Post 110: Our last days in Uruguay

Fellow adventurers,

Our last few nights on the beautiful coast of Uruguay were spent camping in Santa Teresa National Parque. During the day we were to leave for the park, we stored our bags with a friendly Canadian couple we had chatted with the night before. We roamed along the northern beach, famously known here as the "Window", for its rocky outcroppings and turbulent winds. The beach had few people compared to the more popular center beach in the city, but was full with a few adventurous sand boarders, and even a kite surfer.

In the evening, we set up 100 meters from the beach under some low lying trees with enough time to make our dinner before the light crept away for the evening.  We star gazed and caught sight of many shooting stars over the shore. Our night ended with a movie in our tent, with the ambient sounds of ocean waves crashing near by.

It turned out the next day that our worries about paying for the site were unfounded, as the park is mostly unmanned and no one comes to bother you about any fee. Our entire stay ended up being free. We roamed around during the early part of our last day in search of the Fortaleza Santa Teresa, but ended up going in the wrong direction all together. Unfortunately we never had a chance to explore the old Spanish colonial fort. Regardless, we enjoyed our time and relaxed. The park lacks any store, but luckly for us, it is full of friendly Uruguayans who were more than happy to help us with supplies as they departed. The owner of a 'kiosko' even gave us an entire bottle of cold spring water from his now closed store. We were here during the end of the heavy season, and the park seemed almost empty.

We had previously changed our return ticket from leave from Punta del Diablo, as oppossed to La Padrera to save the hassle of making our way back down the coast. We were saddened not to be greeted by our host Pablo upon returning to the Uruguayan capital, but took the time to finalize our plans before our departing bus to the northwest of the country. Our final day in Montevideo was bittersweet, as we had grown comfortable to the familiarity of the relaxed port city. Thankfully we had a chance to hang out with our awesome host before catching the midnight bus to Salto. Our bus departed right as an intense thunderstorm was overtaking the city. The plan had been to enjoy a movie before sleep, but the show outside our windows was much more of a draw.

The bus ended up arriving in Salto far before the sun rose, leaving us with ample time before our next bus and no place to continue our much needed sleep. After consulting a local wall map, we headed for a park a few blocks from the bus station, opting to some rest under a tree until the sun rose. When it finally did, we walked through the border city to the Rio Uruguay, from where we were trying to reach Concordia, Argentina for our bus north to Iguazu. The border crossing was one of the most unique we have taken in the last 4 months. With just enough money in our pockets to get across, we caught a local boat departing a few minutes later for the Argentine shores, a mere 5 minute ride away. Our exit stamp was given by a lady and her child, sitting in an empty port building above where our boat was waiting. Of the ten people aboard, we were the only foreigners. It seems as though this route is not very frequented by travelers from abroad.

The border point on the Argentine side was just as simplistic and fast. We were lost as we left the immigration office at the center of a Naval base, and without funds until we could reach an 'cajero automatico'. Luckily a local man kindly offered us a ride after we inquired about the direction of the bus terminal, which was many kilometers away. He was very jovial and we spoke to him in our broken Spanish as he ferried us through town. From there, we waited for the rest of the evening until we caught our bus to Puerto Iguazu, on the Brazilian border.

Gavin y June