The ombú is the national tree of Uruguay. Generally, the tree stands alone on the grasslands, so Ombú Forest, on the banks of the Castillos Lake, is one of the few areas where the trees form a large forest.The ombú tree forest has an extension of 20 km. Each ombú tree has an umbrella-like canopy that spreads to a girth of between 12 and 15 m and can attain a height of 12 to 18 m. Since the sap is poisonous, the ombú is not grazed on by cattle and is immune to locusts and other pests. Kelly Westhoff has an excellent article in Go Nomad about Ombu trees and Cabo Polonio, Uruguay .Of course if you are in Montevideo you can see an Ombu tree up close a and personal without traveling to Cabo Polonio, though that might be a great trip on its own. Kelly find Cabo Polonio (home of about 80 people) to be a faraway galaxy, but stops just short of calling it outerspace, and hesitates to even call it a town, prefering instead "the final outpost on the edge of a rugged frontier." And unlike Montevideo there is no traffic as they arrived on a monster truck that drove through the sand dunes. The Ombu tree forest was an hour boat ride up a wide river... If you want to see an Ombu tree check out the intersection of Blvd Espana and Luis de la Terre in Montevideo, Uruguay. If you want a real adventure try and find Cabo Polonio and the Ombu forest! ōmbooˈ, large evergreen tree (Phytolacca dioica) of the pampas of Argentina and Uruguay. It has an umbrellalike spread of foliage; the trunk may attain a girth of 40 to 50 ft (12.2–15.2 m). The tree grows rapidly. Its wood is spongy and soft enough to be cut with a knife. The ombú is the only tree native to the pampas, where it presents a solitary and distinctive aspect and provides welcome shade. Because the sap is poisonous, the ombú is not browsed by cattle and is immune to locusts and other pests. The dark, glossy leaves are sometimes used locally for a brew. The ombú is of the same genus as the North American pokeweed. It is planted as a shade tree in S California. Ombú is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Caryophyllales, family Phytolaccaceae.
Being in Cabo Polonio was like being in a galaxy far, far away. In Cabo Polonio, I was far, far away from any resemblance of my daily life in the United States. There was not a gas station, a Starbucks or a McDonald’s in sight. There were no newspaper kiosks. There were no cell phone rings. There were no cafes with Internet access. Plus, for the majority of the day, there were no lights because there was no electricity. Cabo Polonio is not in outer space; it is in Uruguay. It is a small, secluded town in a small, South American country. In fact, I hesitate to even call Cabo Polonio a town. Instead, it looks and feels like the final outpost on the edge of a rugged frontier. And it is. Cabo Polonio is surrounded by rugged frontiers. Cabo Polonio sits on the tip of a moon-sliver peninsula that sticks out into the Atlantic Ocean. On the back side, powerful waves relentlessly knock. But on the other side, on the inside of the moon, the water comes calmly to shore. At the top end, a lighthouse stands sure and straight over boulders tumbling into the sea. Two small, rocky islands dot the coast nearby. While the ocean presses against Cabo Polonio on three sides, sand presses against it from the last. The bottom end of Cabo Polonio´s peninsula, the end that connects it to the rest of Uruguay, is covered by dunes of sand. We told Raul exactly what we wanted to do. He disappeared. Two hours later, he reported back. We had plans for the following afternoon. A monster truck would pick us up and take us back to the highway. A boat would take us to see the Ombu trees. Horses would bring us all the way back to the hotel. We agreed without haggling on his price: 1,500 Uruguayan pesos in total, about $75 U.S. Our lunch finished, our outing planned for the next afternoon, we had nothing to do. We lounged in the padded chairs at the hotel. We chatted with other travelers lounging in chairs nearby. We sipped coffee. We read. We decided to go exploring. Raul was right. A colony of sea lions was sunning just around the corner. We could hear them. They yipped and yowled and we followed their cries picking our way along slabs of rock slanted towards turbulent ocean waves. The noisy ones were fighting, waging private wars. They can rip bloody wounds and even kill each other, hence the dead sea lions washed up on the beach. Most of the sea lions, however, were sleeping. If we crouched low and didn’t talk, a few of them let us creep close.
Sand whips and whirls throughout Cabo Polonio. It slithers across the beach. It gathers in mounds the size of a VW bug. It settles against the walls of buildings. It would block traffic if it could, except there is no traffic in Cabo Polonio. Cars don’t drive through Cabo Polonio´s streets because cars can´t make it past the sand dunes. But monster 4x4 trucks can. The monster truck that carried my husband and me into town from the nearest highway carried in 17 other curious travelers, too. One passenger rode in the cab with the driver, the rest of us, and all of our bags plus three surf boards, were loaded into the flatbed of the truck. The ride was tipsy and jolting. The truck faltered once or twice. The driver down-shifted, the gears grunted, the tires creaked and the weight of the construction-sized machine lunged through loose, deep dunes. Sand sputtered into the air, misting us all. In Cabo Polonio, you will feel far, far away from any resemblance of your daily life because in this small village there isn't a gas station, a Starbucks or a McDonald's in sight. There are no newspaper kiosks, cell phone rings and cafes with Internet access. In addition, most of the day, there are not lights because there is no electricity. Cars don't drive through Cabo Polonio´s streets because cars can´t make it past the enormous sand dunes. The "Cabo Polonio" (Cape Polonio) is a rocky tip that is erected 15 meters on the Atlantic Ocean, with incredible sand dunes and two islands where one of the most important see wolves' reservation of the world inhabits and where the sad songs of the see wolves can be heard among the roar of the sea against the rocks. The adventure in the tour to Cabo Polonio begins when we will try to reach the village. We will have to choose between horseback riding and 4x4 fully equipped to cross the 8 kms of enormous dunes, since regular cars are not allowed to drive into Cabo Polonio. This dreamful Cape and its dune landscape are the main attraction of this trip, which will bring you into a magnificent world, the land of ship wrecks and sea wolves. Its Lighthouse is another peculiar attraction. Apart of enjoying the beautiful sea view, we will have time for having lunch whose menu consists of seafood and home made pastas. In our tour to Cabo Polonio we also will see other beach resorts of Rocha Department such as La Paloma, La Pedrera, and La Barra Grande in laguna de Castillos where we will visit the largest group of ombú trees in the region. The Ombú tree forest has an extension of 20 kilometres. We propose an entertaining visit to the forest by boat in the Valizas stream.
