return of his expedition to Spain, the first goods were exported from Uruguay to Europe: sea lions’ fur. Another famous voyager who sailed along the coast of Punta del Este was Ferdinand Magellan, whose expedition towards the Moluccas was the first voyage around the earth confirming that our planet is round. Explorers serving the Spanish and Portuguese crown were not the only ones travelling the Uruguayan waters. The English pirate Francis Drake, in the service of the British crown, reached the Rio de la Plata on 19 April 1578 and was the second man to achieve the feat of circumnavigation of the Earth’s oceans. Other celebrated voyagers and visitors to the Uruguayan coast included Horatio Nelson and Lady Hamilton in 1808, Charles Darwin on board the Beagle in 1833, and Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1837. In the course of the nineteenth century, Punta del Este developed a reputation as an elite resort town and a fashionable spa. The twentieth-century Punta del Este, a resort-city hybrid, offers the visitors an exciting alternative to the typical modern city: its beautiful landscapes cradle spacious beaches, distinguished for their natural exotic beauty and environmental intactness. Punta del Este equals tourism, security, high quality of life, culture, arts, history, lush natural and man-made beauty, and a variety of sports – surfing, kite-flying, windsurfing, fishing, kayaking, triathlon, etc. Punta del Este is also one of the major cruiser ports in South America. Everything that the city has to offer and display is accompanied by professionally conceived city tours, with guides and abundant information for tourists and professionals attending numerous conferences and congresses in all sorts of fields. The versatile and multi-faceted nature of this city-resort attracts and seduces families seeking entertainment, professional artists, wealthy entrepreneurs, international movie stars and super models, all of them converging in Punta del Este for its luxury boutiques and cafes, the picturesque hustle and bustle of the port and marinas speckled with yachts and fishing boats, the live music and street artists, etc. It is worth pointing out that the beauty of this magical city does not dim out with the end of the summer, but, on the contrary, the mild Uruguayan winter provides further opportunities to explore the dazzling gems of the Uruguayan countryside.
The gaucho, the typical inhabitant of the Uruguayan countryside ever since the late seventeenth century, has enjoyed the legendary nomadic lifestyle, in rugged solitude, without a stable home or work. The origins of the gaucho can be linked back to the specific political, social and economic conditions of the Eastern Province: vast stretches of unpopulated land, with ample abundance of untamed livestock, which was used for cattle farming. The gaucho does not correspond to any single ethnic type, but is the product of miscegenation in the region of the Rio de la Plata. He lived from odd jobs and smuggling skins and cattle. For all his tasks, the gaucho relied on his horse. Horses were introduced by the Europeans at the end of the sixteenth century, and thence emerged the typical local breed in Uruguay, “the creole horse.” Those are relatively small horses with a slow trot, but with an impressive ability to maintain a steady trot over a long time, running on little food and against adverse weather conditions. The horse was the gaucho’s faithful partner in all the fieldwork, and in battles, also his recreation and transportation. The horse and the gaucho made up a functional unit. A gaucho without a horse was not worth his name. This historical tradition is nowadays reflected in the majority of Uruguayan ranches that specialize in horses. The visitors can interact with and mount the ranch horses in various serene spots across the Uruguayan countryside. Horseback riding has also been established as a pleasurable pastime and a mode of healing – equine therapy.
In a similar fashion, the mate has been known as a loyal companion to the gaucho as well as the modern Uruguayan. The mate is an 