URUGUAY

 The smallest country in South America is Uruguay. It is called the little nation that could. There is a strong middle class, a high standard of living and good government. It is also most beautiful with fields of golden winter wheat, barley, and oats. Herds of cows and horses graze peacefully. Sheep keep them company.

We traveled from Buenos Aires to Colonia Del Sacramento by ferry across the river de la Plato. The trip took 4 hours on the huge ferry. It left at midnight and we landed in the port city at 4 A.M. We also lost an hour which puts us 4 hours ahead of Central Standard Time. After sleeping a few hours we toured this beautiful little town. It is a tourist favorite with well kept houses and beautiful flowers. We saw our first old cars. At the time we thought they were unique but turned out to be common sight.

Old Cars

New cars are very expensive due to government rules. Plastic bottles setting on top of a car meant it was for sale. We made our way up the coast to the river town of Camelo. The park where we stayed tuned out to be the place to be on a Sunday afternoon. There was a constant parade of cars, motorbikes and people. It was NOT a peaceful place to be.

The people here are more friendly and outgoing and remind us of Columbia. They give us big waves and thumbs up. The roads are good and not much traffic. Diesel is very expensive at $6-$7 a gallon. The major roads have tolls that are high. This is mainly a rural country. There are one room rural schools that are well maintained. We stopped to visit one and had a wonderful time. There were only 8 students, their teacher and a cook. The grades were from kinder garden to 7th grade. It was a learning experience for all of us. The teacher brought out her maps and we had a geography lesson. They spoke only Spanish but we communicated just fine. They were proud to offer us coffee. Bill brought the motorhome close to the school. The students were very polite and well mannered. The signs on the motorhome were also used to teach. They all knew the flags of the different countries. Bill blew up a couple of soccer balls and they found a welcome home. They all waved Adios as we took our leave. This type of visit is better than any city tour.



I live right here.

  

That's Chile's flag.



As we continued east we stopped to visit a typical ranch close to the town of San Jose. The ranch was closed to visitors because it was the owner’s wife’s Birthday. But we were invited to join the party. We changed into our “Better” clothes. There were about 100 guests. The host and hostess were most gracious and welcoming. The ranch was like something from the movies with tables made from leather and wagon wheels. . The wine and food were excellent. The meat was typical parrilla. This is cooked over a wood fire in huge grills. There was beef,pork and mutton served on a brazier to keep everything hot.. Marvelous musicians entertained. We had a wonderful time. Each guest was sent home with a bottle of wine bottled especially for the birthday lady. We spent the night on the ranch. The next morning we had a surprise guest. An alpaca had made his place next to the back of our motorhome. We never know what’s next.

We see more campers now because there are municipal campgrounds and national parks. We stayed at Santa Teresa National Park on the Atlantic. We built a big fire of eucalyptus wood and the smell is so sweet. There were hundreds of green parrots making their home in huge nest made of twigs. They are loud and screech all the time. Huge harmless lizards also wondered about. The view of the ocean was spectacular.

Chu is a border town with Brazil. There are duty free shops and you can stand just right and be in two countries at once. You don’t have to go through customs so we spent the night in Brazil. Due to unforeseen circumstances other travel in Brazil will have to wait for another time.

As we traveled west once more the land turned marshy and was bird heaven. I need a new bird book to identify most of them. This was also big rice growing country. There were large Eucalyptus Tree farms. These are a dark blue green and their scent fills the air. We are not sure what they do with all the wood.

We are hoping to find out shipping information soon. Our South American Adventure is winding down.

Happy Thanksgiving!! We may have to have emu instead of turkey,

Gerry and Bill

BUENOS AIRES

We keep heading north and the weather is warm and is very welcome after the cold of the south. The area we travel through is void of habitation and just about anything else. We don’t even see sheep. There is just miles of scrub. We do see more campers and caravans on the road. Argentians love to travel. We park in an actual campground beside the river Rio Colorado in a town with the same name. The campgrounds are not as we know them. There are concrete picnic tables and grills but no hook ups. There may be water available. But it is a welcome relief from staying in a service station parking lot. The locals are enjoying the river. Some kids are swimming and boating. It was a good place to do some chores and fix a good dinner.

