Uruguay’s coast can feel like the edge of the world, with no roads to drive here. To protect the environment, a unique public transport system uses converted military trucks. How did they end up carrying tourists?
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00:00How do you drive to the edge of the world?
00:06Have you ever heard of these unique beach buses in Uruguay?
00:11They're called camiones, which simply means trucks in Spanish.
00:16The remote village of Cabo Polonio sits on the far east coast of Uruguay.
00:21Less than a hundred people live here permanently, but several thousand flock here during the
00:26summer holiday season.
00:28For most visitors, the only way to get here is on the back of a unique modified off-road
00:32vehicle.
00:40Edison Lorenzo runs some of the unusual beach buses.
00:47This is the only place where you'll find this kind of transportation, because Cabo
00:52Polonio is distinct.
00:54It's an eight-kilometer journey, which you can enjoy, and it's obviously a beautiful
00:59landscape.
01:00A fleet of 18 trucks traverse through the national park.
01:07They're owned by several companies who share the route.
01:10Most private vehicles are banned from entering the protected nature area.
01:15Visitors must leave their cars at the entrance and queue for a seat on the camion.
01:20They now carry tourists, but these trucks were once used to transport soldiers.
01:33There are trucks from the military that are prepared to be able to make this route, which
01:37is very arid and very difficult.
01:41It's all sand.
01:44The trucks need to have traction.
01:46It can rain, and at other times, the sand gets very, very loose, and you have to grip
01:51onto it.
01:54These trucks have been renovated.
01:56We've added a second level.
01:58On the upper part, the view is much more panoramic.
02:02You can enjoy the landscape, which is really very beautiful.
02:10Surmounting the sandy trails is physical work for the drivers, like Daniel Quintana.
02:18The hardest part of the sand is when it doesn't rain for days and the sand is loose.
02:23That's where it gets complicated.
02:27Now it's nice because it's humid.
02:32This truck has a 160-horsepower Fiat Iveco engine, speed 30 kilometers per hour, because
02:39it has two levels, it sways a lot.
02:46The trucks are only allowed to traverse a narrow corridor to protect the delicate environment,
02:52which is home to rare frogs and plants.
02:58We do less damage to the dunes by going along only one road.
03:03It causes less damage.
03:09The truck transport system began in the 1980s, when a French tour guide saw their potential
03:14as passenger vehicles.
03:15They replaced Jeeps, horses, and even camels, which once carried visitors over the dunes.
03:23The initial all-terrain vehicles came second-hand from the Uruguayan army.
03:28More arrived in the 1990s, purchased from militaries all over the world.
03:33Each is uniquely named and decorated.
03:36Most are four-wheel drive, but some are six-wheel drive.
03:41They run for decades, many with their original engines, but they need constant maintenance.
03:49We do maintenance and painting work in the winter.
03:51When blisters begin to appear, we remove and paint again, because if not, the salt eats
03:56it away.
03:59Parked side by side at Cabo Polonio are trucks that once served on opposing sides of the
04:04Cold War.
04:05They were built by heavy vehicle manufacturers like Iveco and Fiat from Italy,
04:12Euro from Spain,
04:16and Ural from Russia.
04:18And some by companies that don't exist anymore, like Rio in the United States,
04:25and IFA from former East Germany.
04:28This one is an IFA W50.
04:34More than half a million of these models were built in East Germany starting in the mid-1960s.
04:40They served as the workhorse of farms and factories in the former socialist state.
04:45And they're still in use around the world.
04:51This IFA W50 has recently arrived here at Cabo Polonio after serving on a peacekeeping
04:56mission.
05:01This truck was used in the Congo by the United Nations.
05:05In the Congo, this truck was a workshop, with tools and everything to fix the other trucks.
05:13Driving trucks here is a family business.
05:16They're handed down through the generations.
05:21My father owns the company.
05:22He's been here all his life, and I've been driving since I was 13.
05:28Another hereditary driver is Agustina Núñez, who runs some colorful trucks in the fleet.
05:38I learned from my mother, who was the first woman to drive these trucks, in 1989.
05:44So when I was a little girl, I always rode with her.
05:49This truck is called Medusa because I really like the fable of Medusa, and the snakes,
05:54and the colors.
05:57Medusa is a six-wheel drive built by Rio in the United States.
06:04The six-by-six is much more powerful, and because a four-by-four is less powerful, it's
06:09more difficult.
06:10But this moves incredibly.
06:13Agustina puts her heart into maintaining Medusa, and her strength into driving it.
06:24I like it a lot, but you have to hold on tight.
06:28It has its own way of moving.
06:31Agustina's other vehicle is La Pantera, the Panther.
06:37It has recently been given a fresh coat of hot pink paint that masks its age.
06:43Driver Guillermo Garcia Sanguinetti takes it easy behind the wheel of the old beast.
06:54This camion is the oldest one in Cabo Polonio.
06:57It's been working here for at least 60 years.
07:00It's the oldest.
07:01Speed, 30 kilometers per hour, 40 on the hard sandy beach.
07:10It could go 50 at the most, but we don't go that fast because of safety.
07:16It sways around a lot, so for safety, we don't go fast.
07:23We always drive at a calm speed.
07:26Also, it's an old vehicle, so it can't do much more.
07:35For the passengers, the bouncing, swaying, bumpy ride is all part of the attraction of
07:40coming to Cabo Polonio.
07:43It's great, it sways a lot.
07:56I'm quite afraid of heights and it sways, but I like it.
07:59It's always nice to come here to Cabo Polonio.
08:02Uruguay's Atlantic coast can feel like the edge of the world.
08:06There are more seals than humans living at Cabo Polonio.
08:10And no roads to drive here.