It takes three to tango

Dear future me,

I got very fit by walking through the big city of Buenos Aires for miles and miles in the heat to get around. Somehow sitting in a bus didn’t appeal to me with these late summer temperatures, so I just used these two mobile pieces of long flesh that cover up more than half of my body. In hindsight, it was very useful to me that I got all the energy and hopefully some lower body mass to prepare me for the next stage of this trip: travelling with other Dutchies! Josée and Erwin are friends that I know from Motortrails tours in Madagascar, Patagonia and Sri Lanka, just set foot on Uruguayan land to explore this area of South America for 3 months. That’s why I changed plans to cross-over to Uruguay first. The ferry took me there within 1,5 hours, but Argentina cried for my departure and overloaded me with rain. It followed me to Colonia del Sacramento and so I gave my friends a very wet hug. I also found a drowned Ozzie to accompany us at our first diner together. Welcome to Uruguay!

With some local guidance we set out to circle around in Uruguay following the hands of the clock. But first we had to settle our differences in our way of travelling. Because in this case it takes three to tango on our journey together.  So I had to get used to the many coffee, pie and lunch breaks and they had to get used to my pre-booking habit to make sure I had a place to sleep for a good price. And together we had to get used to the returning heat that slowed down our already very laidback rhythm to a minimum of progress. I’m sure that many travelers only spend a few days in Uruguay, which is 4 times bigger than Holland with far less inhabitants. But after two weeks, we are still here! In the land of vast pastures, cows and sheep. The left side of Uruguay is very flat, so we felt at home as it resembles Holland in its appearances. Although the high temperatures dozed us almost to sleep on the endless roads. At least we could find some coolness if we were lucky to find a place with air conditioning. Starting with old country houses, we finally ended up in modern containers in the northwest. Bathing in the thermal spas near Salto and relaxing on a biological farm near Paysandú. To counter the many kilos that we were taking in with all our coffee and lunch breaks, I proposed some physical activities as well. Gerardo, our great host on the biological farm, guided us on a beautiful kayak tour on the Queguay river to see the Queguay waterfall. There I found out that apart from the many mosquitos, I’m also very attractive for biting fish that tried to clean my skin. And I also found out that kayaking back against the current and the fierce winds, is pretty exhausting. Josée didn’t mind though, she was sitting as a queen in the front of the kayak waving to us, as Gerardo was doing all the hard work. Earlier on the trip she decided to test how slippery the showers are in Uruguay and found out that it is safer to sit on a motorcycle.

To let us feel even more at home Uruguay spoiled us with some good old fashioned Dutch weather. After 10 weeks of draught, the rain showers returned and escorted us into the northern hill country. Finally the autumn settled in and marked the beginning of the low-season. We were lucky to find a heaven on earth near Nacional Park of Quebrada de los Cuervos: an estancia with a very charming villa and swimming pool. I slept in the old chapel that they remodeled to a nice room. The owners use this estancia themselves and only rent it out in the summer. For us it was our base to get to the national park for a nice steep walk around the gorge of the crows which gave us a good feeling and a lot of muscle aches. From here we made it to the coast, where most tourist can be found. Starting in Punta del Diablo we were ready to exchange our motorcycle adventures into beach adventures. But as real Dutch weather entails, we got a rainstorm instead. While the fort of Santa Teresa did give us some shelter, we still got very wet and spend of the day in our cabin with (no) view on the ocean. The rest of our coastal journey did give us sunshine and fantastic views on the wild sea during our dances on the road as the wind kept us busy. We ended up at the famous fingers sculpture in Punta del Este, of the same sculptor that made the hand in the desert in Chile. I must say that the last one is way more impressive, because it is in the middle of the desert and these fingers are in the middle of Miami Beach. You can see that the wealthy, tanning spirits of sun lovers occupy this part of Uruguay, with its trillion people and ditto beach towers.

Finally we made it back home. Which is not Colonia where we started this tour together or Holland were we all come from. Nope, we are currently staying at the Chakra Holandesa near Montevideo. A Dutch camping where you can find a lot of, uhm, Dutch and German people. I’m starting to forget how to speak Spanish now, so I think it will be time to get back to my solo travels soon. But how do I rehab from the addictive warm and lovely company of my friends Josée and Erwin? And get back in the solitude of riding alone with only one coffee break per day, no lunches and cheaper accommodations? To tango on my own again……

See ya later,

Annemieke