Zoologico

During a recent afternoon, after picking up some field supplies at a local hardware store, we drove into the zoo in Tacuarembo to see about finding some capybaras.

First we had to meet the goats.

Then, we spied some big cats, so we had to check them out. It was late in the afternoon, after a nice day, so they were pretty intent on just lounging.

Then we had the mother of all zoo experiences, spending time with some capybaras (carpinchos). They are the largest rodent species in the world; they look like huge weird hamsters and are the size of a medium dog on little legs. Plus, they make little clicking and laser noises while they wiggle their ears, so they are super cool.

We probably spent a good half hour with them, feeding them grass and laughing at their noises. Hopefully they didn't take offense.

On the way out, we checked out some cool birds. This one seemed like it wanted to speak, but apparently it didn't want to mimic our English or rudimentary Spanish.

Heladeria

Thought you might like to see a run down of the flavors offered at Bora Bora, the local heladeria.

Clockwise from top left:
American Cream: similar to butter pecan (delicious)
Crema: simple vanilla
Crema granizada: vanilla with chocolate chips
And also, in the bottom middle, Chocolate bora bora: semisweet chocolate, named after the place

Frutilla: strawberry
Limon: lime
Dulce de leche con cirueles: thick, deep caramel with dried fruit (maybe fig? prune?)

Menta granizada: chocolate chip mint
Anana: pineapple
Arandanos: blueberry

Marmolado de frutilla: creamy strawberry
Creme de pasos: vanilla with raisins
Lemoncello: dreamy lemoncello flavor (delicious; I speak from experience)
Chocolate suizo: Swiss chocolate (one of Sonia's favorites)

Between several of us, we've now tried many of the flavors. It's funny to see who sticks with fairly familiar flavors (me: lemoncello, semi-sweet chocolate, dulce de leche), who always goes for something a little new (Cat: mint chocolate chip, vanilla with raisins), and who purposely orders flavors of which he has no idea what they will taste like (John: American cream, dulce de leche with weird dried fruit). It's a fun way to experiment. :)

Un poco mas trabaje

We still have a little work left to do, and it feels like we're quickly running out of time. We have less than a week left of our trip, and days seem to be flying by even faster than they were before.

We're in the wrap-up phase of field work, taking basic measurements and field notes of each sites, and preparing to leave them for an indefinite amount of time, as this is my last field season for my dissertation. We worked quickly in two field sites yesterday before heading into town to buy field supplies for a small side project and grabbing a lunch in the city.

We worked quickly and collected all the data we had planned - estimates on tree density and basal area, canopy cover, and temperature monitor offloading within each plot at each site. It seems we all had motivations for working quickly so we could get into town.

For some of us, it's the prospect of a nice glass of wine with a great meal.

For others, it's simply a plate full of beef (moments after this photo was taken, the subject could be seen with his mouth full of steak and his eyes closed in pure contentment).

And still for others, it's the delicious dessert at the end of the meal. We split this lemon meringue pie between the three of us, mostly because we didn't want to get too full before we went to the helado place in town, an excursion we've been planning for days.



Life is good. :)

Montevideo, Dia Dos

Our second morning in Montevideo was spent picking up the Hubs from the airport. We had a few plans before heading north back to La Corona.

We wandered the streets in the Cuidad Viejo (Old City) area, browsing a bookstore and other shops.

We passed enough time browsing in town mostly so we could hit our favorite asado place for lunch. We headed to the Mercado del Puerto (port market) for some people watching and some great food. We saddled up to the bar and ordered off the grill (blood sausages, beef, sweet potato with a heavy glaze). We told the chef we'd been there a couple times last December, and after handshakes and greetings all around, he promptly got us drinks, bread, and waited until we figured out what we wanted to feast on.

This had been the first thing he wanted to do immediately after landing, so John was quickly in his happy place. It's amazing what a cold beer and delicious food can do for someone.

