October 4, 2010
Return to Uruguay: Where's the aduana?
I's awake before six this morning and even at that early hour I heard a constant procession of traffic on the nearby road most of which I discovered when setting off at 7.30 to be of a military nature, personal carriers wheel tanks etc. What was happening, World war lll or just a friendly invasion of neigbouring Uruguay.
Riding on I's glad I stopped when I did last night as the camping possiblities were next to non exsistant farther on. Looking in the bag I discovered I'd still a sandwich purchased in Dom Pedrito to eat so I kept it for a ten o clock stop. The thing about the road I'm on now is there's long stretches without a place to sit down and rest unless you sit on the shoulder. On the rare occation that you do spot a nice green area with trees ahead on reaching it you see it's facing a house which is ok if you don't mind people looking at you while eating. Mush of the road has a drainage ditch on both sides so it's even hard stopping to have a pee. Now as I write having eaten my sandwich I'm sat on a grass bank sloping from the roadside down to a field which isn't the best of places but there's nothing else.
The road now is BR158 since a junction 24km back. The only improvement on BR293 is the lack of catseyes on the inside white line so I can ride well in in a straight line on the white line without having to wiggle in and out avoiding the protruding catseye every few metres. I don't ride on the shoulder as it's so rough only riding off onto it when I hear a truck coming up behind. Though the road breath is generous and traffic generally both cars and trucks give me a wide berth. Some of the trucks give a friendly toot toot while level and passing. Others suddenly blast a foghorn startling me when they're just behind. I'm sure they get a laugh out of that. The terrain is hilly, the road straight and the result is a road that swoops down where you gain 2km in an instant then theres a long slow uphill where you see you've only gained 200m distance since last looking at the computer quite a while ago. Once cresting the summit it's another 2km in a no-time swoop down and so on.
By midday I'd reached my goal for the morning the border town of Livramento Santana and discover it isn't a town but a big city scrawl over the surrounding hills. On the way in there was a service station with a buffet restaurant so I's able to make up for yesterday. This one was somewhat different than the others that were priced on a per kilo system. Here there was a set price for a meat dish, the salad and cooked vege as well as postre (sweets) were complementry eat as much as you like. Initially though I didn't know this and took my full plate to the counter to be weighted looking around for the scales. I'm sure it was written somewhere how the system works but couldn't read that. The woman scolded at me from behind the counter. I hadn't a clue what she was saying until I heard words which sounded like the Spanish verb PAGAR to pay and carne (meat) which was visable cooking on a grill behind her that it sunk in, 'I pay for the meat, everything else is free'. By now she was laughing as if to say which planet has he come from.
That was not all. I wanted a beer to drink with my food. I went to the big fridge with Pilsen on the non transparent door, opened it and eyed the brand I wanted. But before I got the chance to take a bottle out I closed the fridge again as the woman behind the counter began to scold again. I made out pretty quickly this time that the waiter brings it to the table. The waiter at that moment most have been out off the room because otherwise when he came to the table going on what happen by the frdge he'd know I wanted beer, but no, he had not an inkling. The Spanish noun cerveza (beer) and it's Portuguee equivalin cerveja doesn't quite sound similar despite the similar spelling. I tried ser-ve-sa then ser-ve-ha but the waiter didn't have a clue what I's saying so eventually I just said Polar, the brand I wanted. I said it twice slower and more clear the second time until he understood.
It was a hot day and it was going to get even hotter as I next needed a Brazilian exit stamp and a Uruguayan entry stamp. I followed the main road onwards with a big gangtree sign Uruguai arrowed ahead and kept going straight with all the other traffic up a long steep hill expecting to sometime soon see a aduana (customs) complex. I's satuated with sweat as the hill got steeper and all the other traffic seemingly melted away into other streets There hadn't been any signs for Uruguay or Aduana since that initial sign and I now knew I's a little lost. Now at the top of the hill looking down the other side, I asked a street vendor 'Úruguay'and motioning with a flat hand slapping it with the other hand which was closed like a passport being stamped. She pointed first at the side of the street she was siting on saying 'Brazil' then pointed across the street the beginning of the down hill the other side saying 'Uruguay'.
I began to decend. There were cars and scooters again but all the numbr plates were Uruguayan and there still wasn't any sign of the Aduana. I's thinking I'm going to have another steep climb as the road decended steeply. I stopped at a shop to ask and yes the lady there directed me back up but only to the last roundabout which thankfully wasn't far. It was easy from here on as there were signs migraciones which is the same as aduana. There I got my entry stamp but had to return to Brazil for an exit stamp but as there was also a tourst info inside the Aduana building I's given a map of Rivera the city on this side which was joined at the shoulder with Livramento Santana on the Brazilian side. It was literally a case of crossing the street from one country to the other. The girl drew a line on the map with a pink marker along the most direct route to the Federal police station where I'd get my exit stamp.
I's glad to be cycling out of town eventually at 4 pm. The roads in Uruguay are so much better than what I'd experienced in Brazil. The shoulder is generally the same smooth surface as the rest of the road. There's few trucks. I think they most use rail more here. The verge is wide and pleasantly landscaped, good for both rest stops and picnic. This evening I'm over the fence by a pine plantation on a hill-top, the road nearby below in a cutting through the hill. The cutting sides give ample cover. I've notice in the last couple of weeks or so quite a stretch in day length. The sun doesn't set till seven which means I can keep going to six. It wasn't too long ago it set at 5.45. The mornings too are earlier so perhaps with longer days I'll be able to go for bigger milege days soon.
Today's ride: 109 km (68 miles)
Total: 3,454 km (2,145 miles)
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