A short insight in Brazil & back to Córdoba - Argentina

        Being now about to enter Brazil, this opening week on the uruguayan coast left me with a mixed but clearly positive temporary impression. First of all, dominating all others considerations, this freedom sensation settling down softly, as much with respect to space as with respect to time ! And the quiet beaches of this pleasant country, the clement weather of these last 10 days, and last but not least : the moto’s safe behavior despite its eight patches on the rear wheel and the evident overweight, although being a bit too sensitive to wind. An undeniable worrying on the other hand about this luggage excess that underweighted excessively my front end, but also about some slight but persisting backache… And actually a bit worn of having being riding each day with the exception of the break in Colonia, even considering last day’s short distances. The willing to get a break was unfortunately restricted by the tight planning foreseeing a ride up to Porto Alegre and being back in Córdoba for september 18th…

Surprisingly, this backache problem was immediately solved by buying a travelling belt once arrived in Chuy ! The various medicines tried those last days didn't manage more than lowering the pain, but after having covered comfortably the 200kms remaining until Rio Grande, I could finally enjoy a night without any pain. A good thing reached. :)

This border city where I stopped for a lunch break and some purchases, just at the limit between Uruguay and Brazil (a big avenue splits the city in two, quite fun), doesn’t seem to deserve an extended stay… Kind of a giant gas station with heavily buy&sell mood, but at least the products quality and prices are back to reasonable ranges. A pleasant thing after 4 years in Argentina and 1 week in Uruguay…

The road entering Brazil through Chuy is clearly first a boring straight-forward stretch of nearly 300kms since Punta del Diablo, but also offers a progressive vegetation transformation and a stretch passing through the ecological reserve « do Taim », to be crossed carefully to help preserve the abundant local faun. I guess also that avoiding to crash in a « tapivara », kind of rat the size of a big dog, helps you preserving yourself, especially if riding a motorbike !

Arrived few time after sunset in Rio Grande’s downtown, I rediscovered the fun of navigating by sight for not having uploaded a map of Brazil to my GPS, and settled in an hostel found the day before on internet, welcomed by the local’s warnings about my moto’s chances to survive a night in the street : policemen being on strike since 2 months, business had fairly restarted in the zone… Luckily, Alice that I had met in Uruguay was living a few blocks far , and she provided me with some tequilas as a welcome « na Brazil » ! :)

I have to say I love how sounds this language, and that I was really glad to brush for a few days this such attractive country. The next day’s heavy rain first, but actually mainly the desire to have a break and take advantage of these contacts to better understand the zone made me change my plans : instead of heading forward obsessively under the rain until Porto Alegre, I eventually did a 3-4 days break in Rio Grande where lives Alice and in Pelotas where are Camila & Karina, those two cities being separated by a tiny 60kms trip - that would nevertheless end up epic.

        The adverse weather and the low season offered me a quite slept version of this fairly nice city, but the challenge of language in general and of buying and using a local SIM chip were sufficient to enjoy my day, that I ended by visiting the Museu Oceanográfico (pronounce the lasting « o » like « ou » :P), fairly interesting despite being a bit small. I loved the Bad Boy style fish head ! :D

        Next day’s route should have been easy job with its modest 60kms, particularly as I was planning to test a new luggage repartition : install a computer case like bag bought in Chuy on the front end of the bike, above the light, and fill it with as much weight as possible to get better global balance (thermos+flask+maté/café). A disaster revealed in the very few meters in terms of maneuverability, that even managed to get worst once cruising around 70-80km/h due to aerodynamic loss, the imperfectly sticked bag trapping the air and thus under-weighting the front end instead of over-weighting it… And to achieve the scenery, this trip was spiced by a fairly strong (and frozen) south-east wind making nearly impossible to maintain safely more than 50-60km/h on a highway, regularly passed by trucks and even once trying to hide in its side by riding the emergency way at its pace...
Arrived exhausted but happy to have managed not to fall (several times I though I wouldn’t be able to), I drop my stuffs in the good hostel « Posada do estudante » and went to meet my two guides : Camila & Karina. The city of Pelotas seemed really nice globally, and the few days spent here and in Rio Grande to discover the area with these hospital locals undeniably left me thinking of coming back as soon as possible to explore this country. This extreme south piece of this enormous territory already provides pleasant surroundings of beaches and lagunes, cities articulating themselves around fluvial transport in an original style mixing refreshed colonial, colorful popular, and a bit of modern despite the activity slowing down in the region.

