1 April: It is chilly and windy here. Overall, though a good day of finishing off the setup of Mr J and then our first asado with the owners of the campsite. It was a great day.
4 April: had a couple of very “tranquilo” days in a campsite just below village of Kiyu-Ordeig. Despite being very basic it exceeded our expectations and felt so at peace here.
5 April: Our first wild camp last night (on a beach outside a village), was super peaceful and felt really good. Great location too. Followed by a fantastic day driving into Colonia del Sacramento to be tourists in the old town. Tonight we are parked up for another free camp together with 3 other vehicles so have had some interesting, if stunted due to language, chats.
7 April: Feeling shattered and dirty. Yesterday we tried to find an official campsite but they were either closed or overrun by mosquitos. After 5 attempts across two towns and a remote spot we eventually stopped on a little urban island/park to wild camp again. It was a nice location and felt safe but were disturbed until 3am by couples coming and going on their motorbikes to find romantic time in the park (turns out were camped in the town of Mercedes “Lovers Lane”) and then when it eventually went quite we felt insecure – so slept terrible!
10 April: It’s been a much need “chilled” few days at a hot springs campsite while at the sometime getting some admin and small maintenance jobs done. When we arrived the campsite was quite empty but has steadily filled up each day, we think it must be “Easter school holidays”. One interesting observation, Uruguayans love ropes and tarpaulins! Every campsite has multiple ropes strung between trees with usually tarpaulins draped over them for a makeshift shelter, even if it is to cover a hiking tent which has perfectly good waterproofing.
11 April: Small disaster that turned out great. Mr Jones wouldn’t start after shopping in the centre of Pasandu. It sounded very much like the starter, so Stuart hit it with a hammer and we did eventually get it started and immediately went in search of a auto electrician. Google led us to a small hole in the wall guy who was so helpful, he also at first thought starter but then found some bad connections on the cutoff switch. 45 minutes later we were on our way, feeling very blessed to have found Marcelo!
14 April: We have had more “chilled days” thanks to a forced extended stay at some hotsprings. It is tourism week in Uruguay and the campsite was only taking 5 night bookings.
16 April: A bad/struggle day for Tania. Feeling just tired and frustrated with struggling with language, conversion of prices and needing to find places to shop with decent supply which aren’t too expensive. Especially for meat and then all butcheries close at 12 for a kind of siesta, grrrr.
17 April: A mission of a day, didn’t drive far but was slow going with lots of people on the road heading back after Tourism week. Then when we got to Trinidad the public park in which people had theoretically camped didn’t allow camping and we ended up backtracking 1 hour to a spot we knew did have camping. All very frustrating and the final spot was rather rundown but at least free.
18 April: Back at La Chacra Hollendese were we started the “trip”. There are a few more Bohemia that German trucks here plus a Sprinter van from Argentina, a Dutch “American” couple so happy hour is very lively and multi-language affair. Also in camp is Emil & Liliana – been on the road for 37 years having visited 186 countries in their Landcruiser – Incredible!
20 April: Punta Del Este – over extravagance and opulence compared to the rest of Uruguay, so many luxury high rises and houses, it almost seems like the whole of Uruguay could live here. Stop at the famous “fingers” and are horribly under-whelmed! We did like the little suburb just north of Punta, called La Barra (nice funky little houses, coffee shops and restaurants and cute little beach with some surfing happening). Then finally up the coast to Paloma for a night in the municipal campsite.
21 April: A Great day!. Drove further up the coast and decided to skip the “hippy” village of Cabo Polonio as we weren’t allowed to take Mr J there but rather had to catch an official transfer truck to visit, all just a little bit too tourisity for us. A further stop at Punta del Diablo which supposedly had a good surf break also didn’t do it for us and so we headed on stop further into Saint Teresa National Park. Here the camping options were plentiful and there is a fun little point break as well so Stuart got his first South American board meeting done with a fun afternoon session in the waves. Had a fantastic evening with two Brazilian couples who were camped next to us, enjoying their brilliant asado skills.
23 April: After a long rainy day yesterday in which we spent most of day inside Mr J, we had a “bit” of a debate whether to leave or extend our time at Santa Teresa. In the end left and made our first South American border crossing at Chuy into Brazil. It was super easy.
24 April: Left early to drive into Pelotas hoping to obtain a SIM card (prepago chippy) but being Sunday mall was “closed” so headed off to a grocery store which turned out to be a lot like Makro in SA. First impression, groceries are going to be significantly cheaper in Brazil versus Uruguay. After shopping we passed back by the mall and it was busy so we made another attempt for SIM card but no luck due to the Brazilian regulations. Then on our way to new friends house stopped helped a stranded taxi drivers with rear wheels stuck in a ditch – all done with hand signals as without a SIM google translate is lot more difficult to use. All in all an interesting but tiring day.
25 April: SIM card sorted today, could not have done it without Gabi help (not sure what we will do next time we come to Brazil…). Got laundry done as well, washed at their house but then found a laundromat to tumble dry as the rain arrived – small mission in one huge downpour but we succeeded.
26 April: We were going to leave today but then Nauro & Gabi asked if we could stay to give a talk at Sofia school, after all their kindness and help, it is the least we could do to repay them. So had a chilled day by Mr J and then dinner out with them
27 April: A really fantastic experiences this morning, gave a small talk/interview at Sofia school to about 40 students and then showed off Mr Jones. Everyone was so interested and our IG following just increased hugely. Then made a dash out of Pelotas as a weather warning had been issued for a huge storm, we didn’t fancy getting caught in.
29 April:A great little day of touring with spectacular views and playing tourist in Gramada and then Fortaleza canyon. Ended the day with a wild camp on top of pass which heads down towards the little town of Praia Grande.
30 April: A longish day, thanks to GPS taking us along some almost non-existent back roads between mountain passes and then getting to the top of a pass to find it closed. With rain coming in and unsure of what lay ahead if/when the pass opened we put our tails between our legs and headed for the coast.