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! :)