Km1778 to 1708: Cooking show
We awoke in a forest on the side of the highway 70km out of Montevideo ready to make our way to Punta del Este where the rich and famous apparently from around the world meet and play. We had all heard such great things about this place mostly because it is a popular vacation spot for Uruguayans next door neighbours the Argentinians with their slightly stronger Peso but I don't think any us us were particularity excited to by the idea of the place. As we cycled into the place everything seemed to go up including the price of things and the buildings. We had gone from the beautiful tranquil beaches of El Pinar to the peak season packed and over priced beach destination of Punte del Este. The only things that had really changed for the better I suspect would be the night life, which we were not going to hang around for, and the body of water which the pristine white beaches led onto that being the slightly clearer Atlantic Ocean as opposed to the murky river water of Rio Plata flowing past Montevideo and El Pinar.
We arrived in Punta del Este just in time for lunch so by habit we found a nice spot under a tree and whipped out our little 'kitchen' and ingredients. Although, this time we did not have the place all to ourselves as we had set up under a tree on the waters edge just in front of a rather busy pavement where a restaurant too had felt it was a great spot for their patrons to enjoy a meal and so had a few tables and chairs within ear shot of our set up. Our little cooking stove is by no means quite and before long it was as if we were doing a cooking show and were now being gawked at by many passers by. Fortunately, only the polite and interested ones had the guts to approach us asking questions and mentioned that they actually quite enjoying the aroma of frying tomatoes and onions emanating from out little stove. The waiters at the nearby restaurant also became quite interested in our culinary skills and soon we all got chatting. I'm not sure if we smelt really bad but one of the waitresses even offered for us to use her shower which we politely declined as we needed to move after lunch but nonetheless we were overwhelmed by everyone's kindness. I'd imagine if you had to set up a mobile kitchen near any other popular beach destination anywhere else in the world you'd very quickly be chased off.After having played coo
king show cooking show for the local passers by Mark and Nick discovered that the price of internet was 4 times that of other areas so decided to move on quickly down the coast to one of the smaller less know beach towns in order to use the internet at a reasonable price. I had agreed to meet them there later as I had the luxury of being able to take advantage of the free wifi at a local bar while sipping a cold beer even if the beer was twice the price of one anywhere else in the country it was so worth it but the extra time in Punta del Este proved to be a bit of curse. By the time I had done what I needed to do on-line the clouds had rolled in and would now have to make my way down the coast to meet the others. Just as I set off everyone and their dog vacated the beach in a mad frenzy due the dark ominous clouds that were fast approaching so before I knew it I was not only stuck in the rain but stuck in traffic too!The beach towns further on up the coast didn't prove to be any cheaper as this is where we discovered the super wealthy and elite hang out . As fast as the high rise beach apartments begin to disappear so do the the Ferraris and the like become common place. Needless to say Mark and Nick never did find an internet café let alone a cheap one so when I did finally get to them they were just sitting around waiting for me to appear from the curtain of rain while huddled under the shelter provided by the local petrol station. That night we camped in the park behind the station hoping that with all the rain the passers by whizzing by in their Ferraris wouldn't take much notice, and fortunately they never did However, the lady at the petrol station staff did do a bit of a double take when I reappeared from the darkness of the park to restock up on water.
Km1708 to Km1590: Naked swim
Thanks to all the rain the day prior we began to doubt whether we would make it down the supposedly long dirt road to the much spoken of beach town of Vilizas in time to see the place and still get back to the highway so we could continue on to meet Andy in Punta del Diablo the following day. We had been told it was all very natural and didn't even have electricity so we were very keen to get there but because it was supposedly down a long dirt road we began to doubt whether or not we would have time. Luckily when we got to Castillo the town inland a long the highway we discovered that there was a 30min bus down to the beach and a courtyard out the back of the 'bus terminal' where we could store our bikes for the night. Again quite astounded by our luck, we set off in the bus to Vilizas for the night.
Valizas was less of a 'small town' than I had thought and had a tarred road leading all the way to it boasting far more electricity than I would have imagined but it was beautiful nonetheless with a healthy supply of hippies dancing around fires selling useless tat to support their free lifestyle. That night after a couple of drinks and in true hippy style we didn't even bother looking for a camp site and headed straight to the beach. It was new moon and pitch dark so with only the starlight to guide us we walked far down the beach hopping to avoid bothering any local home owners whilst also hopping not be bothered any local home owners or wondering hippies.Once a spot had been strategically selected and camp set up we did a bit of star gazing and within moments I saw 2 shooting stars. Now already satisfied with my star gazing accomplishments my mind turned to getting clean before going to bed. I did not want wet clothes in my tent to deal with nor did I want to have to faff with drying them in the morning so figured I'd have to go for a swim without them. It was so dark that there would be no finding my kit post swim if I wasn't careful so after stripping down I carefully piled my clothes close enough to find but far enough away from the waters reach not to be washed away. Slowly I walked straight into the deep dark ocean trying not to veer left or right never allowing my feet to leave the ground, I did not want to be moved off centre of my clothes nor did I want to get sucked out to sea in the pitch dark only to be found the next day stranded and naked!
