Car arrived to Montevideo

On Friday, September 6 in the afternoon finally we got our car out of the harbour in Montevideo.

Before that we were running the whole day to multiple offices of the local shipping company, customs, and harbour represenatives to get all the necessary papers for importing it. Then our road trip started in the center of Montevideo with trying to find a gas filling place to recharge our german gas bottles. Even if gas stooves and also sometimes lights feeded from a gas bottle in the house or flat are the standard in Uruguay, the difficulty is having the suitablbe connector from different types of tubes and bottles from various countries. Unfortunately, in the first place we were not lucky, but in the second place we could leave the bottles to get them filled the next day.

Afterwards we started a torture in searching a guarded parking lot for the car for the night, which are in principle available a lot. However, the majority of them are just for parking during the day and not suitable for a camping car with a height of more than 3 meters. As it is recommended not leaving the car unattended in a big city like Montevideo during the night, we were fighting with our european touristic attitude how to do. After two hours without succes we decided to park the car on the street close to our Airbnb room, realising how the local parking system is working. Suspicious guys wearing orange vests are controlling the parking spots and for some money you could get the idea, that they are taking care of your car. So, after a last night in our room at Plaza Independencia in the heart of Montevideo our car was found intact the next morning and we were getting started.

At the gas store we got our filled bottles then and once again we got a lesson in overcoming touristic prejudices. Questioning if the bottles were filled completely, we spent some time in front of the store while another couple from Germany showed up looking for gas bottles, as they did not bring any. In between the guy working in the store came out with a weight to show that our bottles were filled properly and took various attempts with the help of Rie translating, to solve the problem of the other couple. In parallel we got also some information by him, where we could find maybe some alternative connectors for future places in stores at Montevideo. By doing this, we found the "car" quarter in Montevideo, where all different kind of spare parts are sold. Even not being successful at the end, we met a lot of friendly and helpful people.

After that we left Montevideo following the costal line to East, stoping at a small parking lot at Playa de Pinamar for some nights. There are endless sandy beaches and dunes, and if it would not be winter here at the moment, going to the water would be great.

Furthermore we had to adapt a little bit to the situation, that such places are frequented by couples getting close in the car in the night.

But during the day we met a lot of nice locals going for a walk to the beach, everytime very interested about us European tourists and small conversations take place.