Artigas

We ventured up to Artigas for a day trip, and ended up repeating a lot of what I had done the previous time in Artigas (but with different results). We went to Don Pedro for lunch, and thoroughly enjoyed some pasta and asado offerings. Turns out that beef kabobs with filet mignon cuts are awesome, as well as blood sausage. I think we all have enough iron content at this point.

After doing some actual shopping, we then tried out our scouting skills and attempted to find cool amathyst and agate rocks along some of the country roads. Unlike last time, we actually had great success with this, and now feel slightly like dumbasses for spending money on the same things (although the quality differs a bit as well as the cool cuts).

We ended filling our truck bed with many rocks, and then splitting them open and cleaning them up back at the house. We left most at the house, quietly decorating the entire place before telling Sonia that they are all for them and can do what they like. She said she'd take some to their house in town to decorate. We took some for us, and now are finding creative ways to pack our luggage. At this point our carry-ons are heavier than our checked luggage, and when someone makes a joke about our heavy luggage being full of rocks, we can actually say, "Yes, in fact, that is what we packed."

El Esposo es Feliz

This is happiness...

Despite a few mechanical problems, he really enjoyed having a bike to ride around on, and I was able to have him help out with work by strapping on some equipment to the bike and letting him go around to the field sites while we worked on plant identification. The best part was meeting one of the managers of the bike shop in Rivera who agreed to rent us the bike, and learning later that he part-times as a clown.

Uruguay is the land of randomness, I think.

GOOOOOOAAAAAAAL!!!!

Futbol es muy bueno!

We happened to have some miraculous timing in Tacuarembo and caught a home futbol game with Tacuarembo playing against the current champion team, one from Montevideo.

There were so many people there, and many commute on two wheels - this was just a small glimpse of the Tacuarembo side of the stadium parking.

Sports games seem much different here. When people cheered on their team, favorite player, or a successful goal, they would throw homemade confetti in the air or light off fireworks they brought into the stadium. When we heard big booms, I'm certain we were the only people in the stadium who reacted like they might be hearing gun shots in the crowd.

"Our" team (Tacuarembo, of course) scored the first goal, so we took part in erupting into celebration, jumping up on the bleachers, screaming out "Goooooaaaaaalll!" and enjoying the moment with everyone else. The kids next to us were pretty stoked.

The entire game was really entertaining, and the athleticism was pretty incredible. I don't know how these guys run up and down the field nonstop for 90 minutes straight, let alone have the agility to work with the futbol the way they do.

Sadly, Tacuarembo did not win the game, but it was still pretty awesome. As soon as the game ended, the Montevideo fans stormed the field to congratulate their team, and then paraded around in a huge procession around the field with their trophy. The most incredible part was that most of the Tacuarembo fans stayed, and cheered from the stands to congratulate the winning team. I've never experienced such sportsmanship before, and it was pretty great.

Un Asado de Cambium...DOS

I've got not only time, but also a reliable internet connection, so I thought I'd finish this post, and hopefully add several more:

At the wonderful asado, some other people took their naps very seriously. I've never been to a company sponsored party where people completely sacked out comfortably in front of everyone else...

After their naps, all the company folks went on a horseback ride. I"m not sure if the horses and appropriate assistance were hired or not. These guys were pretty excited, and the employees seemed to be pretty comfortable on the horses.

And this was the gracious man who invited us to lunch with his company. I only wish our company parties were as fun.

Un Asado de Cambium...UNO

We were invited to an asado lunch the other day by Simon, who works for another forest company that happens to own La Corona and whom we met the evening before at the house. They were on a three-day holiday to celebrate another year at work, and hired Kike to cook an asado at a riverside park in a neighboring town.

We, of course, enjoyed ourselves as usual. We've got a new guest who enjoys consuming large quantities of meat and chorizo, much to the delight of Sonia and Kike.

Some of us then tested out the local custom of taking a siesta on a sheepskin beside the asado grill.

Un Otro Almuerzo en el Campo

We had a field lunch the other day that pretty much blew our typical field lunches back home (e.g., peanut butter and jelly) out of the water.

Sonia fried up one large patty for each of us, which was a mixture of rice, ham, and fresh herbs and enough egg to bind it together. Topped with in-season tomato slices, this was pretty awesome.

I think it may be Sonia's mission to make us not want to ever come home. For "lunch" dessert (as opposed to our "dinner" dessert with which we finish each evening), she packed us each a treat in margarine tubs.

I was excited to see not margarine, but chocolate pudding. It was kept cool by being surrounded with frozen water bottles inside our cooler. Apparently cookies are not good enough for our lunches anymore.


On a side note, I'm pretty sure this is the only field season in which you actually gain weight. According to Sonia, that's okay for me, since I'm married - I can go ahead and be fat. So I guess I'll start letting myself go! :)

Irony...

Does anyone else see the irony in this?...

We found a "technical" school the other day with a hand-painted sign on a tipped over tree stump.

Mas Comidas

Here's more of the food we've been enjoying!

Savory crepes filled with minced ham and cheese, covered in a pesto cream sauce:

Spinach bunuelos (rice, flour, egg, spinach combined, and then fried):

Uruguayan pizza (complete with pepperoni, onions, red peppers, and corn and peas):

Beef empanadas:

Fish with carmelized onions, and sliced potatoes:

And one of the great desserts, walnut cake with dulce de leche:

Mas Animales en el Campo

We've had more animal encounters out in the field lately, and most of the animals are a great source of entertainment. Except for these guys - they've scared the crap out of us on more than one occasion (mostly because they hang out in the plants that we're closely studying).

