Seeing Uruguay approaching as I stood on the deck of the ferry from Buenos Aires, I laughed to myself as I remembered the Homer Simpson quote:
“Ha ha! Look at this country! U R Gay! Ha ha! (looking at Uruguay on the globe).”
I´ve been here in Uruguay now for eight days, three more than planned. I have a plan to get out of here but I don´t know if it´s going to come together.
Yesterday, Christmas day, I woke up to a beautufil sunny day as I looked out from my hotel balcony, in Punte del Diablo, at the beach and sea below. Punte Del Diablo is a very small village by the sea in the north of Uruguay. As peaceful and calm as it was, I had to hurry to get ready for my bus at 9:20am to Montevideo.
I arrived at the main intersection in town where the bus had dropped me off two days earlier. I met a young Swiss couple who were also waiting but they had information that the bus wouldn´t be coming into town but instead going to a bus stop 3k´s outside of town. Being Christmas Day the place was very quiet. 9:20 came and no bus. So we decided to try to get to this other bus stop in the hope that the bus would be late, which isn´t uncommon in this continent.
The local policeman organised us a taxi and then we were away. We got to the bus stop outside of town but there was no activity there. I for one needed to be on that bus as there wasn´t another bus until late in the afternoon and I had a flight to catch at that time to Brasil. So we asked the driver if he´d chase after the bus for us. He said he´d take us as far as the next town 34k´s away but no further.
Alright, let´s roll.
We sped along the highway but there was no sign of the bus and there was no one to be seen at the terminal in the next town. I thought we´d have to attempt to hitchhike back to Montevideo when one of the Swiss noticed a Christmas bus schedule on the terminal door, that said the bus had left at 10am, only five minutes earlier.
So the driver hit the highway again and we were in hot persuit of the bus. After a few minutes we could see a large vehicle in the distance. It was too far ahead to see if it was the bus but it looked promising. As we got closer I took out my binoculars and saw that it was indeed our bus. Woohoo.
The driver pulled in front of the bus and signalled for the bus to stop. Thankfully it did and we were able to take our seats on the bus. I noticed the time at this stage was 10:10 - 50 minutes after we were meant to hop on back in Punte Del Diablo.
After an exhilirating adventure we calmed down and settled in for the remaining three hour ride to Montevideo. Wow, what a thrilling Christmas Day adventure. I don´t know what I would have done had I not been able to get back to Montevideo to cath my flight.
So, my friend Alberto came to pick me up in Montevideo and take me to the airport. Montevideo´s airport is rather new and has been voted the ninth most enjoyable airport in the world with Hong Kong as number one.
I arrived at check-in all set to head to Brasil for my very first time and, fck me, who knew that I needed a visa? Access denied. Apparently Australians need a visa to enter Brasil. Man, I can´t remember the last time, as an Australian, I needed a visa to enter a country. (It was Cuba 2006 - Ed)
There was another flight going to Asuncion, in Paraguay, which was kind of close to where I wanted to go. I asked if I could change to that flight but to my surprise, Australians need a vise for Paraguay as well. Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, no. But Brasil and Paraguay , yes. Who would have thought? I went with Alberto back to his house somewhat deflated. My experience at the airport hadn´t turned out to be so enjoyable.
So my flight has been moved to tomorrow as I keep my fingers crossed that I´ll be granted a Brasilan visa by then. Having said that, Montevideo isn't the worst place in the world to be. WIth 22k´s of coast line it´s a great place to unwind.
Happy New Year.
I´ve uploaded photos of Salar de Uyuni.
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