Estancia Hosteria El Ceibo — Hotel in Florida

Eleven of us, all closely related stayed for 5 days and nights at Carmen and Joselo's Estancia Hosteleria El Ceibo. It was an emotional and powerful family reunion for which Carmen catered for with great tact and humour as Joselo shared his wonderful love and knowledge of the Uruguayan flora and fauna as well as the regions' interesting history with us. ||I found myself contemplating taking Oscar, their incredible cook to Australia, the country where I currently live but my conscience could not reconcile doing this to Carmen and Joselo. Oscar has 22 years of experience of cooking in Barcelona and other parts of Europe and combines the best of local Uruguayan cuisine with ||the refinement of European culinary repertoires. Believe me, it works! An artist and a lovely man.||Joselo, a true country gentleman, took us for a tour around the property explaining in detail the interaction of the plants and animals and the challenges and changes they are facing as the climate changes. He also gave me insight into the challenges social and otherwise, that Uruguay (my country of birth) is facing.||You will be greeted by two friendly dogs. Tito, a black and white greyhound cross. Elegant and sensible, he is wonderful to watch when shoots off at high speed to chase a hare. Bella, a ?? cross, is warm, easily excitable, and loves to have her belly scratched. She's a honey!||Our time there just flew and I felt I had only scratched the surface of what El Ceibo has to offer.||Thank you Carmen, Joselo, Oscar, Tito, Bella and all the rest of you for having us.||Hopefully it won't be 21 years before I...

Although we stayed just the one night, we had a very enjoyable and memorable stay on the Estancia El Ceibo. Josello met us the moment we arrived and took us around in his vehicle to show us the entire property. He speaks Spanish and some English, which we were able to understand and loved the information he was able to provide. We then had sometime to ourselves before dinner to enjoy the sunset. Dinner itself was great. A bit expensive at 30 USD per person, but the food was very good. ||The room was beautiful and well maintained. Clean bathrooms and comfortable bed. The entire estancia is a Postcard with a very picturesque setting.||The following morning we had breakfast and for the first time on our trip in Argentina and Uruguay we got EGGS for breakfast which was excellent. After that we opted for the horse riding and Josello took us around the estancia for close to an hour. It was 25 USD per person, which I found to be quite reasonable. It was a wonderful experience and since both of us are novice at horse riding, we never once felt uncomfortable while riding. A Great way to spend the morning.||Overall an enjoyable stay at the Estancia, which lived up to it's expectations. Would definitely recommend...

To experience the beautiful Uruguayan countryside and gain an understanding of the rural life that covers much of the country, it’s hard to imagine anywhere better. So peaceful and calm, with wonderful hosts Carmen and Joselo, backed up by their amazing team. Gaucho Mario who seems to be everywhere with his sheepdogs, caring for the horses, sheep, gardens and grounds, and us on our horse rides; Lorene whose delicious home cooking was irresistible; and our ever-friendly housekeeper who took care of our rooms. Don’t expect a fast pace or a ‘hotel’ experience, but do expect friendliness, accommodation with comfortable rustic charm in a mid-1800s estancia, tranquility, birdlife, river and lagoon walks, beautiful starry skies, interesting books and artefacts and fabulous sunsets - and an honesty bar too. Joselo will likely fire up the wood stove and cook you an assado, definitely a highlight. He also drove us around the estancia, some of which we’d ridden over with Mario, explaining much as we went. Carmen happily shares her wealth of local knowledge of what to see and where to go on your Uruguay travels. This was all a wonderful and very enjoyable experience, though we probably ate too much of the...