We drive in between two small ponds on the way out to the main highway, and on a few occasions, we've managed to see a couple of these pink-colored spoonbills. They are beautiful.

This guy will haunt me in my dreams. In my version of hell, I will be in the middle of pokey plants, covered in mosquitoes, and forced to listen to this hawk, squawking constantly all day. I have a video of his call if anyone wants to suffer.

Then there's this guy. We stopped and watched him for awhile on the way to our field sites the other day. He was completely puffed up and strutting around, trying to impress the ladies. He even gobbled a couple times, hoping that would entice them.

The ladies were less than impressed. They wandered around completely ignoring him, and he would alternate between periods of dejection while his feathers drooped, to glimpses of hope, in which he fluffed himself up again and tried to strut and cut off the path of the ladies. By the time we left, I think he was starting to realize that his strategy wasn't working.

Muy Mucho Sol

It's been really pretty hot and humid lately, and we've been working out in the open grasslands, so we're exposed to the sun most of the day. We try to be diligent about sunblock, sunglasses, and hats, but we're still getting quite a bit of sun.

I'm not sure if you can actually tell, but I'm quite tan (for me) in the photo. My hair is also getting some nice natural highlights from all the sun exposure. For a better understanding of how tan we're actually getting, I'm also including the photo below:

Yep, that's my arm...and that's a watch line. And yes, I really was that white (pasty, in fact). Now I've got a lovely tan, which is accented by various bug bites (the lovely red dots on my arm).

Here's another view, in which you can see the lovely tan lines created by tank tops in the field. Don't mind the uncombed hair and sweatpants-made-into-capris - this is my normal "look" in Uruguay.

Sonia took the above photo of us (Cat and I) with Luana, and the flowers we bought Luana to celebrate her end of the school her and successful finish to her two-day English exams. It was also the day of her communion, so it was a big day for her. We asked Sonia earlier in the day where we might find a florist in town, and she came back with three addresses for three individual shops. Apparently she was excited about the idea. When we came back with the flowers and delivered them to Luana, we got cheek kisses from her, and profuse thanks from both Sonia and Kike. I think they were pretty touched - as evidenced by the fact that Sonia took pictures of all of us and the flowers with both her camera and mine.

Comer un Asado...

Thought I would post a step-by-step guide on how to make and eat at an asado in Uruguay.

Step 1: Have a big ass outdoor brick oven, plenty of dense firewood, and hours of time in which to cook lots of meat. For example, the parilla (grill) below was filled with meat to serve 7 people...not 20 like the amount of meat might suggest.

Step 2: Have a variety of meat available. Lamb is best (see lovely dark red color on that delicious leg).

Step 3: Be sure to also include chicken as a non-red meat option, although Uruguayans will laugh at you if you don't like either beef or lamb. Also be sure to include plenty of chorizo, because its amazing how much chorizo and fried cheese one can eat during the appetizer session of the asado.

Step 4: For the adventurous (and for complete authenticity) also include some glands as an appetizer. Cook these to a burned crisp and then douse them in plenty of lemon juice and salt. The crispy texture and delicious seasoning will make what as originally a cold thymus gland with the texture of a bad oyster actually quite edible.

Step 5: If possible, have a Kike to attend to the asado. He knows what he's doing, and he's got some major skills. Plus, he likes to discuss the techniques and talent of cooking an asado, so make sure to ask lots of questions.

Step 6: Have some gregarious guests on hand with whom you can laugh and enjoy wine. It's preferable if they are American professors who enjoy drinking wine, and like to chat about many different subjects.

Step 7: Have plenty of salads and other food ready at the table for when the asado begins. Only eat these salads as a break from the sheer quantity of meat you will be consuming. Then eat more meat.

Step 8: Eat, eat, eat, until you have given yourself a food-induced coma. Then wake up late the next day and try to eat more food. :)

Cenas a La Corona

It's probably become obvious, but we've been having some fantastic food here at la estancia.

We've had chicken in mustard sauce. The sauce was thinned with broth, and seasoned with red bell pepper and herbs and spices, and was delicious over rice.

One night we had cabbage rolls - large cabbage leaves stuffed with ground chicken and vegetables, and served with potatoes and carrots with a tomato based sauce.

We've also had these adorable little things - tomatoes stuffed with a tuna and rice salad. It was a very hot day, and this was a refreshing and yummy dinner. Note the hats on the tomatoes, and decorations of hard boiled egg slices and parsley sprigs.

One other meal was a fish casserole with a bread-ham-egg tower as a side dish. Sounds weird, but they were awesome.

The towers had a layer of breadcrumbs, then a hard boiled egg, and then topped with minced ham. The entire thing was then breaded and baked, and topped with a dollop of mayonnaise. A bite of the side tasted like a really fancy egg salad sandwich.

The fish casserole was fish, ham, and a creamy cheese sauce. It was a weird combination, but really tasty.

The whole meal was really good. Not exactly light, but good.

Mas Almuerzos en el Campo

Thought I'd share some more food...this time, lunches in the field!

We've had meatloaf stuffed with hard boiled eggs, served alongside a broccoli-quiche thing (the broccoli things was really great, but I wasn't as huge of a fan of the meatloaf)...

A layered eggplant, egg, and dough baked casserole dish with rice and tomatoes that was FREAKIN FANTASTIC...

Sardines in tomato sauce over rice (which was fairly good, but not really my favorite)...

And some pastries, filled with ham, cheese, egg, corn, and tomato (YUM)...

Most of these meals are finished off with some fresh peaches and/or some cookies or leftover cake slices from dinner-dessert the night before. This is why it's hard to leave Uruguay...