An Asado para John

On Sunday, Sonia and Quique organized an Asado dinner in honor of John's arrival, and we invited them to join us in the meal, since we usually eat separately. I think Sonia liked this idea, because the dinner was one of the most beautifully set and presented meals we've had. They moved one of the outdoor tables near the asado grill, brought lamps and cut flowers from the yard to decorate the table, and set it formally with nice linens.



We haven't had fresh flowers on the tables before, so that was a fun surprise. Sonia has some hydrangea bushes along their house, which are really beautiful right now.


Quique did an awesome job with the asado. All the meat was on the grill, and he seasoned it with a squirt bottle (fashioned out of a coca-cola plastic bottle) filled with herb infused olive oil and sprinkled everything with salt. Our appetizers were pork chorizo and the infamous beef gland (I forget the Spanish name). It turns out that with enough charring and salt, glands are actually quite tasty. Still not my favorite thing in the world, but tasty nonetheless.

Apparently we are loved, because even the salads were presented well. Sonia made garnishes out of tomato and basil for the hearts of palm and tomato platter, and she also made a flower out of a carrot slice and some chive to top the shredded carrot salad.

We had a great time with all of them. Andres, who also lives at La Corona, joined us as well for dinner. We haven't spent much time with him, but he's very nice, and took a group picture of all of us with Sonia's camera. In return, I ended up spilling my red wine across the table and gave him a wine dressing on his salad plate. After he mopped himself and the tablecloth up, he didn't seem to mind.

He did, however, eat his dessert by holding his plate up off the table in defense.

We ended the meal with not one, but two desserts. Sonia made a peach flan-like dessert, complete with peach syrup to drizzle on top. She also made a dulce de leche mousse. I was in heaven...

Long time, no blog...

It's been a few days since I posted an entry. There's a few good reasons why. The weather has held out for a few days in a row, and we've been working long days. We've got just a little more work to do, and the sooner we finish, the sooner we have some time to have a little fun. We've worked weekends and into the evening, pretty much just having time to shower before bed.

The other reason it's been so long, is this...


We've got ourselves a new field hand, complete with gate opening skills. It's nice to have someone to wrangle the fencing, laugh at the nandus with us, and also collect data on pine seedlings.

It turns out he also has some skills with the photography. Butterflies are abundant here, and plants like thistle really draw them in.

There also seems to be more activity lately with ranching. We've seen gauchos on horseback, accompanied by their dogs, moving cattle herds through the plantations. It seems like hard work, but it must also be nice, riding your horse and chatting with your amigos while moving slowly through the trees.

We've got the final push with field work tomorrow, and then hopefully we can unwind. We're planning to celebrate a successful field season on Thanksgiving, with Uruguayan food and local vino.

Mas en el campo

While we're stuck inside during yet another thunderstorm (this one may be complete with hail), I thought I'd post another update about our field work.

There has been a lot of storms lately, and we've been pretty impressed by their intensity. After another night of storms, we ventured out the other day to get some field work done (grasslands, here we come!). We were through 3 of our 4 gates of fun when we discovered this...

There's an old eucalyptus grove along the side of the road. We've now learned that eucalyptus tend to be shallow-rooted trees, and several came down during the last storm. It was pretty cool to see all the damage, although it took awhile to find a route around the grove. Two days later, the tree is still there, and there's been no attempt to clear the road.

While we were walking around, carefully surveying the damage, and of course, taking pictures of what we saw, we found some cool fungus on a log. I realize we're science geeks at heart, because not everyone would be interested in the fact that even the fungus is cooler here. I've never seen any so bright orange like this one.

We were then welcomed into our grassland plots by more unknown species than I care to count. We are making progress, but at times it is painfully slow. The plots aren't as diverse as we were afraid of, but we're still dealing with 50 different plants by the end of the day.

We were popular at this site, too. This horse, and two of its buddies, wandered closely to the exclosure during the afternoon while we were there. I've never seen a horse where the tail and mane were different colors - the main was snow white (except for right on the top of its head), but the tail was black. He didn't have any black on his body, so I'm not sure where that came from.

