By Kelsey Abbott, Fernanda de Barros Dias, and Zach Orwig

January 11, 2013

PHOTOS: CLICK HERE

It was a rainy day in Rio which is unlucky for us considering rain is usually hard to come by in Rio.  About half of the group went on a bus tour this morning to see some of the sights of Rio including the famous Christ the Redeemer statue high atop the city, the street festival preparations for Carnival, and the sugar loaf mountain and cable car excursion. Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) is only accesible by a long, near vertical train ride up the mountain it stands atop or a bumpy van ride that zig-zags up the side of the mountain.  But once there, the view of the entire city and ocean is absolutely breathtaking. The sugar loaf mountain cable car ride was very foggy, but there were still many great photo opportunities.  This group also drove past the 2014 World Cup Soccer arena, however, it was under re-construction, so not as exciting as getting to step on the field would have been.

The other half of the group headed to the famous Copacabana beach.  Our hotel was less than a block away from the beachfront. Although it was raining most of the morning, there was a brief break that the group was fortunate enough to take advantage of.  We swam for a couple hours and were even suave enough to bargain for a Brazilian flag from a street vendor.

The beach was so empty today that it almost felt like our own private beach!  After resting until mid-afternoon the group headed to a small street market to find some Brazilian treasures.  Vendors were selling anything from souvenir t-shirts to jewelry to colorful paintings of the beautiful city. Kelsey, Zach, and Mason all found glasses with Brazilian and Olympic symbols on them.  Overall many goods were purchased with our monkey dollars for people back home…so get excited! (Brazilian reals have pictures of animals on them, including monkeys, on them hence the monkey dollar term, coined by Mason).

Without Nadiel around, Ana is handling us in Rio.  Due to a bad restaurant suggestion from the hotel receptionist and potentially some translation barriers, we ended up at a dinner restaurant that was going to cost way more than our budget and consist of feijoada.  Feijoada is a traditional Brazilian dish served in the winter (mind you it’s summer in Brazil), and includes many cuts of pork trimmings including the feet and ears.  We decided to trek back towards our hotel and settle for one more buffet.

People are tired, monkey dollars are running thin, and we’re ready to be home. One more day of rest and relaxation and then it’s back to reality for us.

By Cathryn Ayers, Andrew Beard & Ethan Koehler

January 10, 2013

PHOTOS: CLICK HERE

Thursday began like no other day: we got to sleep in. Nadiel said all we needed to do was wake up prior to 10:30 to check out of the Foz Do Iguacu hotel. As a college student, this was rather refreshing, as we had been used to waking up between 5:45 and 7 AM each day.

The first stop for our group today was at The Parque das Aves at Foz Da Iguacu. This is a bird park near the Iguassu Falls National Park that houses birds that are rescued or unable to survive in the wild for some other reason. The park also houses fish, mammals such as lemurs, and reptiles. Many of the exhibits are aviaries. It was interesting and unique to walk with the birds inside their cage, as opposed to seeing them from the other side of a fence. Species included toucans, flamingos, eagles, macaws, parrots, owls, and many more. Reptiles included, anacondas, boa constrictors, and a caiman (similar to an alligator).

We then headed to a local gift shop between the bird park and lunch. This shop had many tourist gift items such as t-shirts and glasses. It also offered odd structures made of precious gemstones. One large tree made of gemstones was pried at about $300,000 (US).

After the gift shop, we were allowed a little taste of back home. We headed to McDonald’s for lunch. However, the menu was very different than McDonald’s back at home. I personally ordered something called a ‘Cheddar McMelt’. This was a burger with cheese wiz instead of sliced cheese. The classic delicious McDonald’s fries remained the same.  All the meat was Angus beef.

