01-30-04

I arrived at the Uruguayan boarder at about noon today. It took forever. There were a good deal of people there and the officials were quite entertained by the site of my overloaded bike. Following getting through the boarder I made as much time toward Montevideo as I could, which wasn't much before I stopped. I am typing this from my tent in the middle of nowhere, Uruguay about 210 km from Montevideo, the capital.

01-31-04
Rain…rain… since early in the morning all I have seen is cloud after cloud of guess what, rain. I have spent the day reading and listening to music on my laptop in the confines of my tent…and thinking. Thinking about what we as humans are. We are birthed from the star dust of a long dead star that was probably the predecessor of our current sun. What a thing that is really. We are recycled matter. We are not new in that since. We have been around since the beginning of the universe. As has all matter, from the beginning, since the expansion. That gives another perspective on existence. I am but yet another random semblance of ancient protons, electrons, and neutrons. Or smaller units yet of baryons, leptons, mesons, etc.

I Cruised to Montevideo, the capital. I chilled a while, read, and made a few adjustments on my bike. I was witness to a carnival parade with familiar African drumming and dance. I was going to try to camp in the national park Roosevelt that is right by the city, but there was no camping and it wasn't really a park, just a little gathering of trees.

I then stopped to fill up my camping stove tank at a service station. I talked to the guys there, telling them about my trip and mentioned that I was looking for a place to stay.

They offered for me to stay in a little room they had at the station. It was very nice of them. They had a shower and everything! I showered and went to sleep. I actually ended up sleeping in the bathroom, as the little break room they first offered was very loud, some sort of unidentified machine. But I got up the next morning and took off.

The same guys were still working when I left at 8am. They must have the extended graveyard shift. How terrible.

From there I headed to Punta Del Este, a little town on the Atlantic coast that everyone talks about. I had to see it even though I knew I probably would not like it. And I didn't, as it was a touristy town full of the upper Argentina and Brazilian class. The location probably would be a beautiful area if not for all the rich people. They wouldn't let me camp on the beach either. So I headed out of town and found a field in the country and set up my tent. It was a wonderful summer night with a clear sky. I fell asleep outside of my tent accompanied by Orion, Taurus, and Gemini. Three am found me cold and scrambling into my tent.

The following day I headed to Santa Teresa, a national park run by the military. I had to pay 10 pesos uruguayos to get in but the place was gorgeous. I went running on the beach, a good-ass workout, and body surfing.

From there I headed on a horrible dirt route heading north to Trienta y tres and camped in an eucalyptus forest. I finished up my tour of Uruguay through Melo, Tacuarembó, and Paysandú. I then headed back to Buenos Aires to meet my pal Craig Camman for a fifteen day visit.

Uruguay!