Winding down

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Taking off from Argentina into Brazil was not to bad , just one hour on the border, but already warm enough to make all my pores open and drench me and my gear.
A sauna is noting compared to riding around in full gear!
The landscape turned from flat and ruler straight roads to a rolling ditto with a nice wind to go.
That was nice ride compared to Argie, not as hot and not as flat.
The road was not the best though, the bitumen gets chewed up by heavy lorries and sometimes it's like you just follow the ruts in the road.
When I hit the mountains going into Lajeado the temperature went up and when I arrived i was soaked in sweat.
Never invite me unless you mean it as I might turn up on your door step.
Well one of the Brazilian guys , Martim, didn't look to shocked nor annoyed.
We went up to his house in Lajeado where his wife was going to have a birthday party and I got invited as well.
Very nice and some of the guys that I met inCafayate came as well a very strange mixture of German, another part with lots of German descendants, Spanish, a few words of English and of course a smattering of Portugese.
I felt very welcome but sometimes the conversation went over my head, actually most of the time.
But they had a keg of beer so I didn't suffer to much.
When in doubt or you don't understand what people say, drink more beer!
Next day I went for a little trip with a friend of Martim's, a bit around in the area by Lajeado.
The heat was oppresive, hitting 40 C and sweat poured in rivers.
Good that I for once heeded my parent's advice and took German in school, Portugese was not an option.
Being what it is a lot of people speak a few and some many words of German, some of it's pretty bastardized but with patience comprehendable.
The local architecture is a blatant rip off from Bavarian standard drawing number one!
And if you go to Gramado and Canela is really bad, they must miss the old country a lot.
Some of them could probably not go back to Germany to have a look see, the Nuremberg trials and Simon Wiesenthal kept them away.
I had an invitation for another barbeque at the house of Alexandre, another of the blokes from Cafayate, aptly close to Nueva Teutonia.
Alex collects military stuff and what nots from the fighting forces and lives up in the hills in a very pretty place with a great view and a nice fridge filled with beer.
All the other Brazilians showed up and soon the sound level went up with the amount of beer consumed, SOP, as in every other country in the world.
The barbeque was on and I was made feel very welcome, yet again, sure met some nice blokes.
No wifes present so the beer comsumption went well, strangely enough(?) up, everyone was driving....
Even the DA was there and got his fair share of the beer.
Suddenly I was grabbed from behind by a heavy hand and a stern voice was heard, and there was Frida the bloke who had guide me around dressed up in Nazi paraphenalia, asking me what the heck I was doing there.
Maybe for the meat and the beer eh?
We almost wet ourself laughing and he goose stepped around looking very German.
The Brazilian's out drank me or I was smarter than them, what seemed like a cow and a half was on the table so yet again I had more meat than what is sensible.
The Argies deem themselves to be barbie kings, but the Brazlians don't have anything to learn from them, some chili would've been nice.
The next morning rather bleary eyed and with a well kempt tailI left Lajeado fo the coast passing the previously mentioned abominations Gramado and Canela, Bavaria in Brazil, no thank you.
It felt like Disney land and honestly did not, in my mind, fit in.
It was a nice drive down to the coast and a sad fare the well to the mountains.
Very flat, but not as flat as Argie, and lo and behold there was the Atlantic, the continent was crossed and not in a straight line.
A bit knackered from the trip and a bit from the previous night I took the first hotel that I could find.
Soaked to the skin I washed my stuff, dirty again, my lungs must look like shite.
A bit of the hair of the dog and all was right.
The next day I followed the coast down to Rio Grande and had a little ferry crossing over to the mainland as I had followed a very long peninsula down the coast, instead of going on the mainland.
If you never go to Rio Grande do Sul you won't miss anything.
I'm on my last legs on this trip, barely 500 km to go and the next country was to be Uruguay.
Getting into Uruguay was a laugh, 5 minutes tops and a one year permit for the bike, the rest of South America and especially Central ditto should go to Uruguay and learn how to do this smoothly and quickly instead of making life a pain in the arse for travellers with vehicles.
Hooray for Uruguay!
I stopped in Las Palomas for the nigth after a nice drive through the mostly flat Uruguayan landscape, the was even a fort to visit, with entrance fee and all but as I didn't have any Uruguayan cash in my pockets I sweet talked the guards and got in for free.
Antoher monument to how man can spend endless amounts on cash defending something I couldn't even see.
But then again there have been a lot of fighting over land and supremacy over neighbours in South America since Columbus put his feet on the ground.
Not to mention all the churches and cathedrals all over, what a waste of money.
La Paloma was quite nice but rather cool and at night it got cold, I had this idea of spending my last days on the beach working on my carcinomas, well the weather gods wanted something else.
Mostly cloudy and cool, well relatively anyway, no snow at least.
With not very far to go, a strange feeling, I took of late on my way to my next stop, Periapolis the last stop before Montevideo.
Had one excellent meal and one crummy, a very good lasagna and some wine as well which meant that I was a bit woozy in the afternoon, bird watching on the beach and dinner and beddy bye.
Montevideo, game over, left my trusty steed for safe keeping, hopefully!
I looked around to see if there were any dlectable Mexican kidnappers around, like last stop.
No way, and it would've been nice, whisked off to good company and food and decent plonk
A quick walkabout in old Montevideo, the old city was ok but not more, and as I'm coming back I don't want to have nothing to come back to.
A crummy lunch and a crummy dinner.
Restaraurants should have warning signs outside BEWARE!! our cook is incompetent or something to that effect.
Anyway the trip was a nice one, no problems to speak of and lots of good driving and lots of nice people on the road.
Now I'm going to hang around Buenos Aires for a few days before I head home.
The next morning it was pissing down so out came the rain jacket as I dashed to the taxi that would carry me to the bus station on to bus that would take me to the ferry that would land me in Buenos Aires.
It kept on raining and the ferry leaked in rain water, but it was the cheapest alternative to cross the famous Rio de la Plata.
It rained in Bs As as well and a long queue for a taxi so I walked up half a block and gotr a taxi to take me to my friend's house.
As before, total hospitality, they have a talent for making you feel welcome, very nice.
Last few days were mostlty spent doing nothing and drinking plonk and eating.
Last evening I was press ganged into cooking, something I gladly did.
100 % vegetarian, good Indian food made in Argie by me.
Probably a bit of a sacrilege, after all where's the carnivour's paradise?
One thing that was nice was to trot up to one of the local bars at 1.30 in the morning and sit outside sipping a glass of Malbec wine watching the Argies passing by and when I left at 2 am or so, there was a lot of people left.
Off to the airport, wait, fly and get home.

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