The past eight days have been nothing short of amazing! We started out the week by getting to see the capital city, Montevideo, for a few days. We saw open air food markets, beautiful sandy beaches, and different historical monuments. We then hit the road to start farm tours. Our first stops were a large dairy operation and even larger beef operation. At Los Tilos, the beef cattle operation, we walked a couple of miles (or maybe more) through their rolling pastures and examined their forages and cattle. The next few days consisted of a rice processing plant and rice farm plus, an unbelievable evening at a sheep and beef operation that concluded with riding horses and learning about some of the experiments that INIA was conducting. One of the last stops was a winery that included a wine tasting. Our last couple of days were spent in the city of Punta del Este seeing more beautiful beaches and getting ready to head back to the States.
This trip was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I will forever be grateful for the chance to experience it. Being able to see the differences and similarities in agriculture in another country is unbelievable. I am also so thankful to have received a scholarship toward this trip. While I was ready to head back to Georgia, I hope to be able to go back to Uruguay in the future.
