Way down South America way, one of the hemisphere’s most chichi beach resorts sits astride the Atlantic coast of one of South America’s lower-profile countries, Uruguay. On a narrow spit of land separating the Atlantic from the Rio de la Plata, Punta del Este is a 90-minute drive east of the national capital,Montevideo, and a 45-minute flight from Buenos Aires (and as popular as Punta is with many Uruguayans, it would be pretty much nowheresville without the well-heeled of neighboring Brazil and most especially Argentina and above all, Buenos Aires). Of relatively recent vintage as South American cities go it’s still relatively small (permanent population around 15,000) but over the years has become the continent’s plutocratic playground of choice, where St. Tropez meets Miami Beach meets the Hamptons. And what's more... keep reading