I turned to my close friend and business partner, Fino, and said, “This country doesn’t make sense.”

Uruguay sits quietly between two giants—Argentina and Brazil—yet feels like neither. It’s calm when it should be chaotic. Orderly when logic says it shouldn’t be. To an outsider like me, it’s* defiant in its simplicity.*

The more I have spent time there and with people I have realized: that’s the point.

Uruguayans don’t walk around thinking they’re special. Many even call themselves boring. Their unofficial anthem says it all: Nadie es más que nadie—“No one is more than anyone else.” No flash, no chest-beating. Just steady pride.

Then Juan, one of our team leaders, introduced me to a phrase that explains it well: garra charrúa.

I have a hard time pronouncing it, can't get the rolled R's right!  The literal translation—“Charrúa’s claw”—honors the indigenous who refused to give up...but the translation, or attempt to understand by googling, doesn't do it justice.

You start to understand it after long meetings, shared meals, a few too many drinks—and the way people show up again the next morning, ready to go. It’s grit. Resilience. Fierce loyalty disguised as calm.

People ask if I outsource my development.

My answer - No, my team is in Uruguay.

I’ve played the outsourcing game before—and paid the price. In the world of outsourcing there’s always someone ready to cash out at your expense. I’ve lost a few condos’ worth of money learning that lesson.

So now, I don’t outsource. I build teams.

Mine just happens to be in Uruguay (with Argentina and Brazil as a bonus).

These folks have my back. Through hard times, good times, missed flights, and late-night scrambles—we’ve built something solid. I’m all in. Doubling down, even.

I’ve even got my closest friends using my team now to build their software - thats trust.

I’m proud to have these people in my corner.

Gracias, Eagerworks.

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