Monthly Archives: April 2019

Uruguay: Beaches, Coastal Towns and Rolling Countryside.

March 22, 2019 – April 7, 2019

We had an appointment to load the truck into a container in the port of Montevideo for the 8th of April, so we had more than 2 weeks to fill. We had no real plan, other than that we knew we would have a week to explore Montevideo after the truck went into the container, so we started driving east, passing through the city of Montevideo and found some water front camping.

The beaches in Uruguay are beautiful and quiet this time of year. We are not sure if this is technically on the ocean yet, or still the Rio de la Plata…the camping spot was called “Camping Rio Plata”, but we are very close to where the Rio de la Plata becomes one with the Atlantic ocean.
Continue reading

Heading into Uruguay and Colonia del Sacramento

March 14, 2019 – March 22, 2019

We took a few days to drive south from Iguazú to the border town of Gualeguaychu, where we once again went through the process of getting Piper’s paper work in order before driving Seymour over a bridge and into his last South American country of the trip. We arrived in Uruguay, resupplied our fridge (at remarkably high prices!), and made our way to Colonia del Sacramento.

Continue reading

Las Cataratas del Iguazú

March 13, 2019 – March 14, 2019

When we decided that we would ship the truck back to Canada from Uruguay, we were not sure if we would have time to make it all the way to Iguazú Falls, some 4,300 kilometres north of Ushuaia, and about 1,300 kilometres north of Buenos Aires. But we were sure going to try, and WOW, are we glad that we got to see these falls, the largest waterfall system in the world.

Continue reading

San Ignacio Miní

March 11, 2019 – March 13, 2019

The mission at San Ignacio Miní was built in 1666 and is one of many missions built by the Jesuits in what the Spanish called the Province of Paraguay, an area which today includes parts of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil. The Mission was built with the aim of converting the local Guaraní people to Christianity, but it also protected the people from ongoing wars and from the slave trade. The Mission was abandoned after the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767, destroyed, along with about 30 other missions in the area, by later invaders and was soon after overcome by the rainforest. Restorations of the site began in 1940.

Continue reading

Iberá Provincial Reserve

March 9, 2019 – March 11, 2019

Iberá Provincial Reserve is a little visited, remote area located in the Argentinian province of Corrientes. The reserve is a mixture of swamps, bogs, lakes and lagoons, and, of course, the associated wildlife, and is about 13,000 square kilometres in size. We headed to the small town of Colonia Carlos Pellegrini, where we camped for the night before hiring a small panga to take us out into the waters of the reserve for a safari, Argentina style.

Continue reading

Continuing North in Argentina

March 5, 2019 – March 9, 2019

The distance between real tourist attractions on the east cost of Argentina are large. We try to visit an interesting destination each day, but sometimes the distances are too great. We then, at least, try to find a nice spot to camp for the evening.

We camped here for one night and had a nice asada (BBQ). We were the only guests. If we had been here in January or February, the place would likely have been packed.

Continue reading

Parrot Cliffs at Balneario el Cóndor

March 3, 2019 – March 5, 2019

Since we quit our jobs, we rarely set an alarm to wake us in the morning. I love letting my body decide when it is ready to get out of bed, of slowly waking up without any annoying, demanding “beep, beep, beep”…who doesn’t? But, there are a times that are worthy of setting an alarm…..to go skiing, to go hiking, to go to the airport…..and now we can add, to go and see the parrots on the cliffs at Balneario el Cóndor as the sun rises.

Continue reading

Valdes Peninsula

March 2, 2019 – March 3, 2019

Valdes Peninsula is a marine nature reserve on the south Atlantic coast of Argentina, famous for its protection of the southern right whale, its elephant seal breeding grounds, and for the unique hunting strategy that the local orcas use….they go so far as to temporarily beach themselves in order to grab at young sea lions at the water’s edge. We headed to the peninsula for the day to see what we could see.

Continue reading