This 7,200-hectare (28-acre) lagoon is just a short hop in from the beach at La Paloma and periodically open to the ocean as the sandbar in front of it waxes and wanes. Ringed by reeds, salt marshes, and flood plains, it's just half a metre (1½ ft.) deep and it's a birders' bonanza, attracting more than a hundred species including the Amazon kingfisher, the Chilean flamingo, the intriguingly named dark-faced ground tyrant, the whistling heron, and the white-throated hummingbird; the surrounding area, nearly three times the size of the lagoon itself, is home to fauna such as capybaras, foxes, and otters, and off the coast, you can spot whales and La Plata dolphins. There's also a 70-year-old community of traditional fishermen and shrimpers along the sandbar area, as well as traditional, family-run cattle farms.

Read more in our post The Exceptional Ecotourism of Uruguay´s La Rocha Province.

Micaela Villanueva Capdevielle