Dec 4

We left the ship at the Montevideo port, had a bus tour around the city and then drove out into the country to Estancia La Rabida, a 3500 acre ranch which raises cattle for meat & milk, sheep for meat & wool and grown an abundance of crops.   The ranch was established in the 1600s and the current family that owns it bought it in 1940 with 3 generations currently working it.  After the needed toilet visits we boarded wagons pulled by tractors & old trucks, sat on hay bales and went to visit the beach where we were given home made cookies & fruit juice.  The ride to the beach & back was quite bumpy.  We were given a history of the ranch by the matriarch and served appetizers of fire grilled sausage, kidney & sweetbreads.  People who tried them before hearing what they were really enjoyed them.  There was also Uruguay beer & wine.  We sat under cover on hay bales for a buffet lunch with a large salad selection and meat grilled over hard wood coals.  We had beef, lamb, chicken & pork as well as more wine and it was quite tasty.  Desert was strawberries & whip cream.  After lunch there was a sheep shearing demo, horse riding and rides on a cow skin pulled by a Gaucho on his horse.  We then took a walk to the aquifer to sample the water and to see the owners' house.  In the field we saw some wild rhea, the South American version of emu & ostrich.