![]() Crossing the forested Santa Teresa National Park we arrive at the imposing restored fort which is the centre piece of the park – started in 1762 by the Portuguese to defend the edge of their territories then completed by the Spaniards who took it by assault just a year later. Today we ride our horses along another beautiful part of the coastline to Santa Teresa Fort. Overnight at Parque Oceanico, situated next to the beach. ![]() We arrive 12km (8 miles) further south at “La Coronilla”, normally riding right to the ocean front hotel. Visitors seldom reach this beach so we can enjoy a long, exhilarating canter with no signs of habitation as we ride along the pure, firm sands at the waters edge. Lunch is a delicious picnic under the shady trees at a large estancia then, after a siesta, we ride on to the beach for an incredible ride along the wonderful, isolated shores of the Atlantic Ocean (7hrs riding). The burrowing owls sit watching us on their earth mounds, field flickers and woodpeckers are busy drumming holes in the trees while oven birds build mud nests atop the fence posts. ![]() Rheas graze in the fields and we occasionally spot their enormous eggs birds of prey hover overhead as they hunt. We pass fields covered with bizarre conical shaped mounds, the result of very industrious termites. There are opportunities for long canters across the flatlands and we often pass a horse and cart heading into town for weekly supplies. Then we turn south along a track and cross the wide, flat expanse of the arid pasturelands. In the morning we ride out of the hotel, through the customs post and along the Uruguay-Brazil border, riding for several kilometres in Brazil. We stay at “Fortín de San Miguel” where you can enjoy the pool, the gardens and visit the ‘pulperia’ – the traditional meeting point for the gauchos from miles around. We also ride to the granite fortress built in 1734 by the Spaniards, and rebuilt after its destruction by the Portuguese in 1737. The park is a very important flora and fauna reserve now protected from the effects of modern agriculture and is also home to pure Cimarron cattle and Uruguayan criollo horses, giving us a chance to see this wonderful native breed of horse and its gorgeous colourings. This area is home to a wide variety of birds including several species of vultures that, rather unnervingly, soar overhead in large numbers. Once inside the imposing walls of the hotel, you can appreciate the comfortable rooms and enjoy the delicious food, a far cry from the austere life in the nearby fortress! In the afternoon, we meet our horses and ride around the rocky hills of San Miguel Reserve (3hrs) enjoying a wonderful panoramic view of the area from the top of the boulder-covered ‘Cerro Picudo’. From the hotel, we can admire the views out across a huge stretch of water – one of the largest fresh water reserves of South America, the “Merin Lagoon”. ![]() We arrive at the country hotel, built in the same stone as the nearby Portuguese fortress, in time for lunch (4-5hrs). The locals speak a strange mix of Spanish and Portuguese, on one side of the street the shops have signs in Spanish and on the other in Portuguese! We are right on the Brazilian border and, just before our arrival at the country hotel, we pass through Chuy where the official boundary between Uruguay and Brazil runs down the middle of the main street. After an early breakfast, we are driven north-east to Rocha, the most beautiful province in Uruguay with its pristine beaches, emerald shores and network of lagoons. ![]()
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