Big city girl? Not! Tracie day 7

We said goodbye to La Pedrera today. We put the new car key in the ignition and off to Punta del Este. Everyone goes to Punta Del Este. I say good for you. Yuck-o. I don't like all the people and all the crazy traffic. I just wanted to get out of the city. Next stop, shopping. We went to a place called Punta Balline. They have some vendors and I bought a couple of things. Then we drove through lots of little beach towns until we arrived in Piriapolis. it feels like we are home. Charro cooked millanaise, which is pounded, breaded and fried meat. Ours tonight was chicken. Her cooking is amazing! I told everyone that the food part of the trip has begun.
Well, I need to tell you about our trip to the zoo. We arrived at the estancia and we were all pretty tired. Allen was laying on the bed and I asked if we could go to the zoo. He perked right up because remember, that is the home of the capiaburr and the ñandú. The zoo is pretty laid back. There is only one employee and he sits at the gate to welcome visitors. We are walking down labyrinth #1 (thank God #2 and 3 were closed) and we get to the cage with some kind of animal that is a cross between a raccoon and an anteater. Remember the phrase labyrinth here. Winding path, trees like a jungle, vines overhead...anyways, I noticed at this animals cage...ghee, these little things could squeeze right out through this part of the gate. Hmmm. Should have held that thought. We are walking towards the next cage and I see one of those critters on the OUTSIDE of the cage digging trying to get into the cage that had a bird in it. I did not really know that there was a bird in it, because I was out of there, but not Allen and Emily. No sir. They were running towards the wild animal. What was Emily thinking...it is so cute? Last time I looked back, the critter was on top of the cage still on the outside. Who goes to a zoo and sees animals that are loose outside their cages? I guess we do.
Allen's highlight was seeing and TOUCHING a ñandú. He even has a feather.