Itinerary

Day One:
Arrival at the Carrasco International Airport in Montevideo (generally via Buenos Aires).
Please plan to arrive at the airport no later than 2:00 pm. Our local staff will greet you and
travel with you (2 hours) to El
Charabón in Rocha Province. El
Charabón is a family owned
traditional estancia (farm or
ranch) of 2000 acres which
provides comfortable
accommodation and first-class
homemade meals. A Charabón is
the young chick of Uruguay’s
native ostrich, nandu.
Depending on the time of our arrival, we will have lunch
or tea served on the patio or poolside. We’ll meet the
owner and his wife, our hosts, and have a chance to talk
about horses, cattle and the history and prospects of
ranching in Uruguay. Dinner is a delicious traditional
asado plus local side dishes and desserts.

Day Two:
After breakfast we take a short drive to meet our local gauchos and horses. Our route takes
us along the coast to Cabo Polonio, the site of a famous lighthouse and now a quaint
community of fishermen, artists and gauchos who have become enamored of the sea. We’ll
have lunch at a little restaurant in Cabo Polonio. Besides the seafood, don’t forget to try the
seaweed fritters. After lunch we walk over to view the lighthouse and sea lion rookery.
Our afternoon ride is
right along the beach,
heading northeast
towards the town of
Valizas. From Valizas
we meet our van and
leave the horses with
the gauchos for the
night while we drive a
short way to Hostal del
Diablo, our local hotel in
Punta del Diablo.
Dinner at the hotel.
Hostal del Diablo, a
small and rustic hotel, is
just 50 metres from the
ocean and provides very comfortable accommodation, excellent service directly from its
owners. All rooms with private bathrooms. We will be three nights at Hostal Del Diablo.

Day Three:
After breakfast at Hostal del Diablo we ride back to Valizas in the van to meet the horses.
From Valizas we have a short (1 hour) ride to Aguas Dulces where we meet the van again
for a 20-minute drive to Guardia del Monte, colonial
era farm rich in local history, where lunch is served.
After lunch, we hop on new horses for a guided
ride on the grounds of the farm, including a lagoon
with marvelous
birdlife and an
Oak woodland.
Late afternoon we
drive back to
Hostal del Diablo
for dinner.
Day Four:
After breakfast drive to Aguas Dulces to meet our original
horses and gauchos and we ride to La Esmeralda along the
beach (about 3 hours) where we have lunch in yet another
charming local restaurant, set back a ways in the coastal
pines. From La Esmeralda we have a longer afternoon, (4
hours) to Punta del Diablo and our old friend, Hostal del
Diablo.

Day Five:
This morning we begin riding right from Hostal del
Diablo, heading up the coast to the National Park
of Santa Teresa. The National Park is a huge
arboretum with an astonishing mixture of native
and non-native plants. We’ll have lunch at the
Park headquarters and then visit the colonial castle
of Santa Teresa. Santa Teresa was built to control
the border with Brazil and changed hands several
times between the two countries. Rumor has it
that when the local garrison got tired of all the heavy labor of fort building, they “let” the other
side win it for a while so they could have a rest.
After visiting the castle, we ride on along the beach to La Coronilla (3 1/2 hours). Our
accommodations for the night are an extraordinary hotel in the form of a castle called Fortin
de San Miguel.

Day Six:
Today we visit the San Miguel Fortress and National Park by van and return for lunch at
Fortín de San Miguel. After lunch we gather our horses again and ride from La Coronilla to
Barra del Chuy, about 3 hours along the
coast. Barra del Chuy is a town that
literally straddles the Uruguay-Brazil
border. We bid our horses farewell one
last time and van back to Fortin de San
Miguel for the night.

Day Seven:
We depart after breakfast to drive back to
Montevideo, stopping along the way as
needed to poke around in local tack
shops for gaucho items. After settling
into the hotel downtown, you have the option of an afternoon city tour or just wandering on
your own. Our last night together is at a lovely downtown restaurant.

Day Eight:
Transport to the airport and depart for home. Impecable!

More information from Boojum Expeditions:

• View trip on provider's website
  www.boojum.com/uru/Uruguay.pdf…
• Company profile, experience, and history
• View all of their trips