        No way to keep hanging around here, but neither to leave without at least quickly seeing Praia do Cassino which Alice had been advising me, and I thus met her there on my way back from Pelotas to Punta del Diablo. Indeed it’s a superb and giant beach with beautiful dunes, counting with kind of a wave-breaker sea-walk stretch of 6kms long (Molhes da barra do Rio Grande) that can be visited either walking or riding a wind-car on rails !
Knowing unfortunately the important trip time for these 300kms, I didn’t allow myself this one hour excursion and headed instead around 16h toward Uruguay, happy at least of being back to the configuration without the bag in front end…
Error guessed and confirmed : Riding by night is not recommended ! I managed getting out of Taim reserve before last daylights disappeared, but the two last hours of the ride were in pitch black, with an entertainment bonus of burning the crossing light… No need to tell how many light-calls I received for being riding in high beams without any other option ! And to achieve the picture, my velocity & distance counter stopped working in Chuy. About velocity I can manage to guess it with the experience of how it feels, but distance since the last gas station is another deal… Hopefully stations are quite close one to another and I went on filling before getting close to reserve.
Arrived around 22h at the hostel de la Viuda that I liked, I sticked again at the mirador on the milky way after some delicious "sorrentinos al queso de cabra" in the El Tano’s restaurant.

        After having changed the crossing light and checked some possible failures for my counter (just the cable and its two extremities connexions) without finding any visible issue, I took a break on the beach to have a quick breakfast (late sleeping price in hostels) and actually especially to try and see whales which presence had been detected here about 1h ago. Didn’t see one in the half-hour I spent observing from my dune’s top, but the breakfast sat in the sand was worth by itself !
The road until Atlántida (just before Montevideo) this day and to Gualeguaychú - Argentina the day after took me back quickly a few kms far from those nice beaches I’ll be remembering as the main picture of Uruguay, as far as I’ve seen it. But temperature rising slowly to get out of winter finally let me switch from the big warm gloves to the summer ones much more comfortable, an enjoyable symbol of on-coming weather softening. And I eventually could taste this famous surubí in Gualeguaychú, that effectively deserves its good reputation. Delicious with just a bit of lemon !

        The ride from Gualeguaychú to Córdoba was particularly boring, a never-ending straight-forward stretch cutting in a tree-less countryside studded of some cows and horses… After a first night in Santa Fe and a second in Miramar - on the banks of the « Mar Chiquito » - where I saw still working fine an antic freezer from the 40ies, I eventually arrived in Córdoba for a last night before meeting with the porteño’s group and starting in the surroundings a one week loop in Joe Bar Team’s mode… :)

        And Córdoba is a town that knows how to receive you, I have to say. « Second Argentinian’s capital » as we often hear, this city of now nearly 2 millions people presents an interesting architectural heritage and cathedrals at each corner, a cultural and nocturne activity quite impressive for the year’s period, and some good culinary surprises like this « cabrito al horno » (baked young goat) enjoyed in a downtown’s restaurant - pure feast !

        Next day I was going to meet with the porteños in Tanti, small town located west from Villa Carlos Paz - itself about 50kms west from Córdoba - where Toto’s family provided us a holidays house (thanks to them !) to drop our stuffs and go riding light in the surroundings. I recommend for this stretch the road 73 said « camino de las 100 curvas », a pleasant curves series along a forest’s water stream… So enjoyable after the boring 1.150kms straight from Montevideo to Córdoba ! It gets out of the forest near the San Roque’s dam at the origin of this artificial lake, of which south’s bank hosts the town of Villa Carlos Paz. I did there a late lunch break before to go on toward Tanti and meet the « cabritos » - group’s nickname for the occasion in reference to the mountain tracks foreseen in the coming week, arrived on their side in the early morning after having driven all night long from BsAs and yet riding around in the afternoon…

        I knew in the very first moments I spent with them that this week discovering the sierras cordobesas and dirt track riding would be unforgettable ! :)

On the right side’s picture where we’re taking an aperitif (yes I know, the iphone shows its limits in night photography), I introduce you from left to right the cabritos porteños : Carlos, Toto, Chincho, and Dany !

Departure for a little getaway on the uruguayan coast !