We then tried to walk off a bit of lunch before folding ourselves into our truck for the 5 hour drive north. We browsed a few vendor's tables and bought a few things.

Sonia warmly greeted us on our return to La Corona. It was funny being gone a few days - we missed the place. And, of course, John was happy to finally be here too. We were welcomed into the house with a warm fire and a quick dinner. It was too bad we were still mostly full from lunch, because the fish and salads really were delicious.

Montevideo, Dia Uno

 We spent a few days in Montevideo recently, between driving my advisors back, and picking the hubs up from the airport a couple days later. Our only full day was spent downtown, between the hotel and going to the university for a meeting with a retired botanist.

Our day in review:

1. Enjoy buffet breakfast at the Sheraton.

 (Including loading up possibly more than one course of pastries, cereal, good bread, cheeses, and fruits)

2. Go to the university (Agronomy Faculty) and have a meeting mostly in Spanish. Admire the old buildings, and have fun walking the halls with other college students. Ignore the funny stares you get as a blonde, white woman walking the halls with locals.

3. Enjoy some free time in Montevideo, and realize the best solution for your exhausted minds is probably popcorn, red wine, and watching Zoolander in Spanish.


4. Go to the recommended restaurant down the block for a late dinner, and feast on white wine or mojitos and lots of delicious sushi. Oh, smoked salmon, how we've missed you! :)

Mi professor y mi jefe

My major professor and my manager from work (both co-advisors of my PhD program) have been here for the past three days, and I can safely say I've never experienced such a thought-provoking and mentally challenging (in a good way) few days. We showed them examples of my different field sites, and talked about my research at each one, ideas that may improve the project, interesting things of note for potential future research, and other random thoughts that occurred at each site.

At one of the sites, we actually had a herd of horses hear us and, out of curiosity, checked us out. It felt slightly like a slow motion stampede - we weren't sure if they were going to literally walk right up to us. They ended up turning into a row of trees just a few meters in front of us, and try to approach us from the side, and then eventually walked off in another direction once we figured out we were pretty boring.

We had discussions about dozens of things we noticed out in the field. One of them was after we noticed that recent harvests seem to be colonized by plants with thorns, or seem to have other defenses against attack. We hypothesized that early plant colonizers of a site probably need to defend themselves against cattle and other foragers.

We also noticed in the pine sites that some areas seem to have a high abundance of fungus and other areas do not. We're not sure if this is an effect of the combination of grazing and trees, or if it's just a random patchy distribution.

We also noticed at a couple of the field sites that many of the pine trees are bowed at the base and have severe damage along their trunk. These sites also happen to be slightly wetter than the rest, but the bowing does not seem to occur in similar directions. We think it's more likely that grazing was allowed too early in these sites, and as a result, young trees were trampled and foraged when the site was still establishing. We aren't able to prove our theory yet, but we'll see. :)

After all of that, our brains needed a break, so we picked oranges from a nearby tree and enjoyed the slightly tart fruit that grows naturally in the area.

A la Ta-Ta

I thought I'd show some photos from the local grocery store, the Ta-Ta. It's fun to say, and it's always an entertaining shopping trip. It was recently even more entertaining, as we were not only the sole white chicks in the store, but we were walking around with a camera snapping photos. Funny looks resulted. :)

960 ml of beer (just over 1 qt) for sale out of milk crates.

Giant bags of dried pasta (pick your favorite shape): $10 in US dollars

Globe shaped zucchini (look like winter squash, taste like summer squash): about 50 cents a pound

A big slice of cheese (gouda) and fruit paste (this one is actually sweet potato): less than $2 US dollars

Random assortments of dried salami and cheeses, all stored at room temperature (as are all the eggs, and deli items)

Lentils and other grains - this week on sale!

A gigundo assortment of olive oil (again with the Italian influence...)

Trabajamos en el campo

Here's a look into what we do out in the field:

Tortas individuales

Just as our work schedule seemed to get heavier, making sure we get everything done while we're here this season, our meals seemed to have gotten even better. It's so unbelievably comforting to come "home" after long, mentally exhausting days to a fire, cozy surroundings, and awesome comfort food.

