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[Pic] [Uruguay is a small country, in the south of South America, bounded by Argentina and Brazil. Unlike its neighbors, it was never the object of a rush for gold or plantation riches. Its climate is temperate and its land suitable for cattle. It’s extensive coast invites maritime trade. Uruguay is the second smallest country in South America, a mere 68,000 sq. miles, with a population of 3.3 million, 1.8 million of whom live in Montevideo. A middle-class country, Uruguay ranks high in wealth and income distribution and is one of the most liberal nations on earth.]

[Pic] [Ibarbourou’s face appears prominently around her poetry and on stamps and currency in Uruguay. There is no mystery why this would be so.]

[Pic] [ Jose Alberto Mujica Cordano (“Pepe” to most) served two terms as President before retiring recently. He refused the opulent trappings of office, living modestly, driving his battered VW, and returning the bulk of his income to the nation. He had been a Tupamaros leader and was imprisoned. While rejecting violence, he retained his Socialist commitments and put them into effect

[Pic] [Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral (1889-1957) was an educator, and leading advocate for the children of poverty. She was the first Latin American writer awarded the Nobel Prize (1945).]

Ibarbourou reads the poems in the Legaslative Palace in Montevideo before the cermony honouring her as "Juana of America" in August 1929

Pic [Ibarbourou continued to write poetry late into her life.]

[pic] [In 1929 she took to the Flapper Look}

[Pic] [Montevideo is Uruguay’s big city, with brilliant beaches and busy ports. The city attracted much of its population from Spain and Italy during the 20th C.]

[Pic] [Ibarbourou loved her early years and her free wandering in woods and fields.]

[Pic] Stately and composed Ibarbourou look every bit the refined poet.]

[Pic] [She appears on a common denomination of Uruguay currency as a daily presence]