We left Paraiso Suizo and parked for a quiet and peaceful night at the lighthouse in Montevideo. Kirsten managed to take a few photos whilst the sun shone the next morning but shortly afterwards fog rolled in and we could hardly see a thing anymore!
Winnietwo in Montevideo - 360° Panorama
(move mouse over panorama and click on the arrows)
Montevideo is the capital of Uruguay but the streets are very narrow and it's impossible to find a parking space. I'd already spent three nights here and we're more into nature than big cities so we decided to drive along the coastal route past the harbour rather than doing any sightseeing.
The main highways in Uruguay are very good and, with a population of only 3.5 million, there's not much traffic except in or near the city. Once outside, Kirsten got a chance to drive for the first time and get used to changing gears. It's been a long time for her aswell.
We stopped in Nueva Helvetica on our way to Colonia de Sacramento where we were planning to stop for two nights but the campground at Hotel Helvetica Suiza only charged $10 for the night with hot showers and electricity so we decided to stay for the night.
We tried to get our gas bottles filled with propane. We have two 11kg bottles, one for cooking which is attached to our two ring gas cooker and the other is attached to our gas fire. After disconnecting them and carrying them inside a small garage, we found out that they only had butane gas. Not good. Butane has a higher freezing point than propane and our two bottles would last approx 5 months. This meant we were likely to drive into areas where it would get below freezing and go over high passes with gas that might freeze so we couldn't get them filled.
The next day we stopped at a large gas plant where we found out that we could only get a 70/30 mix of propane and butane gas and that you can't get 100% propane in South America. We didn't know that but at least we'd had our bottles weighed at the little garage so we knew how much gas we had left in each bottle and worked out we could last for another month or so. We had time to see if we could find propane elsewhere.
We stayed in Colonia de Sacramento for two nights at a yacht club on the Rio Plata which also serves as a border between Argentina and Uruguay. The yacht club has security and we could park for free. Founded as a Portuguese colony in 1680, the town yo-yoed between Spanish and Portuguese rule for over a century before being incorporated into the new independent state of Uruguay in 1828.
The most interesting area of this compact port town is the Barrio Histórico (Old Town), named a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1996. Its narrow cobblestoned streets wind around well-preserved colonial buildings, many of which have been transformed into restaurants and handicraft stores. There were even a number of antique vehicles parked here and there.
We also tried out a Uruguayan speciality before we leave the country - Chivito. Beef steak with ham, egg, chips and salad on a huge plate which cost around $20 for two including drinks.
We also checked out the Buquebus ferry across the river to Buenos Aires in Argentina. Unfortunately we would need to get the one at 4-30am and be there an hour earlier to check in! Ouch! The alternative was to get a ferry at 7pm but that would mean arriving in Buenos Aires at 10pm and having to drive through the city in the dark.
We'd had Winnietwo registered in our names in Germany by Kirsten's brother who had sent our new registration plates to Kirsten in Canada. She'd brought them with her and we decided to put them on before driving onto the ferry.
We got up at 2-50am, put our new registration plates on the vehicle and drove to the ferry port. Our ticket cost 4,397 pesos ($150 US dollars) for the vehicle and two people and would take 3 hours. It was better than driving all the way to Frey Bentos the closest land border and then having to drive south to Buenos Aires. Plus we may have had problems at the border trying to change our registration plates because customs for both countries use the same office.
We bought our tickets and went through customs. There were several counters and each had two people - one to give us an exit stamp for Uruguay and the other to give us an entry stamp into Argentina. Then we were separated - only one could drive the vehicle onto the ferry. We could only put one of our names onto the registration documents in Germany so we put it in Kirsten's name as she is the German.
So I took the long covered walkway onto the ferry whilst Kirsten went downstairs and handed in the vehicle permit for Uruguay which was still in Steffen's name. Then she drove Winnietwo onto the ferry. I watched from the covered walkway to make sure she was okay. There were only another 5 vehicles on board and you are not allowed to go back to the vehicle decks during the crossing. So it was a good job we already had the new plates on.
We met up again at the restaurant on board and had croissants and orange juice which was included in the ticket price. Very nice service! We enjoyed the gentle 3 hour trip across the huge river to Buenos Aires even though most of the journey was in the dark and the wind on the upper, outer deck was freezing cold.
Once off the ferry it didn't take long to get a vehicle permit and we were back in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The last time was in 2002.
