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.
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| 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.
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| I live right here. |
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| 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.
Happy Thanksgiving!! We may have to have emu instead of turkey,
Gerry and Bill
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