A La Corona

It’s been clear, sunny, and relatively warm during the days here, but at night the temperatures drop. The other day, we were welcomed into the living room in the evening by a warm fire.

To make it even better, Sonia came in with slices of homemade pizza (on biscuit-type dough) as a snack before dinner. She topped it with shaved ham and mozzarella, which was really good.

We then sat down to a dinner of local fresh fish (with a dry rub of some sort) and mashed potatoes, topped with lemon pudding and whipped cream for dessert.

To further illustrate the rough conditions at La Corona, here is a picture of my “office” I sometimes make use of back at the house if we still have daylight left:

La Vaca, Parte Dos

A follow-up…

We recently sampled the forest plot within the exclosure where the young bull mysteriously resides. He watched us for the majority of the morning, keeping his distance, but still not wandering too far from us. Finally, he decided we were relatively harmless and decided to lay down in the grass.

After lunch, Gerardo and another Weyerhaeuser employee stopped by with some tools to open the fence and herd the bull out. These exclosures don’t have gates, so the guys had to untwist the wire where the fence was bound together, and loosen the whole thing.

Once that was done (surprisingly quickly, by the way), they went in and coaxed the bull out by walking around it to help direct it to the opening.

As the bull approached the opening, he stopped and sniffed the fence first. Then, deciding it was okay, he darted off, and we didn’t see him the rest of the day. I like to think that he joined up with his original herd, which I’m hoping is still the one in this area.

Los Animales y los Insectos

We’ve enjoyed our livestock companionship out in the field, and lately we’ve had a bit of variety. As entertaining as the sheep are on our drive to field sites, and cows in our field sites, it’s nice to see other things, too.

Occasionally a small group of horses will slowly wander through a site while we quietly sample vegetation. They talk a lot less then the cows tend to, and they move through a site before you realize.

On the way out the other day, we happened upon two donkeys near a plantation manager’s house. They stood in the middle of the road for some time, and only wandered away after we got out of the truck to see if we could approach them. There’s something very funny about their mohawk.

This morning, the light was just right and the dew was still around, and we could easily see the many spider webs in the tall grassland plants. They are pretty cool looking up close, and in a few we found the resident at home.

We were also greeted by this praying mantis on the running board of our truck after lunch. He seemed pretty docile, and just bounced around before exploring Scott’s hand.

Mas Comidas

For another dinner last night, Sonia made a beef roast with potatoes and sweet potatoes. I wandered into the kitchen as she was preparing to cook it, and I finally figured out how she does this dish. She puts a mustard and herb rub onto the beef, and then places it on top of a broiler rack. Below the rack, she places sliced potatoes and sweet potatoes.

She then cooks this on the stovetop, so the heat is getting to the starchy vegetables first, and the meat cooks slowly with the dry heat. In turn, the drippings from the beef (although it seems fairly lean) flavor the vegetables as it falls through.

The resulting meal ends up really good. I may have to try this at home – especially eating more sweet potatoes.

The dessert was a layered gelado, but instead of neopolitan flavors, we got a more authentic Uruguayan gelado. The layers were dulce de leche, and two variations of an egg cream, which Sonia then topped off with strawberry and chocolate sauces.

Almuerzos en el Campo

Our days in the field are starting to feel similar to each other. We spend the days out in the field looking at plants, doing our best to identify them, and trying to keep our list straight of the growing unknown code names. The only thing that really identifies the different day is what we had for lunch. Sonia does a great job of giving us some variation.

Yesterday’s lunch consisted of Milanese patties and spinach tortillas. The Milanese patties are ground beef and seasonings, breaded, and fried. They are much better after you squeeze some lemon wedges on top, and Sonia made sure to include them. We also had a spinach tortilla, which really was chopped spinach , onion, garlic, and seasonings, formed into a large patty and cooked. I guess it’s a little like a frittata, but without the egg.

Today we had another salad, but this time it was with rice. The rice was served with tomatoes, corn, peas, chopped egg, and meat. We weren’t sure exactly what the meat was, but it tasted reminiscent of canned corn beef hash. All together, it was pretty good, and the oil and salt that Sonia packed along with our lunch actually make a big difference.

And back to work…

Una Vaca es una Problema

During a field day recently, it seemed like cows were everywhere. We spent most of the day at one site, and were greeted by a herd of cattle when we pulled up. One, however, didn’t seem ecstatic that we were here.

He stood his ground until he couldn’t stand it anymore, and finally walked off very slowly, but only after Scott approached him.

