The Roads Less Traveled

For the four days in Tacuarembo (Friday - Monday), we searched areas where previous surveys by Aves Uruguay determined Upland Sandpipers (Batitu) were present. I don’t know who or how these areas were picked because it looks to me like there is UPSA habitat just about everywhere.

There are two main roads that we use to get out of town. The first is Rt. 26 and the second is Rt. 31. Both go west out of Tacuarembo; 31 out of the NW and 26 out of the SW side. If you go far enough on either you will reach Argentina via Salto (31) or Paysando (26). These roads are paved but of varying quality. 26 is wider with a nice shoulder but 31 is windy and narrow. To get to the areas where the UPSAs are we have to drive one and a half hours on the paved roads and then turn off the main paved road onto what is essentially a two-track winding through the grassland. Fences on either side of the two-track mark the boundary of public access.

The first the day, Friday, the road simply puttered out. We had been following a faint two-track that we periodically lost and found again than finally disappeared all together. We could see a two-track to our right but since it was on the other side of the fence it was private. Given the lack of towns and desolation of the area, I can see how some of the roads go unused and cease to exist without anyone taking notice. They are, in a sense, ‘roads to nowhere’. The area is so vast and empty; grassland and nothing else.

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There are stands of trees on the horizon, an exotic species planted for lumber; they are very straight and tall. Small stands are also planted to provide shade for the cattle and sheep and gauchos, much as they do in the US. The sun can be absolutely searing in the afternoon. Where there isn’t a stand of trees, the cattle and sheep huddle up together under any scrap of shade they can find; small native trees with tiny leaves. You would think that all of their bodies huddled together would create more heat than the shade would neutralize. But there they are, huddled.

On Monday, the longest and hottest day, we passed through three small towns, Arerunga, Vera, and Cerro Bandera. This was one day where the roads were in better condition, presumably to allow passage of goods to the towns. These towns are like no other, they are primitive, with no electricity although one of them had solar power. We stopped in one, Arerunga, because Mati wanted bananas. I thought the chances of finding anything fresh were slim. In fact, the first we placed we stopped, that was still on the main highway, had no bananas. To my surprise, the woman went out back and reappeared with six small bananas. I wish I had a picture of the place. It looked like a saloon from an old western. I was a large room with very tall ceilings but it was dark inside. There was a counter that went almost the whole length of the place. The food stuffs, mostly non-perishables were stacked where the booze would have been. It was here that we also acquired forks that we had forgotten. We planned to eat leftovers for lunch and I had come up with many creative ways of eating them without a fork but at the mention of us not having any, the woman once again disappeared out back and reappeared with two forks for which she refused any payment. She was giving us her personal forks! And we are not talking about people who have much. This was incredibly generous but true to form for those that have less.

We were also treated to three water crossings, quite possibly the only water we will see in this arid environment. We crossed the first at Arerunga (of which I don’t remember the name), the next was Pasao de Guayabo (Gwa-sha-bo), and the last Pasao de Tapado. We lunched at the last one, acting much like the cows and sheep crouching next to the water in what little shade we could find.