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Published: October 16th 2007
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From Paraguay we decided to shoot straight across to Uruguay. We had already been to Argentina and only had 3 weeks before we had to be in Rio for the start of the Dragoman tour. Leaving AsunciĆ³n in the morning, we took a posh double decker bus which soon crossed into Argentina. Our stuff got x-rayed at the border and we had two very long customs stops. The long straight roads on the open and flat landscape took us comfortably to Resistencia, arriving early evening. Here we found a night bus going to Concordia at 9 pm. The 3 hour wait turned into 2 hours when we realised there was an hours difference between Paraguay and Argentina. Just about missed the bus! We got little sleep on the night bus. We thought the baby across from us was going to be the disturbing influence but it turned out to be the snorer in the back that kept us up .. and the rest of the bus. We arrived in Concordia at 5:30 am and only had to wait until 7:10 am for the next bus to Salto, just over the border in Uruguay. It was a little painful at the border
as Pieter helped the immigration guy get our names right. Getting to Salto involved a sunrise drive over a dam. That was lovely. We had planned to travel all the way to the capital, Montevideo, in one go but we were knackered after 24 hours on the go and decided to stay in Salto for one night. That 24 hours of travelling had cost us the grand sum of US$20 each.
Arriving early in Salto, the cambio at the station was closed, but we paid for our tickets to Montevideo in US ($18 each) and got some pesos back. There was a lovely lady at the tourist information desk who recommended the Hotel Tia and organised a taxi to take us there. She did all this is Spanish and we coped quite well. At least for buses and hotels my Spanish is improving! The Hotel Tia turned out to be a lovely old building with inconsistent styles in need of redecoration. We had a nice room off a courtyard and for US$16 it was a good deal.
After a much-needed nap we explored the town. Salto is the second city of Uruguay but only has a population around
100,000. There are not that many people in Uruguay, perhaps 3.5 million. Salto is crammed with beautiful old buildings, mostly from the turn of the century. Lots of Art Nouveau. While many buildings were crumbing, others were nicely maintained. They were restoring the theatre when we visited.
We were given a map by the tourist info lady and there was a museum near our hotel. A big hall containing various interesting displays including antique mate cups and a replica gaucho bar and an Art Nouveau room. Downstairs was a poor collection of fossils and flintstones.
We then trotted off to the Museum of Fine Art on the main drag. We were a little early for the 3 pm opening time so had a naughty visit to an ice cream shop up the road. 3 scoops for U$45 (less than US$2). I was delighted to be back in the part of the continent where dulce de leche was popular. For those of you not familiar with this heavenly product it is basically caramelised condensed milk. This is Rae writing by the way, Pieter can't stand the stuff. Anyway, I digress, about the museum ... the building was beautiful. Art
Nouveau, richly decorated with a fantastic carved wooden staircase and inside balcony, beautiful chandeliers and the art was impressive as well. Some old and some new. There was a temporary exhibit of a contemporary artist that was brilliant, simple repeated patterns and animals. We were close to enquiring about buying it to send home!
We went out for dinner around 7 pm but the restaurant that we had spotted earlier at the waterfront was closed. And so was the one around the corner. So marched up to the other end of town where the 'Rusty Pelican' lived. It was closed also but we noticed people just unlocking it and realised our mistake. We were also in that part of the world where, like Argentina, people like to eat late. We were starving but were forced to hang around in an internet cafe until the restaurant was opened after 8 pm. It was a big restaurant and quite cold but they had huge selection of meat that they cooked on the bbq and served on a special plate with hot coals underneaths. Agriculture in central to Uruguay's history and economy and beef is central to their diet.
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