Lions and Tigers and a Bear, Oh My!

When we last left our bicycle adventurers they were struggling to get across the Rio Parana.  And not being able to cross at Santa Fe would change their route dramatically through South America. So did they make it across into the Entre Rios province at Santa Fe?  Yes they did.  But how?   

Basically we got to Santa Fe and discovered at the bus station that cyclists are not allowed to go through the tunnel that leads to Parana on the other side of the Rio Parana.  So the only way over was to take the bus.  Not bad at 5 pesos a person and we could easily fit the bikes on at no extra charge.  It took us 30km from Santa Fe to Parana.  Once on the other side there was a sigh of relief as it would have been a great burden to continue north to Paraguay and thus changing our planned route. 

The rest of Argentina was kind of dull with rolling hills.  Those rolling hills continued for a good portion of Uruguay.  But Uruguay presented us with something we had not seen in a long time: a hard shoulder.  I got excited but maybe a bit too much because it would turn to crap at times.  So bad that I would cycle on the road proper.  But the traffic was minimal most of the time so all was good.    

Our main struggle through Uruguay was keeping well fed.  I have to say Uruguay is one of the most expensive countries yet when it comes to stocking up at the supermarket.  And that is saying a lot.  It was a huge step up from Argentina.  So any bicycle tourists take note, stock up in Argentina!  We got by primarily on mandarin oranges and instant mash.  We did get in our much needed dulce de leche hits which Trevor says without, would make South America a very tough continent to ride through as that is what keeps him going. 

We crossed over to Brazil at Santana Do Livramento from Rivera in Uruguay and at first didn’t even know we crossed the border.  There is no fence or anything that divides the two countries, just two cities side by side.  So we cycled back into Uruguay, found the immigration office, got stamped out, then cycled again into Brazil and got stamped in. 

Not a whole lot of excitement for us in Brazil as we didn’t really cover much ground.  Passed through a few towns but for the most part just cycled the rather dull countryside.  Judging though from what we did cycle I will say it was probably a really good thing we didn’t go to Rio de Janeiro as the roads most likely would have been chaotic to cycle on.      

We now head back into Argentina with their no hard shoulders but better food options and head for Paraguay.   

It is never fun transporting bicycles on another mode of transport.  Just hassle.  But luckily our bikes fit on the bus nicely and all went well. 

Our last night in Argentina we camped behind this display and there were lots of banners around protesting something.  We didn’t know what all the hype was about at the time but I later found out the Argentine side doesn’t like the Uruguayan side for setting up some multinational paper factories that pollute the Rio Uruguay. 

What’s this?  A hard shoulder!  But don’t get too excited.

We lucked out our first night in Uruguay and stumbled upon a free campground with electrical outlets in the town of Jose Enrique Rodo.  We had the park to ourselves so it was pretty sweet.  They have these all throughout Uruguay I believe.  Unfortunately we only hit this one. 

Got into Montevideo on a foggy day and was greeted by a stray dog at Plaza de Independecia. 

I wouldn’t say he loved it but he didn’t hate it.  I would also say I was quite surprised Trevor went along and posed for this shot.    

I love going to zoos especially when the price of admission is free.  This particular zoo was in the town of Durazno and I was impressed with it.  Usually when you have exotic animals like lions, tigers and a lonely bear you could charge a hefty fee.  But this one was free for some reason.  They also had pumas, rude baboons that would fling their peckers for the world to see and start pissing in front of me, capybaras, caimans that hissed at me, toucan Sam, reindeer and llamas among many others. 

I think though some of the animals were rescued or sadly injured because some were not in the greatest of shape.  I saw a couple of animals with a lost limb or in this jaguar’s case, a lost ear. 

We met Sirela who works at the tourism office in Durazno.  She arranged for a photographer to take our picture and journalist to interview us for their local newspaper.  The photographer came and snapped a couple of shots but they couldn’t get a journalist over.  So she ended up interviewing us.  Always neat to be interviewed. 

A unique mountain before we entered Tacuarembo.  Lots of gauchos around these parts.  

Trevor, most likely reminiscing about video games he used to play in his youth (something he does a lot en route), indulges in some Uruguayan dulce de leche as a three legged dog looks on.  He declared the Uruguayan dulce de leche his favourite thus far.  I agree it was one of the best yet but my top spot goes to the San Ignacio brand from Argentina.  As you can see, dulce de leche is a big deal for us here in South America. 

Cycling through the town of Quarai in Brazil really got me annoyed as they have cobbled bumpy roads all over.  It kept jostling my stuff loose and knocking things off.  I became really frustrated and ended up just walking through a lot of the town.  Build smooth roads please, not cobbled bumpy surfaces like this. 

Farewell for now Brazil.  I know it was a short stint in your country but we plan to return for an even shorter stint later…