The Life of Brad: March 2017 - Making Moves and Saying Goodbye to Bumble Bee

In March I stayed another 12 days on Witblits, moved 100 m to La Rinconada Campo and then finally sold my trusty pal Bumble Bee after more than 5 good years and 60,000km together. After the sale of my bike I posted up in a hotel for a week in Montevideo in order to plan my next move.

Goodbye Bumble Bee

Selling My Bike Side Story: I waited and waited to know the fate of my motorcycle. Meaning where would the seller come from? I posted ads in Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay and with motorcycle people in Brasil and Paraguay as well as using Horizonsunlimited.com and ADVrider.com trying to sell to a traveller. I actually sold the bike three times in March, the 3rd time working out to be final.

Sale 1) A Uruguayan 20 km from Punta del Diablo where I lived for 3 months now 600km from where I was at the moment. The sale fell through as the Uruguayan with a US passport wasn't sure he could own the bike legally.

Sale 2) A UK kid who was flying in to Buenos Aires at the beginning of April agreed a price and I offered to help him do all he needed. The sale fell through as the kid decided to fly to Santiago and buy a bike there. It didn't help that I lost internet for the 24 hours between the agreement of the sale and the kid changing his plan.

Sale 3) A German living in Uruguay on a farm 50 km East of Montevideo. I was just about to pull my ad for the motorbike in Uruguay and make my way to Paraguay to sell the bike for much less money when Felix sent me a message "Still got the bike...I will drive to Paysandu and put the moto in the back of my truck tonight" WTF! Sounded to good to be true so I told him I wanted more information about him as a person and took the evening to think about it. The next day I would be on the road for the last time with Bumble Bee.

1/3 of the month continued in with Boat Life.

Fishing for the cat's food.

Uruguay Piranha

"Hey, a fish is a fish man!"

Mr. Preying Mantas. Such an interesting creature exclamated
by the calm turn of it's head to look at you. Weird.

The labourer gaining responsibilities

Pieter dared me to float under the Catamaran with him. In Piranha infested waters!

"Damn Piete this is high up!"

Off to town for groceries

6 kgs of non-factory farmed meat

Why is the cat hanging here?

Fabian tries to help the cat who was in HEAT!
So he nibbled on her to satisfy her hunger to be touched.

It's a good life

Beautiful

Check out that safety hammock

Only 2 days of rain out of 18 days.

Setting the anchor that had slipped during the morning high
powered winds. The boat was still tied on at two other points.

Pieter's project. An old bike given to
him by a local that he turned in to a
fixed gear, repainted and a bunch of
other stuff. Bikes haven't changed.

Off to Argentina illegally

What a look! Fabian always
having a good time.

Beach BBQ or "Braai" in Afrikaans one of the main languages of South Africa that is basically Dutch. I didn't know that English is a major language there too.

Wild bug life
LOOK AT THAT THING!

"We should do this more often" Pieter

"Looks good, but all that fat being
lost, terrible" Geraldine

Too much HEAT inside the cat

Ripping back to the boat before the Hour of Mosquito

Perfect

Although Pieter kept saying "Stay" when a sale would fall through I eventually moved on to shore at Gaby and Baron's next to the boat. And my place's name plate "Escritorio" meaning "Writers Room"

Moved to La Rinconada, my new digs, for not a few days, but 12 days as I waited to see which direction I would go to sell my motorbike. Paysandu was a much of a middle point as I could have been between Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina.

Writing Room / Apartment

Fancy

A little pool when needed

Captain Baron loves mowing the
lawn and the dogs always chase him.

What ever this is...WOW

New neighbour

Nice BBQ area at La Rinconada.

wood fired sausages, yum

Quick food section: With only these ingredients all of the following were made. Cherry Tomato, onion, cucumber, sweet potato, carrots, lettuce, olives, and the meat of choice for my HIGH FAT diet. Check out Weston A Price Foundation Diet.
https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/abcs-of-nutrition/dietary-guidelines/

Pork/Beef sausage

Local products. 10 kg of vegetables for $12 usd.

Slow cooked beef
(by Geraldine)

Grilled salad

Sausage stew

Fresh salad

Huge chicken stew, Delicious.

All goes with Jameson's
the whiskey of choice in Uruguay

Baron and Gaby

My guard dogs Abril and Lola

And the hugger, Falucio

Big Toads around the buildings at night

Ugly too!

A bit of time on my own around Paysandu. Scouting chances to sell my motorbike and use the internet at ANCAP gas station when it was down at my place for 4 days of the 2 weeks I was there.

Hey Leo, when you have a second, where's the shop again?

Well Brad, let me draw a map

Rough roads on the way to town

Sitting on the owner of the bike shop I was buying oil at

Fernando on his 250 cc.
It looks so much bigger than that.

Fernando used to race 125cc in Uruguay

Using internet at the friendly Ancap

A few good lunches at Tres Pinos
18% discount if you use your credit
card and you're a foreigner!?!
IN ALL OF URUGUAY!

Paysandu a city of 75,000, the 3rd largest in Uruguay.

Some horses hanging in town

More horses, where all the people at?

Workers checking out the bike

Time to go. My last morning after over a month hanging around Paysandu. I never thought I would say that. An unexpected pleasant surprise. Small town living is just better isn't it?

Finally throwing out my camo shorts
They served me well for 5 years.

Last ride with Bumble Bee. Paysandu to 50 km East of the capital, Montevideo (450 km). Lots of selfies while riding on this day. Unfortunately I forgot to take the "80,000km" mark on the speedometer which I past early in the day. One of the few days in my 5 years travelling with Bumble where I wasn't rushing from A to get to Point B.

Leaving La Rinconada

Near Soriano

Like seeing a Hurst, but for Bumble

Looking good at San Jose ANCAP

Leaving San Jose

Local scooters always make me feel
overdressed when in my riding gear

FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Rough house at Santa Lucia

Santa Lucia

Highway 8, getting close now

Turning to Hwy 80, minutes to go

Last moments with Bumble Bee before arriving at the buyer's farm. Check out the Video.

Just the two of us

Highway 80 for 1 km.

Until the next life

Entering the compound. Lots of Dogs

Felix, girlfriend and son.

If a dog pees on you, make sure you
pee back! Chau amigo

Days Inn across from the bus terminal. It is what it is.

When you don't have you horse
It's a lot of stuff!

The next day I moved to Hotel Claridge, better than a Days Inn. My classic steak analogy is perfect here. At a restaurant the difference between a $30 steak and a $6 steak better be huge! The $30 has to be perfect whereas the $6 just has to be and likely will surprise you much more anyway.

One week here to finish the month as I planned my next month. Buenos Aires or More Uruguay?