Paola and her passion for Uruguay

Working together to organise trips to Uruguay

At Sapa Pana Travel, we work closely with a local partner at every destination to organise the tours for our customers in the best possible way. These are small-scale organisations run by people who share our passion for travel and the destinations we offer. We have been working with most of them for many years and have since become good friends. Sapa Pana Travel has been working with Paola’s team ever since it began offering trips to Uruguay.

“I’ve known Paola for a very long time. We meet up about two or three times a year on average, and every time her eyes light up again as she tells me about new spots or new itineraries she’s discovered in Uruguay. She’s always working to improve her service and travel products. She’s a keen horse rider and outdoor sports enthusiast, and I always find it a breath of fresh air to chat with her about Uruguay. Uruguay really is a hidden gem, and she was one of the first to realise this!”

Not a tourist destination for a long time

When Paola started organising trips in Uruguay, the country – however unfairly – was not regarded as a tourist destination. The tourists visiting the country at that time came from neighbouring Argentina and Brazil, and stayed for an average of one and a half nights.

In the beginning, Paola combined her two great passions: Uruguay and horse riding. She organised and led seven-day horse riding tours. In the years that followed, she expanded this to include a wider range of travel options. Slowly but surely, Uruguay gained popularity as a tourist destination, and travellers from Europe began to find their way to this small country with its beautiful countryside and idyllic beaches.

A better future

A few years ago, Paola moved to La Barra, a picturesque village in the province of Maldonado, not far from the coast. It’s a lovely place, where she hopes to grow old. However, she discovered that many young people from rural areas in this region leave school at the age of 15 or 16 to help out on the farm. These young people, who enter the labour market without a school-leaving certificate, usually end up in little more than low-paid jobs in the countryside. She decided to train three of them as guides so that they could work for her during the holidays. The condition, however, was that they had to finish school and obtain a qualification. Last year, these boys turned 18 and passed their secondary school exams. They have also learnt English. One of them is now working in a five-star hotel in the Uruguayan capital, Montevideo. The second is determined to go on to university. The third is working on a large farm and plans to set up a horse-care business – a plan that Paola and her organisation are supporting.

Uruguay

This country doesn’t have any real tourist ‘highlights’ such as the Iguazu Falls on the Argentine-Brazilian border or the Inca city of Machu Picchu in Peru, and has therefore remained off the radar for many travellers. Uruguay is, however, a wonderful travel destination, where absolutely everyone who visits the country is pleasantly surprised. The historic town of Colonia, with its picturesque streets where time seems to have stood still, the many farms and bodegas that have been converted into small-scale accommodation, where you can enjoy a delicious glass of red Tannat wine whilst sitting on the veranda, as the balmy evening sun disappears behind the treetops and the rolling hills. And what about the endless, mostly deserted beaches, where you can go for long walks or simply enjoy the sun and the sea whilst a summer breeze ruffles your hair. These are certainly highlights of Uruguay that are well worth a visit. Most people actually don’t want to leave once they’ve been to Uruguay. And the fact that this isn’t yet widely known to the general public is, secretly, not a bad thing at all.