The place
José Ignacio is a small peninsula that pokes a mile and a half out into the sea, forming two long beaches: La Mansa on the western side with its waters scattered with fishing vessels and wonderful sunsets, and La Brava to the northeast, which is wider, more remote and ideal for surfing.
The region boasts a profound natural beauty combining the rural landscape with the immensity of the Atlantic ocean, native forests and the stunning lagoons of José Ignacio, Garzón and Anastasio.
The people
“ Cuando descubrimos un lugar mágico no queremos que nadie más se entere, guardarlo todo para nosotros. Parece que los brasileños y argentinos de élite, y gente como Leonardo DiCaprio y Mark Zuckerberg, llevan años intentando mantener en secreto este poblado mágico de Uruguay .” / Departures Magazine.
Linen tunics and shirts, baskets bought on the Cote d´Azur, sun-glasses, alpargatas and espadrilles, all of exquisite taste. Europeans who come incognito; models, artists, socialites and writers make up the social milieu of this redoubt where private parties after the beach and sunset cocktails in art galleries are the norm. Everyone comes here to see and be seen but mostly to maintain their peace and privacy.
“ Unlike nearby Punta del Este, where priorities seem to revolve around 'seeing and being seen, José Ignacio feels more like a place where celebrities come to get off the grid and slip under the radar.”/ Lonely Planet.
The history
José Ignacio grew up around a lighthouse built to guide shipping in 1877. For most of the 20th century, the small peninsula was scattered with fishing shacks and not much else. In the late 60s, however, a handful of families from the high society of Montevideo and Buenos Aires chose it as their summer destination and built the first houses by the sea. In the late 70s, the chef Francis Mallmann started his first project: the Posada de Mar, and word of mouth began slowly but surely to spread that the little village with dirt streets was, in fact, a paradise.
“Nostalgia is remembering the water vendor or telephone calls made on rotary phones through operators that listened in on our conversations. It was very much a rural village. No running water, no electricity, no bridge.” / Francis Mallmann, Revista Paula.
Its remote location meant that it remained largely unknown through the 90s. Only in the new century did wonderful summer houses begin to spring up alongside top restaurants, art galleries, inns, and designer shops, attracting the attention of media outlets such as The New York Times and Vogue Magazine, who began to refer to the area as The Hamptons or St. Tropez of South America.