in the absence of anywhere to camp last night, this hotel was a solution. As Jen said, they claim three stars but that is hugely inflated. Breakfast, which was included, consisted of a small wicker basket of pieces of cold toast but with a tasty croissant. A knife made out of plastic film and a small sealed tub of butter, and one of jam.
It’s only a short drive out of town towards the border but every car driver, and bus, was keen to get in front of us, at any cost. Argentinian machismo. Already in Uruguay, the driving is less competitive.
The Border.
Sensibly one set of immigration officers deal with both exit and entry. Thankfully an observant Jen picked up an error while obtaining a new TIP for Poki. One tiny mistake could be a disaster when completing an exit permit at the shipping office.
Salto.
Crossing the large Salto Grande hydro dam, damming the Uruguay River, it’s a 10min drive into the outskirts of Salto, the second city of Uruguay. Population 111,000. Always when changing countries, we need money, a SIM card for wifi, and somewhere to stay.
It’s only 12.15pm but after spotting a money changing office, then a SIM card with 50gig for £5, then consulting iOverlander, we head for the thermal pools, the city is renowned for, and camp site. US$20 buys us a tranquil, shaded, campsite. Also, the ability to use both thermally heated, and a cold pools.
There are only a couple of other campers. One, a local family and the other, a large German owned MAN camper. We’ll pop over and say hello, a little later.
The camp is a large, grassed area with tables and BBQ pits. Parakeets and other birds species are twittering in the trees and I have been able to snap a couple.
There is a cool breeze and the temperature under the awning, 30.9 degrees. It’s heaven. Night time temps drop to the low teens. The only slight dampener on the bliss, is a radio from the adjacent water slide and pools, blaring out endless musical noise. Let’s hope the plug is pulled, later at night. Saturday nights are always fraught, but we’ll roll with it.
Shipping news.
Jen has just had a rebuttal to our request for shipping Poki a week earlier. So, we have two weeks to cover about 700 k’s. Too little time to change the booking, the reason. Poki goes into a container on 1st April, and we will be looking to book a flight back to the UK very soon after. Sarah & Tim and family have handed their camper to the shippers in Panama and are flying to Cartagena in the next day or so. They are renting a house further up the coast from Cartagena and will await the arrival of their ship, from there. It will be a change of pace for them, from driving down from Canada.
P.S.
To the Brown family. So sorry to learn of cousin Allan’s premature passing. Our thoughts with you all.
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