We then headed to the airport to board our flight to Rio de Janeiro. We flew GOL airlines, a low cost Brazilian carrier, similar to Southwest Airlines in the United States. The flight was rather bumpy and we arrived during a strong downpour. The often-questionable reputation of Rio de Janeiro is somewhat defensible, as Drew Beard (one of the students) realized that $70 had been stolen from his bag within an hour of arriving in Rio. However, we will give this beautiful city another chance tomorrow as some of us will venture out on a city tour and some will experience the Copacabana! Our drive from the airport to downtown passed several favelas, or slums. These poverty-stricken shantytowns were extremely large and in various parts of the north zone of the city. Hundreds of thousands of Brazilians inhabit these areas.  We can only hope that the World Cup and Olympics in Rio’s future will help bring some much-needed economic prosperity to these neighborhoods.

We arrived safely at the W hotel at the famous beach neighborhood of Copacabana hoping for the rain to let up on Friday.

By Jacob Burrus, Trace Elliot & Carlee Silver

January 9, 2013

PHOTOS: CLICK HERE

We began our day bright and early with a 5:45 wake up call. The 2.5 hour drive to Iguassu Falls came in handy to make up for the early morning. Once we arrived we waited awhile because the park was very crowded (Disney World style), but thanks to our amazing tour guide Nadiel and his local guide friend, Carlos, we started our adventure in no time. Iguassu Falls is the second largest attraction in Brazil (second only to Rio de Janeiro).  A special safari wagon pulled by a golf cart-type of vehicle picked us up and drove us through the rainforest. It was really neat to see the different plants of the National Park. One plant that the group found really interesting was their poison ivy because in this area, it is an actual tree.

The safari wagon dropped us off at the halfway point, at which we hiked an additional 600 meters to the Macuco Safari boat tour. Once we finally made it to the loading dock for the safari boat tour we realized what we were actually in for. After we changed out of our regular clothes and into our swimsuits/trunks and put on our lifejackets we loaded into a large inflatable raft backed by 400 horsepower motors. The boat had no problem making its way through white water rafting-like conditions against the current and towards the falls. The group was amazed once the Iguassu Falls came into sight. These falls are four times the width of Niagara and are over 1.8 miles wide.

After a short stop in calmer waters the boat driver put it in high gear to get close to the powerful waterfall; something we would’ve likely had to sign our life away in waivers worth to have experienced in America. Our group became very nervous when we realized we weren’t stopping and the entire boat was overcome with a wave and the powerful shower of the waterfall. This was exhilarating and after chanting “uno mas” we were able to experience this an additional two times. Everyone was soaking wet, but we all agreed that it was a highlight of the trip.

Once the Macuco Safari boat tour was over we began the long hike along the falls. As we walked along the trails our pictures became increasingly magnificent. By the end of the hike we were right along the falls with the mist consuming the air. We saw some fellow Americans sporting their Texas flag right by the falls, we need to remember this next time! After our hike we were ready for some much needed lunch, which we had at a restaurant that was located at the top of the falls.

Due to our boat driver taking us on an extended adventure and the crowded park we were running fairly behind and didn’t make it to the scheduled presentation about the Itaipu Dam, but luckily Nadiel pulled some strings once again and we were able to catch a bus tour that took us under the river and over the dam (into Paraguay). This dam is the second largest dam in the world and serves both Brazil and Paraguay. It is responsible for 90% of the energy consumed in Paraguay and 22% of that consumed in Brazil.

We made it to our hotel in Iguassu at around 6:30 which gave us plenty of time to enjoy some time by the pool. We had a farewell dinner tonight because it is our last night with Nadiel. He has been a great guide and has made this trip to Brazil a once in a lifetime experience. We fly out of Iguassu tomorrow to Rio de Janeiro, needless to say we can’t wait!

By Madalyn Kermicle, Mason Schoolcraft & Erica Weng

January 8, 2013

PHOTOS: CLICK HERE

Cock-a-doodle doo!! That is what we hear every morning when our tour guide, Nadiel, tries to wake us up! This morning after contemplating McDonalds’ breakfast across from our hotel we decided to continue with our Brazilian emersion and it paid off with bacon being served at the hotel buffet.  After breakfast we drove to Cocamar, which is the second largest co-op in the “land of co-ops.”

Cocamar organizes production of cotton, juice, oil, coffee, and the traditional agriculture commodities for its nearly 11,000 farmer members.  Coffee was their first agriculture product, but after the great Brazilian frost of the 1970s that swept across the region they were forced to diversify.  They did this originally through the cotton business and then continued to grow.  They were a one-stop shop for farmers in the north and were the only business these farmers would ever need to go to.

