1st day of meetings....

We had our first meetings today which were excellent. We met with Gonzalo from UPEFRUY. Gonzalo spoke with us about the opportunities Uruguay has with exporting. As a country with a very small population (3.2 million), exporting is very important for economic success. They anticipate increased production over the next several years as young plantings mature. During this time, they will look for new markets, explore other options for fruit utilization, try to find a solution for a shortage of workers and continue to search for investment. Our next meeting was with the Rural Association of Uruguay and Gonzalo Arroyo as well as our wonderful translator Marie Claire. The ARU is the oldest agricultural association founded in 1871 to progress the rights of the farmers and their interests through its society members (for example blueberry growers, breeders, etc). Their largest interests are in beef production. As we have discovered, it is all about meat here! ARU helps farmers through government representation. Gonzalo helped us also understand that farmers here are very independent and do NOT borrow monies from banks. They look to external investors or use their land for rental. He has seen the price of land multiply 10x's in the last decade as external investors have come to rent lands for soy bean production. Many Argentianian farmers rent land in Uruguay as they have a very stable and liquid economy.

We spent a wonderful afternoon with our translator Marie Claire. She is a bright young woman studying veterinary medicine and preparing for her own fellowship next Wednesday to University of North Carolina. Her family raises horses and sheep further North where they go on the weekends. During the week, her uncle and grandmother watch their farm. I was very excited to talk with her about the sheep since my days long ago raising sheep.

Marie Claire, Chuck and I set out to the city center, toured a museum recommended by her father and learned a bit more about local Uruguayan culture. The city was once surrounded by a stone wall to protect it. The stone doorway still remains. (photographs later) We toured the principal theater and main square with a large statue in honor of Jose Artigas who was a champion for freedom and independence of Uruguay. We settled into a cafe for afternoon tea and a locally made sweet which Marie Claire offered to share her grandmother's recipe for! You all know I love to bake ....but don't know if I can pull this off.

Tonight we will head out in search of Chivitos. A chivito is a sandwich style national dish in Uruguay consisting of sliced filet, mayo, olives, tomatos, maybe bacon, fried eggs, peppers, beets. Once Marie Claire explained what these were to Chuck....I knew this would be dinner.