2018-05-24... Days 358-365

 The big SPRING clean.

We took EC for a wash and although we were there a while she is not perfectly clean. Very difficult to get in all the spots. 

John unloaded all the external lockers and cleaned the locker and the items.

 The toilet also had a spring clean. And I think was put back together correctly....

Front seats were removed. We had noticed the passenger seat kept becoming loose. We discovered that the seat is bolted straight to the "floor" with no washes and the floor has multiple cracks around the bolts. Another job on the list for Europe.

As with boats, if one is the smallest one gets to go into small places!!!

All drawers removed, cleaned and  sprayed with silicon.

Also with the help of compressed air from outside we have found one area around the stove anulus where dust is getting in. On the Europe list.

May 31st Day 365 We delivered her to the Montevideo port to await the arrival of Alex and Julie's vehicle. EC22 will have company on her trip to Europe.

2018-05-23 Day 357 Wed

A slow morning. No real hurry to get to our destination. We have a bed waiting so the camp is not hard to find tonight.

As we drove out this Zoro was sitting by the road licking his lips. 

Collecting firewood for the coming cold months.

 

One way of negotiating the town.

A day of big machinery and large feeding lots and areas of storage for silage.

 Another big feed lot.

The big machinery is common on the roads. They must be contractors going to other jobs. Some of the machinery looks too big for the average paddock here.

 Silage stored in it's sausage plastic.

Back to Carrasco in Montevideo to visit Mike and Alison.

390km

2018-05-22 Day 356 Tue

 

The farmer was rounding up his cattle on this cool morning.

We were in no real hurry to leave. Our trip is coming to an end and we face a week of cleaning!!!

The sealed road was so rough that the grader was filling potholes and tiding up the edges....

We had a quick late lunch in Colon then headed to the border crossing. We spent most of our Argentinian cash filling up with fuel just 2 km shy of the border. 

Again the border crossing was  different. All was done on the Uruguay side after we paid a road toll. Got the car price as did not have enough Argentinian pesos left for truck price. A  customs lady entered the truck and I opened the plate drawer for her. She was happy and left.

Managed to get some Uruguayan money at Paysandu and some credit on the Uruguayan SIM, then headed for a camp. Turned off the red road onto a very busy yellow but found an old bridge crossing loop and camped near that. Our last camp for South America so we opened a bottle of wine.

435km

5★ Uruguay, San Gregorio De Polanco 2017-12-22

In the center of Uruguay there is nestled a glassy lake; and in the center of that lake there protrudes a sandy, forested isthmus; and on that isthmus there are many beautiful camps. map

★★★★★ camps

One of the great delights in traveling the way we do is the prospect spending our evenings and mornings in spectacular locations. The things that really make a location special for us include a superb view, a sense of isolation, exposure, extremes in geography or weather, and a cheeky position (internet access is a bonus). We usually start looking for a camp from 2-3 hours before dusk, and sometimes we end up camping in the dark (makes for an interesting sunrise). I select a single photo to try and capture the essence of each camp. There is also a map

Our most wonderful camps in South America include ....

Chile, Volcan Lliama 2017-05-23
Chile, Pichidangul 2017-06-05
Chile, El Espino 2017-06-06
Chile, El Totoral 2017-06-14
Chile, CuadrillaDiez 2017-06-18
Chile, Caleta La Cichara 2017-06-25
Chile, Vocan Ollague 2017-06-29
Bolivia, Laguna Pastos Grandes 2017-07-01
Peru, Carpapata 2017-08-05
Peru, Chinchaycocha 2017-08-07
Peru, Surasaca 2017-08-08
Peru, Punta Olimpica 2017-09-25
Peru, 2017-10-01
Bolivia, 2017-11-07
Uruguay, San Gregorio De Polanco 2017-12-22
Argentina, Priest Road 2018-01-02
Argentina, Las Vegas 2018-01-08
Argentina, Parque Provinvial Laguan Daimante 2018-01-09
Argentina, Parque Provinvial Laguan Daimante 2018-01-10
Argentina, El Tromen 2018-01-13
Argentina, Punta Ninfas Lighthouse 2018-03-06
Argentina, Cabo San Pablo 2018-04-11
Argentina, Tolombon 2018-05-09
Argentina, El Quenoal 2018-01-13

2017-12-29 Day 239 Fri

Border crossing today. We drove into Fray Bentos and spent our last Uruguayan cash on wine and meat. A little thought went through my mind about keeping some money for road tolls but dismissed it. A mistake….. Yes a road toll just before border. Yes we could pay with US$ so backed out of the pay booth, found some US$ then an English speaking worker came over to us and explained how many US$ or Argentinians we’d need. The Argentinean money was in my hand…….  Oh well paid the A$4 got the change in Argentinian money then headed to customs.

A different system here. We parked the car and entered the office to be told immigration is done in the drive through booth. Good, so we got that all done well we got stamped into Argentina with a 90 day visa, but not out of Uruguay. At the next booth we needed to exit car and go inside to do Aduana for EC. Handed over the Uruguayan paperwork then waited at the counter for the Argentinean counterpart. He came in from outside and was the guy that directed us inside. All good he had some English. EC was no problem got a 90 day Aduana and the info that we needed to leave the country to renew the visa. In some of the other countries we could just apply. Also it is OK to exit the country leaving EC here provided she is still within her 90 day visa.

Across the mighty Rio Uraguay and back into Argentina.The border here is in the middle of the river.

Drove to Gualeguaychu and camped in the parque municipal. A lovely place well attended. Camped on the grass in the sun just near Rio Gualeguaychu. It was very hot but we sat in the shade of the vehicle until the awning came into play. We did not swim as we could see lots of wire at the waters edge. Seemed to be more vehicles driving around during the night… 116km’s

2017-12-28 Day 238 Thu

We went for different walks along the beach. I was out for a bit of exercise as skipping is aggravating my right knee (too many squats!) John went for a long walk away from the built up area.

We continued towards our border crossing at Fray Bentos knowing we would not make the distance today.

We looked into the parque at Dolores and although it was neat and tidy just didn't suit us

Traveled 26km's north and after driving down a track for a few km's ended up tucked up in the shade beside a tree on a tributary to the Rio Uruguay.

One has to remember that these tributaries are nearly the size of the Murray.

It has been in the high 30’s the last few days. We sat outside under the awning until the bities drove us inside. 195kms today

We are seeing what we had expected. Lots of farming, flat land and straight roads. One has to look to see something interesting. This is also showing up in that we are only taking a few photos every day and have to work hard to find something to photograph.

Hence the new photo folder of "Signs"