Asado on an Estancia

16.11.18. – 17.1.19

Gauchos

A little history and romance we experienced during our stay on an Estancia. The life of the gauchos. We also had an asado under the open sky, but not in the middle of the prairie and not every night. Instead we were allowed to go horse riding every day. Riding across the wide, flat fields is really a special feeling. On the second day, however, I accompanied the riders with Ernstli. Only because I could not take the camera on the horse of course. I was pretty proud afterwards – about Ernstli, he really gets everywhere offroad. One evening we saw a classic cattle drive through the middle of the Estancia, it was very impressive.

Water

The weather in Uruguay surprised us quite a bit. We came with the idea of hot, dry summers and were facing extremely strong storms, many thunderstorms and huge amounts of water. Once a twelve-hour thunderstorm was so violent that Globi’s ears (rear view mirrors) were flipped forward. We did not need light that night, as the lightning continued to turn night into day. We were happy the other day that we were not standing near trees, many of which were laying across the street.

On the track to the Estancia was a small stone bridge completely under water. Since we knew that there was a bridge under the water, we could just drive through the water. When we left the Estancia again, the bridge was no longer flooded, but it was only so much left that only a bike could drive over, the rest was washed away. We discussed the crossing of the river aside of the bridge but rejected the idea because of the steep slopes. So, we rebuilt part of the bridge in a rough-and-ready way by hand with loose stones. Whether the loose stones would carry the tonnages of Globi, we only knew afterwards. They did. Another bridge on an overland road was also completely flooded to a length of about 500 meters. Vehicles and locals jammed on both sides. After a brief situation analysis, I decided that Globi would do it. And certainly, he succeeded. The waiting people applauded Globi frenetically when we arrived at the other bank.

At Mercedes we wanted to stay at the Rambla. The Rambla was completely under water. On the same day, an anchored ship disengaged and hit a swing bridge over which all traffic flows. Since then the bridge has been out of service.

Experiences to smile

In Chuy, a city in the north of the country, we drove on the road out of town. One side of the road is Uruguay, the other is Brazil. We had to drive on the Brazilian. How here the border controls work, is beyond us, in any case, we had to show our passports nowhere.

In Colonia we were desperately looking for a quiet spot. The local population is known to be not at all noise-sensitive. After several attempts, a resident helped us to find a nice spot close the river, far away from everyone and totally quiet. At 2.00 o’clock in the morning the beach bar, about 200 meters away, opened. The music was switched off again at 7am. Well, if we had been younger …

Gabi sits next to Globi and reads. A small bird with nest building material is constantly flying past her. She thinks that’s somehow weird and looked into it. The little one actually wanted to build his nest in our fences outlet. Gabi has brutally destroyed it.

The other experience that Gabi had with an animal, the roles were a little reversed. Gabi stroked a lizard with a twig. The lizard misunderstood this and attacked Gabi with hissing and open mouth with a huge jump.

The refrigerator must be defrosted a bit more frequently in warm, damp areas. We decide the new refrigerator for the first time. I was really excited about the great construction. No water ran into the fridge, always dry. But the ice melted. Well, somehow, we had to get to the bottom of it. At the back of the fridge underneath the ice is a great water bowl with a drainpipe built. The little tube runs somewhere behind the fridge. So, the water flowed behind our furniture. Since then, we also know how to take out the washing machine and how to absorb the five litres of ice water and dry the floor with all the cables and tubes behind the furniture.

An always enjoyable work is the recharge of our SIM card. For this, the card must be placed from the router into a cell phone. When re-inserting in the router, the card has slipped out of my fingers and fell into the router. Doubt on my fine motor skills did not help. I had to remove the router and the WIFI transmitter and then disassemble both. Fortunately, the SIM card did not simply slide into the router, but rather behind the board, which had to be dismantled therefore as well. But hey – the router is running again.

Colleagues

In Uruguay we met quite a lot of colleagues. Already in the first days Paola and Dieter visited us with their 3-axle Mercedes. Dieter we have known for some time on the internet and now also personally. We had some nice evenings together.

Karin and Oliver with their 3-axle MAN we met at the Laguna Rocha and there we experienced for the first time that three 3-axle expedition vehicles stand together at the same location! Karin and Oliver, we know already from Europe and met them now for the first time on the road.

Gloria and Renato met again in Montevideo. They are on the way to the south. We hope to meet you often.

As well for the first time since we are traveling with Globi, someone has visited us. Diana, Gabi’s best friend, travelled with us for a month with a rental mobile home. We had a very nice time together and do not want to miss that.

At the very end of our stay in Uruguay we met Marion and Walter, whom we have met before in Botswana. We did bring important things from Europe for them.