My time in Uruguay is quickly coming to an end. I have enjoyed this leg of my trip very much. Uruguay is a beautiful country which varied landscapes and stunning views and I say that while I am seeing it at its worst; it is the middle of winter and half of the country is in a state of emergency due to drought. It seems as though this little country sandwiched between Brazil and Argentina is an overlooked diamond in the rough.
Uruguay is a beef country, they are the second highest beef consumers int he world at 53 kg/person/year and export 75% of the beef they produce. There is also a thriving dairy industry and byproducts like leather goods are abundant. Their beef is fully traceable through an electronic database and their tags are provided to producers at no cost.
Information has been tough to come by; apparently my lack of Spanish language skills and a wariness of foreigners in this developing nation meant that I was not able to meet with the industry groups that I had hoped to. Even the Angus Association has not responded to my requests but that is part of the fun of doing a Nuffield study, if everything was easy than it wouldn’t be as exciting. I did manage to catch up with one Angus producer who is Uruguayan and originally from the UK. He was a wealth of information and I always appreciate the chance to look at some great Angus cattle.
I also did something which is mostly likely a once in this world experience, I stumbled upon the Museo de la Revolución Industrial in Fray Bentos (left). A museum dedicated to the production of beef bouillon and processed meats, yes that is correct a musuem dedicated to a meat processing company in an old kill plant.
Even though Uruguay was not at all what I was expecting it has been a fantastic week and I am a little sad to leave. Perhaps I’ll be back soon, this does seem like an ideal place to invest in a little beach front property, I just need to start working on my Spanish. |
| Punta del Este |
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| Plaza Independencia, Montevideo |
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