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We drove down to Porto Alegre, the capital of the southern state of Rio Grande. I stayed with the motor home whilst Kirsten went into the town centre for photos. We drove out of the city to look for a place to stay overnight. It wasn't easy driving through all the traffic and potholes! Out of the city everywhere was very sandy and dusty so it took time to find somewhere to stop. We finally found a place in front of a supermarket that had a tarmac parking area.
It was almost dark when we got there but the supermarket was still open so we could get some food for the evening. At 3am it started raining and didn't stop for the entire day! We were on a small area of tarmac but the rest of the parking area was just sand with a lot of potholes. It didn't take long and all the potholes were full of water. It was a miserable day so we stayed for a second night - there was no point driving anywhere.
At least the WiFi connection was fast because the next day was the Royal Wedding!! Of course I had to watch Prince Harry marry Meghan Markle. Unfortunately our connection died just as the Queen arrived! Then it died again when Harry was saying Yes and again for the Royal Kiss! Typically there wasn't a problem for the entire pastors speech which was a lot longer than planned!
Afterwards we headed south along a coastal route that goes past a laguna. There was hardly any traffic and most of the time we couldn't see the sea or the laguna. It was supposedly a bad road but they must have re-done it because it was a very smooth ride. Unfortunately we only got glimpses of the laguna to the west and were too far away to see the ocean to the east.
In Rio Grande we got a 45 minute ferry from the end of the peninsula to the city. It cost us 33.50 Rs (approx $8 US). We chatted to a young Irish/New Zealand couple and their 4 year old son Charlie. They're travelling in a 31 year old VW Bulli and have 3 more months of a 4 month trip. They met on an Oasis overland truck from London to Cape Town in 2004!
We drove through the city but it looked quite run down with old buildings left to ruin and quite dilapidated. So we headed for the beach and parked on a side street in Cassino and went for walks along the beach.
The next morning Kirsten went for a haircut and I went for a last walk on the beach - it will be our last view if the ocean for months!
Our GPS sent us on another adventure when we tried to find a hotel in Pelotas where we could stay for the night according to iOverlander. We went around the houses and then got back onto the right road. But there was another problem.
We got to a traffic island and needed to get onto the main highway which was on an overpass above us. I was driving as usual and Kirsten was giving me directions from our GPS so I can concentrate on traffic etc. She said I needed to turn right and get onto the highway. The problem was that the highway was being built and hadn't been completed. The highway overpass stopped abruptly mid-air, ahead and above us and there was a 15 metre drop to sand and gravel below!
I said I can't get onto it. She repeated - we need to get onto the main highway. I said "I can't. It's not built yet!!" Oh well, I just turned right and shortly afterwards the GPS said we were on the right road! We certainly have some fun and games whilst driving! We finally got to the hotel at 5-30pm.
We were just driving off from the hotel the following morning when another guest told us there was a strike on and we wouldn't get any petrol! He spoke in Portuguese of course so we weren't sure if we had understood correctly.
Our plan was to drive inland (west) for approx 400km and then cross the border into Uruguay to go to some thermal pools and visit our friends Uwe and Claudia. We needed quite a few litres of diesel but there was a petrol station right next to the hotel so we went straight there.
There were no other cars there and three employees who were sitting and waiting for customers to serve! That was unusual. We managed to communicate using our Spanish and could understand a few words of his Portuguese - so we got the gist!
The truck drivers in Brazil were not only on strike but were blocking roads. They were protesting about the rise in petrol prices. It had doubled in a year. Their problem is that they are paid for their deliveries but have to pay for the petrol themselves. So when the price doubles they earn far less, and they don't earn much to begin with!
The strike had been going on for 2 days but might carry on for at least the next 5 days! The petrol station guy told us that they had no petrol (the road blocks meant no trucks could get through to deliver any goods or petrol/diesel but they still had diesel in their holding tanks! Thank God for that! At least we could fill up.
We drove out of Pelotas and hit the first road block 1.5 hours later. Lots of trucks were parked up on either side of the road. We were in a queue with other cars and were told we would have to wait for about 10 minutes but then we would be allowed to continue.
Obviously they're just stopping the trucks but with no petrol available there wasn't much traffic on the road. We had to wait 20 minutes and were waived through a second road block an hour later.
The third road block made me uneasy - about 50 men on the street in groups, tyres being burned in large fires, and lots more trucks parked up, going nowhere. One man was standing in the road and waiving at me to pull over but there was no way I was going to stop. I slowed down and once he saw that we were 2 women from Alemania (Germany) he waived us through. Phew! I breathed a sigh of relief.
There were 2 more road blocks, one where we had to stop for 5 minutes and another for 10 minutes. We could see that this protest was serious and it was a good job we were leaving Brazil. But first we had to make it to the border.
We took a detour into a town to see if we could get some more diesel and managed to get some even though it was expensive. Then we found a spot on the side of the road for the night because it was getting late and we wouldn't make it to the border in time.
The temperature went down to 0.6°C overnight!! That's the coldest we've had for a long time! At least our heater worked - it's been so long since we've needed it that we were worried it wouldn't come on. We needed it again the next morning and got up once it was nice and warm inside!
We did our washing up and got everything ready for the border crossing into Uruguay and then drove the final 50km. We stopped at a supermarket for a few items and then went to the border at Quaraí - only took 35 minutes for both sides and no vehicle check.
Once in Uruguay we drove to a larger town for shopping to get some fruit and vegetables and stopped at a small town, next to a park for the night.