It was the most amazing swim, I felt so vulnerable being surrounded by nothing but blackness, crashing waves and the starry sky while just being in awe of the elements that surrounded me. Although, soon this awesome feeling of freedom turned to concern, a concern that the other guys, the hippies, the waves or my bad memory may cause my clothes to go amiss so I quickly followed the line back from where I had started. As I began to towel myself dry I noticed that the fine white beach sand glowed florescent green and the more I ran it over my arms and legs the more it seemed to glow. This truly was a moment I never will forget.Km1590 to Km1545: Brothers reunited
Andy had arrived in Argentina the day before and over night had been making his way to Uruguay so that morning I was up early checking my phone to see if I had any news of his exciting journey from Argentina to Uruguay with a bicycle and not knowing 2 words of Spanish. As I checked my phone I noticed it was just going on for sunrise and because we were now on the east coast of South America the sun was rising over the sea as I peeped out of my tent. We now were not alone on the beach as many of the hippies still partying in town when we had left to setup camp had now stumbled onto the beach and were too now enjoying sunrise on the beach but I don't think it was nearly as appreciated by them.I was now very keen to get to Punta del Diablo as Andy would be arriving there soon so after an early morning swim Mark and I made our way to the bus terminal leaving Nick to enjoy the beach for the day. Once back in Castillo I packed my bike up and headed on up the road to Punta del Diablo leaving Mark to take advantage of the cheap Internet we had discovered in the little town. As I headed off I received a message from Andy to say he would soon be arriving at his destination which was encouraging and provided much fuel for the 45km cycle especially given that I had to stop every 15min and force some more air into my tire which was now had an ever growing puncture.
By the time I made it into the little beach town of Punta del Diablo, exhausted from trying to pump up a deflating tyre with a perishing pump, Andy had arrived and was now putting his bike and bags together in order to cycle on to the hostel I had booked for him. It was so good to see Andy again especially since it had been almost a year since I had last seen him and was now most looking forward to him joining us on our adventure,and too boot he was carry a mich need puncture repair kit and spanking new bicycle pump! The guy is growing so fast that I hardly recognised him, the only reason I turned and took as second look was because he was making a distinct African whistle sound trying to get my attention, fifiiiiiiif!Due to the intense heat we experienced coming out of Buenos Aires and the never ending confirmations that the region leading up to Iguazu Falls was even hotter and more humid Nick had taken the decision to move on and cycle elsewhere on the continent where it would be a bit cooler once we had reached the end of the Uruguayan coastline. Punta del Diablo is essentially the last popular white sandy beach along the Uruguayan coastline so as Andy was joining the team Nick would be heading off for cooler pastures. Nick hadn't quite decided yet where exactly he planned to cycle but had booked a bus and boat back to Buenos Aires and would then be heading back up into the Andes because with the altitude it would be a lot cooler cycling around there.
I decided to join Andy at the hostel that night but accommodation was now full, and Mark and Nick did not want to pay the inflated price for camping on their grounds so decided to rather find somewhere else to camp for the night then spend the next day, our last day all together on the beach. Staying at the hostel landed up being a rather lucky choice not only because we were out numbered by girls 5 to 1 but also around midnight it began pouring and I mean absolutely pouring with rain the whole night long. The rain unfortunately did not stop there and continued on into what was now going to be all our last day on the beach. After breakfast Mark and Nick appeared from underneath the curtain of rain but were made to feel most unwelcome by the hostel staff so now homeless and with rain pouring outside our options were limited.
With our options limited Nick decided to take start making his way back to Buenos Aires ASAP by first cycling back to Castillo then catching a bus from there while we decided come rain or shine we might as well start our cycle trip on up towards Iguazu falls. However, before setting our separate ways we would be having one last big meal all together. Everything was quite pricey within the actually beach town of Punta del Diablo so we decided to try our luck at the restaurant we had all seemed to have noticed just at the turn off down to Punt del Diablo. It was a perfect location too because it was on the highway so after lunch we could head our separate ways. The restaurant was less established than we had all imagined and was basically just an old home converted to a restaurant where the locals took refuge to enjoy a meal outside of the craziness of the beach resort but it turned out to have great food and we had probably the best service we have ever received.
On arrival at the restaurant were immediately welcomed in and invited to take a seat wherever we pleased being offering a table outside which was not yet set up if we so desired one. Once seated the chef popped out to give us a run down of the her best dishes and once she was done she told us she would be coming back with a little dish on the house to get us started. The prices we all so reasonable and with home made pasta and malenesas being a Uruguayan speciality we all opted for one of the two and no one was disappointed. We all enjoyed our lunch, just the perfect meal to welcome Andy to the team and wish Nick a fond farewell and good luck on his cycling adventures.
Now with tummies full we all reluctantly clambered onto our bikes saying our fond farewells as Nick cycled off into the the distance with his 'Please give me a lift to Montevideo' sign attached to the back of his bike, which as we later found out was unfortunately not very successful. We all wish Nick luck with his trip!To see all the pics click here.
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