Cold Sunshine

Cold Atlantic breezes blowing up the coast with lots of sunshine yesterday such that the solar panels got us from 65% to 81% of our 540 amp batteries by one pm.

Rusty  slept until 11am recovering from several days of travel which was not really very arduous so I worry a little about hauling him around so much. He eats well and sleeps well and is very alert guarding his home but travel wears him down.

After he woke up we went for a short walk.

Then he laid himself down in the shade at the back of the van and caught up on his sleep deficit.

Our drive on Tuesday was pretty easy really. The morning started out foggy which surprised me. 

I figured it would burn off but it took a while to see down the road. 

Rusty looked at me a bit grumpily when I insisted he board the magic bus though he knew as well as I did the rest period was over. I stopped for gas in the town of Three and Thirty just twenty minutes down the road. 

I had noted Google Maps said the city park and municipal campground were temporarily closed. Further to that I did a Google search and found the city has closed the park in July after heavy rains had washed out tree roots causing them to fall over. I figured the place was probably reopened but the uncertainty was what had led me to stop on the highway right before town to spend the night. 

The attendant looked surprised when I asked if the park was open so I updated Google Maps and took my neurotic passenger to roll in the grass while I did an exercise tape. Rusty refuses to lie down when we drive and he wears himself out sitting up like this, especially when Layne isn’t there to support him:

The park in Treinta Y Tres was huge and quite green. 

There were no trash cans so it was not as clean as I have come to expect Uruguay to be  in its public spaces.

Rusty on patrol: 

The city’s name comes a revolutionary movement to liberate the country, a story involving 33 patriots. 

And now you know who Artigas was, he whose name pops up all over the country. The liberator who didn’t quite succeed and ended  up in exile in Paraguay but the 33 finished what he started. 

The town beach on a day far too cold for swimming. 

The road south to the town of Rocha.  

I got pulled over at a checkpoint and for a change I actually went through a van search. The boss, the tall cop, came aboard very politely and poked through the drawers looking for god knows what, probably just satisfying his curiosity. The younger cop chatted with me while that went on.

We talked about learning languages and he told me he was born in Brazil so he speaks Portuguese but is struggling to learn English. When I asked for a photo they insisted I be included. It was all very friendly.

Tomorrow I’ll pick up the drive from José Varela to Rocha. There’s no hurry as there’s nothing to write about here at the beach, bright sunshine, cold winds, maybe rain in a day or two, who knows, wild camping in Uruguay. I rather like it. 

Beached But Slowly

It took all day but we did arrive eventually.

I took all day to drive four Google hours from the town of 33 (Treinta y Tres) to Balneario Palenque which happens to be where we spent our first night in Uruguay last April when we drove here from Brazil.

Layne is returning in nine days so Rusty and I have time to burn and I think my elderly dog might enjoy some rest so here we shall stay for a few days.

Something strange happened on our way to the beach, and after several days monitoring the situation I am allowing myself to imagine it might be a good thing. The coolant level has been steady at the proper level for days.  The leak seems to have sealed itself. I am of the school of trust but verify so we shall go by Chris’ workshop in Paraguay and have him have a look and if necessary we’ll simply pack our spare parts we had sent to him and install them as needed later. Very odd but very welcome news.

Rusty is doing well even though travel tires him out. I went to bed exhausted too and we slept back to back through a night that wasn’t as cold as it has been lately though I think that’s because more rain is on the way. I’m hoping we’ll get enough solar power to allow us to stay put until the weekend but if not there are campgrounds nearby. This is a very touristy coast, from La Paloma (the dove) to Punta  del Este (easternmost point) and I am back in the land of facilities. Time to take care of Rusty and watch the sun set. Two old dogs on a beach.

Mutiny On The Highway

Captain’s Log. Today the crew refused to obey orders. The chief security officer gave a flat “No!” when ordered to come aboard and raise the anchor. Lacking a yard arm or any other suitable limb the crew is in irons but still alive. I sleep with a loaded pistol under my pillow.  

Thus Monday did not go as planned. We passed a quiet Sunday night in the pull out a few miles north of the town called Thirty Three. I had hoped to go an hour south to a town park a couple of hours from the beach but it had been a long Sunday and when I saw the grassy pull out around 6pm I figured we should stop. Very heroic of me to listen to my dog. But that stop gave him ideas above his station. 