The horses were then joined by a herd of cattle. Generally, the horses and cattle stick together in their own groups, and slowly wander the entire area together. Sometimes they merge together for awhile, and sometimes they don't. This was the first time we saw up close the horses right in the middle of the herd of cattle. They stayed like that for awhile, and then split up again and wandered their separate ways.

Our list of wildlife we still need to see is progressively shorter (we still have the armadillo and endangered fox on our list of must-see wildlife), and yesterday we were able to check another one off the list. We had heard there were tarantulas in the area, and we wondered if the semi-large spiders we see in the woods were what people were referring to. As we were driving out the other day, we saw a huge black thing wandering across the road. We stopped, parked, and grabbed our cameras.

I've never seen a tarantula up close, and it was pretty fascinating. They're covered in hair and move relatively slowly. We didn't get any closer since we weren't sure if they are poisonous here or not. He was pretty cool...

Popularity

Between the attention of Sonia and Luana, and our extremely warm welcome at Luana's school fiesta, we've been feeling very attended to and quite popular. I figured we'd have a little change of pace when we were able to get out yesterday afternoon to do some more field work, after yet another thunderstorm yesterday morning.



The field sites were pretty soggy, and the rows of trees were flooded. We splashed around as we identified plants, actually getting quite a bit of work done while adopting some new field methods, in an attempt to make up for lost time.



Lo and behold, even out here we were popular. I heard some steps coming towards us, and when I looked up this guy was right next to our exclosure fence, checking us out.



He stayed there for quite awhile, trying to figure us out. I think he was trying to get us to let him in the exclosure area, where apparently the grass is always greener. At one point he even started chomping on one of the fence posts in curiousity.

Apparently he's popular, too, because the next time I looked up, his friends had joined him. We laughed as they all lined up along the fence to watch us. They stayed there for a long time, milling around right next to the fence, checking up on what we were doing.

I love field work down here, and all the livestock and wildlife we've been able to see. I don't think I'll ever get tired of watching horses nearby, of laughing at the blank stare of a cow in the middle of the road, or giggling uncontrollably at a running nandu.

Mucho Mas Lluvia

We've had some more intense storms here lately, which is a fun twist with field work commitments.

Rain = fine.

Some wind = fine.

Thunder + lightning + wind + sideways rain = no field work for Laura and Scott.

As stressful as it is being further delayed by the thunderstorms of late, it's comforting to be inside La Corona, comfortable on the leather couches with a laptop while the wind howls outside and the thunder shakes the doors and windows. It's also very nice to have a day in every once in a while during a storm because Sonia brings out the comfort food. Yesterday's lunch was the lentil stew with beef and potatoes again. It's an absolute favorite.

Because we were prevented from field work, we took the opportunity to drive to town to make rite in the rain copies of datasheets and new method diagrams at the nursery office. It was interesting to drive around again after some heavy rains. The storm the night before was so intense that the wind actually pushed rain into the house through the seams in the window and door frames. For the second time here, we found towels and helped Sonia and Quique mop up around the doors and windows in the common room and adjacent kitchen.

La Escuela Fiesta de Familia

On Sunday evening, we went to Luana's school party, which she and Sonia had invited us to a couple weeks before. It's the end of the school year, and every year they hold this party to commemorate another successful school year. Groups of students, organized by age or grade, have practiced dances for this event. This year's theme was "Music from Around the World," so each group danced to a different style of music.

When the doors to the school opened, Sonia and Luana rushed in to the center outdoor courtyard and snagged all of us front row seats. By the start of the event, not only were the seats all taken, but people were sitting along the ledges that open into the courtyard, and many children and later, adults, were sitting on the ground in front of us.

At the start of the program, the principal (who came over to meet Scott and I before the program began) welcomed everyone and introduced this year's program. She then called up the school's English teacher, who, on the microphone, formally welcomed Scott and I to their school, said that they were very happy we were here, and that we have helped "marry Uruguay and the United States." Who knew we were on a diplomatic mission while we're here?