        After having given my resignation to Arsat mid-june 2015, I prepared in ten days an express international relocation, that actually consisted in a set of four suitcases (32kg each) + one backpack & my guitar as hand luggages that I brought myself to France for some long expected holidays there to see my family & friends that I hadn't met since three years ! A memorable stay of two short weeks shared between Paris, Bordeaux, and Toulouse, feasting and exchanging news, as well as meeting the few childish appeared during my absence. Unfortunately I didn't manage to see everyone in this short lap of time, but I will catch up once back with a little european tour ! A great Thanks again to you all, it was so good to see you again, and your welcome really warmed my heart ! :)
And after a one week deviation in Montreal to visit a friend living there and discover the zone, I came back in mid-july to BsAs to sell all my remaining stuffs - a really liberating moment I have to say, "What you own ends up owning you !" as would say Mr Durden - and prepare my departure.
Being foreseen to give back my flat's keys on monday 31st of august, this were six intensive weeks managing in parallel motorbike & baggages preparation, stuffs & furniture selling, last nights with locals, and flat restitution.

        It didn't went out that bad with the bike fairly well prepared and the flat returned in time and in a correct state. The baggage selection on the contrary, as I found out at departure, asked for a bit more work...
Once given back the flat's keys, I knew in the very first meters riding, in the tight turning back and garage's climbing way out, that I would have to stay one day more in the zone for a second baggage lightening session more serious than half a wears bag !
Back to Carlos & Lucas's workshop, that once more saved my ass hosting me in the first floor of their garage, on the rio Luján's banks. I passed there all remaining day and early night selecting what seemed the more superfluous and re-working remaining luggage's distribution, striving to move downward the weight and thus the center of gravity...
What was kicked out, in disorder : a little dizain of books (yes, I know !), the 3/4th of maintenance products (cooling liquid / brake liquid / demineralized water for the battery & needle to fill it / fork oil / liquid chain spray to cover tyres in case of snow / oil filter & air filter picked up then in Córdoba), the scuba-diving kit (mask / diving handy computer / diving notes / nitrogen calculator) that I hoped I could use 2-3 times along the journey, some duplicated products (mosquito repellent & sun cream), 2 elastic straps, 1 accumulator's charger, the 2 bags of the Pacsafe steel nets for watertight bags, the handling straps of those bags, and a computer's bag. As an eye's evaluation, about a dizain kilos saved !

        And after a good night resting on the office's sofa at the first floor, I've been waken up around 7h in the morning by strong wind and lapping noises at ground floor : "la sudestada is in the house" ! Effectively, this wind was coming from the south-east and was beginning to make the rio overflow at the point of covering yet half of the workshop's floor - highly exposed for being just next to the bank - at the moment I went down to check its progress... I moved the bike toward the workshop's output and carried up the baggages in the stairs, but water had already reached the street and it was too late to really get out without wading in a few dizains centimeters !

        I had to wait for a few hours before water level decreases enough to load the bike for a test ride, to validate the brand new luggage's selection. Fortunately this test went out well, and I was able to close the last pre-departure obligations (WiFi box returning to local IAP & dropping of some excess money to my bank account) and eat a snack before to go and hit the road. TV was diffusing weather alerts and other flooding notices in the whole region, but there was no way to delay anymore departure !
After the good-byes to Carlos & Lucas (I would see Carlos again in Córdoba the 18th of september) and to some of their friends present, I could finally cast off around noon, heading to Gualeguaychú at the border between Argentina and Uruguay. A short 200kms route to start softly, but it's finally in average quite close to the distance I'll be covering then by riding day.

        As you can imagine, despite the clearly reduced manoeuvrability and the cautious required not to fall flat at the very beginning of the trip, I rode the first tenths of kilometers with a fu***** banana in the helmet ! :)
Leaving from Tigre toward Zárate, my route started by the one I was taking since one year to go to work (before this I was living a bit more south), and it's with an enjoyed pleasure that I rode it one last time on the road-trip version's bike, passing in front of the Benavídez's ground station to go on for once further north by the Escobar's branch of ruta 9 - Alias "Panamericana", this same road that would later take me out of Argentina and enter Bolivia at La Quiaca & Villazón's border.
I didn't have any issue with floods and not even rain on this stretch, but a strong lateral wind and a felt temperature of 3˚C accompanied me until arrival in Gualeguaychú on late afternoon. No great surprise for a departure on the end of winter... Only a small backache hardly managed to slightly reduce my pleasure on this first day ride, due to the multiple heavy baggage's manipulations done these last days.

