October 10, 2010
Route 31. Day 3: The way into Salto
Still the body clock has not adjusted to the time change. I awake as usual shortly after the sun has risen and lay awake enjoying the morning awhile until I look at my watch then relise it isn't the usual 6.45 but now 7.45. So I quickly get out off the sleeping bag to organise the stove to boil water for tea and rush to be on the road by nine.
A few days ago in Tacuarembo I switched the back tyre (Kenda Kwick-Trax) to the front and vice versa as it's now pretty bare of rubber. It's done in the region of 6700km as a back tyre with one puncher. It will I hope give me some more service as a front. It's time to wear down the tyre that was on the front now which has a slight problem in that whatever inner tube I put in it it never holds the pressure more than 24 hours so I've to put some pressure in every morning
With both wheels rock-hard there was little or nothing to cushion the first 10km of rough patchy road which had many big potholes on the inside and lumps where holes had been patched causing me to ride near the middle where it was smoother. This was fine as there was little traffic on this road.
Presently as I sit on the grass verge writing, I've just seen another cycle-tourist cycling in the opposite direction. I don't know where he's from as when I crossed over he seemingly didn't want to stop and talk. The only thing I got out of him was he was touring Uruguay which I could see. He was a man in his sixties with dark tanned skin and white hair. He didn't have panniers. His gear builded upon the rear-rack was old. There was nothing bright coloured, modern or technical. Perhaps the most high tech thing was the old radio he'd strapped securely to the stem which he turned the volume down on as I approached. No doubt there was something interesting on that radio which he didn't want to miss talking to me. He rode on battling against a light wind which both today and yesterday has made my ride almost effortless.
The road continued on with nothing mush to look at, pasture and horticulture, greenhouses and the like. Eventually there were more and more houses as I reached the urban scrawl where the road became the normal rough urban thoroughfare. The houses were scruffy hastily build affairs. There were still lots of green spaces with streams which stank of sewage. Farther on there was the smell of barbecued meat from street vendor's stalls.
The way was an up and down roller-coaster and increasingly builded up as I followed the signs for the city-centre. There were now shops and other commercial premises. The pavements full of people. A guy with a goatee and cropped hair crouched down in the central reservation pointed the lens of a big Nikon camera at me. Although I'd followed the signs there had not been any signs in a while and I most have missed some turning as before long the street I's on had no traffic. It was a nice street with expensive houses and soon it descend down to the waterfront on the Uruguay river. So where is the city-centre I thought.
There was a house with a family out in the garden looking on as I past. I decided to ask. Their four dogs barked at the trailer wheel while I came till a halt and mother, father and three children began to admire my bike. I asked the way to the city centre but the father seemed more interest in the purple liquid in my water bottle, the alcohol for my stove. He curiously was very interested in the stove. I wasn't in the mood to stand talking about stoves and was fed up asking which way to the centre so I politely got away.
I cycled a little way and was passing a tennis club with a smart looking cafe. I's thinking here would've wifi if any place. I could check emails while drinking a coffee afterwards finding the centre would be easy with the stimulant effect of caffeine. With the notebook open on the bar I see there's two available networks both of which need a password. I asked the lady behind the bar what the password was but she misunderstood me and thought I wanted sugar for my coffee. The truth beknown she wasn't a very technical minded person because she didn't quite know what I's talking about. In the end I gave up. I stopped here thinking I would've got some Internet things done and have a nice coffee in the meantime but I got neither as the coffee was the weak instant variety which I needed the sugar for to give it taste. At lease it only coast 15 pesos or 0.65 Euro and I did get quite a bit of my diary written.
There was a hill up from the waterfront not more than a hundred metres from the tennis club which led to the comercial shopping district. I cycled along a street many blocks until I ended up in a plaza. A plaza which looked to be the main plaza but it was rather empty and there wasn't a info centre which I needed in order to find a place to stay. I asked a woman who directed me to Uruguay street. Her directions however weren't accurate as I when to the wrong side of this street which brought me back to the hill down to the waterfront. Frustrated, I cycle down the hill to where there was a naval office where I's directed back to the plaza I came from. To cut a long story short the info office was half way along the first block from the plaza and when I got there they were shut it being Sunday.
On the corner of the next block there was a restaurant where I'd lunch and which had wifi so I remained there for two hours while I contemplated finding the bus terminal which often have an info centre as well as a likely place to find cheap hotels in nearby streets. The waiter gave me directions there. It was very far from the centre so I's thinking of riding out of town a bit along the river to find a place to camp. I'd now left the restaurant and was cycling along Uruguay street feeling heavy after a beer at lunch time so I stopped for a coffee at a cafe. I'd just sat down at a pavement table when I saw Tim and Kate walking pass on the other side of the street. What a lucky coincidence. They'll be staying at a hostel and I can ask them where it is. I ran down the street after then catching then at the corner. The hostel they were staying at was only a block away.
Today's ride: 58 km (36 miles)
Total: 3,774 km (2,344 miles)
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