On the very last day of our trip we all went to Alto de La Ballena, a vineyard in Uruguay. The owner, Paula Pivel, greeted us along with her daughter and two dogs. She told us that the vineyard was built on Sierra de la Ballena or The Whale Hills. She lost her job at a bank and decided to follow her ultimate dream and she and her husband started the vineyard. We got to sample some wines and then headed down the hill to where the wine is processed and stored. It was amazing to see where the wine was made; Alto de la Ballena is a decent sized winery but I felt like it was also small in a way. There was obviously a lot of love put into the business and that seemed to be a common theme for all of the places we visited in Uruguay. After we all finished making our purchases we headed to lunch. Bruno decided to take us to one of his friend Alfredo’s farm. Due to drought his crop was not doing great, but it was important that we see things even when they are not perfect because that is something that happens everywhere. We all sat in the backs of pick-up trucks and toured around looking at different areas of the farm. We noticed that there were some large birds who were eating off some of the soybean crop and we asked what they were planning to do about them. Apparently, these birds were protected by the government and the farmers were not really allowed to do anything about them. So, Alfredo plants more soybeans than he needs to account for what the birds eat. We then stopped back at the house on the property and gave our thank-you gift and took a group photo. Alfredo told us that Uruguay was a small country with a big heart and that was really the best way to end our last full day in Uruguay, it was such an amazing experience. I have absolutely nothing to say about the trip that was negative. I loved every moment of it and I hope other people get opportunity to go next year!