On November 14th around five in the evening we left Brazil for Uruguay. We went from Chui, Brazil to Chuy, Uruguay. It seemed like the same town to us, but there is a dividing medium between their main streets. The Aduana was about a half mile before the actual border so our paperwork was already done by the time we drove into Uruguay. All we had to do was present our passports to obtain our Tourist Cards that were good for 90 days. No inspections or spraying for bugs.
We continued on about 25 miles to Parque Nacional Santa Teresa. It was a hilltop fortress built in the late 1700s. There was a plantation of trees near the fort with camp sites scattered though out it. A nice place to stay for a couple of days.
The beaches were nice and there was a little zoo there too. And goats - many, many goats! Big goats, little goats, white goats, black goats - You couldn’t get away from them. One was even so bold as to climb into the motorhome. We learned to make sure the screen was closed.
The next day we spent roaming the grounds and the beach. Our big excitement for the day was the discovery of a school of baby sharks. That and trying to protect ourselves and our clothes from the goats. The weather was warm and humid and towards evening it rained - hard.
We left early the next day and drove out to Punta del Este to look around a little. It is basically a summer resort for upper class Argentines. The main street was crowded with boutiques, cafes and expensive restaurants. The coast line was dotted with elegant homes and what looked like expensive hotels. The yacht harbor was very impressive. It also is a stopping point for the Whitbread Round the World sailing classic. After picking up a couple of souvenirs we headed towards Montevideo.
Our first night there we parked on the beach by a light house. The next day we drove into town to the American Embassy to check on mail. Also to ask where we could park for a few days.
One of the Marine guards told us he knew just the place and if we waited until he was off duty he would take us there. We waited - he came around the corner on his motorcycle and motioned for us to follow him.
The Marine house was in a very nice older residential area of cobblestone streets bordered by big shade trees. We parked right in front of the big old stone mansion and stayed there for almost two weeks. Their house was our house. They offered us use of the kitchen, showers and laundry room.
All the guys were in 7th heaven. They got to pal around with the marines. The marines were always taking Paul and or Gil someplace. Evenings we were invited in to watch first run movies or to play pool or ping pong. While we were there they had a couple of parties that Randy and John Mc went to. Bill and I stayed away from them. Didn’t want to dampen their fun by being the old folks there.
Randy met a girl from the embassy that he spent a lot of time with. When not sticking to a marine like glue Paul and Gil made friends with the neighbor kids and were over at their homes. Most of the children spoke some English. Uruguay had one of the best school systems in South America.
One evening I went looking for Paul and couldn’t find him, he wasn’t with any of the marines, he wasn’t with his brothers or dad. I called and called and no answer. Soon everyone, including all the marines not on duty, was scouring the neighborhood trying to find him. Soon it was dark and we were getting really worried, when up strolled Paul. He had been visiting “a friend” and didn’t realize it had gotten so late. I didn’t know whether to hug him or smack him.
There were still ice delivery men in Montevideo. A couple of times a week an older man would come by with his horse and wagon selling blocks of ice for the ice boxes still in use. When he saw the kids he would always chip of pieces of ice for them to suck. This was a new experience for the boys.
We even had milk delivered. Every morning a boy pushing a cart filled with milk bottles would leave a couple of bottles right out in front of our door.
During the days we roamed around the city, either walking or using public transportation. We only took the motorhome to buy groceries or if we wanted to go out of the city sight seeing.
Through the marines we met a US Air Force Colonel Retired. He invited us to dinner at his summer house in the very exclusive area of Atlantida. Atlantida is about 20 miles from Montevideo on the Rio de la Plata. His home was beautiful, full of very nice antiques. We enjoyed an excellent bar-b-que and then we spent the night there too. On the way to the house we had a small mishap - nothing to write home about but it sticks in my mind all these years later. The roads in the residential area were very picturesque (narrow, cobblestone and lots of trees forming a canopy over the road.) We were going pretty slow to keep from bouncing on the cobblestones and watching the sides so we didn’t run into any trees. But we forgot about looking UP. All of a sudden - smoosh, crack, crunch came from the roof. It sounded like the whole roof was coming apart. A lawn chair skittered over the side of the motorhome to land next to us. Some low branches caught the stuff on the roof and ripped off a couple of the tie downs. No damage but an awful lot of noise before we stopped.
Back in Montevideo we kept busy. One interesting thing we did was go to an antique auction. Wow to have money and a way to transport things back to the US. A complete antique French provincial dining room set (that needed a little restoration works) went for $200 US. They auctioned off beautiful wood ice boxes, roll top desks, Victrolas with the horn, and all kinds of china ware. Things I have only read about or seen in movies. Old cars are also readily available. In fact most of them are still being driven daily.
