Fray Bentos Day 231 07/05/2015

We'd decided to stop over in Fray Bentos on our journey north, home of the Uruguayan beef industry and the original producer of products including Fray Bentos pies and Oxo cubes. The factory finally closed in 1979 and is now a museum highlighting a major part of the country's history. We had read in Lonely Planet that there were tours starting at 1000, so had breakfast and jumped in a cab for the short drive there. We arrived at 0930 and went to the cash desk to pay our entrance and tour fees. Out of the office came a lady who seemed to be very surprised we were there! It seems that whilst there are tours they don't happen that often, it is more likely for school kids and certainly not in English. Looks like Lonely Plant has it's facts wrong. Just when we started to despair that we have made a 2 night detour to visit a small museum with no tour, the lady asked us to wait a moment. Along then came a young man in his 20's, who introduced himself as Nico and who was an Architect student from Montevideo on a year's work placement here. He said he spoke a little English and would be delighted to show us around on our own personal tour. His English turned out to be excellent (Simon wish his "little Spanish" was as good) and he gave us a brief history of the place. It was originally opened in 1832 by a German industrialist, Herr Liebter. They ran it until 1920 when they incurred  losses post WW1 (although the war itself was a boom for the company especially for their Oxo product) and also the demand for meat changed from being preserved by salt to being refrigerated. They couldn't afford to upgrade the factory and it was sold to a British company, Anglo. For the next 40 years the company employed over 4000 people, working alternate 12 hour shifts and at its peak they were slaughtering a staggering 2000 cattle a day! Apparently 32kgs of meat was needed to produce 1kg of meat extract. Every part of the cow (apart from the "moo") was used for food products to soaps and fertiliser. In it's time over 25000 people worked at the factory from over 60 countries. Anglo had many different brands, many we had not heard of. But the brands of Fray Bentos (corned beef, many different meat pies - all with the characteristic puff pastry) and of course Oxo, were ones we remember from the meals of our youth in the 70's. Nico was fascinated to learn we had grown up with these brands and we had come all this way to visit the place (or was it more he thought we were just sad!!). Armed with a huge bunch of keys Nico commenced our tour. We first went to the engine room which had 3 massive steam turbines for generating electricity, powered by coal. All the machines and surrounding ironmongery was built in Britain and shipped over in pieces to be reassembled at the factory. We saw the ID plates of the different engineering firms all around us from locations such as Glasgow, Loughborough and Leicester. We Brits really did make most engineering equipment in the early 20th century! We then went to the slaughterhouse to hear the macabre process of turning live, healthy cattle into carcasses of meat. Even Simon was appalled and certainly the thought of it could even turn an ardent carnivore into a vegetarian. Nico explained this is where the workers were paid the most because the conditions (the noise, the smell, the gruesome tasks performed on the production line) although it didn't make it the first choice occupation for many of them! We then walked across a very dodgy walkway to enter the refrigeration area. Nico told us there were 7 floors of 20 refrigeration units on each floor. The cold, dry conditions at minus 20, plus the noxious air from the chemicals creating the freezing effect meant workers could only work in there for 20 minutes a time with 15 minutes break in between. This was very rudimentary health and safety noting there were no face masks, ear protectors etc. All this combined with the asbestos covering the internal roofs and walls of the factory meant that people could only work there for a maximum of 10 years before having to find new work (it probably still shortened their lives considerably). Following our tour of a couple of fridges, we walked over the Casa Grande, the manager's house. It was in the process of being renovated, so we saw the splendour of the restored hallway and dining room and then imagined the hustle and bustle of the servants as we toured their living and working quarters in the basement. Back then to the factory to see the office area, where 20 people worked in comparative comfort. They were only allowed to leave their desks for 3 reasons; to go the bathroom, to have lunch and to have a cigarette (they were allowed as many of the latter as they wished!). At one desk the floor under the chair alongside had two 10cm deep grooves, created by the clerk who worked at that desk for 43 years, but as he was what we know as a hyperactive, he moved his legs constantly whilst working hence creating the grooves. Our last stop off point was in the museum where Nico said they have finalised their submission to UNESCO for world heritage status and hope to have this granted in November. This will then allow them to preserve this place for antiquity. Strange to think that places like this sit alongside beautiful parks, buildings etc but as it was a place that really led the way in creating meat products in the world, touching millions then it seemed fitting. Before we left Nico was amazed that Fray Bentos and Oxo still live on as products and brands, being owned by Baxters and Premier Foods respectively. As we said our goodbyes he was furiously 'googling' the names to see how they are now promoted. We decided to walk back along the banks of the Rio Uruguay and then head into town. As we have found in all of Uruguay most places, especially at lunchtime, are very quiet. It was even an effort to find a cafe to stop for lunch. We finally found one next to the bus station and enjoyed some empanadas. With not a lot else to see we headed back to the hotel, to read up on what we wanted to do in the next few weeks. We'd spotted a restaurant earlier  in the day and walked back later intending to have dinner there. The place was empty and the waitress looked thoroughly put out that we had arrived so we decided to enjoy the delights of the hotel restaurant again. After a few games of pool, we called it a night in order to prepare for a long day of travelling tomorrow as we continue our journey north. 

The main entrance and office block 

The huge engine room 

One of numerous 'made in Britian' plaques 

The slaughterhouse 

The pens where the cattle where brought in 

The enormous refrigeration block built by Anglo 

The view of the factory from the managers house 

Casa Grande 

The offices 

The day the factory closed 

Apparently you can still buy these in the supermarkets at home 

The monument outside the village 

The main plaza complete with bandstand How very British!