Trip to the mountains

We decided with Lucka that it was time to travel a bit inside Uruguay and spend some time in the open air. Minas was our option. Minas is situated about 110 kilometers from Montevideo. It is famous for its hills; the highest peak of Uruguay is 514 meters above the sea.  So we went to the mountains :)

It was the first very warm weekend after the winter time, so at 9 in the morning we could put on sandals and T-shirts with short sleeves. On Saturday morning we departed from Montevideo. We took a bus to the outskirts of Montevideo where we started hitchhiking. We didn’t wait long and followed our way to Minas. We met lot of nice people and in the last car after introducing ourselves the lady asked us ‘where are you from?’ And I replied from the Czech Republic. And she told me: ‘me too’. :) It was the first Czech person I met here in these 5 months. She was born in the Czecoslovakia, but more than 50 years has been living here.

When we came to Minas, we decided that it was time to have picnic before climbing hills. We also visited the traditional confectioner’s Irisarri to find out if the fame is justifiable. Well, I did like the cakes we tried. And after getting maps and advice we began climbing up the hill of Artigas to see the highest monument in South America.  

When we were getting closer we heard loud music, lot of people talking and coming. ‘Upps, we are coming to a music festival’, was our thought. However, it was a postponed children’s day celebration.

The old confectioner's Irisarri from 1898 in the city of Minas

 

This house remembers the architetecture of Andalusia

The monument of Jose Artigas - the highest one in Latin America



A bit of ecology, a place to old batteries

CocaCola is really everywhere

Latin America :)

 

This bus won't work anymore

And then we just went without knowing where, we followed the hills. After climbing some fences, meeting herds of cows and flocks of sheep, listening the silence we found our shelter for that night on the top of one hill surrounded be sheep. The sunset was amazing and sleeping outside was just a perfect end of the day.




The sunset on the top of one of the highest peak in Uruguay

On Sunday morning we woke up with the first rays of sun and sounds of sheep. We stayed in our sleeping bags watching how the sun was rising and the mist was disappearing. As Lucka said it is amazing that sunset and sunrise are always so impressive and never get boring. After our breakfast we went down the hill, visited once more Minas, I was impressed that people were so smiling and helpful.

The sunrise in Minas

The sunrise in Minas II

The sunrise in Minas III

The morning and our camping

This path is a hardwork of ants



That day we continued to Salto del Penitente which is a nearby waterfall.  On the way in the middle of nothing there were people stopping cars to ask us if we wanted to get a lift. We refused.


Breakfast :)

On the way and in between hills, flocks of sheep and herds of cows

Pastures and pastures and pastures

Salto del Penitente - waterfall

The sunset close to Salto del Penitente

On Monday morning we woke up early, when the first beams appeared. We saw the sunrise, had a slow breakfast and went back to the road. We walked a while when we stopped a man who brought us to Minas on the deck of his car. And in Minas we ate the last ‘alfajor’  (the typical cake from here) and followed the track to Montevideo. We stopped a man with whom we shared experiences from living in different countries and mate.    

Hitchhiking in South America