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We packed everything away, said goodbye to Annette at Hotel Westfalia and then stopped at Ferrex, a large store, to get Kirsten some waterproof footwear for Scotland. We found the perfect solution - wellies!! We got stuck in traffic but finally got out of Asunción and headed south. We stopped at a petrol station for the night and the manager came out to speak to us – he owns a motorhome and switched on the power for an outside electric socket so we could plug in for the night! Thanks, it's much appreciated because it was still really warm.
The next day we drove further south to Encarnación which is on the border with Argentina. We filled up with diesel because it's cheaper in Paraguay and our diesel tank isn't leaking!! Yippee! Well it's not leaking for the moment but we've had this before so we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed that we managed to fix it when the diesel tank was taken off at Vertigo.
We used the rest of our Paraguayan money for some shopping but saved approx $2 US worth because we'll need some Argentinian Pesos for a road toll. We weren't sure we'd be able to change so little but Kirsten jumped out just before we got to the border and found a bureau de change. We missed all the money changers on the street even though they were just in front of us when we pulled over! Anyway, the Argentinian Peso has lost so much value that the money changer Kirsten went to gave us 70 Pesos instead of 68, the going rate for the day!
We'd driven through the toll last year on the 1st June and it cost us 7 Argentinian Pesos. This time it cost us 24. We have 48 Pesos left so hopefully the Peso will stabilise so that we still have enough to pay for this road toll when we return in October!!
The border crossing only took us 40 minutes for both sides and the road through Argentina to Brazil was really good. It's just over 300km (180 miles) to get through Argentina to the Brazilian border. Last time we were with Claudia and Uwe and they needed to find a replacement windscreen so we didn't make the drive in one day. This time we made very good time and got to the border at Uruguaiana by 5-15pm.
Leaving Argentina was quick and in Brazil the customs officers initially wanted to give us stamps and a vehicle permit. But I got out our map and showed them that we were just driving through 100km to get to Uruguay. There is no customs office on the Brazilian side of the border with Uruguay so we wouldn't be able to get any Brazilian exit stamps and nowhere to hand in our vehicle permit. So we were allowed to go through without stamps.
From the border we drove over the bridge towards Uruguaiana, a large city, but then our GPS sent us on a route that would be fine for cars but there was a height restriction on the road. We went under one barrier which had flexible plastic parts on it so we could get through. That should have given us a clue as to what was coming!!
It was a one way road and then we came around a corner to see a fixed metal height barrier! We were 10cm too high (3 inches too high) to get through! We had to move over to let other vehicles pass us and then reverse! At least we got to a junction and could take a different route!
But our adventure didn't stop there! We drove through the city but could here something clanking somewhere near the front right tyre. We pulled over to a petrol station and took a look – our axle cover was split! Okay, it was getting dark already and we didn't want to stay in this big city right on the border with Argentina. So we drove out, heading for Barra Do Quaraí where we have stayed before.
Of course the road was absolutely terrible. We had to drive a bit slower anyway but we were going to get a lot of dirt and dust on the axle. It was another 75 km (48 miles) and most of it had to be driven in the dark, trying to avoid potholes.
We got to the camping area near the river where we had stayed last time but the electric sockets had been removed so we couldn't plug in. We'd managed to drive 418km (260 miles) in one day, a record for us in South America and we'd driven through three different countries! But instead of making it across the border into the fourth country we now had to search for a mechanic!
The next day we managed to find one in this very small town and found that both axle covers on the front tyres were ripped. Steffen, the previous owner, had left us one axle cover but we needed two. Fortunately we could get the parts here.
Two mechanics worked on Winnietwo for 3.5 hours and it cost 220 Reais (approx $59 US). It's a good job we had enough Brazilian money with us to pay. They may not have done a very good job though! They were putting the second cover on when they must have hit something because we suddenly started leaking underneath!! A lot of fluid was coming out and I immediately told them but they weren't too worried. They said it was gear box fluid and checked afterwards and said we were still full! Hmmm ... that was at least 200ml of fluid, if not more!
We found another problem the next day. We drove across the bridge forming the border with Uruguay and had to wait a long time to get our vehicle permit. The elderly gentleman obviously wasn't used to using the computer and told us we wouldn't need a copy because we were in the system. Oh boy!! We knew we wouldn't be leaving until we had the piece of paper proving we had registered our vehicle in the country.
