Puerto Viejo to Paysandú

Today I did my last cycling in Uruguay - from Puerto Viejo to Paysandú. I got up a little later - at 7:30am - as I wanted to have breakfast at the parador of the camping, and they had told me the night before that they wouldn't open before 8:30am. So there was no point in getting up earlier. However, this didn't give me more sleep, as a group of younger and less young Uruguayans did party all night through - the music hadn't stopped by the time I left at about 9am.

The first 18km was a nice road - partly without tarmac - back to the Ruta 24. At some stage cattle were walking over the road, and it seemed one cow was especially scared of my bicycle. I stopped and got up, and it seemed a bit less scared of me walking my bike, so I got passed it. I had to stop again a few hundred meters down the road, as a farmer was herding his cattle into a field - the ones I saw might have been a bit late...

I continued on the road, until I reached the Ruta 24 again. Now it was the same as two days before - looking into my rearview mirrow to watch out for oncoming HGVs, and getting off the road if necessary. I continued for about 20km, and then Ruta 24 joined Ruta 3 (from Montevideo), so traffic got worse. But it wasn't far any more to Paysandú.

A few kilometers before Paysandú I saw an Argentine Black and White Teju who tried to cross the road just as a truck was coming from behind me. Luckily, it stopped and turned back, and then ran into the woods/bushes on the side (the photo is from Wikipedia - I didn't have time to stop and take a photo). This one really looked more than a meter long - to my eyes quite a huge lizard.

I continued to Paysandú, and soon arrived at the city. And this is really a city - with a lot of traffic lights, which I hadn't really noticed for a while. There were not many people on the streets when I arrived - at about 12:30pm - and I just went to the Plaza Constitucion, and asked at the Oficina de Turismo about cheap accommodation. I was pointed to a hotel just on the other side of the plaze, where I went and took a room for the night.

After a shower and a rest I went for a walk to explore the city a bit. I went all the way down 18 de julio (the main shopping street) to the port at the Rio Uruguay, and then a bit along the beach area (although it is not that nice), and then back via Salto and Baltasar Brum to 18 de julio and my hotel.