Fray Bentos, Uruguay

Feb 6, 2005

The second annual international motoencuentro is underway in Fray Bentos, a small town on the other side of the bridge from Argentina. Because they managed to lure 5 argentinians and me over, it truly is international.I´ve been interviewed twice by television, twice by radio and once by print media.

I´ve had to give a reporter a ride and manoeuver through an obstacle course. We went on a ride through town and the people literally lined the streets waving and clapping as we drove down to the beach at Las Arañas. I have a teeshirt and diploma.The meal was barbecued crossribs and big bottles of generic coke. Quarts of beer were 40 pesos, expensive when you consider that they are only 30 in the stores. And it´s 25 pesos to the dollar. I tend to gravitate toward the Argentinians, and spend most of my time talking to them. I´m not sure why, but there is something I find familiar in sarcastic people who think they know it all and have an opinion about everything. One of the Argentinian riders, originally from Colombia, offered to share her carpa with me if I wanted to spend the night at the rally. And it was a fairly attractive carpa at that. It´s been a long time since I´ve been around a carpa, having lost mine in Mexico, and late at night, her carpa was mighty inviting.

There is something charming about Western Uruguay, and that is why the Argentinians come.

To them it harkens back to the 70´s. It is positively relaxing to ride through the countryside fields of sunflowers and soy, down to the beach by the river and watch theUruguayans suck down their mate. And they are for the most part attractive people with relatively few teeth. At night the road is completely dark, and you can see an incredible amount of unfamiliar stars. The air is cool with moisture off the river, and the lines are fresh on the asphalt all the way back to the hotel.