Uruguayan utopia
Having only been on a horse a couple of times in my life, I never dreamt I’d be herding cattle in the Uruguayan wilderness
I love it when a hotel or restaurant or cafe or tour guide has a completely different take on things. Something innovative, unexpected or going against the grain is always refreshing.
Estancia Panagea in Uruguay is just like that, having an almost Basil Fawlty attitude to its guests that is consistently hilarious. The 2,400-acre estancia, or ranch, has 1,100 cattle, 1,800 sheep, 74 horses, two dogs and three pigs - and less of the latter whenever they run out of bacon.
Many estancias in South America are geared to tourists and inauthentically comfortable but this one is a working farm with hearty local home cooking, no wifi or landline phone, limited hot water, and electricity just for two or three hours daily via a generator.
It is located at Tacuarembo, in the northern interior of Uruguay. Inexplicably, Uruguay has been virtually ignored by tourists. True, its neighbours, Brazil and Argentina, have numerous incredible treasures, but Uruguay has…