It was an odd thing to be formally welcomed, and even stranger when the hundreds of people in the audience gave us an applause. I've never had that kind of reaction just for showing up. :) Throughout the night, we had instructors and sometimes older students come by to say hi to us and see how we liked the program. Even when Scott went to find a hot dog, three or four different instructors checked in on him, escorted him through the building, and checked in on him later to make sure everything was okay. We really didn't anticipate the attention we had received.

The program began with the smaller children. One of the first events was from a group of 2-year olds in penguin suits, walking around to a song from the March of the Penguins. They were really adorable. Costumes were lopsided, multiple kids had pacifiers, and stood in place and had a tantrum in the middle of it.

Another dance was the traditional Uruguayan Carnival. The music is just drums, which was really cool. The girls were dressed and danced like typical Carnival dancers. We learned that night that Uruguayan social standards are different than in the states - you would never see so many bare midrifs or short shorts at a school event in the states, but in Uruguay the parents made these costumes, and the children were very excited about their dances.

Another surprise was how popular Barney is here. One of the early programs involved some small children in bathing suits singing to some song about the sun and the beach. Then Barney came out. Everyone started singing along with him, and everyone seemed to love it. Only Scott and I were a little shocked by watching Barney and a bunch of 5 year-olds dance around in bikinis.

During the night, we also went to Austria, and watched as students danced a waltz. This little girl was very proud of her costume, and had been wearing it the whole night. Her dress was complete with lace, ribbons, and a hoop at the bottom for an authentic ballroom gown.

We also went to Scotland, and some older girls danced in Scottish-style skirts and blouses. They were very good, and very energetic. A lot of the older students danced in multiple programs, and it was impressive how much energy they had for all of the dances.

"Music from Around the World" would not be complete without a visit to the United States. To represent the US, there was a dance to a rap song, a traditional Hawaiian luau dance, and, of course, a country dance complete with line dancing. The students were very good, and seemed to have a lot of fun dressing up and playing the part of cowboys and cowgirls. At the end of the song, they all threw their hats in the air, and gave a big "Yeehaw!"

Luana's dance was near the end of the program. Her group performed a traditional African dance, where the girls were dressed in saris and the boys looked like tribal hunters. I doubt this would be PC in the US, but it was entertaining here.

And here's Luana during the performance, in the costume that Sonia made. I think she really enjoyed dressing up, and seemed very happy after her performance. It turned out it was a good thing we were there that night because none of the pictures Quique took during Luana's performance turned out. Yesterday Sonia asked me if I could give her some of mine, so we loaded up a thumb drive with a bunch of pictures from the event.

It was a very long night, but a lot of fun. The program didn't even start until almost 8 o'clock, and we didn't leave until almost midnight. Even then, the program had just ended, but a live band was setting up for anyone that wanted to stay awhile and dance. We still marvel at the schedule of Uruguayans, and it's a hard adjustment, but we wouldn't trade this experience for anything. It's not everyday that you are welcomed into the lives of a local family, and even more rare is the chance to feel like a diplomat!

La Criolla

After we had lunch with Sonia and her family yesterday, they asked us if we'd like to check out the traditional Gaucho rodeo, La Criolla, in town. We quickly said yes and hopped in our truck to follow them to the large park where a motorcyle race and the rodeo were taking place. We drove past the race track and parked in the middle of a field before making our way to the arena.

Wild horse are brought in by gauchos, and are then blindfolded so they calm down and strapped to a pole while they tighten a saddle onto them. A rider then mounts the horse, and when he's ready, everyone unties the ropes, takes off the blindfold, and gets the heck out of the way. The horses typically buck like crazy and start running full speed. Two gauchos on horseback catch up to the wild horse, pull the rider of the horse for safety, and wrangle the wild horse back to the pen. It's quick, intense, and fascinating.

