The seaside drive out of L’Auberge was brilliant! The saddleback bridge was fun – see photo. The small beach resort towns were atmospheric. The drive through the Uruguay countryside was through rolling hills and flood plains of the South American Atlantic coast. I am reminded of the lower Mississippi drainage. There was a lot of wildlife, especially birds. The countryside changed from ranches to industrial farming, including rice, and natural areas.
The border crossing was relatively smooth and efficient on both the Uruguay and Brazil sides. We were clearly a novelty. Progress was everywhere especially the super highways under construction. Still, I was unable to change money or use my cash card in Pelotas, a town of 140,000. The place is entirely un-touristed. The drive through Pelotas was interesting if slightly dreary. Half way through the day, we finally located maps for Brazil and Rio Grande del Sul – the southernmost state in Brazil. Our ‘gourmet’ lunch was hot dogs wrapped in pastry dough and mystery flavor soda.
We talked a lot about Inka Cola – one of our food adventures. We moved east without a time change so the days got shorter. It was dark by 6PM. We had been on the road for 9 hours. That got us to a reasonable roadside hotel: Canoa Parque Hotel. The hotel dinner buffet was both tasty and healthy. The people have been nice all day and very helpful. We are a curiosity so the look is both ways.
We are poised to take off on 2 alternate options tomorrow: 1. The Brazil wine country, an hour away, or 2. Golf at one of the top 100 courses in Brazil, highly rated by Golf Digest, also an hour away. Yum! What a quandary!
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