Salto's ultra-modern bus station looked like an airport and even had a duty free store. Neither of my bank cards worked in the cash machine, the exchange desk was closed, and rain pummelled down, so I took a taxi to the hotel and the driver let me pay in Argentinian pesos.
The hotel room had an ashtray in it! I lay on my back, read and smoked then slept all day, got up to eat then slept some more til morning.
The Gauchos are Latin American cowboys, excellent horsemen, herding cattle across the grasslands, roping them in with lasso or bola, and society holds them in great respect with gauchos often featuring in literature and folklore. During times of regional war, cavalries on all sides were made up almost entirely of Gauchos, also famed for their hunting skills.
An extensive passenger rail service in Uruguay has been slowly scrapped with only freight riding the rails today and people put on buses. Now, like in neighbouring Argentina, the government is considering reversing this policy and rebuilding the service.