#40 How to cook in a hotel shower - Atlantic Coast to Rivera

Our final night in Uruguay and I'm woken in the middle of the night by the heat and the need to scratch the numerous itchy bites covering my legs. I turn on light to see a large insect crawling up the wall, which I suspect of being a cockroach, probably attracted by the smell of food we cooked up the previous evening on a gas cooker while crouching in the shower. We have been carrying around a mosquito net purchased before we left and it is only now, for the first time this trip, that I ask Reece to erect it over the bed. It's hard to imagine that we are staying in a hotel unit, one of the priciest rooms we have paid for. The previous four nights we slept in the wildnerness, one night bush camping near a still stream, during which came across spiders, reptiles, snakes (kind of), native mammals, men with guns, and this is the most freaked out I have been. Let me provide some background....

Giant hand statue on the beaches of Punta del Este

It started off glamorously enough. After leaving Montevideo we headed down the Atlantic Coast which is THE place to show off all the hardwork you have put in at the gym, with Punta del Este attracting international celebrities such as Britney Spears and Shakira!  Keen to avoid the resorts (having not seen the inside of a gym for over four months now) we thought we would take the scenic drive along the coast, and instead spend the night in a more tranquil environment. We snaked along the coastline, no sightings of Britney unfortunately, nor, much to Reece's dissappointment, any nudity. Unless you count the billboard of a topless women along the highway.

Searching for tranquility we journeyed onwards to Santa Teresa National Park where we greeted at the entrance by an armed military guard. We certainly weren't going to be trying to sneak a free night here! Santa Theresa is not a National Park in the way that we know it. It's run by the military, is located right by the beach, covers a huge area, throughout which their are designed camping areas and houses for rent, a couple of supermarkets and restaurants, as well as a number of 'points of interest' marked on the map we were given.

At Fortaleza de Santa Teresa

We hadn't realised our gas cooker was running empty which meant bakery food instead of the pasta we had brought for dinner. We couldn't face that again the following night so thought we would try out some potatoes and salsa cooked on a fire. It seemed nothing could stop us after locating some tinfoil. But alas, after patiently waiting for over an hour for the potatoes to cook, excited to not be eating pasta for once, we opened the tinfoil to find blackened rocks had replaced what was once edible food. Some of the inside was salvageable but not enough to make a whole meal so alas, back off to the bakery it was.

Reece took this fantastic snap

The next day I decided to lead us in walking tour of the points of interest in the camp. Exactly why these points were interesting was not explained so when the first stop turned out be a miniature zoo we were most surprised. For the cost of admission into the park we also had our first sighting of South American mammals, some alligators, and my favourite a toucan! The next stop was a very well preserved historical fort in the shape of a pentagon initially constructed by the Portuguese but finished by the Spanish. It turns out that Uruguay was quite the desired place back during the colonisation of South America, it being a strategic point between Brazil and Argentina. Best National Park ever!

We pushed into central Uruguay to Quebreda de los Cuervos where we were greeted by another armed ranger and a poster warning us of the 35 varieties of species of snakes present in Uruguay, four of which are dangerous. It is a mystery to me why a park ranger needs a gun. Is it for potentially waywood campers, or for the wildlife that one can come across in this part of the world including snakes, pumas, and jaguars further North? If so a hand gun doesn't quite seem suitable, surely a tranquiliser would be better. Anyway, there was no turning back now so we set up camp and chilled out for a few hours waiting for the heat to subside. Coming back from the bathroom, having only a few minutes prior finished a video joking about snake sightings, I spotted something slithering a mere centimetres from Reece's feet. Well, I could tell it wasn't a snake but thad didn't mean to say we weren't serious freaked. It's similar to an iguana but bigger (about 1/2m long) and is a reptile of the kind I presumed became extinct long ago. As we stood on the table trying to shoo it and its friend who wanted a piece of the action away instinct suggested that they were really just after our food and probably not dangerous. But still, not exactly what you want as a bed companion.

The next day's driving passed through some beautiful back country along empty roads, and what looked like palm trees sprouting from the farmland. We stopped in Tucuarembo where we had hoped to get some information on our next destination. However, we had lost count of our days and it was a Saturday afternoon so there was no chance of that but it didn't matter as a couple of locals were more than happy to help us out (possibly something to do with the few beers they appeared to have consumed). So with the promise of a camping site and other accommodation we headed north towards Lunajero not concerned that dusk was falling and the directions given were more than a little hazily. Well, we found a hotel but it was way out of our price range and the camping site was a little more difficult to locate. That's the last time we listen two drunk Uruguayan's! Towards the river we were directed.  The hotel confirmed there was a campsite, but it was not quite what we were expecting. The conversation went something like this:

'Are there showers and bathrooms at this campsite?'

'Oh, no, no, no.'

'Well, can we drink the water from the stream then?'

'Oh, no, no, no.'

'Well, can we have some of your water then?'

'Yes, ok.'

Out comes out two bottles fill with water, and two 3L coke bottles containing frozen ice. Grateful but wondering where these women intended we store all this with trepidation we took one hell of a hairy ride down towards the stream to set up for our first night's bush camping. Too lazy to follow the only other camper's lead and pitch our tent above the stillwater level in the bush alongside the river. It will not come as a surprise that as soon as night fell a swarm of mosquitoes descended upon us. We managed to smoke them out wiht a fire but not before they managed a few bites. At least we could see the glowing fireflys which made it easier to avoid them. A few hours later, safely zipped into our tent we were awoken by the noise of god knows what coming from underneath the tent. After we were assured nothing was going to break the fortifications of our ten-year old tent it seemed the best way to deal with these latest critters was to use earplugs. With all sound blocked out we slept soundly.

However, after four night's in the wildnerness we were keen for a bed which brings me back to the beginning: the hotel in Rivera, with more creepy crawlies than in all of Uruguay, which was so overpriced we broke the rules and used our cooker instead of eating out at a restaurant. Uruguay had been fun; though similar in size and economy it perhaps lacked the scenic drawcards of New Zealand but was certainly more than Argentina on a smaller scale as it is sometimes described. We were ready to move on but entering Brazil wasn't going to welcome us with open arms.