        I didn't have yet the reflex to use the GPS while arriving in a new town and hadn't taken any reservation for sleeping, just for the pleasure to play it "jazz", but after a few random turns I quickly found downtown zone and a hotel with parking, of quite good standard I have to say, although at a fairly high price (500 AR$) that then motivated me to check the day before on internet the various options available.
This parking's entry has actually been the place of the journey's first flat fall (and until now the last, at least with me on the bike) : having stopped in front of the hotel after having seen this entry, I let the bike parked a few meters farther the time to check availability & prices. While trying then to turn back tight to enter the bike, I get surprised by the its weight at low velocity and couldn't retain it from falling when it started to... For my part I just stayed straight on my feet and the bike didn't suffer any damage thanks to the installed protections, but the receptionist and two other compassionate bystander's help was necessary to get it back up on its wheels !
I recovered from this first day tasting a "boga a la parrilla" (barbecue's cooked) in a restaurant on the "costanera" (street running along the river's banks) in absence of the famous "surubí" I was hoping to finally taste but wasn't available that day, and discovered with pleasure while opening my K2R the messages left 9 years earlier by the marmaillons... The first notes taken on its empty pages was preparing the opening of the blog, and Uruguay was awaiting me on the other bank !

        On next day, after having filled my 4 jerrikans of argentinian's petrol in prevision of the price increase on the other side and taken a breakfast in terrasse consecrating my unrestrained tourist's status, I was entering easily in Uruguay as an argentinian's resident, forgetting about the passport's record stamp, heading to Colonia del Sacramento. A quiet 250kms route accompanied by a more clement weather, passing through Dolores, Nueva Palmira, & Carmelo.

I couldn't say if it still was the departure euphoria, but I immediately appreciated Uruguay and found its countryside quite nice on this portion, with slightly undulating roads in good state. I even had a good contact with traffic agents that noticed me a velocity excess by a simple warning and a fine conditioned to a next excess. I liked the way they treated the event - with professionalism and good mood - and then adapted my pace with a frank goodwill, from those inspired by mutual respect (and thus didn't have to pay the reprieved fine). Globally, I found uruguayans friendly and interesting, and appreciated some details like the locally bottled water preference, one sign among others of a population striving to get better future.

        Having arrived at sunset (20h) in Colonia, I stayed next day to visit its historic center and enjoy this relaxed mood of low-season touristic places. Fortunately I got the lesson from previous night and found on booking.com a nice hostel with more reasonable price (35 US$/n).

The "chivitos" (ultra-proteinate meals served in sandwich or at the plate including apart from the classic vegetable's set and cheese a slice of beef "lomito" + a slice of ham + an egg) from the friendly Jorge (little stand on Avenida Flores, some interesting conversations on "Pepe" Mujica among others) and from the restaurant El Torrón satisfied my passing hungers and gave me the occasion to fill some more K2R pages.

        The route from Colonia to Montevideo and this capital itself didn't seemed to me of great interest (historic center even quite disappointing), but I warmly recommend a restaurant named "Ruffino" (at the corner of San Jose & Héctor Gutiérrez Ruiz, just down the hotel where I stayed for the night) where I savoured a brilliant mango-passion fruit's catalan cream.

As you might have noticed, this journey's beginning was a pure restaurant's festival, and this will last a bit more before departure's euphoria and cooking laziness began to be temperated by my estimated budget explosion... :P

        The one from Montevideo to Punta del Este on the contrary made me follow really nice beaches, making me multiplying stops to enjoy the sun that came warming this end of winter. I specially appreciated the ultra-thin sand and the tranquility in Piriápolis, and despite Punta del Este wasn't as good as I was told (kind of low-season Côte d'Azur actually), it's with a side smile that I went hanging around it at night and breakfast.
A detail nevertheless was regularly annoying me since beginning of the journey : the baggage's distribution that I never stopped re-working to optimize accessibility to most used items, and moreover the fact to be taking off the bike each evening the two watertight bags to reinstall it the next morning... A problem solved this day by relocating all wears from the trekking bag to the watertight bag containing it, allowing me to let this trek bag on top of the two others while riding with only rain & cold protection wears inside, and to use it at night to carry in one single shot all the daily essentials stored in the top-case : bath's necessary / shoes for night walks / computer's bag (containing MacBook + external hard disk + K2R) & cables (alims MacBook / phone / GoPro) / coffee-mate & snacks of soup/bread/cheese/dry-meat / thermos & flask).

