The other side of the Uruguay River. 
The border crossing took half an hour.
The border formalities for both countries are situated on the Uruguayan side of the bridge over the River Uruguay. Which confused us as we had no idea how to check out of Uruguay at that point as the Argentine immigration officer took our passports at the booth.
You will check us out of Uruguay I asked nervously, we wavy up became to cone back. She laughed and told me not to worry so I didn’t. The customs guys at the next booth were fierce and they went through Laynes galley with a fine tooth comb. Out went fruits, cheese, Rusty’s cooked hot dogs, our cooked steaks, vegetables, and Layne got more and more bummed. We’ve never lost cheese cooked meats and hard boiled eggs before. No one cared to look at Rusty’s papers and after half an hour we were done.
The nearest town was half an hour away so we crossed the bridge and paid a ten dollar toll for the privilege and it was a nice bridge.
I’m not sure how pronounced the name of the Argentine town, Gualeguaychú, but we got there and skipped a shopping spree at the Carrefour Hiper market to replace lost supplies. Layne said we had supplies for dinner with wine so I was fine with driving straight to our street camp for the night.
It’s hard to tell with Argentina as the country has a permanent economic crisis to deal with but the town seemed like a typical slightly disheveled border town.
But we both noticed how much busier the place was compared to Uruguay across the river.
iOverlander gave us a lead on a free place to park for the night and it looked good to us.
Gasoline is cheaper here US$6:31 a gallon versus $7:71 in Uruguay but a free night helps.
Rusty had watched me go but wasn’t going to let me wander about alone…
It was a nice park for locals who came out to chat, walk their dogs and children and go fishing. Some of them smiled and said hi to us as they walked by. Uruguayans across the river are much lore reserved and rarely even make eye contact. So close yet so different. “Waa-lay-way-chew” maybe is how you say it?
Beef gravy, some cheese customs missed and a bunch of kibbles and Rusty was happy.
The park is pretty huge.
This guy was selling fry bread and apple tarts. Layne said no. Bugger.
Somehow a cheese and a salami survived the border ravishing plus we had bread and wine. That was dinner.
After a gray day and not much driving we weren’t bulging with electricity so why cook?
We had some Italians for neighbors tightly tucked into their van. Never saw them.
Eva Peron. The graffiti’ed plaque said it was placed here in 1997 to balance the historical record, courtesy of the socialist city administration. One gets the feeling there might have been some discussion about this statue’s inclusion in the park.
