Uruguay: Photo taken in Montevideo Uruguay by Melinda Kolk. This is a photo of one of Uruguay's most prestigious historical museums, the Museo del Uruguay. You can get historical information dating as far back as the late 1680s when the first Spanish established a permanent settlement at Colonia.

Uruguay has one of the lowest urbanization and literacy rates in South America. Unfortunately, it also has a very high poverty rate due to poor literacy among its citizens, high population rates and lack of opportunity. Many people from Uruguay will move to places like Spain for better job opportunities. Because Uruguay is landlocked, many people from Uruguay will also move to Argentina because of the beaches. About 90% of Uruguay's population lives in small villages and farming communities. Regardless tough times in Uruguay, they have an average life expectancy of 76.55 years. The government is currently transforming the education system so that they can be more competitive. There is optimism among politicians that they will become a leading industrial nation in South America once they properly educate their citizens. They have recently built over 100 schools in marginal areas of the nation for K-12. These schools were built with 21st Century standards so that their youth can properly compete in the world.

There population is 75% Roman Catholic, 24.5% non-Catholic Christians and 0.5% atheist or agnostic. Because most of the people are so religious in Uruguay, they are not very tolerant of non believers or skeptics.

The largest meals of the day tend to be breakfast and dinner. They usually eat small lunches because their large breakfast tends to last them until dinner time. They enjoy seafood, fish, chicken and pork, but beef is central to their diet because Uruguay is a cattle producing country. Uruguay and Peru are South America's most important beef exporters. They eat way too much beef.

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