We had a multiple course meal the other night (even more than just a dinner and dessert). We started with a creamy vegetable soup, that looked so simple but tasted like the best comfort food.

Our main entree, while it looked unassuming, was so full of flavor. We had lemon-sauteed fish, and vermicelli noodles that were simultaneously fried and quick steamed. They were nutty, hot, and slightly chewy. I'm definitely going to have to try this at home.

Our dessert was seriously incredible. Sonia made us personal sized cakes, complete with chocolate garnish.

The cake was several layers, alternating cake with whipped cream, dulce de leche, and peaches. Then it was frosted, and the outside packed with crushed meringue cookies.We were so grateful this was at the end of the day - after a short sugar high and getting a few last-minute emails, we quickly retired and slept off our food coma. :)

Now we're off to do more work!

Vente nueve

On the 29th of every month, it is tradition in Uruguay to have gnocchi for dinner. Legend has it that payday was typically at the end of the month, and most people would be out of money before payday. So, the night before (or so) the end of the month, they'd scrape together a meal consisting of dough made out of potato, egg, and a little flour, and serve it with a simple sauce.

When we were at Sonia's sister's bakery yesterday, she picked up a bag of freshly made gnocchi for that evening's dinner.

Uruguay borrows food culture from various European sources, since they have historically had a lot of European immigration. It seems like Italian is the strongest influence - lots of pasta and traditional Italian food are consumed here.

We were more than happy to take part in this culture. :)

Mmmm...Bora Bora

We heard from two independent sources that Bora Bora was the best helado joint in town, and today we were treated with what I am positive is the BEST helado. Period.

Behold, a double scoop waffle cone - with a scoop of semi-sweet chocolate (chocolate Bora Bora) and a scoop of limoncello (very mild, refreshing lemon, not too tart), drizzled with chocolate sauce, and covered in chocolate sprinkles.

We're actually hoping for some cool weather some day so we can come back and enjoy a cappuccino and a hot chocolate that they also serve. But since today hit a sweltering 30 degrees (90 F and freakin HUMID), helado sounded a whole lot better!

Panaderia de Pan!

We have a long-standing giggle when it comes to bakeries here - many are called a Panaderia de Pan (a bread bakery of bread). It seems a little redundant and unnecessary, and therefore slightly humorous.

Today was our first day off since the huge thunderstorm a week and a half ago (after some administrative catching up immediately following breakfast). We spent the afternoon in town with Sonia and Luana, and our first stop, before we picked Luana up from school, was a bakery owned by Sonia's sister, another Laura, and her husband. (I believe their house is the structure slightly behind and to the right of the bakery storefront.)

Inside was a small shop with the overwhelming smell of freshly baking bread. Sonia said the best bakeries have brick wood-fueled ovens, that are more common here in small towns than in cities in Montevideo. Out of these ovens come pastries, pizzas, and beautiful loaves of bread.

Just as I was about to ask, Sonia ushered us through the storefront to the back building that houses the ovens and prep space. The entire operation is operated solely by her brother in law. There is an industrial mixer and a roller in the back of this building, and the large wooden prep surface in the forefront of the photo. That and the huge brick oven (kept at 200 C, which is just shy of 400 degrees F) is all it takes to make awesome bread.

So awesome, in fact, that when Sonia discovered that the loaves were all warm, she grabbed one, tore it open, and passed it around. Her sister was amused by our excitement, and loved that we started taking pictures of each other eating "pan suave." Because of the humidity, bread dries out relatively fast here, so tearing into fresh, soft, hot bread is a treat. :)

Oh, and please admire the American look - khaki bermuda shorts and tennis shoes. This is what happens when you concentrate more on packing for field work, and less on packing for days in town. I'm sure we'll look even cooler when we take this wardrobe to the big city of Montevideo and try to fit in. :)