To The Beach

Thursday morning dawned slightly overcast with some sunshine and more cold wind blowing in off the Atlantic. By noon the solar panels had us up to 80% charged by one pm once again. 

Yesterday’s irritation was Starlink shutting us down as they caught up with our location away from the US where we had registered our service. For us it’s a disappointment but for those who work on the road  Starlink’s new restrictions are catastrophic as it will now cost $650 a month for 500GB for travelers switching countries frequently. You can re- register in a new country every 90 days so maybe we’ll do that later. For now we rely on Verizon’s international cell service which is a decent stop gap. Updating this page when we are in the wilderness may not happen…

The road to the beach pictures which completes the drive on Monday is below, downloaded with a cell signal. Adaptation is a human trait.

First I said goodbye to the free roaming horses in the park where we had stopped to take a break in Treinta Y Tres:

Then we got driving again much to Rusty’s disgust. 

Arroyo of the Dead Indian Woman, below. Every river bridge in Latin America is labeled though where the roots of the names lie is any traveler’s guess. 

Unlike Argentina in Uruguay they repair roads and build new ones, inconvenient but nice to see. 

Like most Uruguayan towns Rocha, the capital of the department, feels run down and not well loved, neglected and allowed to deteriorate. I saw several large parks and my goal, another Ta Ta supermarket to get a few perishables for my planned stay at the beach.

The first Christmas offerings I have spotted. 

And Rusty got his urban walk, not far, just tree sniffing on all four blocks radiating from where GANNET2 was parked.

Forty minutes from Rocha is the beach we first stopped at on arrival in Uruguay. I want to see if I like it as much a second time (I do), but it has no facilities.

The turn off to the beach, nice and smooth and about a mile long. Easy peasy. 

Thank you iOverlander as always. 

Rusty came up to me and gave me a big kiss after we arrived. He does that when he’s happy I’ve brought him to a place he likes.

Rain is forecast but for now it’s 62 degrees and sunny and windy day after day. Rusty rests. 

Cold Sunshine

Cold Atlantic breezes blowing up the coast with lots of sunshine yesterday such that the solar panels got us from 65% to 81% of our 540 amp batteries by one pm.

Rusty  slept until 11am recovering from several days of travel which was not really very arduous so I worry a little about hauling him around so much. He eats well and sleeps well and is very alert guarding his home but travel wears him down.

After he woke up we went for a short walk.

Then he laid himself down in the shade at the back of the van and caught up on his sleep deficit.

Our drive on Tuesday was pretty easy really. The morning started out foggy which surprised me. 

I figured it would burn off but it took a while to see down the road. 

Rusty looked at me a bit grumpily when I insisted he board the magic bus though he knew as well as I did the rest period was over. I stopped for gas in the town of Three and Thirty just twenty minutes down the road. 

I had noted Google Maps said the city park and municipal campground were temporarily closed. Further to that I did a Google search and found the city has closed the park in July after heavy rains had washed out tree roots causing them to fall over. I figured the place was probably reopened but the uncertainty was what had led me to stop on the highway right before town to spend the night. 

The attendant looked surprised when I asked if the park was open so I updated Google Maps and took my neurotic passenger to roll in the grass while I did an exercise tape. Rusty refuses to lie down when we drive and he wears himself out sitting up like this, especially when Layne isn’t there to support him:

The park in Treinta Y Tres was huge and quite green. 

There were no trash cans so it was not as clean as I have come to expect Uruguay to be  in its public spaces.

Rusty on patrol: 

The city’s name comes a revolutionary movement to liberate the country, a story involving 33 patriots. 

And now you know who Artigas was, he whose name pops up all over the country. The liberator who didn’t quite succeed and ended  up in exile in Paraguay but the 33 finished what he started. 

The town beach on a day far too cold for swimming. 

The road south to the town of Rocha.  

I got pulled over at a checkpoint and for a change I actually went through a van search. The boss, the tall cop, came aboard very politely and poked through the drawers looking for god knows what, probably just satisfying his curiosity. The younger cop chatted with me while that went on.

We talked about learning languages and he told me he was born in Brazil so he speaks Portuguese but is struggling to learn English. When I asked for a photo they insisted I be included. It was all very friendly.

Tomorrow I’ll pick up the drive from José Varela to Rocha. There’s no hurry as there’s nothing to write about here at the beach, bright sunshine, cold winds, maybe rain in a day or two, who knows, wild camping in Uruguay. I rather like it.