Uruguay 2

As Montevideo got depleted, we had to choose between two different potential route alternatives for continuation - to the East or North. In the East there is Atlantic coast, Riviera of Uruguay and in the North, deep to inland, Kingdom of Gauchos. As holiday season is in its peak and hotel rooms on the coast with reasonable pricing were hard to find, we decided to take a bus to Tacuarembo, center of Northern District of the country, a town with 50 000 inhabitants. The place is marketed as a birth-town of legendary tango singer Carlos Gardel. At the same time Argentinians and French claim that Gardel is of their origin, only Carlos deceased parents know who is correct. Bus ride from the Capital lasts five hours and distance of 350 km needs to be covered.

Entering the vehicle, it seemed that Tacuarembo is a bird watchers heaven. Several passengers were equipped with leather bags similar to traditional pouches used for powerful binoculars. Soon it was clear that we are not accompanied by a group of young ornithologists, but people who like to zip mate tea. The pouches were hiding full set of equipment required for making and enjoying the drink. Cup with silvery metal lining, made traditionally of calabash gourd; alpaca straw with tea strainer at one end (bombilla), through which the drink is consumed; proper flask of 1,5 l volume, filled with hot water. The drink is prepared by steeping dried leaves of yerba mate in hot water and is alleged to have stimulative and appetite reducing effect. 

Buses in Uruguay are new and in good shape, equipped with usually functioning wi-fi connection, seat pitch is wide enough for comfortable long rides. Cost of 5 hour trip was around 20 EUR/person. Journey passed in glance, while enjoying the open landscape and good music.

Five kilometers from Tacuarembo we were expected at previously booked San Fructuosa Hotel. The lodge surprised with cosiness and service minded personnel. Dip to the pool and cold local beer were perfect remedy against afternoon heat. At some stage of the evening, we were approached by a man of our age, called Jorge. Later we learnt that Jorge is owner of the lodge. As our skills of Spanish are modest, it is not easy to chat with locals in Uruguay. With Jorge, former captain of Armed Forces, who had served on several continents, we quickly found common language. We agreed to join him on tour to small town of San Gregorio de Polanco, where he was aiming for business purposes on following day.

During the 100 km ride we received good overview of daily life of Uruguayans and joked about each others neighbors, Jorge told funny stories about Argentinians and Brazilians, we about nations living next to Estonia- Russians, Latvians and Fins, without forgetting sarcastic jokes concerning our own nationalities. People in Uruguay seem patriotic, open-minded, ready to find positive points in policy of the government for which they didn't personally vote. Presently the country is ruled by left coalition, which actions are not always meeting interests of entrepreneurs.

San Gregorio is a small town located next to artificial lake. It is a hot tourism destination for locals in vacation season. Several festivals are arranged in the summer to attract and entertain the holidaymakers. Most of houses of the city are decorated with colorful paintings and citizens call their hometown an open air museum.

Back in Tacuarembo, Jorge arranged a brief city tour. The most renowned building of the town is a worn out looking theaterhouse, which once belonged to father of Carlos Gardel.

Back on our own, we relished a perfect chivito at a restaurant, beloved by locals and walked back to the lodge through warm subtropic rain.

Traditional gaucho lifestyle still prevails in Northern Uruguay where main source of income is cattle breeding. Part of traditional grasslands is nowadays covered with planted eucalyptus groves providing landowners with additional income, numerous birds with safe nesting places and cattle with shade from sun blaze. Forest fits well into the landscape, trees become mature for harvesting in less than 20 years and are sold mainly to nearby pulpmill erected by Finnish forestry giant UPM on the banks of Uruguay river ca decade ago.

As we were guests in traditional gaucho region, we could not resist Jorge's proposal to take a short horseback ride. At the end of the trekking we were supposed to participate in “hard” job of riding the herd in between of different enclosures on the grassland. Despite Merle's doubts concerning our capability to accomplish the task, all went well and on second attempt were able to get one especially stubborn bull-calf to the correct fold. Thanks  to Jorge for perfect hosting and entertainment!

Massive mission accomplished, our bodies yelled for some care. We took a bus and directed to Salto, district of term SPAs in Uruguay. We wandered for few hours in town of Salto, partly flooded by Uruguay River. In the middle of the river is state border with big neighbor and rival in the football world, Republic of Argentina. Our memories of Salto are shaded with feeling of hunger, as it was hard to find a place offering food in the middle of the day. There were several takeaways, but only few restaurants provided possibility to enjoy food on the spot. By the end we found a cozy cantine and were well-off again.

Our visit to SPA was brief like always, how long can one withstand being up to throat in 40 degree water. Despite shortness of visit, general experience concerning Terms of Dayman are positive. The complex consisted of multitude of pools with different depth and temperature, there were possibilities for practicing several sports, picnic areas and children playgrounds available.

While describing their homeland Uruguayans state that it is not rich in “black gold” or other minerals enabling quick wealth. Although there are reserves of iron ore discovered, it is not mined, due to environmental concerns. Main nature resources utilized are perfect climate, fertile soil, open landscape suitable for agriculture and enormous supply of pure groundwater.                                                                                              Next morning before 6 o'clock we took a bus and continued our journey through Carmelo and Tigre, back to BA, where intend to stay until arrival of our truck, January 20th.

We got attracted by Uruguay and Uruguayans. General atmosphere of the country is carelessly southern, despite of that everything functions with preciseness of few minutes. North of Montevideo there are no herds of foreign visitors as two giant neighbors - Argentina and Brazil seem to attract majority of tourists, arriving from outside of the region. We felt everywhere safe and welcome. Our inquiries concerning availability of safe deposit box in the hotel was as a rule met with sincere amaze or in smaller hotels even with brief offense. Nearly each meal we had was a pleasant gastronomic experience. Price level at present exchange rate is remarkably higher than in Argentina, it is similar to level in Estonia. As well the landscape observed from bus window resembled Estonia, only there is much less forest present than in our homeland.