After leaving Peru, I headed down the Pacific coast, where I spent a few days in Santiago visiting some friends and looking for an interesting job. I would like to have spent more time in Santiago, but I needed to head toward Foz de Iguazu, Brazil where I would again meet up with the motorcycle tour group to serve as their mechanic for a week. On my way, I took a little time to know the city of Mendoza on my way to Buenos Aires. Gettring there we were delayed because snowfall had closed the border crossing the previous day, and everyone was trying to cross, now that it was back open. In Mendoza, I had hoped to take a winery tour, but my timing could not have been worse—Labor Day in Argentina is a big deal and almost every business closed its doors. The streets were dead, there was little to do or see, so I was a bit discouraged.
I couldn’t stay longer in Mendoza, as I had made an appointment with the Brazilian Consulate in Buenos Aires to apply for a tourist visa (Brazil is one of two South America countries where Americans can’t just show up and expect to enter—the other being Paraguay). I took the overnight bus to Buenos Aires from Mendoza and arrived in time to make some photocopies, withdraw some money, and keep my appointment with the Consulate. I was taken by surprise at the cost of the visa—just shy of $175USD. I had printed out copies of all my documents, including hotel reservations, recent bank statement, a photocopy of my credit card, copies of my motorcycle’s paperwork, etc., as indicated on the Consulate’s website, that would be necessary. The only documents they wanted was a copy of my bank statement and credit card…and the money, of course. I was expecting the process to take 3 working days, so I arrived in Buenos Aires with enough wiggle room, but it only took 24 hours, which allowed me to spend more time traveling.
With visa in hand, I made reservations to travel to Uruguay on a ferry that leaves Buenos Aires, crosses the Rio de Plata, and arrives in the port of Colonia. The paperwork for Uruguay was simple and they granted me permission to my motorcycle to stay for 1 year (which would be perfect if I needed a place to store it). The town of Colonia was fairly quaint, with large shade trees lining the cobbled streeets. Unfortunately, I found it a bit too touristy—it is, after all, the first stop into Uruguay for most Argentinians and the tourism industry is well developed. I took a bit of time to wander around but then hit the road toward the capital, Montevideo.
I enjoyed the change of scenery offered by Uruguay—it seemed quite quaint compared to Argentina. There were small farms and rolling hills. The two lane roads reminded a little of rural America, and the lack of traffic allowed me to travel at a relaxing pace. I heard Uruguay described as ‘Nebraska by the ocean,; but I can’t really say, as I’ve never been to Nebraska. There are plenty of trees, albeit the palm and eucalyptus made me realize that I wasn’t in the USA. Overall, development reminded me of simpler times—but still more developed than countries like Peru or Bolivia. The water is safe to drink, which is a big plus in my book!
On the road, I decided to stop into a road-side bar/restaurant to grab a bite to eat. It was sort of in the middle of nowhere, looked plain, but interesting. I walked in and was soon the object of everyone’s attention—perhaps the most interesting that happened that day for them. There were four customers and the proprietor. All four of the customers were enjoying their mid-day whiskey(s), but I settled for a sandwich and coke. Of the four, one was a mechanic, one retired, one a dairyman, and the other a pig farmer. They wanted to know all about me and my travels, talk about Uruguay, and about the USA. They were all very friendly, but I needed to hit the road to arrive in Montevideo before dark, so I bid them farewell and left.
Once I arrived in Montevideo, I found a hostel and parked my motorcycle. I wasn’t able to find a hostel with a place to park my motorcycle, so I left it locked to a street sign out front. I wandered around the city a bit and was taken by surprise, the high prices—finding dinner for less than $10 was nearly impossible. I spent a few days in Montevideo, but wasn’t too impressed—considering it is the national capitol, there really wasn’t much to do. I decided to take the coastal route to Iguazu, as I had plenty of time before I needed to start working.