Its a bit messy with discarded plastic littering the ground, unusual for Uruguay but the ground is flat and as it’s a storage area for gravel the ground is firm and Rusty dug into the grass when we arrived. He was ready to rest.

By Monday morning I was ready to leave and I let Rusty out into the chilly 40 degree morning. A couple of hours later I called him to come in but…

…he looked at me and slowly got up as is his way these days, but instead of coming aboard stumped off into the bushes like Pooh Bear hunting for hunny. I got the message and I digested it for a while. 

Clearly he needed a rest after two busy days of driving and I couldn’t explain that we were just three hours from our beach campsite where I wanted to spend a few days. So when I put  a bowl of water out and he came for a drink but shied away when I went to pet him, my mind was quite made up.  No hanging, just appeasement. 

Okay I told him, I’m listening. We stay here today. We stay here for  you to rest. He looked at me balefully like he didn’t believe me then he settled back into his shrubbery out of sight. I read and watched a movie and then I deployed the sink faucet as a shower and washed my hair. 

The water was actually quite cold and refreshing. I still have three quarters of our 30 gallon tank so we lack for nothing in this slightly eccentric yet quite peaceful spot supplied with birdsong for a soundtrack.

At three o’clock he came out and told me he was glad we had really decided to stay, gave me a smooch to say we are friends again and then he went back for some more refreshing sleep. Rusty is my boss, clearly.

Rough Roads Empty Country

 Sunday was a day of driving across country, the part of Uruguay that they say is empty and they aren’t wrong. For a small country Uruguay has vast empty spaces strewn across the north of the country, ranch land with cows sheep horses and cowboys. 

According to something called the worldometer Uruguay has a population numbering three million four hundred thousand which translates to 19 people per square kilometer which in old money is 7 people per square mile. Either way it’s not hitting the average out here.

And on Sunday traffic was equally sparse. 

The road was a mixed bag, some pretty good and some pretty terrible. 

We made slow progress toward the beach which is my goal for a few days rest. The coastal strip is also where most Uruguayans live. 

The day started rather briskly with sunshine and barely 50 degrees at the abandoned roadside park. I think I d been rooming in SouthAmerica as some kids showed up in the early hours speculated loud music for a while. I had actually expected it being a Saturday night and I even fell back asleep during the performance. I never bothered to look out and they never bothered me. Perfect. 

I ghost a call from a friend in Key West and that made my evening. We reminisced and I wished I had taken the time to go to Key West on my last visit. I thought my time was limited by the Machu Picchu tour I had booked and then I was too sick to do that either. Annoying. 

Rusty and I left around ten and it was a slow drive as the roads were crap to start with.

The villages I did see were small, no gas stations or supermarkets for instance but lots of horses. 

We drive and paused to give Rusty a rest and drive some more. I was ready to be done with the interior of the 134th most populated country in the world and get to see some ocean. Patience grasshopper.

Finally I reached a town with a supermarket called oddly enough the Ta-ta, promising to lower prices for Uruguayans. I thought that was just advertising as I spent a hundred bucks easily and bought no meat or alcohol or weird foreign foods.

I first had to walk himself of course. 

Then this guy approached me and asked me about the trip I was on. You need anything he said I live here. 

I could easily have spent the night on the street had I wanted to. And after I got back with my shopping another guy approached me to practice his English to invite me back to his ranch. He told me there is a man from Oregon ranching in the neighborhood the only known foreigner in the town of Melo. I mentioned his WhatsApp number to Layne and she sounded interested so we’ll see but it’s a long way to drive from the coast.

It felt like it wasn’t going to end this  road through the wilderness even though it got smoother and my dues increased. 

The bushes growing alongside the highway have been cut back and Sunday entertainment for some couples is to come out and pick up some free firewood. I’ve seen people doing this all over Uruguay. Pretty smart. 

With 45 minutes to go to my planned stop I saw this pull out, a bit trashed but a hard surface and flat and it was past five so close to Rusty’s dinner time. 

It was cold as the sun went down so I hit the gasoline cabin heater for a while. Pretty luxurious this set up. Next I hope the beach. Interior Uruguay is explored.