For the love of horses – living a dream in the sierras of Rocha, Uruguay

“Don’t get stuck there in Montevideo, Punta del Este, or Piriapolis, folks! Uruguay’s inland has plenty of magical places!” says Lucie, who grew up in Austria, traveled the world, and now lives in Uruguay's rural Department of Rocha.

A 16-room beach hotel and restaurant in Uruguay - part of this expat's perfect retirement

Jerry Bruner at the ViaPark Hotel and Restaurant

When the year 2000 rolled around, Jerry Bruner realized a lifelong retirement dream: Spending his winters on a sailboat in the Sea of Cortez.

But the reality was different than what he expected. “It drove me crazy,” says Jerry, “absolutely nothing interesting to fill the days.”

Jerry is making another go at retirement; this time in Uruguay.

Images of Atlántida, Uruguay's architectural surprises

By Doug Dubosque

El Águila - one of the best-known Atlántida landmarks

Atlántida is a quiet coastal town 45 kilometers east of Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Its locally famous for some quirky architectural landmarks, as shown in this post.... 

An Introduction to Atlántida, Uruguay

Atlántida, Uruguay is becoming increasingly popular with Europeans and North Americans. The purpose of this article is to introduce you to Atlántida and its real estate market, and tell you why a growing number of English and German speaking expats are choosing Atlántida for year-round living.

From Canada to Atlántida, Uruguay - Our Story

By Syd Blackwell 

At La Barca, the beach-side restaurant in Atlántida, to watch the sunset
From left to right: Carole (a friend from Toronto) Gundy, and Syd Blackwell

In November 2006, we flew to Uruguay for a two week exploratory visit.  At the end of the first week, we put a deposit on a house in Atlántida that we had seen online before our trip.  We hadn´t taken a long time to decide we liked Uruguay.

A week later we were on the plane back to Canada with the realization we were moving to Uruguay.  We had two businesses to sell, personal goods to sell or ship, and, we had to explain to families and friends we were retiring to Uruguay.

Coding during the week, tango on the weekends – building a good life in Montevideo, Uruguay

Federico Medina

Federico Medina, who just turned 29, is a computer engineer in Montevideo’s respected game making industry. Serious about his career, Federico continues to hone his coding and English language skills. Except on Friday and Saturday nights, when he turns off his computer and heads out to dance the tango.

Days of fashion and glamour in Punta del Este

Punta del Este fashion show, deigns by Nicolas Osano

By Karin Ledl
On the first weekend of February,  Punta del Este was invaded by an army of models, designers, and the most beautiful fashions of the summer. On each day, four Latin American designers showed off their collections to the beat of electronic music at the Conrad Hotel. I was lucky to get a front row seat to report to you the latest tendencies.

From Paris with love – 100 years of roses in Montevideo, Uruguay

Michael Berger knows about roses.

He has been a member of the French Rose Society and is currently a member of the American Rose Society. When his work took him to Washington D.C., he became the President of the Potomac Rose Society and the vice president of the Arlington Rose Foundation.

Here in Uruguay, Michael is a member of the Comision Directiva de la Asociación Uruguaya de la Rosa (Board of Directors of the Uruguayan Rose Association).

Offerings made to African goddess on the beaches of Uruguay

Some friends told me that each year on the night of February 2nd people gathered on the beach in Punta del Este (as well as other beaches in Uruguay) to make offerings to an African goddess known as Yemanjá.

 Punta has a large variety of special events held on the beach including runway modeling, concerts, and sporting events, but for some reason this bit of information about making offerings to an African goddess bent my paradigm about Uruguay. So, I went to the beach to investigate.

How I came to learn about the Gaucho Festival in Tacuarembó, Uruguay

I first learned about the Fiesta de la Patria Gaucha (Celebration of the gaucho heritage) five years ago.

A friend of mine has a small farm about 30 minutes north of Punta del Este. He had a hired hand, an older man, who lived in an apartment built onto the barn.

On one visit the hired hand brought out his horse tack to show me. It had decorative patterns and the metal parts were made of silver and gold. It had been passed from his grandfather to his father, and then from his father to him.  It was a proud symbol of his family heritage.