A high-season bonanza of events

OK, for Punta del Este year-rounders the added traffic, the crazy crowds and having "our" beach and "our Tienda Inglesa" run over by tourists has few compensations beyond the monetary benefits of renting out our homes. So we need to acknowledge the one clear plus, the wealth of events of every color and stripe that comes with "them tourists."

Sports-wise, a January classic is the Rugby Seven-a-Side, a tournament that is on its 21st edition. The matches will be played at the Maldonado Municipal Stadium and the dates appear differently in every media report, somewhere between January 3 and 5.

For motor-sports fans, there´s the F1 Power Boat race, apparently on January 1st, although again, it´s hard to pin down a date from press reports, which speak only of "the initial hours of the new year".

If you're a sail-sports fan, Jan. 3 is the date of the ADES regatta, a multiclass race with more than 80 competitors, from respectable yachts to windsurf boards.

On January 6 there´s polo at the Estancia Vik, with the Polo Art Tournament sponsored by Estancia Vik and Godiva Polo Management, which seem to have wrestled the sport from the traditional Medellin venue. There will be an exhibition and auction of works of art, polo paraphernalia, etc. to benefit public schools in Maldonado and Rocha.

Also on Jan. 6 you can gather along the road to cheer the thousands of runners on the Corrida de San Fernando, a marathon growing in number of competitors year after year. Don't try to drive on the waterfront on that day in the afternoon, you might end up who knows where with the traffic diverted ever farther from your destination...

For those who consider real-estate a sport, the Salon Inmobiliario de Punta del Este (SIPE) is held at the Conrad Hotel starting from January 7 through 10. That's where developers showcase their ongoing or planned projects, a good way to do comparison shopping without having to drive miles and miles from one place to the next.

In the cultural arena, the International Jazz Festival at Tambo El Sosiego (Lapataia behind Punta Ballena) is on its 14th edition, and will run from Jan. 7 through 10, with local, regional and international performers, and featuring with Paquito D'Rivera as music director.

In the visual arts field there are sooooo many art-show openings that it's impossible to keep track. In addition to individual events at the dozens of galleries, there's the by now traditional "Gallery Nights" when all the galleries in La Barra open up their doors on weekend evenings, and offer some bubbly and hors d'oeuvres if you're lucky.

There are classical music concerts in the gardens of Hotel L'Auberge, ballet at the Conrad, and also the more popular fare of international star and Punta del Este fan Julio Iglesias, who will sing at the Conrad three nights in a row, Jan. 13, 14 and 16.

I'm sure there's many more things going on, but this is plenty for now...