It's an hour and a half ride from Colonia to Montevideo, the country side resembles that of the Brandon, Manitoba area with rolling hills and a mix of crops and grazing cows. The highways in Uruguay are some of the best we've seen in South America and we cruise along at 110 km/h even on a bad rear tire. The rear tire now has over 14,000 km's on it, we have bad cupping on the outer tread area and lots of cracks appearing in the rubber. A new tire here is over $500 and less than $200 in the USA-think I'll wait to get home to replace it. Our first stop will be the BMW dealer in Montevideo as our rear brakes are done. We tried having them changed in Buenos Aires which was another disappointment. We were at Cordasco BMW before they opened and after waiting two hours are told they don't have brake pads in stock, but only after I questioned why it was taking so long. The parts guy tells me he will phone another dealer to see if they have pads and after waiting 15 minutes for an answer we leave as he's no where to be found.
We have much better service at Motor Haus BMW, as we drive into the service area we are met by Al who is amazed that we have rode more than 28,000 km's. Al was born in Uruguay, raised in Atlanta, Georgia and returned to Uruguay to work at BMW. His English is perfect and he interprets for the parts guy. They have the brake pads at their second location and Al sends a text to Adrian to ensure we get looked after when we arrive there. Thanks for all the help Al!
Highway from Colonia to Montevideo.
Adrian changed out the brake pads in 20 minutes and we're on our way again.
Montevideo has many historic buildings and they are in amazing condition considering their age. We are only here for a few days but will post more when we return for a second visit to this interesting city.
Quite a few horse drawn carts used for everything from hauling kids to school, picking up recyclables like cardboard and plastic bottles to general transportation.