No Fixed Plans

We all enjoyed a slower morning, having breakfast available from 7am-10am and then having to checkout at 10:30am. 

After breakfast, we all made sure to go the atm 70m from the hotel as Montevideo was our last major city in Uruguay and we wouldn’t be able to in Mercedes (Uruguay is also one of the only countries in South America where you can withdraw USD). 

Our transfer arrived a little bit early so we were able to leave a bit earlier. 

The bus took about 1.5 hours to get to the ranch I was staying at. We all worked out our rooms, dumped our bags and then went into the dining room (which is seperate from the main house) for lunch. Everyone got Uruguayan sausages in bread (the celiac in the group getting gluten free bread and myself getting veggie patties), and self serve rice and salads. 

We all then got about 2 hours of free time before we went back to the dining room to get a demonstration on how they make mate and got to taste it. After this, we went on a walk of the ranch, getting to feed their chickens (along with their sheep who believes he’s a dog as he doesn’t stay in the area with the other sheep) and then saw their cows and horses. 

We all then quickly headed back as we could see the clouds filled with the rain for the thunderstorm coming. 

We all hung out in the house together, playing cards and pool until dinner. 

After dinner, half the group went to play pool while the other half of us stayed at the dining table to play uno and bingo, however we did notice that some of the cards it was impossible to get bingo given their was balls missing. 

After this we all went to bed for the night. 

We had breakfast in the house the next morning at 9am. After breakfast, we all had the opportunity to milk one of the cows, however because the cow had a fowl that had already eaten, we weren’t able to get much. 

After the cow, we went into the dining room to make empanadas from scratch. Everyone had capsicum, tomatoes and onions. The rest of the group had sausage while I had soy protein. After we made our empanadas and took the trays to the main house (where the proper kitchen was), it was almost time for lunch. 

We had self serve salads and rice, the group had different brisket like meats and I had a capsicum filled with vegetables and soy protein. This lunch is where I learned that I strongly dislike soy protein and couldn’t eat most of it. 

After lunch, we had a few hours to sit in the sun before some of the group went horseback riding. 

After they came back, we had the empanadas we made earlier. 

We all then chilled for a bit before we had dinner in the house again, which everyone had spaghetti with tomato sauce. 

Everyone then went to bonfire that they had lit before heading to be, making sure to get ready to leave for the next day