So tired...

How we're all feeling by the end of our fast-paced field season...

El asado y el gaucho

Ben has now attended 2 asados, and will have a 3rd under his belt before we leave for home. He seemed a little perplexed by the first one, but discovered that the fire was super fun to watch.

Short ribs (carne de asado) and tri-tip (colita de quadril) were included in the meal.

We, of course, also had salads and the delicious provolone cheese, melted in a skillet on the grill.

Ben's second asado was better - he arrived in full gaucho costume (Sonia's gift to Ben).

He found the fire right away.

Apparently he loves being a gaucho.

I'm glad he loves Uruguay, too.

Our friends in the field

We had a nice surprise at our field site this morning - a herd of horses were nearby, enjoying the morning sunshine and the wet grass.

Instead of running off like they usually do, they circled our plot as I set it up, and watched us get to work.

They continued to watch, and then circle around us, and watch some more. It was amazing to have them so close, and to listen to their hooves stomp in the wet grass.

They stayed there most of the morning while we worked in the grazed grassland.

Apparently we became pretty dull, because a lot of them decided to lay down and take it easy for awhile.

Having their company and entertainment was really welcome, because our vegetation plot in the exclosure was something we've been dreading. And our dread is completely attributed to this hellish plant:

Each leaf is adorned with incredibly sharp spines, and at each node, there are spines that go in multiple directions, so they are pretty much guaranteed to poke you no matter what direction from which you approach it.

And these spines go right through field pants...and t-shirts...and field vests. Trying to lay meter tapes in straight lines through groves of this was slightly less than fun.

The saving grace of this site is that the diversity is really low, so our sampling goes fairly quickly once we have the plot set up.

And we bid this site adieu, until the next field season...

Car seat acrobatics

Want to see some special talents?

Ben has discovered his feet...

Apparently they are delicious! And mobile!

At what point do we lose this crazy flexibility?

And that was enough to need a nap...

Aeropuerto

We needed a mental break from field work (grassland plots in major heat exhausted our brains the last couple days), so we headed into Tacuarembo do run some errands (fill the truck with gasoline, buy more water, get some snacks and more sunblock, and do a little sightseeing).

After running our errands, we decided to take a drive through one of the neighborhoods in town, and we noticed signs for the airport. We never drove to the regional airport before, so we decided to explore a little. Just outside the entrance was the formal sign for the airport ("Welcome to the Tacuarembo Regional Airport").

The airport was complete with a worn out, but still flying, Uruguayan flag.

The entrance to the airport was just a bigger than usual cattle guard at an open gate.

The actual airport was just a small building, and we didn't notice anyone actually there.

The "fleet" at the airport:

And, basically, a shot of the entire airport and a runway:

Our favorite part was apparently the Uruguayan version of TSA - apparently what was guarding the area. :)

Uruguay never fails to disappoint. It's such a random, funny, welcome mix of things.

Mucha comida

It probably comes as no surprise that we're still eating well at La Corona. We're completely spoiled here. :)

Below is milanesa, a breaded and fried beef (like chicken fried steak), served with fried mashed potato balls and a salad of lettuce and tomato. There is always a wire basket on the table that holds salt and pepper, as well as olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Salads are always dressed simply.

Dessert after this meal was a coconut cake with a layer of dulce de leche through the middle.

Another fantastic meal was lomo - which is similar to a filet mignon cut. Each lomo was wrapped in bacon, and then topped with a mushroom cream sauce. It's ironic here that the beef is much better quality than a lot of what we find in the states, since it is raised in large open pastures, and grass fed, but it's not often that it is served anything less than medium well to well done. The only time we've ever had it rare or medium rare is when we've specifically asked for it in a restaurant. And even then, we get questioned by the parilla chef, to make sure we actually do want it pink.

The lomo was served with a giant  bowl of rice. It was yellow in color and had quite a bit of flavor for plain rice. Maybe it was cooked in broth.

Another dessert we have quite often is gelado. We are served a Uruguayan brand (Conaparole) - this one was vanilla with dulce de leche ribbons and tiny chocolate malt balls throughout. Strawberry sauce was drizzed over the top, and it was accompanied by a lemon wafer stick.

Yet another meal was cheese ravioli topped with a pesto cream sauce. Absolutely delicious.

And, one of my all time favorite desserts, arroz con leche. I never knew rice pudding could be this awesome. This version is heavy on the milk to rice ratio, and seasoned with cinnamon, orange peel, and sometimes slivers of almond.

There have been the usual jokes about us gaining kilos while we're in Uruguay. I have a feeling after our Uruguayan meals, and coming home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, we'll be greeting the new year with a hefty diet.

Bath time

Since we were rained out of field work this morning (and thundered and lightening'd out), I helped Ben prep for his bath.

We're still trying to get rid of some cradle cap, so I massaged some eczema lotion onto his scalp before John washes it out in the bath with shampoo. It results in some pretty epic hair in the meantime.

In related news, it may be time to consider a haircut for Ben. I can't quite bring myself to trim a 5-month-old's hair...but I'm guessing not every 5-month-old has hair that reaches past his shoulders.

Ben was not happy with the idea of a haircut, however.

Or us laughing at his faces during tummy time.

In fact, he was pretty upset with us.

And apparently that was enough to result in a very busy morning. It was naptime shortly after. :)

Trabajamos en el campo!

We built the exclosures 4 years ago now, and the last time we sampled the vegetation in them was 2.5 years ago. In that time, there's been incredible changes. This is one of our sites - on the left is the grassland that is still grazed, and what the entire area looked like before we built the fences, and even before trees were planted in the stands.

And inside the fences, the vegetation is now completely different. It's completely dominated by a few different shrubs, which are at least shoulder height. The tallest shrubs are taller than we are - and the only change has been removing the cattle.

Within the exclosures, we're even seeing changes in the forest after so many years without cattle. Usually the cattle use the plantations more for sheltering than for grazing, but we're definitely seeing a change without cattle for so long, and now that the forests have been thinned and are allowing more light to reach the understory plants. What I find interesting, is that the most recovery seems to be on the areas where soil was built up when they dug the tree furrows - you can see lines of soil mounded up on either side of the tree rows, and that's where most of the vegetation is now. I'm guessing it's because there are more seeds in the turned up soil that were laying dormant, and now that there is greater light availability, these seeds have now germinated.

That's all the science for today. :)

We're hunkering down for what we expect to be a fairly good storm system coming through tomorrow. If it really storms, I hope it's a good one. It's been a long time since we've all witnessed an impressive thunderstorm.

Benjamin... also known as [Ben' ha meen]

In Spanish, the "J" in names is pronounced like an "H," so Ben is called "Ben" or "Ben-ha," which always makes me smile. And apparently he likes it, too.

John took him out for a walk out to a cerro near the house while we were in the field yesterday, and documented what was apparently a GREAT time outside.

Then he found leaves and tried to eat them.

But even taking leaves away couldn't destroy his mood. :)