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Published: October 25th 2007
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We found that due to certain buses not running every day we would have to return to Montevideo and catch a bus from there to Paso de los Toros. This meant leaving Colonia at 4:50 am. On the bus we watched as lots of police got on the same bus. We watched as they greeted each other, some got kisses and some not. In Uruguay it was a single kiss only. We wondered why some people didn't get a kiss. Because they didn't know them well? Or perhaps they didn't like them? Or they had a cold? Anyway, it passed the time. We waited an hour or two in Montevideo then got on a bus for Paso de los Toros. It was 3.5 hours. We had a brief chat with some missionaries of the Mormon persuasion. One of the girls was very pretty in a Hollywood fashion. The girls were stationed in town for 18 months, the guys for two years.
We were greeted by Cecelia of Estancia Las Cañadas (The Brooks), a lovely lady in her early 50's. She put us in a taxi and we followed her car on the 45 minute drive to the estancia. Only the
last 6 kms was on dirt roads. Arriving at the ranch we were not disappointed by the low sprawling white buildings with lots of big eucalyptus trees and horses, sheep and cattle on the slopes of the hill on which the ranch was situated. There were great views all the way around. It was only us there. We had a pick of rooms but the warm glow from the fireplace in the largest room made our minds up. Although the sun was blazing today, the house had not been used for 10 days and was icy cold. The house of Cecelia's father, it was quite old with beams on ceilings and big open fireplaces, windows with shutters and lovely old furniture. Tiled floors and big bathrooms with big baths.
Being about 2 pm we were invited to sit for lunch at the big dining room table. Cecilia ate with us and we were served a fantastic stew followed by dessert. We had not expected such good food and every meal was big and varied. And there was always afternoon tea as well. There were two couples taking care of the place, each with young daughters.
Oscar, with his
young daughter, took us for a horse ride. Pieter got the biggest horse, very beautiful light brown with a dark streak down his back and running through his mane. I had the slow stubborn horse. They were Criollo horses and very passive and easy to control. It was a pleasure to ride. Even at a trot it did not feel too hard on the bottom. We were accompanied by two dogs who delighted in scaring out and trying to eat the local wildlife. We had no expectations so were absolutely thrilled when Oscar had to rescue an armadillo from the dogs. We saw two more armadillos, two hares and a big skunk ... well I didn't see the skunk as I was in the back trying to reason with my horse to get him to move faster. We saw lots of birds as well. We went to the ruin of a stone building which Cecilia later told us was possibly an old Portuguese fort station for the army against the Indians who delighted in killing their European invaders.
Next day we went with Walter and his daughter to the country school for her first day. Walter and his wife
thought it was important for the daughter to get used to riding to school and it would mean she could go by herself instead of being driven there. Today I had Chocolate who preferred being in front and listened to my commands. She was lovely. It was an hour and a half of walking and trotting to get there. We saw lots more birds but no more mammals expect cows and one poor rabbit that the dog who came with us managed to catch. It made an aweful screech as the dog sank his teeth in.
We were invited into the school where there was no heating and the kids and teacher wore smocks under their jackets and scarves. The kids that were there numbered seven but the school had 12. The teacher gave us a welcome kiss and showed us around. A lady was preparing a nice hot lunch in the kitchen. The kids had to bring the ingredients with them to school. Out back there was also a bedroom where the teacher slept. Leaving Walter to talk to the teacher we explored what used to be a very small community. There was an old railway station which
looked recently abandoned. The rails were still in use, carting wood. There was a yellow building opposite that was a bar until two years ago when a couple of gauchos killed other there.
The next day we had lots more horsey fun when we were invited to help the guys round up the sheep. They had about a hundred. We took off to the far side of the paddock and with the help of the big shaggy dog ushered the sheep to a gate and through to the pens. The sheep were put in a run and given an oral something that was good for them. They were also rebranded with blue paint. Just about fainted when they pulled out a wee lamb and cut his bits off. Then just about threw up when they cut off his tail leaving the stump oozing with blood. We helped to get them back in the field, having fun chasing strays. We went and collected five more sheep and we were really helpful when the little buggers didn't want to go back in their gate. With three of us on horses were were able to cut off all exits and get them
in the gate.
Time on our own was spent walking or sleeping. We spent our evenings sitting in front of the big fireplace in the living room drinking wine, reading and talking to Cecilia who was a great host. We definitely enjoyed our estancia experience.
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