The first building we toured was the cotton-manufacturing center that produces thread and yarn. We were given some protective earplugs that would rival Beats by Dre in the coolness department. Cocamar starts by cleaning the cotton (which consists of a scary beeping noise), and then they use four machines that look similar to a Build-A-Bear factory to fluff the pure cotton. During this process we were in approximately 190 degree Fahrenheit weather and walked up hill both ways. Our conversions of Celsius to Fahrenheit have been slightly off so this may be an exaggeration. The cotton was then put on a smaller spool that was similar to string. After it is in string form they steam the cotton, and it passes through a black light test.

Then to continue our trip through the Sahara desert we visited the coffee factory. We got to wear some attractive hairnets so we were prepared to go in! This co-op produces 900 tons of coffee each year. Cocamar also provides technical support to farmers. Once they have bagged the coffee beans they store it for five hours to make sure there are no holes and that it is ready to deliver. The coffee has a one year shelf life and they have 5 different varieties.

Then we went to the juice box (the nickname for the juice factory given by Mason).  It was currently under maintenance and construction, but we were still able to tour the whole facility. Cocamar produces 9 different flavors of juice. Most of them were very delicious! The flavors range from passion fruit to guava, and they even made cold cappuccino.

After lunch we visited ALCOPAR, the Bioenergy Producers Association of the State of Parana. We visited their corporate office in downtown Maringa.  We watched 9 short videos that took us through the processes of sugarcane planting and ethanol production. Brazil is the largest sugar producer and exporter and they provide 20% of world production of sugar cane.  When talking about ethanol storage and distribution we learned that 80% of ethanol is consumed domestically. The United States and the European Union are the largest importers of Brazil sugar cane and ethanol. ALCOPAR has 30 plants in the state of Parana. Brazil also imports ethanol from the United States because our corn ethanol has different qualities and characteristics than the ethanol produced in Brazil.

Another interesting part of the trip has been questioning which DVD Nadiel will play next.  On today’s bus ride a movie was requested, but instead we got an incredibly interesting Brazilian samba video. We have also watched live concerts of CCR and the Bee Gees. So when he put on a DVD near the end of our 2-hour bus ride today we were surprised to see none other than…….Beyonce LIVE!

By Kelsey Abbott, Amelia Martens & Zach Orwig

January 7, 2013

PHOTOS: CLICK HERE

After an eventful evening with a power outage in our hotel, we woke up at 6am, so that we could be out the door and on the road by 7 a.m.  By 8 a.m. we were at Klabin, a 113-year-old company, and the biggest paper producer and exporter in Brazil.  Klabin exports products to more than 60 countries.

Klabin is big on sustainability and recycles everything; in addition, its goal is to produce wealth without jeopardizing the future of the planet.  The company specializes in pine trees and eucalyptus.  They have 11,000 hectares and 70 percent of it is natural forest.  They make 100 percent recycled paper products.

In order to make the paper, the company does a lot of research on the seedlings, to ensure that they will be productive trees.  Klabin plants 30 million seedlings per year.  Pine produces softwood and longer fibers, but they produce a stronger paper.  Eucalyptus produces a harder wood, with shorter fibers.  Pine trees take 14 years to harvest, while eucalyptus takes seven to ten years to harvest.

Klabin makes corrugated cardboard, carton board, paper, and industrial sacks.

In addition to making paper, Klabin produces “phytotherapy” products, like cosmetics, sunscreens, herbal remedies, tea, etc. for its employees, and they also sold some of them to us when we stopped at the pharmacy store.  These products are created from the eucalyptus tree and are very good for you.

As a part of its sustainability measures, Klabin has set up a little “zoo” on their nature reserve land.  They keep animals that are normally found in forested areas for tourists to stop by and see.  We saw monkeys, parrots, cougars, a wild cat, snakes, and other exotic animals.  We certainly have seen a variety of wildlife on our trip.