Once we finished with the plot, we drove off to check out a couple more sites we hadn’t checked on yet since our arrival. I was happy to see more cows in this area, happily grazing in our study plots. This is a good thing, because half of the study plots are supposed to be grazed.

The other half of the study plots are located inside fence exclosures so they are left to recover from grazing. At our last site, however, we found this lonely guy stuck inside the exclosure.

He has plenty of food and plenty of space, but these areas should be “ungrazed” so it’s really not ideal to have a cow stuck inside. I’m not sure exactly how he got in – but I’m sure Juliana will love my request to try and remove the cow from our study site. J

Luckily, one cow apparently doesn’t do a huge amount of damage. Most of our plot area appeared to be fine, but a little more trampled than it should have been. Oh, well. Hopefully we can get him out of there and he can return to his herd soon.

El Sol y el Campo

The other day we awoke to a beautiful sunrise. The weather the night before got extremely cold – I even added another blanket to the bed. The reason it got so cold was that the sky was incredibly clear, and still was in the morning. We took some time to enjoy the sun (and also let it warm up a bit before we spent a day in the field).

We had a productive day in the field, collecting data on some of my permanent exclosure sites. Sonia asked us in the morning if a salad was okay, and to that we said yes. She also showed us an old dishwasher soap container and herb container that she had filled with olive oil and salt, respectively, to dress the salad. Then she came out with two yogurt containers, saying inside was dessert for each of us.

Once it was time for lunch, we opened the cooler and found out, to our surprise, that “salad” is a loose term. In a small casserole dish was a huge medley of things: sliced tomatoes, hard boiled eggs on top of beans, tuna, and carrots and potatoes. All of these, of course, were topped with fresh parsley. She also included two plates and a couple forks, so we dished ourselves up an enjoyed another lunch out in the field. We then opened the yogurt containers to find canned peaches for dessert. Not quite the same as the typical field food of basic sandwiches and granola bars…

That was for you Trish. :)

Mas Eucalipto

On Thursday, we went out to find more Eucalyptus sites again with Juliana, and ended up actually getting to all of the rest of the sites on my list. Some are much further out than we’re used to, but it’s nice to see new areas.

We started the day by getting stuck when Juliana tried to turn off a “secondary” road onto a “primary” road. Really these terms are relative, since all the roads that aren’t actual highways are dirt roads. Juliana called the local land manager to see if he was in the area, and since he was, he started on his way to help get us out. In the meantime, Scott manned up and helped Juliana rock the truck back and forth by pushing it from the back, and he managed to get it moving again. We gave him a round of applause and a lot of appreciation. J

We also got some help from a gaucho and his nine working dogs on closing a fence. We had never seen this many dogs with a gaucho before; usually there are a couple dogs with a gaucho that help herd the livestock they are trying to move, but this guy must have been super productive with all of his workers.

Most of the sites we located will work just fine for my study, so I was happy. We found all of the post-harvest sites, which look similar to clearcuts in the US. It is interesting, because clearcuts are such an ugly site, and usually have a very negative connotation associated with them. In this country, however, they are actually closer to the original landscape than the forested stands are, since none of this area had forests before these plantations were established. It will be very interesting to compare the vegetation in these post-harvest sites to some native grassland sites, and see what kind of recovery occurs after a full rotation of trees have been at these sites.

One of our sites is adjacent to one of the rural schools that are common around the area. I think it will be fun to sample this site and be able to see and hear schoolchildren as they ride their horses to school and home, and play outside during the day. I’m sure they’ll be a little confused at the gringos in orange vests squatting and looking at plants right next to their school.

Un Dia en las Officinas y un Asado

We spent a fairly quiet day the other day at a meeting with some government research folks in the morning, and our own offices in Tacuarembó in the afternoon. We’re making good use of the office since the internet either doesn’t work at the house, or does work but crashes when you try to upload or send any files.

We’ve already been stopped on the road by multiple herds of livestock. The cows are surprisingly brave, or just dense, because they refuse to move off the road until the truck is literally right in front of them. The sheep on the other hand are a little more skittish, but it takes them a moment to get up from their nap positions in the middle of the road before they allow you to pass through. Some sheep have a wooden contraption around their necks, supposedly because they’re notorious at getting through fences. They don’t seem to be bothered by them, and amble around with the rest of the herd.

When we returned to La Corona after being at the office, we were welcomed with an Asado, which we could smell cooking from the road at the bottom of the hill. Kike was cooking enough meat for 17 dinner guests, plus a bunch of leftovers. Because all the other guests were local Uruguayans, they all knew each other and were telling some very animated, fast stories in Spanish. I decided it would be more relaxed to hang out near the Asado with Sonia and Kike, and Sonia then ended up bringing a plate of appetizers and a glass of wine out there while we hung out. It was actually pretty fun, and it made me feel like we’re really bonding to the Uruguayan family.

