August 8th, 2019: Back in Argentina, nearing the end.

We continued our coastal Uruguay tour towards the most famous coastal town of Punta de Leste (Uruguay's Benidorm) and checked out this very cool round bridge over a lagoon close to the sea. The architect must have had a great time designing it and make a road 'beautiful'.

Entering Punta de Leste there was another cool bridge in the form of a big wave, good fun to drive over too - not if you just had a big breakfast or go way too fast :-). Punta de Leste turned out to be mostly an endless boulevard flanked by tall apartment building which turn the place into a ghost town for most of the year as almost all apartments are owned by Argentinians who only arrive for a month during summer. As a result half the shops and cafes were just closed. The locals entertained themselves as we have seen before; drinking mate tea in their cars and cruising the boulevard or sitting in their folding chairs still drinking lots of mate....Uruguayans drink as much mate as their southern neighbours

Lucky for us some very well known artists have established themselves in the area around Punta de Leste. The sculpture park Fundacion Pablo Atchugarry, where he also has his workshop, was a treat for sculpture lovers like us. Here you see smaller versions of his very large marble sculptures, in colour and different other materials. We watched a video of him creating one of his meters high marble sculptures, very impressive.

In a chapel located in the park we found one of his figurative sculptures.

The park also showed sculptures from other artists, this one from an artist from Slovenia we loved. The metal ball in the middle seems to be balancing the whole structure. The dog that was walking with us decided to pose for this one.

And yes, after days of riding along the coast but not finding any fresh fish stalls or comedors that sold fish dishes, finally we found some super fresh fish in the little fisherman's shops at the Punta de Leste harbour. We immediately bought a kilo and treated ourselves to very nice home cooked fish from the over for two nights. Yum, so good! This big fella was having a snooze while his other fellow Californian sea lions were slowly cruising around right under the pier where the fish shops are located, waiting for their daily treats.

Two of them had even managed to haul their kilos of 'blubber' onto some steps to get closer to the fish, hopeful that some tourist buyers might throw them a piece.

This is one of the meters high marble sculptures of Pablo A. that is located on the boulevard in Punta de Leste. Just beautiful the waves and lines cut into the marble. Getting it in place a major operation with large cranes. We also had some fun visiting the local sea museum which reminded us of the former Te Horo museum that now no longer exists but which was an awesome collection of rubbish...no 'things of the old days' and quite fun actually. This museum was set up by a sea lover and explorer probably sometime in the '80's and filled to the rim with skeletons of whales, dolphins, orca's, sea lions and thousands of beautiful shells from around the world. Apart from that he also decided to cram in old suitcases and domestic items used by the first Punta de Leste inhabitants which were the 'rich' folk from Montevideo having their summer houses in the Punta.

Following the coastal route to get to Montevideo we visited another Uruguayan 'art icon', Casa Pueblo. This house in Spanish-Moroccan style that tumbles down the mountain towards the sea is designed and built by the painter Carlos Paez Vilaro. Part of it is art gallery and museum and can be visited.

Despite the fact that the artist died in 2014, his relatives are doing a good job business wise - only a very small part we could visit for a good entry fee and that included a cafe, a shop and another shop plus o yes, one large exhibition room. It was nice anyway as his paintings were everywhere. He loved the sun and the sea so most of his paintings are inspired this, using lots of blues and reds.

He is also famous for his murals that he has painted around the world, best known the ones in Spain and Buenos Aires. We saw extra large prints of the murals and loved the one of a mural in Buenos Aires that we unfortunately missed when we were there as we didn't know it was there. So we bought a print to bring home as a good memory of BA as well as one of his colourful 'sols'.

At the end of the day we arrived in our Airbenb in Montevideo where we were lucky again to be able to 'steal' another parking space in the internal parking as our big Beast wouldn't fit into the designated one ...pfew. After that we made the most of the beautiful day by strolling through the park next door, looking at a great photo exhibition of local street art and visiting the contemporary art space. There was an amazing exhibition of this artist, extra large pencil drawings with astounding detail. Of 'real places' (often existing buildings in Montevideo) but packaged in a fantasy world like here, drifting in space. There was also a 3D movie playing where you could literally look into his drawings.  Just makes us happy that people have the creative mind and ability to come up with great things like this.

Downstairs was an exhibition of paintings of Pablo A., the maker of the great sculptures also painted. Very abstract forms only and very colourful.

Outside again we watched the sunset with lots of Montevideans also out for an evening stroll or showing their stuff on the concrete on roller skates, inline blades or skateboards.

Grabbed the bus into downtown to visit the 'ciudad vieja' (old city) that Montevideo is famous for. On the center plaza de Independencia we were amazed at how the most ugly flat buildings lined this main square. Just horrible, giving the plaza no atmosphere at all. One exception was this building, the 'brother' of the famous building that we saw in Buenos Aires which was based on Dante's Inferno. The oldest and only nice building on that square sadly.

