El Moo.

Yesterday was a strange and interesting day.

Of course, I've blasphemed Uruguay by calling it boring, which I still mostly think it is, but yesterday we found something fun to do.  This month they're having something called "Expo Prado" in what is basically their version of Central Park.  It's like a giant stock show that lasts for an entire month.

When we got there we were starving, which was good because there was a restaurant right inside the gates and bad because it was an utterly bizarre eating experience.

1. About five minutes after bringing our bread, before I could eat any, the waiter took it away from us and dumped it into the basket of the table next to us without saying a word.
2. The waiter seemed deeply offended when he asked what we wanted and we didn't know because no one had ever given us menus.
3. No one would bring me a fork. Which was kind of ok because,

4. The food was completely inedible. The smoked animal carcases cooking outside looked and smelled like a good sign, but what we got was bones and fat that smelled and tasted, somehow, like fish. Bad. Bad. Bad. Bad.

After the dining hiccup the rest of the day was  a lot of fun. I'm not sure I've mentioned that the two things Uruguay is most famous for and most proud of are their dulce de leche and their beef.  All of the beef here is grass-fed, which is not hard to imagine since most of the population lives in the capitol and the rest of the country seems to be wide open grassland.  Dulce de Leche, caramel, on the same note, is made from milk or cream and sugar--so it makes sense that they're very excited about their cows.

I've been to the stock show in Denver enough times that I had some preconceived notions about what to expect, and I was mostly wrong.  All of the same pieces were there: livestock, ranch and farm equipment (they had some really nice chutes, which Tim referred to as "hug machines"--this is how I know he belongs in my family), cowboys/Gauchos, horse sports, and fair food.  All of the pieces, however, were distinctly South American.

The cattle--Bovinos-- were calmer than any cattle I have ever seen in my life. They were all bulls and they were all sleepy eyed and docile--in fact half of them were napping. They were in large open--OPEN--pens that held about ten bulls each and the
Gauchos were sitting with them, smoking and chatting with people who came up and petted them (petted the bulls, not petted the gauchos).

And there were so. many. people. It was like being in the pit at a concert, not being in a large building full of sleepy bovinos. The entire fair ground was shoulder-to-shoulder packed with people, which, if I was a bull, being patted on the face all day by all those people, I might find a little upsetting. Maybe they were sedated? Maybe Uruguayan cattle are just way less stressed than the Denver stock show cattle because all they do is eat grass and hang out with their Gauchos all day?

Anyway after petting all the bovinos we discovered that there was also a steeplechase going on that day, so we stood and watch horses jump over walls that were taller than I am and it was insane and terrifying.  Any sort of activity where horses jump or run always terrifies me because I worry about their tiny horsey ankles. Please don't ask me why.

Before going in to visit the Ovinos (sheep) we bought and devoured some amazing churros. You can also get them relleno with dulce de leche, but we just got them plain. They tasted like they'd been deep-fried in salted butter and then sprinkled in both salt and sugar. It. was. amazing.

The sheep were less interesting than the cows, but sheep always are. Except the baby sheep or the ones that are close enough to pet.

Afterwards, and after being nearly crushed to death by the throng of people in the "Brazil" booth who were trying to the get to the chocolate fountain, we headed home and decided to take the bus. Public transit in other countries (even just in other cities) is always an adventure. Like everywhere else in Uruguay there was classic rock playing the whole time and the bus itself was actually nicer than many of the buses in DC. Can't beat that.