There was a bit of a translation or pronunciation barrier, as our guide from Klabin pronounced paper pulp like “poop” and after holding in laughter for a long time, we finally all lost it.  We felt pretty bad for laughing, but his pronunciation provided some much needed comic relief.

The paper factory was extremely hot, but it was amazing to see the huge rolls which weighed several tons coming off of the production line.

When we finished touring the paper production facility (we were not allowed to take photos inside), we went on a cable car ride.  On the way back, it was nearly filled to its capacity, leaving many of us feeling a bit claustrophobic, but it makes for a cool story.

Later in the afternoon, we had a four-hour ride to Maringa, where we are spending the night in another Hotel Deville.  We made a short pit stop at a Dutch restaurant, where Nadiel encouraged all of us to order pie.  Those who ordered said the pie was very tasty, and they really enjoyed it.

We are looking forward to another full day of learning tomorrow before we head for Iguassu Falls later this week.

By Jacob Burrus, Ethan Koehler & Fernanda de Barros Dias

January 6, 2013

PHOTOS: CLICK HERE

We started the morning at 8 a.m. and went to a safari farm outside of Tibagi. Itay’s mineral water well and purification plant is located there and has a 2% fee assessed by the government. The farm is 1200 hectare, and 400 of that is preserved. They have 170 head of Red Angus cattle from Rio Grande do Sul. We started off by seeing a lot of antelope and deer on the safari preserve. The guide, Romeu, walked through the pens whistling and calling out in Portuguese to bring in the deer. He seemed to have magical powers over the animals as he does everything on the safari farm. We decided he needed his own TV show. We then moved to the central area and were greeted by about 20 llamas, a camel, a horse, javali, turkeys, emus, peacocks, macaws, parakeets, toucans, a baby ocelot, tortoises, an ass, coati, owls, and ponies. Our guide then took us over to see the lions, Simba & Nala, and her 22-day old cub. Jacob got to give Nala a good scratching behind the ear. Next we saw the two tigers, Gao and his mate. They don’t have a cub yet, and they must be kept separate because the 3 ½ year old female has not yet been in heat.

After lunch at the safari house, we drove to Ivo’s family farm. The farm we visited had been in the family since 1921. On the specific location we visited, there were 7500 acres of grain. All of his planted grain was conventional for human consumption. He planted corn, soybeans, dry beans, white oats, wheat, and barley. He planted Pioneer corn and Embrapa soybeans. His wheat makes an ingredient used in Brazilian Kit-Kat Bars. He had 18 tractors, 8 combines, 2 sprayers, 4 planters all of the John Deere brand. Ivo employs 40 people to help him with his day to day operations. After leaving the field we went to a pasture to learn about his beef cattle. He had 450 head of Brahma, Red Angus, Charlais, and blends of the trio. Castrolanda and a veterinarian have partnered with Ivo to transplant embryos from dairy cattle into the beef cattle. They are doing this so that there are more dairy cattle being born as this will help increase milk production for Castrolanda Co-Op (which is experiencing a significant increase in demand). Ivo stores some of his own crop and uses it to feed his animals. He harvests at a very high moisture, 28-30%, and dries it down to 15%. Each bin holds 15 tons of grain and he has 8 of these bins. Corn is the only crop that he buys new seed every year. Every other crop he grows is 80% planting of the previous year’s crop. He also raises 3500 head of sheep and has a 750 head per month turnover. This is because he buys nearly anything people sell to him and after fattening them up, sells them at a high value to the market. He wants to expand this branch of his operation and increase concentration on his farm so that he can build a distribution center.

We then traveled back to the hotel in Tibagi. Ivo treated us to dinner and right after dinner the power went out. We finished dessert and were surprised outside by a drum and dance circle that was similar to some of the traditional singing and dancing during the Brazilian Carnaval Festival. Most of us got into the circle and danced around with the beat. It was a great to experience the culture of the country in such a unique fashion.

In our down time and on the bus, we tend to get bored. In this time we have been giving each other animal nicknames in Portuguese. We couldn’t think of a better day to talk about our animal nicknames than today. Here’s the list!