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| Uruguay is a small country between tow big
South American countries - Brazil and
Argentina. Most of the population lives near
the coast. The interior of the country is mostly
rolling grasslands which is used mainly for
cattle grazing. |
This is a section of the capital city Monte
Video which is on the coast bordering the Rio
de Plata. The Rio de Plata at its mouth is close
to 100 miles wide from rivers starting in the
Andes. Above is a street near the town center
of Monte Video. |
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| The busy dock of the port of Monte Video.
We visited the shipments of potato seed from
Colorado as they arrived. |
In Uruguay they eat a lot of meat, much of it
grilled. This is the typical grill. The fire is
made in the center and as coals form they are
raked out to the sides under the grills where
the food is cooked. |
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| Uruguay is known for its beaches and is a
popular vacation spot for people from
Argentina and other countries. |
This is one of the beaches at Punto de Este.
There are miles and miles of beautiful beaches
along the coast. |
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This is the Casa Blanca. It is the home of an
artist of Uruguay. It is now his home, an art
gallery and hotel. It sits on a cliff overlooking
the ocean and Punto de Este. |
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| We went on this trip as a trade mission to
promote U.S. potato seed. Potato ground is
worked up out of the native grass. Low areas
are left in grass as drainage as soils are slightly
heavy and rainfall can be heavy at times. |
There are tow main types of potatoes grown
in Uruguay - red skinned and chippers for
making potato chips. In this picture there is
chieftains to the left and Atlantics to the right.
There are two somewhat overlapping
plantings of potatoes a year in Uruguay. |
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| This is one of the types of harvesters used in
Uruguay. There are also modern type
harvesters used here like in the U.S. and
Europe. |
The sweep underneath lifts the potatoes up
and the PTO powered spinning disk throws
them over with the dirt. The potatoes end up
on the top of the ground and show very little
damage and skinning. |
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| Afterwards the potatoes are sorted and
bagged by hand. Workers come from
Paraguay for these jobs. |
The soil is heavy so it sticks to the potatoes
and is washed in this machine. |
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| The potatoes are then sorted and bagged. |
The finished product ready to sell. |