Travellers in a pandemic in Uruguay – Where are they now? (Part 2)

The coronavirus pandemic trapped them in a country they did not know, yet they adopted Uruguay as their refuge. Where are these travellers a year later?
By Karen A Higgs
Last updated on April 1, 2021
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Clara Carrington: Round-the-world sailor still in Uruguay — and now grandma

Clara Carrington had left her home in Spain in 2019 to become the first Spanish woman to complete the Clipper Round The World yacht race. When the race ground to a halt in the Philippines in March 2020 she joined her new partner, Antonio — fellow crew member and longtime resident in Punta del Este — and together they made it Uruguay just as the borders closed to non-residents.

A year on, Clara is still happily living in Manantiales, a small beach town outside of Punta. She spent the year perfecting her coaching skills and coaching professionals from Europe and the US. Besides, she is a mentor for the Magenta Project, supporting female round the world sailors — including Uruguay’s Olympic hope, Dominique Knüppel. And in September, she became a grandmother to Lina.

The day she was featured in El País last September, Clara had her final appointment for her application for residency. At the immigration office in Punta, she was asked what had brought her to Uruguay. “I blushed,” said Clara, “and showed them the back page of El País. The truth is that we were blown away by the coincidence of the day and the place. It did make it so much easier to explain how and why I’d come to be in Uruguay!”

The few Spaniards living in Punta Del Este means that when people hear Clara’s Spanish accent and stop to chat they frequently end up realising: Ah! You’re the one from the article!”

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