There are many ways to travel around Uruguay. In Montevideo, the large capital city, you can take the bus within the city. You can also take comfy coach buses, called omnibus, to get from city to city within Uruguay or to go to a nearby Argentinian or Brazilian city like Buenos Aires or Pelotas. However, Salto is a more spread out rural area, so many people either drive, walk, or take their motorcycle. In the countryside, where I work at a rural elementary school, most students travel with their parents on a motorcycle to get to school
Uruguayans can get their motorcycle permit starting at age 16. My mentor teacher explained that her family has two motos: her husband drives one to work, and they bought another for their daughter as a 16th birthday present so that she can have more independence.
One thing that made me laugh was to see a woman drinking mate while riding on the back of a motorcylce! Mate is an extrememly popular type of green tea that Uruguayans drink every day. They carry their mate cups with them pretty much any time they leave the house. (I'll write much more about mate later, since it is such an important part of the culture, but I just thought it was funny to note that they even drink it on motorcycles!)