And we went to Batlle y Ordoneza Park where there is a gigantic sculpture La Carreta, it is a covered wagon pulled by oxen and the pioneers that followed it. It’s a monument to the countries pioneers.
On Sunday we left Montevideo for the river port where we would catch the ferry to Buenos Aires.
We continued on about 25 miles to Parque Nacional Santa Teresa. It was a hilltop fortress built in the late 1700s. There was a plantation of trees near the fort with camp sites scattered though out it. A nice place to stay for a couple of days.
The beaches were nice and there was a little zoo there too. And goats - many, many goats! Big goats, little goats, white goats, black goats - You couldn’t get away from them. One was even so bold as to climb into the motorhome. We learned to make sure the screen was closed.
The next day we spent roaming the grounds and the beach. Our big excitement for the day was the discovery of a school of baby sharks. That and trying to protect ourselves and our clothes from the goats. The weather was warm and humid and towards evening it rained - hard.
We left early the next day and drove out to Punta del Este to look around a little. It is basically a summer resort for upper class Argentines. The main street was crowded with boutiques, cafes and expensive restaurants. The coast line was dotted with elegant homes and what looked like expensive hotels. The yacht harbor was very impressive. It also is a stopping point for the Whitbread Round the World sailing classic. After picking up a couple of souvenirs we headed towards Montevideo.
Our first night there we parked on the beach by a light house. The next day we drove into town to the American Embassy to check on mail. Also to ask where we could park for a few days.
One of the Marine guards told us he knew just the place and if we waited until he was off duty he would take us there. We waited - he came around the corner on his motorcycle and motioned for us to follow him.
The Marine house was in a very nice older residential area of cobblestone streets bordered by big shade trees. We parked right in front of the big old stone mansion and stayed there for almost two weeks. Their house was our house. They offered us use of the kitchen, showers and laundry room.
All the guys were in 7th heaven. They got to pal around with the marines. The marines were always taking Paul and or Gil someplace. Evenings we were invited in to watch first run movies or to play pool or ping pong. While we were there they had a couple of parties that Randy and John Mc went to. Bill and I stayed away from them. Didn’t want to dampen their fun by being the old folks there.
Randy met a girl from the embassy that he spent a lot of time with. When not sticking to a marine like glue Paul and Gil made friends with the neighbor kids and were over at their homes. Most of the children spoke some English. Uruguay had one of the best school systems in South America.
One evening I went looking for Paul and couldn’t find him, he wasn’t with any of the marines, he wasn’t with his brothers or dad. I called and called and no answer. Soon everyone, including all the marines not on duty, was scouring the neighborhood trying to find him. Soon it was dark and we were getting really worried, when up strolled Paul. He had been visiting “a friend” and didn’t realize it had gotten so late. I didn’t know whether to hug him or smack him.
There were still ice delivery men in Montevideo. A couple of times a week an older man would come by with his horse and wagon selling blocks of ice for the ice boxes still in use. When he saw the kids he would always chip of pieces of ice for them to suck. This was a new experience for the boys.
We even had milk delivered. Every morning a boy pushing a cart filled with milk bottles would leave a couple of bottles right out in front of our door.
During the days we roamed around the city, either walking or using public transportation. We only took the motorhome to buy groceries or if we wanted to go out of the city sight seeing.
Through the marines we met a US Air Force Colonel Retired. He invited us to dinner at his summer house in the very exclusive area of Atlantida. Atlantida is about 20 miles from Montevideo on the Rio de la Plata. His home was beautiful, full of very nice antiques. We enjoyed an excellent bar-b-que and then we spent the night there too. On the way to the house we had a small mishap - nothing to write home about but it sticks in my mind all these years later. The roads in the residential area were very picturesque (narrow, cobblestone and lots of trees forming a canopy over the road.) We were going pretty slow to keep from bouncing on the cobblestones and watching the sides so we didn’t run into any trees. But we forgot about looking UP. All of a sudden - smoosh, crack, crunch came from the roof. It sounded like the whole roof was coming apart. A lawn chair skittered over the side of the motorhome to land next to us. Some low branches caught the stuff on the roof and ripped off a couple of the tie downs. No damage but an awful lot of noise before we stopped.
Back in Montevideo we kept busy. One interesting thing we did was go to an antique auction. Wow to have money and a way to transport things back to the US. A complete antique French provincial dining room set (that needed a little restoration works) went for $200 US. They auctioned off beautiful wood ice boxes, roll top desks, Victrolas with the horn, and all kinds of china ware. Things I have only read about or seen in movies. Old cars are also readily available. In fact most of them are still being driven daily.
And we went to Batlle y Ordoneza Park where there is a gigantic sculpture La Carreta, it is a covered wagon pulled by oxen and the pioneers that followed it. It’s a monument to the countries pioneers.
On Sunday we left Montevideo for the river port where we would catch the ferry to Buenos Aires.
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