The Golden Van: 04/14/26

Three free nights camping in Uruguay was good for the budget but Monday morning we knew we had to move south and make our way toward our date with an RV repair shop outside Montevideo.

In summer this place is apparently packed and it’s remarkable to me you can stay in this parking lot in an RV or rooftop tent for free with a dump station and a potable water faucet and distant toilets and hot showers at the marina. Much of Uruguay is as pricey as the US but then you come across this.

Our plan was to check out Punta Del Este on our way to TerraVentura RV repair run by a German family of mechanics. Our Brazilian updates to our house systems need some refining.

The main highways are as smooth as the proverbial billiard tables while the secondary roads though paved tend to be bit patchy and rough. We also saw several broken down cars in the road leading me to suspect Uruguay is not an easy place to live if you aren’t loaded. There are a lot of old cars being kept alive with baling wire and fervent prayer by the looks of things.

This horse had broken loose and was enjoying freedom by running in happy circles kicking and tossing his mane, staying off the road but d joying not being tied down in one small circle. I took the picture through the passenger window as Layne travels in the bed with her injured leg up as it slowly heals.

20,000 people live in Punta del Este year round a city built in 1860 on a peninsula jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean. It has a mild climate year round between the 50s in winter and upper 70s in summer and I saw a couple of people swimming in the ocean yesterday and not in wet suits…

Luckily Layne can’t swim with her infected wound in her leg so I wasn’t put to the test but I’m thinking it’s too cold for me.

I walked Rusty and watched a bit…

…but it was time for lunch.

Layne thought she had found a cheapish place to have lunch and try the national sandwich the “Chivito” which means little goat though there is no goat meat involved.

Layne described it as akin to a Cuban sandwich as it has cheese ham a slice of beef lettuce tomato and a friend egg - constituting lunch with leftovers.

The sandwich was quite good if over the top and they were pet friendly so we could have taken Rusty but at his age a nap on his bed under the air conditioning was more his speed.

We ran the a/c for his comfort and in direct sunlight we were still putting 12 amps into the batteries as the Dometic air conditioner used 21 amps to cool our dog.

Punta Del Este is not really our kind of town as it’s the summer home of jet setters, wealthy South Americans and Europeans come here to enjoy summer especially when it’s winter at home.

It’s a city described variously as the Monaco, Miami Beach, or Saint Tropez of the South, none of which towns are my cup of tea.

But in the Fall we easily found beach front parking a block away from our sandwiches.

We bought some adequate fruit for $13 thinking back to messy Portuguese speaking Brazil where for ten bucks we got more fruit than we could carry and all of it delicious.

We fight drive the old town tucked away inland but the streets near the water looked like they could be in Miami.

There is no trash anywhere in Uruguay and there are lots of public dumpsters and trash cans.

The odd thing about Punta del Este was how open the waterfront appeared. Google Maps took us round the coast toward the capital of Montevideo and we drove past miles of what looked like like totally available parking right on the beach.

I’m certain that in summer, between Christmas and the end of February this place is totally packed and sold out and full of cars but right now we had our pick.

The coastal drive was sort of scenic especially if you enjoy architecture.

There were parking lots all along the waterfront and the beaches right behind the shrubbery you can see below.

I saw no prohibitions on overnight parking or limited hours.

I have no idea how feasible parking is here overnight but if we come back we might put it to the test. It was an odd contrast to the expensive waterfront realty and our experiences in Florida made me skeptical free street parking would be tolerated overnight but who knows.

I’m guessing there is some public housing in this unaffordable country:

We got on the road facing a 90 minute drive to TerraVentura, the RV shop. On the way we hit the infamous toll booths that are to be found on the main highways.

Since 2024 they have all been automated but there is an office by each one staffed 24 hours where you can buy a tag or refill your account. Apparently there are two ways to pay and I think I have this right you can either get billed which is more expensive or you can pre-pay using a reader like Florida’s Sunpass. So we bought the reader for our windshield.

As we haven’t be in Argentina in ten days we loaded it with the foreigner account which had us paying $28 for unlimited use for two weeks. I got lost on the way to Montevideo (yay!) and had to drive through and back a toll booth to get back on track so I was glad we had unlimited use of the tag (double yay!).

Each toll is about four bucks which had Layne grumbling but I pointed out it’s cheaper than Mexico which I don’t think made her feel better. I quite like rolling through without stopping. You can see the office below which required us to stroll across four lanes of traffic. Luckily traffic is light and with gas at $7:70 a gallon I’m not surprised.

So now fully equipped for a week in Uruguay we drive on to our appointment. Layne has found wineries and museums so I have no doubt we will be bs j even after we fix up GANNET2 and visit Argentina across the river. A lovely 72 degree day in Uruguay: