Las Cañadas

Has always been a cattle-sheep estancia. The production has been Hereford cows, Corridale sheep and Criollo horses. From the main house of Las Cañadas Cecilia`s father managed 9000 hectares, now the estancia is only 400 hectares. Catholic families, many kids… divorces, no tv.

Las Cañadas, means "the brooks".. This estancia Gaucha is located in one of the prettiest regions of Uruguay, at the department of Rio Negro, and close to Tacuarembo and Paso de los Toros. We are in the middle of basalt region in Uruguay, and we have several brooks inside the estancia. Lacoons and a small island. Walking, horseriding or byking at this open prairies is a real delight. Our pampa is not a flat pampa. We have a slitghly hilly landscape. That makes it so unique. You can see from Las Cañadas a never ending horizon, which is a sea of grass and small hills. And sunsets are something special here at Las Cañadas!! We are at 150 meter on top of the sea level, which makes in summer a great difference. During the night it can be chilly, while during the day we can have 40 degrees.

The house is not for those who look for luxury or heated swimming pools, Tv, wifi, jet skis, we don`t have. It is an old house, and it is not a hotel. 6 generations kept the family gathering old sentimental books and pictures and whatever you can keep in a big house. We work with animals, but don`t expect, every 5 minutes a different activity. We shear, we milk (by hand, not by machines), we tame horses, we cure sheep from "mosca",
We vaccinate cows, but nothing is created such as a tourist attraction. It is just our every day rural work.. Time at Las Cañadas is slow. And Part of your experience is knowing about that. specially for those who come from busy and hectic lives, might be a different life experience.

We have a nice library in english, spanish, french and german, where you can find interesting books. We have a collection since 1939 of National Geographic Magazine in English.. We only receive small groups, and generally they keep coming every year. We enjoy to share our way of life with our clients, as we also like to know from where people come from, the news from developped countries. Cecilia used to travel a lot, and nowadays she travels with her clients, hearing their stories and we tell them our stories. Our way of life, which hasn´t been changed for many generations.

In Summer

We have an australian tank, and we give 3 uses to this “kind of pool” we water our orchard, we give water to our animals, and we bathe. As we change it almost every 2 to 3 days. Sometimes your are there and horses come to drink water, while we are swimming, it is really superb!! Our water is taken from our 60 meter water pond. Uruguay has one of the biggest reserves of fresh water in the world. Our farm is on top of THE ACUIFERO GUARANI. The water we use at the australian tank is the same we drink and we do not use clore or other chemical products. We like our unspoiled nature and we like to maintain it as we received it.. We also use the lacoons and brooks to swim in summer. That is another story, we really enjoy our brooks and streams. There are no piranhas or crocodiles. We can see only some fish and turtles, and the wonderful tarariras, that we fish.
In summer, we recommend to wake up early (5 to 6) horse ride with the fresh morning and then from 11 to 3 or 4 is to have knaps or enjoy the australian tank, or be under a tree or inside the house, which is really fresh. The afternoon from 4 to 9 (we still have light at that time) is fantastic for walking, horseriding and enjoying.
There are no mosquitos, as we have many bats around the house, but we do have some flies that bother when it is very hot.. And some spiders and snakes, but not anacondas!!

In Winter

The house has 7 wood fireplaces to enjoy. Most of our rooms have fireplaces. Riding with big "ponchos" even If it´s cold is one of the prettiest things to do. The nicest part of winter is see the sheep having their babies. They are so sweet. Then arrive home for a nice hot soup and seat near the fireplace. We have electricity and baths with heated water. Don´t expect Sheraton bathrooms. They are big, comfortable but old.

Spring and Automn

The colours of the nature, the grass, it is not very hot or very cold. For horseriding the best are midseasons. Where you can have great dawns and see the nature at its best. Autumn is sometimes less windy than spring. But Uruguay, has a very changeable weather, so come whenever you can. You never know about weather…We can have a fantastic spring day in winter, and have a very chilly day in summer.