Leaving Camping Caprichio
We needed to retrace our steps for 26 kms to get back to the main road, Ruta 8. We were about half way down the narrow gravel track, when a young lady who had been sitting by the track side, jumped up and flagged us down looking for a lift. It was in the middle of nowhere. Goodness knows how long she had been waiting, or would continue to wait for another vehicle, if we hadn’t have stopped.
We bundled her and her large rucksack in the back. She thought it was great fun lying in the back of Poki as we bounced along the track. Her English was somewhat limited, like our Spanish, but her name is Balinaria and she was heading south to Montevideo. We dropped her at Ruta 8 as we were heading north.
The countryside continues to be hilly and the road curvaceous and undulating. There is little habitation, other than farms and farm workers cottages. Beef cattle predominate, but there are also sheep. There are some large forests too. Not just eucalyptus, but radiator pine as well.
We stop at a memorial to a battle . The battle of Arbolito which was fought at the site on the 19th March 1897 and where Antonio Floricio Saravia or “Chiquito” was killed. Annoyingly I have been unable to find out anything, in English, about this battle, or Antonio Floricio Saravia.
Melo
We stopped in the town of Melo for a supermarket visit. Some supermarket take some getting used to. At this one you had to take a number at the meat counter before you are served. I wondered why the woman behind the counter was ignoring me. Two other later arrivals were served when I realised they had got a ticket from a machine. Once I had purchased some mince meat it was put in a large, black, mesh bag, jwhich was then locked.
There were only self service check outs. I pretended to be stupid and not speak any Spanish, so a young lady did all the checking for me, including unlocking my meat. Meat must be something that gets stolen a lot here.
Driving to the outskirts of Melo, we found a large park with many shady trees. Here we decided to stop for lunch. Leaving Melo we were in Ruta 26. We had read that this was a bad road with many potholes and areas of gravel. So, we were prepared for a rough ride.
It was as predicted, badly potholed. Twice we were stopped for one-way traffic where road works were underway. Large sections were gravel, but we still made reasonable progress to Ansina, where iOverlander said camping in the municipal park was possible.
Ansina
The park is located beside a river and being a hot day many families were picnicking on the bank and swimming in the river. Vehicles weren’t allowed within this area so we picked a spot under some willow trees beside the border fence. When I walked down to the river to take some photos, a family started talking to me, asking where we were from. I asked if we could camp overnight where we were parked. One of the daughters spoke good English. They said we needed to get permission from the police post which was located at the entrance to the park.
We drove back to ask the police and were given a positive response. I asked if it was safe and the policeman said “Yes”, but also gave me their telephone number, just in case. I’m not sure whether this is reassuring or not! Hopefully, we’ll get through the night, unmolested.
We had noticed that in several countries in South America obesity appears to be a serious issue. In Chile, Argentina and Uruguay all food packaging has to display whether the item has excessive fat, sugar, salt etc. In Uruguay apparently 40% of the population have hypertension. As well as the labelling on packaging, in Montevideo, restaurants are banned from putting salt, tomato ketchup or mayonnaise, which are also high in salt, on the table. I haven’t looked at Coca Cola and fizzy drink bottles, but wonder if these are labelled with excessive sugar labels. These seem to be a big contributor to the obesity problem.
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