Latin America - Life and travel information: Uruguay - Land wild and rough between Eucalyptus and Gauchos

Uruguay is a country, which is not very much attended in the world and not among tourists. I was around closely several times in Argentina and Brazil, but did not make it over to Uruguay. The country is listed as one of the poorer countries of Latin America. For me it is a cozy country and with about 3.5 million inhabitants not really overpopulated. Half of them live in the city of Montevideo.

It was winter when I was there first time and I knew it already from my visits in Argentina that winter can be really deadly there. One day sunny and hot with winds from the north, from Brazil. The other day heavy rain, cutting cold winds from the south (Polar winds) and from the west (Andes mountain snow winds). One can freeze to death with this extreme climate changes within a very short time. A temperature difference of 25 degrees centigrade within about 5 or 6 hours is clearly not unusual. This makes the land rough as it makes the people rough. But not at heart, only in their resistance for living in extreme climates.

Uruguay is a country of wood production. Centuries ago the country was covered by natural forests with mainly Eucalyptus trees. Eucalyptus is very heavy and it is easy to cut and work with when it is wet cut. But it is extremely hard and resistant when dry. Big parts of the forests were cut down for construction timber and also for firing throughout the cold winters. Over the decades the Eucalyptus timber was also very profitable for exporting it and so more and more forests disappeared over the years until almost nothing was left. Today they cultivate big timber farms and have Eucalyptus plantations all over the country. Fortunately Eucalyptus is a quite fast growing tree. And sometimes when you are driving through the country you can see the big excavator harvester, which cut and process each of these big and heavy trees in just a few seconds. Quite impressive to watch.

Uruguay is also a country of animal breeding. Wide ranges of open land allows big animal farms. Mostly they have cattle, sheeps, ostriches and horses. The bad consequence of animal farming is that the whole land is divided into parts with wire fences. This impairs a bit the impressive wide view over rough open land to the horizon.

Uruguayan gaucho

While traveling through the country side on sandy roads you can see lots of wood and animal trucks. You can find rocky hills and lonely farm houses. You can see bizarre formations of wood or rocks, formed by the weather. You can see beautiful rough land, clean air, grazing animals and with some good luck you can see and meet the Uruguayan gauchos, which care for all the different animals in the wide lands. Take the chance for a chat if you can get it. Maybe they will tell you stories from their hard, but free life. They are still the real “cowboys”. In my experience one can learn a lot of helpful things from them if you spend a lot of time out in the nature.

The Uruguayan people (Uruguayos) are very friendly and helpful. If anybody needs help, they'll get it. Many of them reminded me of my own countrymen. Distanced and cold looking at the beginning, but warm and openhearted after a few moments. Once I was out on the road with the truck and far from everything. I had a flat tire and not the right tools to change the wheel. It was late afternoon, windy cold and in very short time the dark night will come. There are not a lot of cars passing on this dirty roads, but all will ask you whether you need help. The first two that passed I thanked and thought I can fix it myself, but then I realized that I was wrong. Every minute I had less daylight and the next trucker, which came by, did not even ask whether I need help. He realized the situation and gave me a hand and also a working tool. In a few minutes the problem was fixed and I was able to spend the night in my bed instead in the car.

For people who like nature, pure nature and for those who can deal with extreme weather conditions from very hot to ice cold and rainy with fog in the night in which you cannot even see your own hands, I can really recommend to visit Uruguay and explore this rough, but very lovely country. If you go in winter, just make sure you have a dry and warm place for the night. It can be really scary sometimes. Explore the land by bike, camper or even by foot. For sure you will find lots of unforgettable places, people and moments and maybe also new friends, which you can count on.

Montevideo and the beach side I will introduce to you in later posts.

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