Endurance training for horses on the beach in La Pedrera, Uruguay
The sound of the ocean woke me at 6AM. The waves were pounding the beach so loudly that as I opened my eyes I would have thought the water was only a few feet away. In reality, I was cozy in our cabana at Pueblo Barrancas EcoLodge, tucked into the trees at least 100 meters from the beach. Ten stilted, quincha-roofed cabanas and 20 wall tents are hidden throughout the 15 acre private property. Pampas grass swayed overhead as we navigated the lodge’s trails, blocking the ever-present wind and perfecting the intimate coastal atmosphere.
We took off at 10AM with Denver, our surf guru from Estorer Surf Shop. Denver took us to La Aguada, a long shallow beach just in sight of the La Paloma lighthouse. John tucked his long board under his arm and immediately ran into the water, grinning from ear to ear. I, on the other hand, tightly gripped my body board and stared at the massive waves in complete terror as Denver told me what to do. He nicknamed me “Poncho”, after the famous surfer Poncho Sullivan, in hopes of instilling some confidence. After working my way into the surf for 30 minutes, swallowing about a gallon of seawater and being thrown about by the incredibly strong waves, I finally was able to catch one! Fun? Yes. Graceful? Most certainly not!
Body boarding in La Pedrera, Uruguay!
John surfed for several hours, and while he was waiting for the next set a horse came galloping through the water! Denver explained that they train horses nearby for endurance races in Saudi Arabia, and one of the big training exercises is to take the horses into the deep surf, and push them to run through chest-deep waves. Only in Uruguay!
We ate dinner at the lodge’s Pueblo Bar, where we sat next to the open fire and watched our filets of lenguada (sole) sizzle on a cast iron grate. We finished our day exhausted, and completely enraptured by the sand, surf and sun of La Pedrera.
John comes in from surfing in front of the Pueblo Barrancas Lodge in La Pedrera, Uruguay
Excellent travel advice and service
This is my second experience working with Adventure Life. I’m sold. Jess Heuermann is an experienced traveler and provides a lot of useful information when planning a trip. These are the questions I like to ask at the outset - What’s it like to go here, there, what would you suggest, what do people report, can we add any additional side trips? Jess took the time to answer my questions and seek additional information to share with me. Petchie Colina is outstanding in helping with travel logistics and final preparations. Adventure Life has excellent guides and offers private guides and small group adventures. We enjoyed the opportunity to talk with the guides and drivers to learn more about their countries, cultures and histories. A highlight was having the guides pick local restaurants where we could share meals together. Highly recommend.
Claire Cordon
5 days ago
Our six-day tour in Iceland went smoothly with one exception. We had asked for two rooms each night. Somehow we were booked with one room with three beds. It could not be fixed at the first hotel in Reykjavik because the hotel was fully booked. Once informed of the problem, however, Adventure Life rebooked for two rooms for the remainder of the trip. As an 85-year-old traveler, I appreciated that one could participate at different physical levels at many of the stops. Iceland is a great place to visit but on the expensive side.
Mary Warren
6 days ago
Jess was very easy going and answered all our questions. It’s not easy dealing with 6 people at once but she did an outstanding job!
Diane Foster
1 week ago
Kassandra and the Adventure Life team have been incredible! Kassandra was very knowledgeable and attentive to our asks while making sure we kept within our budget. This was our first experience with a travel agent and we were blown away by the booking/initial exploration service. We will use Adventure Life again.