The next day we moved on up the coast to the city of Bahia Blanca. It is an industrial city with a big port and a Wall Mart. Naturally we head there for some overdue shopping. It is a Sunday and I think the population was there to do their shopping also. It took us 45 minutes to check out but we made some new friends when they translated for us.

Plans were to move on but as you know plans can change. Norman had a big puddle of oil under his truck. It turned out to be a ruptured line to his power steering. Since this is a Sunday he would have to wait till Monday for a fix. We received permission to stay in the parking lot. We kept noticing trucks pulling colorful midget racing cars. Turns out we are parked at the edge of a car show. There were 30 cars of all colors . They drew a big crowd and we had front row seats. Our motor home also got a lot of attention. Bill Gray, Dawson John and their Dad would have loved it.

As we had north there is a change in the scenery. There is a lot more traffic and ranches with big herds of cattle. Fuel is still a concern. We stayed in Azul at a service station and had to wait for a fuel truck to come in the next morning. We were told it is a labor problem.

One of our favorite stops was at a country store.  The store had been owned for 50 years by a wonderful gentleman and his family.  They were from the Basque region of Spain.  He is still very active and a gracious host welcoming us with samples of his homemade sausage. cheese, and drink.  We could not figure out what kind of beverage it was but he poured out of special bottles.  Of course we did not refuse.  The store had a little bit of everything.  There was fresh bread in a basket and eggs by the dozen.  The counters showed their 50 years and his scales dated before that time.  He did not speak our language but it was not necessary.  The welcome was a genuine one.



Accurate Weight



Good Stuff



I'll have a half dozen of those!




Try This


The drive into the city of Buenos Aires was a white knuckle one with many lanes of traffic trying to gain a spot. Buses, taxies, and cars are all wanting to move on. After about 2 hours of this we finally park close to the docks and not very far from the center of the city. The city has a European feel with very modern skyscrapers. We can observe office workers on their way to work and they are a handsome bunch. The men dressed in dark suits, white shirts and ties and they are looking good. There are vendors close by selling bar-b-que. It is usually a sausage called Cheri-Pan. It is served on a big bun with onions and all sorts of stuff to put on it. This is good eating.

We walked miles seeing the city. There is activity everywhere with runners, walkers and cyclist.

One must see a tango show and we had a great evening. We dressed up and were driven to the venue. Dinner wasn’t served till 9p.m. We had wonderful seats with stage view of the performers. We had not been exposed to the tango before but were highly entertained. We didn’t get home till 1:30 A.M. The city doesn’t sleep with dining going on till the wee hours of the morning.

We took the grand tour of the city the next day on a double decker bus. We had head phones with English and several other languages. The city has done a good job with its’ green spaces with many beautiful parks.

We had tickets for the ferry to go to Uruguay that night. . The 4 hour ride did not leave till 12P.M. We were exhausted when we finally passed through customs to see South America’s smallest country.

Gerry & Bill

Birds

We thought you might be interested in some of the birds we’ve seen down here.

 One of the most interesting is the Andean Condor.

It’s a kind of vulture with a wing span of about 9 feet. We saw one circling really high.

                                                                            

We also saw a caracara

Which I thought looked

Like a funny chicken.

Other birds seen in our campsite were Buff-necked Isbis’

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Once, while driving down a gravel road, we saw an eagle and it's chick

In southern Argentina we

Saw acres and acres of sheep.

Mixed in with them were rheas,

which looked like an ostrich to us.

 We saw lots and lots of Gulls.

Penguins are cute.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Flamingos were common.

 Look ma, a chicken.