| Although Uruguay is seperated
from Buenos Aires only by the Rio de la Plata, it is an 8 hour drive to
the closest city of any size. The most practical way to travel to Uruguay
is by the ferries that cross daily. There are several each day that take
2 1/2 hours for about $18 per person and $16 per bike or you can wait for
the few that cost $35 per person and make the trip in 50 minutes. On the
cheap ferry we met some Brazilian guys traveling by motorcycle. They belonged
to a club, and a guy from the Buenos Aires chapter was seeing them off
at the dock. We talked a bit about where we were heading in Brazil, and
before we left he took down our email address. By the time we had reached
Punta del Este, we had already received two emails from the club's president
in Curitiba--one in english and another in portuguese--offering their help
on anything involving motorcycling. It will be nice just to have someone
we can practice our portuguese on. It was also nice to meet people who
packed as much crap onto their bikes as we do--and they were only on the
road for 8 days. They also gave us club stickers making us honorary members. |
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| A drunk from Germany insisted
on taking this photo of us on the ferry. Hey, is my nose getting bigger? |
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| We had planned to spend
at least part of a day in Montevideo, but as we were entering town they
were making everyone exit the freeway. When I use the term freeway, you
must bear in mind that this includes pedestrians, small scooters, donkey
carts, and bicyclists. As we exited we could see that one of the latter
was laying in the roadway covered with a sheet. The twisted remains of
his bike was beside him. The exit we had taken led to the seemiest part
of the port area of town adding to the sourness of the whole experience.
I am sure Montevideo is a nice town, but this day there was just one of
those vibes telling us to push on. We continued on to Punta del Este even
though what we had heard about it made it sound very "touristy." There
is certainly some truth to the touristy label, but we were actually quite
surprised. Punta is a favorite of people from Buenos Aires, and since many
of the schools start the first week of March, Punta's summer season is
over by the end of February. We got a nice room for $50 a night--half of
what it is 2 weeks earlier. Punta is a very narrow peninsula and
on the quieter south end no structure can be built higher than this
faro (lighthouse). |
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| The homes on this end have
a distinctly Mediterranean flavor. |
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