25th Of August

What may appear at first glance to simply be a date is in fact upon closer inspection the name of a town, the town of murals. 

We spent the better part of the day unpacking our life in the cottage and returning our camping gear, clothes and kitchen supplies to their place aboard GANNET2.

He knew something was up spelling nothing good for him. I wish we could have stayed longer for him.

We filled the water tank with potable well water as one of the jobs, along with emptying the porta potty into the toilet, taking hot showers and cleaning out the fireplace. By 3:30 we were fine except for paying the bill and saying goodbye. And that was that.

The Spanish travelers were getting frantic as their gas system was resisting repairs  but Adrián was working on some ideas. They aren’t used to having to wait to get things done  and staying an extra day was stressing them out. We got driving. 

We passed a monument to a Uruguayan motorcycling so that merited a momentary pause:

If you want to know if 53 degrees feels cold ask the horse in its blanket:

Saturday afternoon is the perfect time to hold up traffic: 

Mind you there aren’t many cars on the road in Uruguay, land of expensive fuel.

Our 90 minute earth shattering journey on Google:

 The 25th of August 1825 was the day Uruguay declared independence and made it stick. Their first attempt was in 1811, one more Latin American country trying to take advantage of Napoleon’s invasion and take over of Spain but Portugal and Spain each wanted it. Britain brokered a deal in 1838 creating a separate state with the Treaty of Montevideo. And this tiny town is named for that day.

It’s a tiny town and aside from the murals that we shall photograph today there is nothing here.

Side streets are dirt. 

After this excitement we plan a winery visit and then we move on to check out, briefly, the capital. More driving to come.