URUGUAYAN RANCH

Here are some photos of our day on the Ranch. Trudy's childhood friend and her husband have a ranch outside of Montevideo. They generously hosted us for a day! We got to ride the horses, experience a Uruguayan "Asado", and they even adjusted their eating schedules to our strange ways. In both Uruguay and Argentina, lunch is not usually until at least 2 and dinner not till after 9 or 10. The asado is the Uruguayan equivalent of a BBQ, and they seem to take great pride in this tradition. Both Uruguay and Argentina are well known for their beef. The asado is cooked in a huge adobe oven, that is the size of a large closet. A fire is lit in the metal basket on one side, and the meat, cheese, and bread are cooked/toasted on the grill beside it. As the fire burns, the coals drop from the basket, and are pushed under the grill. We tried all sorts of different cow parts! (sorry to gross out any vegetarians out there!). It was the best meat we've had -- a whole different food then we've had here. It was crisp and salty on the outside and oh-so-tender on the inside! Later in the trip, another friend asked, "Did you like the Asado? -- to this question you must say 'YES'!" We did indeed enjoy it very much. We also enjoyed the sweet, generous family who hosted us!