The Uruguayan Shuffle

By Charles Crumpley
The Los Angeles Business Journal
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Ryan Citro, a valuation and business model specialist with the downtown L.A. office of Ernst & Young LLP, knew he would have some adventures when he set out on a trip to Uruguay in October and November as part of a company fellowship program that sends financial experts to developing countries to help startup companies.
Citro even added a personal vacation with his brother Jeff, hiking in the Patagonia region of neighboring Argentina.
But nothing prepared the 30-year-old for an unusual camping trip into the middle of the Uruguayan wilderness. The trip was arranged by workers at the tech company startup in Montevideo that Citro was sent to help bootstrap.
With Citro tagging along, the workers drove for hours on dirt roads, crossing two rivers before deciding to put up their tents more than 50 miles away from the nearest settlement.
But soon the workers opened up some bottles and began to party. Trouble was, in the process, the workers consumed their entire food store for the weekend.
When they woke the following morning, they faced reality.
“All we had left was half a bag of potato chips,” Citro said, “so we all had to go back that day.”