We wanted to visit a few museums and art spaces but either they were not located where they we supposed to be or were closed, a bit disappointing. In this one, also closed for general public a whole class of little people poured out, which we had seen in other art spaces and museums too. Great it's part of the curriculum and very amusing as well.

In a very large park that we visited after a 15 minute bus ride to get there and were supposedly we would see monuments and statues and nice park areas we found nothing more really than this empty rugby pitch. And oh yes, another small outside photo exhibition. Back by bus into the cold city again to explore a bit more where during lunch I discovered to my horror and sadness that I'd lost my favourite matariki stone necklace from a Raglan based NZ carver that was important to me. Must have lost it in that #&;^%#@ park somewhere or on the bus, who knows. Big bummer.

Back in the old city we took a few pics to show you that in Montevideo you need to take the word 'old' very literally. The best description is really dilapidated, run down and unloved. It just seems that neither government nor private owners are interested in maintaining what remains of the colonial buildings. So most of it is a sorry sight. We did visit one exception, a private residence that was bought by the government while the owners had gifted all the furniture and art at the sale on the condition that it should remain as it is and serve as a museum.

At the harbour we visited the Puerto which is famous in Montevideo and a must visit for a good lunch. It's a massive market hall filled with restaurants that only serve.....meat! Next to the harbour but no fish to be seen. The hall is literally filled with blue smoke from all the massive paradillas (BBQ racks) filled with all types of meat. We both had a nice entrecote and watched the haggling and going on around us, but all in all it was an overpriced and overrated tourist experience...oh well we ticked the box.

Like in Valparaiso, at least great street art rescues some of the sadness of all these old ruins in the middle of a city.

Some street art in the neighbourhood of Palermo that we discovered walking home from the center.

Lots of old cars here as well, one just worse than the other but make for great pictures. A good bunch of them were still driving around as well. Another fun fact about Uruguay that we haven't shared yet is that Uruguay was the first country to legalise cannabis. Everyone is allowed to grow 6 plants at home and there are grow shops everywhere. Citizens can buy a certain quantity each month for their own use at authorised outlets. Has it changed this country? No, it has just lowered the crime rate by no longer making it illegal.

Two evenings we stayed home as we didn't find anything to do but on our last night we found some tickets for one of the evenings of the new small festival de Nucleo Distante. Here local and Chilean up and coming musicians showed their stuff. Very different but we really enjoyed all the styles. This was the final act with lots of guitars and a very good mouth organ player. Nice night which made up for all the other stuff we couldn't do.

On to Colonia de Sacramento, a small town declared a world heritage site by UNESCO. This is not necessarily a positive thing as we've experienced in other cities and historical sites, but in this case it is. The old part of the city is small but completely in the original state. Small colourful houses on cobble stone streets that link a few very nice plazas and are filled with cafes, restaurants, markets and shops. Definitely a tourist destination, often day trippers from Buenos Aires, but now in winter it was just the right amount of people.

The plaza next to the beautiful church that was surprisingly sparse at the inside where we had something to eat after sunset next to a little gas fire. All the buildings and streets are beautifully lit at night making an evening stroll really worth it.

The old fort has been turned into an art space and performing arts center. Underneath we found this bit of canal that back in the day must have connected to the sea. Later in the evening we went back for another night of music from a local guitarist. Don't really know what to say about it really as he talked an awful lot more than he played music which annoyed us (some more than others) more than anything.

This car was still be driven around by the local long gray haired 'dandy', who cruised around the block and parked up at the next cafe to be seen by new people and of course his many friends. Funny and I love the colour.

The sunset from the pier with many onlookers and local fisher men - didn't really look like serious fishing as we registered no buckets...

The normal state of footpaths in Uruguay and Argentina basically anywhere in the cities and towns. Most streets are lined with big and beautiful plane trees (platanen) that wreck the footpaths. It's just than no one bothers to do anything about it. Makes me smile thinking about the serial complainers in Waikanae on the terrible 'state' of Kapiti footpaths. What a joke :-). Feel sorry for the old folk though, there is no safe walking for them anywhere really.

After the nice Colonia Sacramento visit we started a long day drive to make it towards Cordoba as far a we felt like it. This meant driving north first and crossing the border. There was a need for us to spend our last Uruguayan pesos so we headed tot he last supermarket before the border but soon found out we should have done that a day earlier. With some nice bottles of Uruguayan Tannat wine and Dunbar whisky in our supermarket cart we were told that on that Sunday they were not allowed to sell alcohol until 6 pm that night because of the local elections! We had seen this before in Peru, alcohol and elections apparently don't mix in South America, but this timing was very unfortunate. Armed with extra toothpaste, granola, canned veggies and a few more items we think we will still use we left the supermarket..... That night we made it to just past Rosario, the last 70km through the very large and beautiful river delta of the Paraguay river. We did see some capibarras and lots of birds while the sun was setting. Very nice drive.

