Population Uruguay: 3.5 million. Average number of people per square km – 20 (India – 380, China – 150, New Zealand – 15).
We fled the onset of winter in Europe and headed to South America in time to meet spring. We eagerly waited in Montevideo for the container vessel to bring our vehicle from Europe. We would start our South American adventure from Uruguay, first heading south to the bottom tip of Argentina, and then back northwards across Chile and ever on-wards north.
Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, is a bustling city of about 1.3 million people. A third of all the people in Uruguay live in the capital. The city was established during the early 1700s by Spanish military to fend off Portuguese interests in the region. The city is apparently the seat of the South American economic block, vaguely akin to Brussels and the European Union. A recent report rates the quality of life in Montevideo as the highest in Latin America. If this is the case, then based on the little we have seen, we would be in for interesting times. Security is in the fore of every one’s minds with all property locked and barred. Many locals warned us about dangers, said to be linked to drug trafficking. The taxis have the driver separated from the passengers by a glass (thick plastic?) partition. In reality, we have not seen any trouble in all of Uruguay.
The Old Town has been tidied up and several narrow streets have been turned into pedestrian access only, and of course, locals have taken the opportunity to set up stands selling curios. Numerous buildings from the early 1900 remain. One such building is the Mercado del Puerto (Harbour Market). This steel building was originally the fruit, vegetable, fish and meat market, but now accommodates several restaurants, many which serve the traditional “parrilla” or wood fired BBQ. Yum. This is great for a meat overload.
Punte del Este, a seaside resort area with a reasonable beach north of Montevideo, oozed wealth. There were literally thousands of apartments in high rise towers and high-end vehicles were common in the streets. There must be a fair number of people earning well. A landmark here is the huge “hand in the sand” sculpture. There is apparently something similar by the same artist on a beach in Chile.
We headed some 250km north to a small fishing village close to the Brazil border. We were incorrectly advised by a local in Montevideo that the border town, Chuy, was a tax free zone, and was ‘the place’ to buy a laptop. Our laptop suffered catastrophic failure and needed to be replaced. Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil have 40% plus tax slapped on all imports. Chuy indeed has several shops selling perfumes, clothing, alcohol and electronics, but the range is very limited and a total waste of time. Chuy is quite strange in that the Uruguay-Brazil border cuts through the middle of the town. One side of the street is Uruguay and the other side is Brazil, but there is no border fence and you can cross the border as you would cross a normal street. Not sure where one would get your passport stamped if one plans to head into Brazil. To add insult to injury on this leg of the journey, a thunder storm that occurred during the early hours of the morning, produced larger than golf ball size hail stones, which left our bonnet badly dented and the windscreen smashed.
The local fishing village near the Brazil border has seen a big increase in development during the last fifteen years. This is mainly in the form of shacks that have been slapped together to serve as holiday homes. Not far from the fishing village is Santa Teresa fortress constructed by the Portuguese during the 1700s, however annexed by the Spanish before it was completed. The Spanish abandoned the fortress about a hundred years later and has now been restored as a tourist attraction.
Driving in Uruguay is hassle free. Roads are paved and in good condition. Drivers generally follow the road rules, more than can be said for many other places. The numerous pre-1970s vehicles on the roads, makes things more interesting. Occasionally one would see people using a horse drawn cart. There are numerous scrap yards full of rusting vintage cars.
North of Montevideo on the way to Argentina, we stopped off at El Ombu. This is a settlement of German speaking Mennonites that was established in 1950, after fleeing persecution in Russia. The Mennonites are amazing people. They do not take up arms and they are devout Christians, two factors that led to their persecution. They have found refuge mainly in the Americas. What is so remarkable about these refugees, is that where they settled there was no NGO welcoming party or any other handouts. Instead, they purchased affordable land, mostly undeveloped and in inhospitable locations. Through sheer hard work, with the assistance of their children, they have tamed the land and prospered. One of the keys of success are the producer-consumer co-operatives set up by each community. Each community has self-funded the construction and maintenance of communal services such as schools, church, community hall, clinic, frail care, streets, water supply, power distribution and more. Today, they also provide employment to a large number of locals. We had a most interesting and enjoyable time staying with the local pastor. His mother was one of the original settlers and she entertained us with the history of the settlement, including showing us old photographs. These people were very generous and kind to us and add great value to our travels.
Much of Uruguay is flat open rolling country and used mainly for meat production. Occasionally one would see an El Gaucho (cowboy) herding cattle. Grain crops are produced in the north and the Mennonites have established a thriving dairy industry.
From El Ombu, it is only a short drive (100km) to Paysandu, the border crossing point into Argentina.
