Central Uruguay

Tacuarembo to Trente y tres Feb18-20th

Craig had mentioned a nice place just outside of Tacuarembo called Valle de Eden, there is a Museum there and a few other things to see plus it has a camping area and Hotel for accommodations. We rode out of Tac the 26km to see the place but knew we would not be staying there, we then returned back past Tac in order to catch the route towards Trente y Tres. It turns out that there was a nicer hotel out on the East side of town but by this time it was too little too late.

As we made our way East we passed by some large reforestation areas, there were rows and rows of logs piled and we even seen the equipment cutting them down. The equipment was the same as what we use in Canada, large cutters and limbers. The trees were part of a long term plan as they had been planted in precise rows that were symmetrical in two directions, it was dizzying to look at while riding by as the rows would seem to change directions as we passed by. These forests went on for quite a distance. The trees were all Eucalypti which did add a nice aroma to the air, like one huge air freshener.

 

Starting to look like Saskatchewan roads.

Fancy green paint on that equipment.

Eventually we come a point where we turn off the pavement and proceed down nice dirt road. It was nice to be off the pavement again, we had not been on gravel since Bolivia and the change was good. The road was also a fun little excursion through the range land and included about 100 ninety degree corners and passage through a couple of villages. We found the highway again just outside of Trente y Tres. Looking for hotels has become a bit of an Easter egg hunt, driving the streets looking for any sign that the building is hotel. They don't generally have awnings or protruding signs that are easily seen, what they do have are little tiled signs in the general area of the door that can be easily overlooked. It would be nearly impossible to find them in the dark as there are few streetlights. The first one we found was 4 stars and fully booked, they recommended a couple other but it was the same story all over town, fully booked. We could not figure out why other than it was the summer season. We finally found a little boutique hotel “La Petite Hotel” after returning to the first hotel 3 times for directions and walking into someone’s house by mistake once. In the process of trying to find the pink building I walked into a pink house one street away by accident, a nice little Grandma gave me a little direction so we could find the hotel.

La Petite Hotel was very much an oasis of tranquility, with comfortable mattresses, high grade linens, and a complete house to relax in which included a back yard. The breakfast was also very good with coffee, juice, toast and cakes all served in a sun drenched kitchen. It was so awesome we stayed 3 nights. 

As for the town, well there was not much to see or do so the whole experience was like we hit the pause button for 3 days. The little city is very safe and secure, the bikes were parked in front of the hotel just off the street inside a two foot high fence the entire time and nothing was disturbed. Our hostess and her husband were very kind and although we could not communicate without Google translate it was fun trying.