Day 3…Life was already becoming interesting, or as some may say “memorable”, in Uruguay. Day 3 was our first full day in Uruguay. When I say full day, I mean we left the hotel at 7:15AM and didn’t return until at least 11PM. Every minute was completely worth the long day, especially at the second dairy farm we toured. It was later in the afternoon and we were visiting a larger dairy in San Jose. In every direction, as far as you could see, were beautiful landscapes filled with crops and cows. The sun was going down, the air was perfect, the farmer was giving us the grand tour, everyone was all smiles, and it was overall a beautiful day. We were coming to the close of the tour at this farm and we were heading back to the bus. Matthew, a few others and I were trailing at the back of the group holding on to the last minutes we had at this farm. All of a sudden the breeze caught just right. We all turned to each other knowing that distinctive smell that brought flashbacks of animal science courses and 4-H days back so vividly. In unison we all spat out the words, “I smell hogs.” Immediately, we started looking for them. Being Ag students we’re always interested to see every aspect of every farm as agriculture is part of what keeps our hearts beating. The farmer was kind enough to show us over to the hogs, which he was keeping for his own personal consumption. Excited to see something besides cows and sheep, we were all looking over the hogs and walking along the concrete pad that extended from under their pens, when someone made a fatal mistake. Matthew, our most adventurous group member, stepped off of the concrete straight into the hog waste. That’s right, the pile of manure and leftover slop that had been piled up after being cleaned out of the pens. All of us checking out the hogs, including the farmer, burst out laughing. When the laughter finally stopped, we all quickly remembered how badly the hog smell is and gets into your clothing. It’s one of the worst livestock scents and we were about to be stuck on a bus with Matthew. The farmer, realizing our worst fears took Matthew into his house and cleaned him up. Matthew returned shoeless and in a bit of shame. Being a good sport, Matthew laughed with us a little more and then climbed back onto the bus to head to Kiyu for dinner. Our farm trip had just become one of the most memorable and we all decided if we smelled hogs again while in Uruguay, not to seek them out.