The trip back from Cabo Polonio was an adventure that left me wondering if Uruguay was trying to keep me there, allowing me to leave or teaching me an altogether different lesson.
Our flight to Buenos Aires was leaving from the Laguna del Sauce airport, just south of Punta del Este, at 11:59pm. Now, it’s a two hour drive from Cabo Polonio to the beach house in Manantiales and another hour drive from the house to the airport. The catch was that we had to return the rental car before the office closed at 11pm. Our departure from Cabo Polonio was delayed becuase of the Sunday night crowd that all needed to take the truck back over the sand dunes to the parking lot. After waiting in line for a few trucks we got back to the parking lot around 7:30 and set about getting mate water so we could hit the road. Time was already tight.
But the car wouldn’t start. Apparently, the cheap model we rented didn’t automatically turn its lights off and we left them burning all day and drained the battery. The decision was laid out: Martin would look for a jump for the car and, as my spanish was second best, I would look for warm water to fill the mate thermos. Well, we were in Uruguay, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise that one question later I had found a woman for just that purpose. Waiting for water to boil, I feebly made small talk but mostly communicated that I didn’t want to leave. The real surprise was that by the time I got back to the car with a piping hot thermos, a $100 peso transaction had been made and the car was idling, charging its battery and ready to roll. Adversary aside and time increasingly tight but feasable, we hit on the road in high spirits, bad jokes abounding.
Given our current timeline, it was decided that we would only have 15 minutes at the beach house to pack and clean in order to get to the airport on time. Then, right after the sun set, the right rear tire went flat. My brain’s first attempt to explain the change in sound and vibration, that we’d hit a different patch of pavement, was quickly dashed when the shimmying didn’t stop but increased. We immediately recognized the gravity of the situation and, rather than lamenting our bad luck, we operated with extreme efficiency sharpened by the deflating tire of hope that we might still get to the airport on time. Martin and Evan did an excellent job jacking up the car and replacing the wheel despite the pnumatically-tightened nuts that required them to literally jump, with forcefull finesse, on the tire iron to loosten. All told, I don’t think we stopped for more than 10 minutes. Adversary number two had reared its head and receeded just as quickly as the first.
Driving no more than 70kmh, as dictated by the spare tire, we made it back to the beach house, packed, did dishes and staightened up. Somehow we were back out the door in about 10 minutes. Rather than going through the center of Punta del Este at 10pm on a Friday night, we tried to take a shortcut to the airport but quickly found ourselves in what felt like the middle of nowhere. The dire situation left us slap-happy, lost with the clock ticking and a car that’s already running on its toddler-sized spare wheel, internally doubting we’d make it and outwardly laughing manically at each earnest repetition that “the next road we’ll come to is the main one”.
Somehow, somehow, we found the main road and with the clock reading 10:52pm decided to screw filling up the gas tank, opting to make it to the airport and deal with financial consequences. We actually made it, pulled up to the terminal at 10:56pm and rushed Martin and Jon in to the rental office while the rest of us unloaded. The late-night rental employee was closing up but we were actually able to return the car. He even decided to “charge” us $30 to fill up the gas tank and fix the tire himself, saving us the fees and making him a quick buck.
In the end, we got our tickets, went through security and were sipping celebritory bourbon from Evan’s backpback while we waited in disbelief for our flight, coming down from the adrenaline buzz that was our adventure leaving Uruguay.