This guy seemed to be one of the head gauchos of the event, coordinating the other gauchos in teams to prepare a horse, and going into help when a horse got too agitated by the saddling. At one point I watched as he approached the horse and pet its muzzle while talking to it - like an actual Uruguayan horse whisperer.


A lot of people seemed to know Sonia or Quique and his family. I guess that's what happens when you stay in the same town for a long time. And apparently there's no minimum age requirement for riding a horse. We actually spotted a girl (if I understood Sonia correctly) was seven years old and had been riding now for three years. Everyone seemed to know her, and she rode her horse around the event like a professional - riding boots, whip, and all.

If a gaucho didn't know Sonia or Quique's family, they seemed to know this guy. Multiple riders would walk over and greet him, or gauchos would offer a greeting as they rode past. I'm guessing he's been in this area a very long time.

It was raining when we first got there, but we weren't disappointed. Sonia put the hood up on her sweater, Scott had his raincoat, Quique's dad wore his gaucho hat, and the rest of us shared a big scrap of plastic sheeting that Quique found in his truck. I didn't care too much, because it was too much fun taking pictures and watching the horses, gauchos, and crowd at the event, but Quique's mom seemed pretty concerned when I was out in the rain. Luckily, the rain tapered off and we enjoyed most of the criolla under overcast skies.

Oh, and apparently this is a hint from Scott. It's always interesting to see someone else's perspective through the lense of their camera:

:)

La Casa Azur

Yesterday, Sonia invited us into town for lunch, see the city, and go to la escuela fiesta de familia, the school party for Luana that happens at the end of every year. We started by meeting Sonia and her family at her former house, where her mother-in-law lives now. We call it "the blue house" because she was pointing it out the last time we were in the city, and it was the blue house along the block in between white and other neutral colored houses.

We were warmly welcomed into their home, and had lunch with Sonia, Quique, Luana, and Quique's parents (Luana's grandparents) that were all spending the day together before the big party that night.

It was really fun seeing Sonia, Quique, and Luana away from La Corona. At La Corona, there's a division between us (the guests) and the family (the staff). Away from the estate, we were in their home, and they were so welcoming. They were very gregarious and were very proud to show us their home and their life.

Quique, who is very quiet at La Corona, and will smile and quietly say hello, starting telling stories and poking fun at both of us.

Sonia was so welcoming into her home. She brought us out snacks, and showed us their music collection while Luana brought out a bunch of family photos. We even got to see the photos from Sonia and Quique's wedding, which was held in the city.

Their former house (they live at La Corona now in their own space, but lived here before moving) is different from what we're used to in the states. It's more like the size of an apartment; the front door opens up to the living and dining space. The bedrooms are off to the right, and the kitchen and bathroom are in the back of the house (the open counter in the back of the photo is the kitchen).

It was great to see the home life of Sonia and her family. Their home is so lively, and they themselves are so loud and gregarious. Their home is full of life.

We sat down for lunch and they gave us a wrapped bottle of wine from a local bodega. We're used to bringing a hostess gift, and felt bad we didn't have anything to give them when they welcomed us into our home. It was a unique experience to be given a gift as a guest.

Mas gatitos

The kittens are over a month old now. They're just starting to venture out a bit on their own when Mama cat allows, and she seems to need a break from the kiddos more and more. Apparently that's what happens when you have triplets.

The little grey one is still pretty feisty. It's the first one out when you walk in the door.

Little grey really likes to explore. When I first came in the door, it hopped out of the box and checked out Mama cat's food and water dish. It stuck part of its face in the water before realizing that probably wasn't a good idea, and then just looked confused at the chicken in the food bowl.

After getting bored with the food, Little grey then checked out the woodbox next to the stove under which the kittens live. Apparently that is fascinating territory to explore.

And just for scale, these kittens really are still just babies. Little grey (and the other two, who are both black and white) are really so small.

Apparently two of them managed to get into a lot of rouble with Sonia the other day when she discovered them on the roof. Luckily, they are all now back safe and sound with Mama cat, and I'm sure they've learned their lesson.