Chihuahua turns 60: what is the nudist beach of Punta del Este that never goes out of style?
When the Uruguayan hotelier Ricardo Rodal (61) and his Argentinian wife, Marcela Medina (58), settled in Chihuahua, the resort was nothing more than a couple of family chalets on dirt roads that led to a long beach and little known, where some tourists used to do nudism in summer.
It was 2001. The couple, who used to live in the downtown area of Buenos Aires and were dedicated to the sale and marketing of natural products, got tired of the widespread chaos that existed in the city of Buenos Aires at that time. And he decided to sell everything he had to venture into a project that his own acquaintances and relatives considered a “crazy idea”: building the first naturist –nudist– hotel on the Uruguayan coast.
“It was a gambled decision, because there was nothing in the area. Now it is something else: there are 9 hotels. What's more, they put one in front of me,” Ricardo says with a laugh. Back then, the beach was very different. It seemed more extensive, because there were still no signs delimiting its borders – on one side, it borders the Uncle Tom complex; on the other, with the beach of the gated community Ocean Park–. “We liked it because it was very pretty and quiet. And it was more comfortable than Cabo Polonio, where we used to do naturism, because there is no light there, and it was difficult to go with young children”, he says.
The beach was officially declared naturist by the Maldonado mayor in 2000. But it had been 40 years, since the 1960s, that some people frequented this place, then isolated and unknown, to be able to undress without fall into police censorship and social rejection. “There are records from that time. It was a movement related to hippies. Naturism at that time was a prohibited thing, that few people did and that was hidden”, describes Rodal, who keeps historical books on nudism and collects all the clippings from newspapers and magazines about Chihuahua.
The hotelier received a man at El Refugio some time ago who told him that he used to visit the spa at that time. He also told her that, years later, he himself had added Chihuahua to an international guide to nudist beaches, which was marketed in Europe. “Later I confirmed it. And I found a very precarious map of the International Naturist Federation (INF) from 1976, where it also appears. Punta del Este has always received a lot of European visitors, apart from Argentines and Brazilians”, he explains from his inn.
The low profile of the beach began to change at the turn of the century, when it gained media recognition. “The first times that television cameras entered was thanks to us, I think in 2004 – says Rodal -. We talked to people, we explained to them that a journalist wanted to do a report. We demanded a single condition from the channel: that they not put any censorship or bar on us, because we were not doing anything wrong. And it was like that, we left as we were ”.
From the appearances on television, and also in newspapers and magazines, many more people began to spend their summers in Chihuahua, including celebrities such as Rolando Hanglin, Coco Sily, Florencia Peña and Julio Bocca. Hanglin, who came to buy a house four blocks away, was one of the journalists who gave the place visibility. "He recounted the things that happened there and what the nudist lifestyle was like," says the journalist, at 75 years of age. He came to appear completely naked on air programs in order to make the nudist practice known. It is to this day that when hearing Chihuahua, the first thing that comes to mind for many Argentines is the name of Rolando Hanglin.
It was not until between 2004 and 2010 that the beach achieved the resounding success with which it is recognized today, according to the mayor's office. Many tourists began to buy and build houses in the nearby streets. And, at the same time, hotels began to be erected, more and more, until reaching the nine that exist today.
Along with the rise of nudist tourism came problems. “There were people who got nervous. They came to tell us: 'You can't do this here', they called the police. They thought we were having a giant orgy on the beach, or who knows what,” recalls Rodal. The real estate companies and some neighbors made war on us. They said nudism was driving down property values in the area.
In the last decade and a half, says Bethy Molina, director of the environment for the Maldonado city council, some dissatisfied residents have left the area, selling their houses or land. “People thought that their properties were going to be worth less, but reality showed them the opposite: now the prices in the Chihuahua area are much higher, because there is a private public that is interested,” she explains.
However, problems persist. Until recently, there were residents and tourists who moved the Chihuahua signs to shrink the beach. “They were people who wanted to go down to that area, but they did not want to be part of a naturist community, so they moved the sign. We always have to control that ”, he emphasizes.
The claims that still persist are those of some new residents, who buy properties in the area without knowing that the beach is naturist. "They come and tell us: 'The real estate agency didn't tell me that I was a nudist.' We answer that the neighborhood and the beach are well marked with signs, that we cannot be held responsible”.
Hanglin, who knows more than six nudist beaches in different parts of the world, defines Chihuahua as an “exemplary” beach. “It is special because it is simple, without twists. Chihuahua is very Uruguayan: it is not ostentatious, it does not command much, and it is educated, calm”, he says.
The journalist spent entire seasons at his home in Chihuahua, along with a group of friends, with whom he used to meet on the beach. He found out about the place in the 90s, through a friendly couple, and a couple of years later, he bought a house, which he later sold to buy another one on the Chapadmalal naturist beach. The Argentine coast is more comfortable for him because it is closer to Buenos Aires, he explains.
“You have to try nudism to understand it: once you get into the sea naked, you never wear a bathing suit again. It is so. You feel the fresh water in your body, the freedom on your skin. You feel the sea Nobody bothers you, you don't bother anyone. It's very special," he describes.
Hanglin and Rodal agree that the profile of people who go to Chihuahua is very varied. “There is no atomic bomb going; People who don't attract much attention go there,” says the journalist. “There are families with young children, to young people with friends or older adults – adds Rodal -. Some come one day to visit to see what it is about, they are delighted and they begin to come all the time. When they get to know the place, they remove the taboos they have in their heads”.
The public – “luckily”, Rodal points out – is renewed. “Lately, I see a lot of young people reaching out,” he says. Clothing is optional on the beach, just like at your hotel. The presence of new generations fills the local industry with hope. So does the presence of Uruguayans.
In the summer, El Refugio usually has a large majority of foreign guests – “almost 90%”, emphasizes its owner. For this reason, he did not know what last year's season was going to be like, with the country's borders closed due to the pandemic. But he was surprised: “The beach exploded with people, as always, but this time they were all Uruguayans,” he exclaims. Today many more locals are seeing naturism for what it really is, without prejudice”.
The mayor's office clarifies that last year Maldonado received much more domestic tourism than usual, especially on weekends, and that helped alleviate the effects of the crisis suffered by the tourism sector, accustomed to foreign visitors, due to the pandemic.
Now that the borders have opened, the Rodal inn hopes to return to the normal flow of international tourists. In addition to a large number of Argentines, Rodal points out that his hotel usually receives a significant number of French guests each summer. “The French practice a lot of nudism. We also usually receive Germans, Chileans and Brazilians”.
According to Molina, there is a possibility that in the coming years the area will move towards more comprehensive nudism, as is the case in other spas around the world, where people can circulate without clothes on the street. “For now you can't, it's illegal, nudism is only allowed on the beach. But we are analyzing it. When the neighborhood becomes totally nudist, progress will be made on this idea”, he anticipates.
