Celtic Rover
Now we have made it into the very last country of the trip Uruguay or properly called the Republic Oriental Del Uruguay as the sign reminded us as we entered, this was the day after our epic trip down the 200km of Playa Cassini and I was happy to be driving on nice smooth roads for the rest of the trip after that adventure. At this point in the planning I had run out of energy so other than checking the milage was feasible in the two days we had left I had not done much research so we headed to the town of Playa Dialbo with open minds
Apart from the devilish street art Playa Diablo turned out to be a lovely little place, lots of little resturants, a nice beach and a very friendly lady car park attendant who chatted to us through the day dressed in swim wear shorts and a yellow jille. We found a great parking spot right on the beach with her help and got good recommendations for places to eat, Tony was in his element trying to get good photographs of the colourful fishing boats pulled up on the sand and the weather was lovely.
I was begining to feel a bit nostalgic realising that the warm days (not too warm at 24oC) and blue skies would soon be replaced by the cold, cloudy and wet weather of Scotland. So those last few days on the beach were to be savoure
So a few indulgent cokes were had and some great seafood eaten as we contemplated the gathering storm in Europe due to the Coronavirus and started to think that it was about time to get out of South America, we were still, we hoped ahead of the curve here as Uruguay had not yet reported any cases but the news from Europe was beginning to worry us. That evening we were not allowed to stay at the beachside in the village so we headed out along the coast and set up camp on the beach just a few km outside the village in a nice quiet safe back road
The next day we were not so fortunate, some friends had recommended Playa del Este further down the coast and about 100km short of Montevideo, Tony and I debated giving it a miss and staying in the nice vibe of Diablo with the hippies but the trap of wanting to tick the box caught us and we headed down to Este. this turned out to be a place a bit like Maimi lots of high rise hotels and a big beach, essentially a city on the sea so not really our cup of tea. We did have a nice lunch, I ran along the beach but then we headed off to a campsite to get ready for the final trip to Montevideo not specially impressed by this last stop. One interesting thing they did have is another one of the hands in the sand that are dotted around South America right on the beach front.
So this part of our trip has mostly involved splashing around in the sea, wild camping beside beaches in sleepy but friendly towns and a little bit of jogging for me as I prepare to rejoin my running group in Edinburgh a nice relaxing and peaceful end to the tour around South America, next city life and shipping in Montevideo and Buenos Aries
