Week 3 - Monday-Wednesday: We are back to class and also taking time to just chill and recharge. Monday morning on the way to class we had the opportunity to see the monkeys on campus again. Only this time, they were very close. The campus police were feeding them bananas.
We had our last class with Prof Peres and then he joined a few of the students for supper after class. The students who visited with him had a great time. The rest of the students went back to the hotel and either worked on their project, journaled or slept. Prof Ricardo Shirota began his teaching on Tuesday. His specialty is environmental economics. We took a break at 9:00 am and half the group reported to the police department as required by our Visa. The other half went on Wednesday. Students worked on their group projects when the other group was checking in at the police department.

After class on Tuesday we played basketball. It started out as U.S. students vs each other. The last game was U.S. vs Brazil. Each team had a great group of cheering fans and guys pounded the court for a competitive game. The students got a snapshot of what it is like to “get old”. Many realized they were out of shape. A quiet night at the hotel followed. Wednesday was class all day and last minute preparation for getting ready for the long trip.

Week 3 - Sunday: Another morning of sleeping in and the last day for the trip to Sao Paulo. We checked out of the hotel and headed to the “Hippie Market”. This market is an outdoor market that exhibits much of the culture of Brazil. Most all of the venders sell hand made goods. Items available included: jewelry, leather goods, clothing, gemstones, musical instruments, hammocks, chairs, art work, fancy boxes, wood kitchen tools and the list goes on. The students had ample time to explore and buy gifts and souvenirs .

Throughout the trip students have heard stories about eating at a traditional Brazilian Churrascaria, but until you actually do it, you really can’t imagine what it is like. If you like meat, this is the place to go. The first recommendation is don’t eat breakfast and you must go hungry. Secondly, there is a salad bar, but take very little. Immediately upon sitting down at the table the food starts arriving and it doesn’t quit being served until all have signaled that they do not want anything more to eat. First comes shrimp, crab, spiced tomatoes, fried bananas and French fries which are evenly spaced on the table for everyone to select. Then approximately 25 cuts of meat and fish are brought to the table by servers and you choose whether you want any or not. Can you tell which cut is the hump? You have to pace yourself or you get too full too fast. By picture I have included a list of some of the cuts. It is an amazing experience for the students. We left the Churrascaria and immediately the students fell asleep on the bus and then basically slept until we lined up to enter the soccer game. What a sight on the bus.

Just after we got in line it started pouring rain. By the time we got frisked, entered the arena, and made it to our seats it stopped raining but the storm was pretty intense. The field was covered with standing water. Now for Brazilian “football” (soccer). They are just as wild about soccer as we are football and maybe even worse. The game was Palmeiras vs Ituano. It was fun to watch the fans and listen to them yell in another language and try to figure out what they were saying. “Policia” were stationed all the way around the arena for the whole game. The game ended in a tie. We then headed back to Piracicaba and arrived about 10:00 last night.


The students have been assigned their group project topics, so free time (if there is any) for the next few days should be spent researching their topics on the internet. This is the last day of class with Prof Perez. Ricardo Shirota starts tomorrow.

Week 3 – Saturday: The students enjoyed sleeping in (just a little) and we set out for the zoo. It was a gorgeous day and everyone was excited. Sao Paulo Zoo is neat because the animals are so much closer to you in their habitat. This year my observation was that quite a few of the animals were sleeping, so there was less activity than in years past. The students still had a great time.



From the zoo we went to the Museu do Ipirango which is Brazil’s Museum of Independence. It started raining as we got off the bus so we went directly into the building. No pictures were allowed. Brazil’s history of their independence is interesting and even though everything was in Portuguese the students were able to integrate many things from class. By the time we completed the inside it had stopped raining so we then visited the gardens outside of the museum and the statue built in remembrance of Brazil’s Independence Day. A very interesting statue with intricate carvings. We ate dinner at the largest mall in Sao Paulo and then to a local night spot for dancing and socializing.

