Riding with the Gauchos

First sleeper bus of our journey. Shannyn making the most of it
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After a 5 hour bus ride north, through Uruguay, we arrived at the city of Tacuarembo where we met Juan, owner of the ranch we would be staying at for the next few days. Juan drove us an hour out of Tacuarembo to the ranch that he runs with his wife Suzann. As well as catering for backpackers, he is a full-time gaucho, vet and film fanatic. Our first evening was spent meeting everyone there and tucking in to some great food (with sausages cooked over the log-fire). Shannyn helped prepare some of the food in the kitchen, seriously, see photo as proof! After a quick warm up in front of the fire it was time for candles out and torches on as we headed for our room. It gets pretty cold out here in winter (hitting around -5 degrees C) and with no central heating, and only electricity from a generator for a few hours each evening, it has a real rustic feel.

Shannyn helping out in the kitchen of the Ranch!
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This is a great way to see rural Uruguay in action as you stay on the ranch enjoying delicious home cooked food and riding with the gauchos as they do their work. We turned up with little riding experience but it was not a problem as you get taught everything from saddling up to riding and controlling your horse. My horse ´Borat´ was a little bit lazy, needing an occasional slap on the arse to get it going. Shannyn´s horse ´Tara´ was similar, trying to get the better of her all the time. Just like it´s rider, Tara was always wanting to stop for a drinks break, at least it didn´t need a toilet break all the time too! So it was a battle of minds between horse and human. I think we all know which came out on top.

The noise was incredible with 100 or so "baa´s" echoing all around us

Gary mounting Borat
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After a full days riding, getting used to the horses and exploring the area (and fitting in time to help put a fence up - Uncle Stu you would have been proud... well maybe), we returned to the ranch for yet more excellent food, a roaring fire, and a DVD to see us through till bed time.

The next day was work day, an 8 am start as we donned our gaucho boots, saddled up and headed out into the early morning mist with Juan, his gaucho, and the excellent sheep dogs who assist superbly. We slowly ushered the sheep, with their 1-2 week old lambs, across the fields and into a pen ready for their injections (for the older ones) and branding, castration or tail chopping (for the young ones)... ouch! The noise was incredible with 100 or so "baa´s" echoing all around us. Shannyn´s job was counting sheep while i had to help marshall the sheep into groups ready for their "treatment", and catch any lambs if they if they escaped through the fence, throwing them back in to the pen. I could have helped hold the lambs in place for their branding etc but i was a bit of a girl and chickened out. The lambs were fun to watch, they just butt into everything trying to find a way back to their mothers, occasionally jumping over non-existent fences in the process. I don´t think their eyes are that good when young as they kept running head first into the chicken wire fences.

Tara stopping for yet another drinks break
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The afternoon saw us strategically manouvering a heard of cows & bulls across the fields and into a pen ready for a truck to pick them up. They don´t seem to like going into trucks so it was quite an experience trying to coax them in. Juan and his gaucho had the brave job of standing in the pen with them while we just waved a feeble stick at them from the safety of outside the pen. Back at the ranch i was given the job of starting the log-fire, which to be honest i wasn´t the best at, and we had more fantastic food and watched another DVD before the generator was switched off and we were pitched into darkness for another night.

Walking through the Eucalyptus forest
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Unfortunately we were pressed for time so we headed back to Tacuarembo the next day for our onward coach to the border town of Paysandu where we hiked around town with our backpacks on in the dark trying to find a place to stay. We had missed the last bus across the border and so had to stay the night.

The next morning we crossed back into Argentina at Colon, this was the easiest border crossing ever, we just gave our passports to the driver who went into an office for us... five minutes later job done. For anyone out there thinking of doing this journey however, an easier route of going to the border at Salto (Uruguay) with a stop over, and then crossing the next day to Argentina, is a much better idea as you´ll spend less time waiting for buses in non-descript places and probably have a better time. You have to plan your time well in these parts if you have a tight schedule as buses don´t run everyday and usually at really inconvenient hours!

Taking the horses for a stroll
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For those of you thinking of coming to this part of the world i would highly recommend doing this ranch stay, you are made to feel instantly at home by really friendly people and it is a fantastic experience, it would have been nice to have stayed longer. You can contact them at panagea@adinet.com.uy if you fancy it.

So our Uruguayan adventure is over, an experience hampered by torrential downpours early on but luckily not at the ranch. The Uruguayans we met were all very friendly and very helpful with many speaking English well. We were only there for a week unfortunately, i´m sure there´s plenty more to experience here. Back to Argentina... Gary