        After a new pleasant route despite the backache persisting since departure, and the discovery of a gargantuan brazilian sandwich named "Bauru" near La Paloma, the next stop was the small village of Aguas Dulces, close to Cabo Polonio where I had planned to go on next day. The place was unfortunately and desperately faded off this night, more than I expected for a low-season sunday, but the nice hostel where I stayed also received a group of three friendly brazilian girls with whom we hit it off (in "portuñol") and took date in their residence towns opportunely on my on-going route : Alice from Rio Grande and Camila & Karina from Pelotas. Prazer chicas :)
And this is clearly of second plan comparing to the pleasure to meet nice people, but what a pleasure also to have now one unique bag to get off the bike to the daily housing !

        The natural reserve of Cabo Polonio, located a few kilometers south from Aguas Dulces, was originally a fishermen's village now more oriented toward tourism. No vehicle is authorized to enter it, and actually very few would be able to due to the sandy hills you have to go through for some kilometers to reach it... It's by special truck shuttle that tourists are brought from the terminal where they left their own vehicle. After having gathered in my providential "put-it-all" trek bag the stuffs for a day over there, I thus also got on one of these trucks for a nice half-an-hour tour through "medanos" until the beach followed for a few kilometers more before reaching the village. And clearly, there was no way I could come on my own with the bike, without even talking of the fully luggage-loaded version !

        The arrival on site doesn't let place for any doubt : here it's "roots" ! :D
Many constructions are done with second-hand materials, most of them being topped by little solar panels and/or modest wind-turbines - the rest being powered with generator sets, tiny vegetable gardens & wild vegetation round colored small houses with no property delimitation, animals hanging around freely (horses / pigs / sheep / hens), and the mood here is clearly to live relaxed. :) And this quietness... No a single motor's noise, just the lapping of waves on the beach. A radical change compared to BsAs and its homemade exhausts !

        After having dropped my stuffs at the Viejo Lobo hostel, I went out to discover the surroundings and actually first to have a bite on the seaside : a "gatuzo a la plancha", cradled by the in-and-out lapping of the waves at the terrasse's foot... A brilliant relaxation break !

        The digestive walk was a pure pleasure also, between verdant hills and rocky beaches, hanging around at the 1880's lighthouse foot (access closed at the moment I came) and observing a sea-wolves's colony in its endless game of "Get out of here, I'm gonna squat your spot while it's still warmy !". Right or wrong, I recognized here a social behavior surprisingly similar to human's one, the tougher coming to impose its rights and letting the ejected one strive to relocate himself back to any acceptable spot by ejecting a weaker, until next expulsion... :P

        Back to the hostel, I met my three friendly cohabitants of the day : Risa, a canadian traveling young woman, and Dimitri & Eleonora, respectively greek and italian, both taking some holidays after a six weeks activity in Montevideo on a project for the ONG Rights4water. Night passed fast with interesting discussions about each one's histories and the project on which Dimitri & Eleonora worked, international actuality, Syriza's adventure, and the hostel's owner (Vicky) told us a bit about the reserve : approximately 300 housings constructed and prohibition to build more (and to camp), the population's change from the 20-60 year-long inhabitants to the 2.500 tourists at high-season (a chance I came in low one !), and how locals manage to deal with the absence of water and electricity nets connexions. After a moonless walk on the beach playing with the phosphorescent plankton that enlightened below our steps (hydric stress due to water expulsion below our weight), we kept on chatting candlelit until mid of the night.
The K2R notes session on the beach at early morning was also just magic, quiet as it hadn't been since long, with only a few fishermen working at some maintenance on their out of the sea boats...
And icing of the cake, breakfast was brought in by a local inhabitant, Lucio, that was going from house to house proposing the nice-smelling breads & cakes prepared by him and its woman Edith. Not only did he delighted my taste buds, but he also then invited me to share a mate and know each other a bit at their home... Thanks to you Lucio & Edith for such a good vibe ! :)
With no hesitation, I recommend this little piece of heaven as one of the best spots of Uruguay so far, not to miss if coming in the zone !

        Back to the terminal in mid-afternoon, and knowing that the route to Rio Grande - Brazil - would be of an appreciable distance for my relaxed rhythm, I settled on getting closer to the border with a last uruguayan night in Punta del Diablo, a tiny route of about 60kms.
Arrived on site just before sunset, I enjoyed a cazón (little shark) at the barbecue and installed in the superb "hostel de la viuda" where I met Christin, a friendly german girl hitting the road in the area. To end up this pleasant night softly, I took advantage of the local low light-contamination to stick marveling at the depth of the Milky Way from the mirador of the hostel, kind of woody homemade 2-floors tower next to the main building... Just magic !

On-coming program for the next day : Brazil ! :)