Next day it was still at least a 4 hour drive to Cordoba and we had some delay as a result of not being very organised, giving us an afternoon to explore Cordoba. The city center has some beautiful old churches, convents and impressive buildings with very clear Spanish heritage and colours. This cathedral is the oldest in Argentina and by far the most impressive one we have seen during our trip. Beautiful painted ceilings and colourful tiled floors, definitely very Spanish.

This church we found in the neighbourhood of new Cordoba as they call it, flanking a very nice plaza where they transformed the former women's prison to a very nice multi use plaza and art space. The church was beautiful and very colourful and it's towers reminded us of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

The impressive walls of the Jesuit Convent on one of the cobbled pedestrians streets.

Some artists (shop was closed) beautiful birds.

Nice art we discovered along the way, really like this quirky one placed in the fountain of a hotel.

The detention center where during the dictatorship many young people were detained and disappeared. In remembrance large finger prints made up of the names of people that have disappeared from here. Dark years for Argentina, an impressive way to remember and never forget. In the evening we had a nice meal in a local hang out where throughout the evening people appeared to leave notes on your table explaining that they were out of work and in need of money to feed their family. Begging in a polite way basically. Even giving them something doesn't make you feel any better about the fact that you see so many homeless people in all cities you visit here, dozens of mattresses in city parks with large groups of homeless people forming their own communities. The gap between the haves and the haves not is getting bigger everywhere but here it's a lot more raw and visible all the time, also when travelling where tents and plastic homes line the highways.

The next day we left early to travel west to check out Los Gigantes, rock formations in the nearby Sierras. In the middle of nowhere we saw this sign for a nudist camp, for anyone who's always wanted to impersonate a naked stranger :-)

It was quite a long drive with not much on the way but far view of desert like landscapes. We did find the one local hospedaje to be open, managed by a very nice 20 year old and his girlfriend. We decided to check in there and headed out to walk up the Gigantes. Confusion all around at two entrances where we were told that no starting at 2.30 pm we could only do the 3 hour walk and not walk up the cerro. The three hour walk turned out to be a well under two hour walk for us, not too bad after all the 'bad living' of the past two months. Beautiful views and nice exercise walk. The sun was hot, 25 degrees more or less.

As soon as the sun sets though, it's back to under zero up there and the old buildings of the hospedaje proved to be freezing cold. Luckily we had a bed with 5 woollen blankets which did the trick and our host had made a fire in the comedor that provided some comfort. He had started the fire at 3pm so that we could take a 'hot' shower at 7pm. Turned out to be luke warm but at least not freezing. He than cooked us very watery spaghetti bolognese but made up for it by offering us a local Fernet & Coke, the local drink of preference. Very dark bitter herb liquor which apparently straight up tastes horrible so has to be mixed with coke. Had a nice chat about his plans for study and his family around the fire until it got to cold and warming up in bed was the only option.

The view from the window having our morning cup of tea at 8 pm, sunrise on Los Gigantes was beautiful.

We were off early to explore the tuneles de Taninga about 80km further down the road. On the way we saw this sign again alongside the road, Argentina is full of them. Deep rooted frustration and in our view a bit funny to state something on numerous signs that simply still isn't true..

The tuneles turned out to be numerous and part of a very impressive mountain road. We navigated about 8 tunnels before we reached this spot where we spotted a condor.

We parked the car and were treated to a complete condor show. Unbelievable, we have never during our whole trip seen so many condors in one small area at the same time.

These two were just sitting meters away above us on the rock. When the start flying they make a swoosh sound like a drone, the largest animal drone of SA. At one time we counted at least 10 condors sailing the skies. It must have been the perfect timing for good thermal waves and wind speed. Awesome and inspiring.

Because we thought we were on par with a French couple that was interested in buying our car and we agreed with them we would start travelling north to meet in Calama in Chile (bit crazy yes) we started driving north and spend the night in the small town of Frias. Needed to stretch our legs so walked around the village to first bump into a open air mass with lots of singing to be followed in another part of town on the plaza by lots of loud music and video screens showing the presidential candidates for this years pre-elections on 11 August. We had a bit while watching the locals arrive to buy massive hot dogs with half a kilo of mayo on it and french fries in traditional Dutch 'punt zakken' (triangle paper bags). This young couple with their two year old debarked, ordered the fries, both lit up a siggi. After two minutes the fries were ready so dad got on the bike, mum handed him the two french fries and while holding a coke and her cigarette showed the toddler between them, grabbed back two french fries. So both still smoking, with a toddler, two french fries and a coke they took off home for their dinner. This morning we pulled the plug on the car selling conversation and drove south again, Taking a beautiful inland route which made up for some of the hours of driving we had done in vain the day before. To be continued, on our way to Mendoza now!