two-bedroom,” Lee reports.
Punta del Este is a third of the way to Brazil; La Paloma and La Pedrera are two-thirds of the way. “They’re only a few kilometers apart,” says Lee, “but La Pedrera is perhaps twice the price of La Paloma.

“Low end in La Pedrera (three blocks from the water) is $120,000. High end is more than a million dollars. You’ll find this hard to believe, but the million-dollar house looked like a bargain, given its size and location. The servants’ quarters were a four-bedroom unit!”
Lee found Uruguay’s best beaches north of La Pedrera. “Mile after mile of white beach…the water was a deep blue, uninfluenced by silting from the Rio de la Plata at this point.” Lee says there is land for sale here directly on the sand…very unusual in Uruguay with their beach-preservation laws. He hasn’t checked prices yet, but across the street, he says the land on the beachfront road is $70 per meter.
Along the way, Lee was surprised to discover that Uruguay has not one, but two nude beaches, or playas naturistas. He didn’t say whether he actually visited the beaches himself…maybe he’s saving that for a special report?

Lee didn’t stop at the Brazilian border…he took a left turn and is exploring the Uruguay interior. Stay tuned…

Dan Prescher
Publisher, International Living

Editor's note: Lee’s first-person reports are a regular feature of International Living magazine. If you’re not already a subscriber, you can get Lee’s complete reports—every jot, title, and property price…along with pages of information and insights about living and investing around the world—delivered to you every month by becoming a subscriber.

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