We insisted and he phoned up someone who took him through the process of printing out the permit for us! It was only a year ago when lots of foreign motorhomes were confiscated in a battle over whether we are allowed to leave our vehicles here for longer than the three months we are allowed to stay in the country as people. Before this battle, people were allowed to leave vehicles in the country for 12 months but it obviously wasn't properly written into law. After the confiscations, the process went through court, so now it's written down in the law and there shouldn't be another problem. But we certainly didn't want to leave the border without a vehicle permit in our hands!!
Only a short drive later, I noticed something flying off our vehicle but it had happened so fast I didn't see what it was. I pulled over and we saw that we had lost a hub cap. The mechanics hadn't put it on properly. We had also lost the cap for our bearings.
We turned around and searched but then had to park up and Kirsten went out on foot whilst I made us coffees. She came back with the hub cap but no bearing cap. We checked the other side and found that the bearing cap was missing there too!! They hadn't bothered putting them back on! We got out our aluminium tape and used it to cover the holes – we don't want dust and dirt getting inside and mixing with all the grease for the bearings.
At least we wouldn't need to drive much more and the storage place near Montevideo has good mechanics so we can get Winnietwo checked out.
Our last days were spent at various places on our way south along the Río Uruguay which forms the western border between Uruguay and Argentina. Our first stop was at Meseta de Artigas where we could park up for free with electricity, water and hot showers. Superb. The only problem was that we arrived on a Saturday and there was a motorcycle festival on with a live rock band!! The place was packed. But we managed to find a spot and by Sunday evening, the place had virtually emptied and was very quiet and peaceful.
We stayed for six nights and met Christiana and Horst from Germany who have just arrived on the continent so we gave them lots of tips. For the following weekend we drove back out to the main road and pulled over at a small village called Chapicuy. We were searching for an internet connection which we found near a school. There was also an electric socket on a grassy area nearby so we stayed there. We knew that all the camping areas would normally be very loud at the weekends as people just blast music from their cars. So this little village was just right for us!
Further south we stayed at Nuevo Berlín, established by Germans in the nineteenth century, and stayed on another free campground with electricity and hot showers.
Sunset over Río Uruguay in Nuevo Berlín - 360° Panorama
(move mouse over panorama and click on the arrows)
We had to keep driving into the town to get wifi by the school, so we could watch our football team play badly (!!!) and also watch "Let's Dance" - a German TV programme/competition where famous people dance with professionals. (The equivalent is probably Strictly Come Dancing in the UK which I have never seen so I'm not sure!!)
Claudia and Uwe have got us hooked!! The problem is that the TV channel is one with advertising and every time the adverts come on, our computer has huge problems and we have to keep doing re-boots. The programme is already four hours long but we watch a recorded version starting at 8pm our time and it takes us over 5.5 hours to see the whole programme and is sometimes extremely frustrating because the computer just stops!! We also send WhatsApps back and forth with Claudia and Uwe which makes the whole thing a lot more fun! I made Kirsten laugh by trying to emulate the professionals. The rather embarrassing video is below!!
Helens Let's Dance practice
Our next stop further south was Fray Bentos, a name that every English person recognises as the manufacturer of Corned Beef and puff pastry pies. We really enjoyed the 1.5 hour guided tour around the factory which is now a World Heritage Site. Production is now owned by Baxters and takes place in Fochabers in Scotland. See the photos for all the info about the company.
We stayed at another free campground at Playa Agraciado for three nights and then spent a night at Colonia de Sacramento – a lovely colonial town which we visited 3.5 years ago before taking the ferry across to Buenos Aires. Unfortunately a lot of the old timer vehicles were no longer there.
We went for a quick 40 minute tour of the world's only pencil museum which is in the Guinness Book of Records with 23,000 pencils and 43,000 key fobs that the collector, Emilio Avenas, started collecting in 1955 when he was ten years old! Yes, he's still alive aged 73 and is still collecting. He has pencils from 73 different countries including the smallest, the largest etc and gets sent new pencils produced every year by Faber-Castell, a famous pencil factory in Germany.
His wife collected hundreds of perfume bottles which are also on display. He used to hold the record for the most unduplicated match boxes (9,130) but someone else has since broken that record.
Our final stop was at UY storage north east of the capital Montevideo. We spent our last 3 nights in Uruguay doing all our washing and cleaning and sorting out Winnietwo for storage.
