On Thursday we finally arrived in Tacarembo after our 19 hour bus ride from Florianopolis to the border of Uraguay and Brazil. We got stuck on the border and did not know where to go but we managed to get our passports stamped and we made the bus from the border to Tacarembo by 5 minute.
The first day of the ranch was a lovely day. The first thing we did was saddle our horses and learn to ride them Goucho style. Then we got straight into it. The horses were very quite and were the best horse to learn on. My horse was called Garibaldi and he was a very pretty horse as you can see in the photo. The first thing we did was round up the sheep that we were going to work with. This was very easy as sheep run together and never stray far from the mob. We then brought them into the yards and went and had some lunch + a siesta. After lunch we went and weened the lambs of their mothers which is taking the lambs who we think are old enough to fend for themselves. Once we had weened them we left the lambs in the yards and took the others back to their paddock. Then we came back, unsadled the horses then gave them a brush and waited for dinner. This was a long day as Juan ( the owner of the ranch) says we have to be ready for an 8.30am start on the horses and then going to bed when the electricity turns off at 10.30pm.
On our second day of riding at the ranch we rounded up a huge herd of cattle to brand, count, ween and mark. Rounding them up took ages because they kept straying from the pack and because there where so many cattle it was hard to keep them all together. Anyway we did it but it took 2 hours, after we had rounded them up into the yards we went and had lunch + a siesta. After lunch we went into the yards, we were all given different jobs. Dad had to seperate the cows and the calves that went down the race. I was the assistant brander which was heating up the branding sticks for Juan to put on the calves that were big enough to fend for themselves. Scarlett's job was to count how many cows and calves there were in this herd, and mum's job was to paint the cows that were old and are not useful to Juan anymore, then Juan will send them to market and make them into tomorrow nights dinner. Once we had done this with the whole herd we put them back in the paddock and went and had some dinner.
The 3rd day of our stay it was a rainy day which means you can not work with the cattle or sheep. In the morning we went for a ride around Panagea, it is a big property with many paddocks of sheep, cattle and horses. We rode from about 9.00am to 12.00pm and then went back for some lunch + a siesta. After lunch it was pouring so all we did was sit around until 4.30pm. At 4.30 we went for a walk with Mum, Dad, Me, Scarlett, Juan, Ambar and Avril (Juan's daughters) and Thomas (a person staying on the ranch with us.) On our walk we found some Nandu eggs which are like Ostoriches except smaller, these ones had rolled down from there nest during the rain. After our walk, it had stopped raining so we saddled up and went to look for a bull that had escaped from the neighbours property. We could not find the bull though.
The next day was Sunday and Gouchos don't work on Sundays but we had Susana's (Juan's wife) party. It was quite a nice day but not many people came to the party, because the river was flooded so it was a very long drive from town. It was very nice with lots of food and fun. In the afternoon we went for a ride to inject a calf who was not doing so well with some anti-biotics, I had to hold the tail while Juan injected it in.
On the last day of our stay we went out and tried to find the bull that had escaped. We did not find it but it was nice to have one last ride before going to the coast. At about 12.45 we left the farm and headed off to the bus terminal which is where we caught the bus to Montivideo. The bus ride took 5 hours but we finally made it to our hotel in Montivideo.
If you woul like to have a taste of the Goucho lifestyle just type up
Panagea ranch Uraguay.
Oscar
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