German
Uruguay: Long-term travelers, murals, palace caves and cemetery
November 2023
Traveling again in South America
After six weeks of home visit, we landed safely in Montevideo, Uruguay, on November 4.
Our Motorhome Sprinter Tranquility was freshly washed and ready for us at Heinz and Silvia's place in Paraiso Suizo.
By chance, we also met Wolfgang and Dorly at the campsite,
whom we hadn't seen for over 25 years. We talked a lot for 2 days. Then the two drove to Nueva Helvecia, where they wanted to spend some time camping at Hotel Suizo.
A few days later, we also drove past there and were amazed to find two additional long-term Swiss travel couples.
One couple was Ruth and Walter Odermatt, namesakes of ours, who we had heard a lot about but had never met in person.
Four Swiss vehicles with real long-term travelers at the same place in South America at the same time without prior arrangement is probably a rare occurrence. The two days together passed far too quickly.
Murals in the village of 25 de Agosto
Leo Arti, a French artist, has lived in the sleepy village of "25 Agosto" since 2006 and has her own studio in a railroad carriage there. After she painted this wagon, many villagers asked her to paint murals on their houses. The paintings always have a reference to the respective house residents or their dreams. Each of the paintings reflects its creators and their stories.
There are over 100 murals on 40 houses in the village.
Natural Monument Grutas Del Palacio
The Palace Caves were formed more than 55 million years ago by the effects of water erosion. The approximately two-meter-high columns have withstood the erosion processes that have been taking place for thousands of years.
It rained heavily before and during our visit. The caves, with an average temperature of 20 degrees, were flooded by groundwater as if by additional rain, and we were walking without boots - all right!
Old cemetery of Paysandu
This old, very beautiful cemetery with many Italian marble tombs was built between 1835 and 1853 and is now a public monument.
The many underground family burial chambers, which are accessible from above by rolling away a slab, are almost a little spooky. In some of them, we saw wooden coffins lined up on racks from above.
We visited this special cemetery on a rainy day, which added to the morbid charm of the old cemetery.
Heavy rainfall in southern Brazil
In the small town of Colon, Argentina, we wanted to spend the night at the campsite we knew from before. Unfortunately, this didn't work out - the campsite was 8 meters under water.
Due to extreme, prolonged rainfall in southern Brazil, the Paraná and Uruguay rivers (both of which have their source in Brazil) burst their banks. All the beautiful sandy beaches on the riverbanks have disappeared. Even the Iguazú waterfalls were temporarily closed, as 16 times more water than usual was recorded.
