South America Premier Resort

  Punta del Este, Uruguay
Wednesday, November 29, 2006

We arrived at Punta Del Este in Uruguay, the premier resort area in South America. We are a week or so before the season starts, but that is good, otherwise we would have never found a room in this area. And certainly not a room we could afford. We are taking a down day here to lie on the beach and get a little sun. That is after we wash the bike, wash the clothes, and catch up on our e mails.


                                         PUNTA DEL ESTE - URUGUAY
The hunk in the picture with the beautiful woman is Leonard. Went swimming in the Atlantic, which felt great, especially compared to the cold and the rain we rode in two days earlier.

How did we get here.
After leaving San Luis, Argentina, we turned North and headed for the Sierras looking for some more interesting country to ride though. And we found it, the Sierras is a mountainous area with lots of lakes. Sort of a resort area. We spent a couple of days in Mina Clavero, a resort town, and enjoyed the pool.

                                                   THE SIERRAS 
During this ride, an ambulance passed us, all lights and sirens going.  I was amazed that on the bike we were unable to keep up to the ambulance through all those curves.
 

The result was, we drove a little slower for the rest of the day.

From there we travelled to Santa Fe. We were planning on stopping a couple of towns before Santa Fe but could not find a hotel, or a hotel with vacancies. We arrived in Santa Fe late, hot, and tired. ...and Karyn was a little grouchy....I ask you, how can it be my fault that there is no hotels. Anyhow, the location was great, even if the hotel was overpriced. We walked the town centre and treated ourselves to a great restaurant. Had a great steak for a great price, and a couple bottles of wine. Half way through the second bottle of wine Karyn became a lot more understanding, it was no longer my fault that we had to travel an extra couple of hundred Kilometers to find a hotel.

The next day our wishes came true, it cooled off. Like my daddy always said, be careful what to wish for. It started to rain, lightly at first. We got lucky, at the time the rain started coming down heavy we were driving through a small town, so we stopped for lunch. After lunch, we were able to ride again without rain gear, in the very light misty rain. We stopped that night in Colon, another resort town, and enjoyed the hot springs. Felt great lying in the hot springs with the rain coming down.

On Nov. 27th we crossed from Argentina into Uruguay. All bundled up in our rain suits. The border crossing went very well. The officials would not let Karyn process the paper work for the bike, but insisted that I do it. Maybe because I own the bike, but more likely because I was the man. The man who knows no Spanish. But South America is very Macho.

It stopped raining about mid morning, but we kept the rain suits on for another couple of hours. All you motorcyclists know that the only way to be sure it will not rain is to keep wearing the very uncomfortable rain suit. Later that day we stopped for lunch at some little restaurant on our way through a little town. Cooking beef over an open fire. Was not as good as it looked or smelled, but it was still quite an experience. The local drunks in the restaurant had a great laugh when Karyn paid the bill for lunch. Whatever macho image I might have had arriving on a Harley, disappeared when the women handled the money.


The next night we stopped in San Jose Uruguay. Very nice hotel. Went for supper, and as I often found, the only size beer was the one liter bottles. This was not usually a problem, but that night I just did not feel like drinking much. I thought the answer might be to order the local drink...Espillinar, which is a cross between Whiskey and Rum. With my best Spanish (and without Karyn), I went up to the bar to order this. I knew I was in trouble when the locals smiled at me. I then asked for a little water to mix with it. They though I meant I wanted more liquor in the glass.. Now I had 4 ounces of Expillinar in a glass, and the smiles turned to good natured laughs. I then took a sip and did my best to fake an appreciation of the liquor for my fans. I wanted them to think us Canadians knew how to drink. I impressed them, but the end result was, I slept real good that night, after I was sick for a hour or so.

The next day brought sunshine again and we continued on to Punta del Este with a 60 mile detour after I took the wrong highway.

What makes this type of Holiday so special is the unpredictability. You never know what the next day will bring. Never entirely sure where we will stop. The hotel might be great or very disappointing. The dinner could be fantastic, or it could be something completely unrecognizable.  The road might be fantastic, it might be boring, or it might be very challenging.  Everything is a series of ups and downs, which makes the overall experience fantastic.

The food is great. In Argentina and Uruguay, Beef is the staple in almost every meal. My friend Bob N would love eating here. You start with beef and add to that. A couple of the meals I have particullay enjoyed are ¨bife a caballo, this is a steak served with a fried egg (sunny side up) on top.¨ And ¨Chivitos¨, a fried steak served in a bun, but... with a slice of ham on the steak, all covered with melted cheese and then a fried egg on top of that and finished with a little lettuce and tomato. Tastes great but very filling. I am almost ashamed to admit this, but I have eaten so much steak in the last week that last night I had a salad for dinner. 

                                              RESTAURANT IN MONTEVIDEO

                      TYPICALLY MEAT IS COOKED OVER A FIRE. 


We are not putting on the miles as expected. I eliminated one of our side trips in order to stay to some sort of schedule. I think the problem is every hotel comes with breakfast, which we kind of enjoy. Pastries, bread, ham and cheese. By time we finish breakfast, it is usually 9am before we start. We usually stop for lunch, and then stop for the day by 3 pm. About 300 kilometers later. I am not sure how we will deal with this. Maybe as we get more comfortable in South American traffic and the heat, we will find the riding less tiring and be able to start earlier and/or quit later.

Riding in Uruguay is certainly less stressful than in Argentina. I certainly know why Argentina has one of the highest automobile accident rates in the world. There could be 10 miles of empty highway but the car following needs to get within a couple of feet of the car ahead before passing. I need to pass slower traffic very aggresively to keep from getting stuck behind a slower truck and having a car following a couple of feet on my back fender. Never came across any of this 100 mile an hour traffice in Uruguay. This might be because I did come across lots of police on the highways in Uruguay. I think another problem is that the Argentina drivers expect a motorcycle to travel against the shoulder of the road. Because I am travelling against the center line, some cars will pass me allowing only inches between their car and my bike. I prefer the North America custom of just giving the other driver a finger.

Argentina may have the worst drivers, but they certainly have the most beautiful women. There are women on every block who should be contestants in the next Miss Universe Pagent. I did not find this to be the case in the other South American countries we have visited so far. It is hard to believe what a difference crossing a border makes.

There was also a big difference in language between Argentina and Uruguay. They both speak spanish, but even I can tell it does not sound the same. Uruguay is much faster, much louder, and appears more course. Karyn is having more difficulty with the language in Uruguay.

Leaving for Montevideo tomorrow and then on the Buenos Aires a couple days later