El Eucalipto es Alto

Today we explored areas north of Tacuarembó, actually heading towards Rivera this morning and working our way south. One objective of my research is to investigate changes in vegetation over an entire forest management cycle in Uruguayan grasslands. To do this, we need to find sites in several stages of plantation forest: before planting (open grassland), young forest (before grazers are allowed in), mid-stage forests (with grazing), post-thin forests (with grazing), and post-harvest (open grassland sites). These stages are scattered across the landscape, so we had to cover a lot of ground in order to start finding some.

Juliana, a local technician here, is helping us again, and her knowledge of the area is indispensable. Without her, I’m sure we would have been driving around completely lost all day. Most of the sites we found without much trouble.

The first site we stopped at was a eucalyptus plantation within the mid-stage category. This forest has been grazed since it was about two years old, and has been pruned a couple times. This stand is only seven years old, but the growth of the trees is insane.

Another site we found was one of the young forest sites. These sites were planted about a year ago, and have been closed to grazing since they’ve been planted. The land managers allow a couple years of growth on the young trees before they allow cattle or sheep back in; otherwise there is too much damage or mortality to the seedlings. Even after a year, this site had some incredible growth.

Since we were driving north, and we didn’t have a lunch already with us, Juliana had decided to call ahead to a deli in Rivera, right on the Brazil border, and have them prepare a lunch for us. We stopped in and picked it up before we headed out to the first sites. A couple hours later, we enjoyed a tailgate lunch of warm beef empanadas and dessert that consisted of puff pastries and cookies filled with dulce de leche.

Los Gatitos

The kittens that were born before our arrival for our last trip are now about seven months old and pretty entertaining. The mama cat is missing, but the two kittens spend their days stalking and pouncing on each other, and exploring La Corona. They also will dart into the guest part of the estate house whenever they get the chance. I’ve found each cat in the living room now, and when Sonia enters the room looking for them, she lets out an exasperated sigh and laughs. They have been fascinated by our backpacks and shoes on the porch, and love to “help” us work, especially with grass samples.

The grey cat, Laísa, is friendly, and purrs right away when you pick it up. The other cat then gets jealous and walks over for attention. The black and white cat, Tontin, which is very close to Tonto, because the cat isn’t too sharp. We think it looks remarkably like a certain German dictator, but we haven’t actually mentioned this yet to Sonia.

Meanwhile, Ton growls at us just for glancing in his direction.

And I will now end this short post before people start thinking I’m a crazy cat lady. J

Una Fiesta para Kike

Last night we were invited to the Garcia’s house in town (what we call the Casa Azúl) for Kike’s birthday. We arrived at 8 pm, and were greeted by Sonia, Luana, Kike, Kike’s parents, and Sonia’s mom. As the night went on, more people showed up. We met Sonia’s brothers and their families, some cousins, and some friends. In total, there were probably around 20 people there, including a bunch of kids.

Kike was manning the grill, with his Dad’s help, who seemed to enjoy directing the cooking process. Three huge spiral chorizos were cooking on the grill, and then they added some hamburger patties for the children. We ended up making sandwiches of chorizo, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise. They were really good.

Everyone in town seemed to be out at night, hanging out together in backyards, like us, or along the street. Dogs were barking, music was sometimes playing, and people chatted through the night. A kitten who is trying to make a home at the Casa Azúl kept coming by, and Catalina, one of the cutest little girls, was mesmerized. She kept picking it up and dragging it around. Her mom kept trying to teach her how to hold it more carefully, and how to pet it gently, but it didn’t quite catch on.

We actually met Catalina and her parents (namely her dad) at the Criolla in Tacuarembó during our last visit. Her dad was taking her around the rodeo festival on his horse, and I snapped a picture of them. It was funny to see him last night, because he looked vaguely familiar and I was confused as to why I might have seen him before. Once Sonia said, “Criolla!” I remembered that we had actually met before.

Luana made Kike’s birthday cake, which was pretty cool. It was layers of cake and filing (possibly dulce de leche) with some dried fruit tucked in. She then frosted it and decorated it with chocolate icing to say “Feliz Cumple” for Kike. We all crowded inside the house and sang “Feliz Cumpleaños” for Kike before he blew out the long candles on his cake. The song was still to the tune of our regular “Happy Birthday” song, but the words were different than the straight translation of “happy birthday to you…” and their version involved clapping with the beat.