We had quite a night last night at El Charabon, the ranch where we have come to work cattle with the gauchos in Uruguay. We had an amazing candle lit dinner. The lighting was romantic, but also necessary, as this storm that we are having, which has caused them to close the schools here in Uruguay, caused a power outage here at the ranch. Good thing those big grills are heated by good old-fashioned fires.

El Charabon is a working ranch that raises cattle and Hampshire Down sheep. After eating and learning more about life in Uruguay from Jorge and Graciela, the owners, we went to bed. The power had come back on briefly, long enough for us to finish downloading our HD footage.

Luckily, I had just gotten into bed when the lights went out again and I was in utter darkness. I live outside of Washington, DC in an urban area, so it never really gets totally dark. Here in the countryside of Uruguay, it does, meaning that you can look up at a million stars, but also that when the lights go out in your room and the moon and stars are obscured by stars, it gets so dark that all you see are the colors that your eyes seem to flash when you can’t see a darn thing. I’m looking forward to the sun rising tomorrow!

Learn more about Equitrekking on PBS and the Equitrekking episodes on DVD and learn about exceptional equestrian vacations including Uruguay equestrian vacations at EquitrekkingTravel.com. Follow Equitrekking on Facebook and @Equitrekking and @DarleyNewman on Twitter.