Feng backed up in one of the 15-real private backyards/parking lots close to the beach and I got off the car to pay. The woman spoke in rapid Portuguese—she probably thought we were Brazilian tourists because the rental car has Belo Horizonte plates.

The lot was full of blue “República Argentina” licence plates. Despite its name, Praia dos Ingleses is a favourite among Argentinian tourists, along with Canasvieiras.

I just barely managed to suppress a brief exasperated sigh when we stepped onto the beach. Why do tourists flock to this narrow strip of sand when there are miles of empty beaches around this island? Why do people need to eat their weight in meat and shrimp and drink fancy cocktails right on the sand? What’s the deal with these giant pop-up tents?

Why are we even here?

Well, come to think of it, even though I refuse to swim at Praia dos Ingleses—too many cocktail lemon slices floating around—it’s actually fairly entertaining to watch Brazilians, Argentinians and Uruguayans at the beach.

Plus, Praia dos Ingleses has several massive sand dunes on the southern edge of the beach. We’ve climbed them on a rainy day, on a sunny day, and now we have the windy day experience. Sand was flying around and it was surprisingly painful on the legs at the top of the dunes!