Week 3 - Friday: Our day started by visiting Braslo. Braslo is part of three independent companies at the same location that service the McDonald’s in Brazil as well as some Applebees and Lonestars etc. We watched the four beef patty lines from start to finish. I believe the figure I remember was they produce 600 tons of patties everyday for McDonald’s, 27 days out of the month. They do chicken nuggets and fish patties also but they don’t produce them as often. The other two business are the bakery for the rolls and buns and then the paper products. We were able to try some nuggets at the end of the tour. Hmmm good and just like home!! In the afternoon we visited the Art museum.

The evening was the best of the day. The evening was set up to include a samba lesson and then participating with one of the dance clubs actually preparing for “Carnival”. Carnival is a Brazilian national holiday similar to what we call Mardi Gras except that the celebration takes place in many communities and cities across Brazil during the same five day period. Most people take off work during the time and they celebrate at night and sleep during the day. This year Carnival begins just after we head back to the United States. There are parades, music, floats, singing and lots of color. You will have to ask your student about the evening but I believe fun was had by all. We learned how to Samba, but the big question is “could we all DO the Samba?” Then we walked several blocks away from the dance club and practiced the clubs ritual for the celebration of Carnival dancing the Samba in the road, with the music and singing all the way back to the dance club. We were supposed to Samba the whole way back and sing. We laughed a lot and just a few were able to dance all the way back. It was pretty exhausting and the students continued to talk about the experience today.

Week 3, Thursday: We left for Sao Paulo bright and early Thursday morning. We had several stops on the way and it is a good thing. Apparently Sao Paulo had a huge rainstorm Wednesday night and all low spots in the city were under water. Many roads were closed including the road to our hotel. We first stopped at Coplacana which is a large sugar cane cooperative. Obviously nothing the students had seen before. It was interesting to see how sugar cane is produced and processed and its impact on bio energy. The cooperative had a hospital, supply store, car repair shop, equipment repair shop, bank, feed mill etc. for its members. It also had a bio-diesel plant and we were able to see it in action. Brazil is very big on recycling and it is obvious everywhere we go including Coplacana . We enjoyed a great lunch in Campinas and then went to the Instituto Agronomico. This program is similar to OARDC in that research is the focus and in this case on crops, soils and soil fertility. The buildings were old and neat to observe. One of the buildings was being renovated. There also was an arboretum with several species of plants. We went to the soils lab and also toured the farm where we saw coffee plants and the actual bean, edible beans, rubber being collected from the rubber tree, corn and cotton. We learned that edible beans (their staple crop)are very difficult to harvest mechanically because of the way they are grown. We had supper at the local mall and most of us had either Burger King or Subway. Some good old American food in Brazil. We browsed at the mall for a while and headed back to the hotel for an early night.

End of Week Two, Beginning of Week 3 (Saturday-Wednesday): The students enjoyed the weekend with their host families. We met as a group Sunday night after everyone returned to the hotel to share their weekend experiences. Students did anything from going to a “prom” which is our graduation party, disco dancing, further exploration of the Piracicaba River, trekking, shopping, bicycling, seeing the sites of Sao Pedro, family barbecues, taking a boat ride down the river, visiting places of employment of the host families, etc. The general consensus was that family and food are very important to Brazilians.

Monday we were in class all day with Prof. Fernando Perez. We were able to meet a leadership group from North Carolina State University who sat in on one of our lectures. They are in Brazil for two weeks observing agriculture. The group included farmers representing several agriculture commodity groups, extension agents and business leaders. Students are interested in Prof Perez’s topics and we ended the day with a debate on whether Brazil should have been expected to pay back the money they borrowed in the 1980’s when they tried to take advantage of the economy. “Debate” with this group can be an intense word. For some it gets their adrenalin moving. We all went to supper together and returned to the hotel early.

Tuesday was our community service day. As part of MUCCAP's Housing Project we painted two houses and moved dirt and clay for a third. We divided into two groups to paint the two houses and then some of the guys were pulled out late in the morning to move the dirt and clay for the third house. They were able to soak up the sun but most of them added way to much color to their bodies if you know what I mean. We thank the guys for their contribution of pure physical labor to the effort. The houses looked nice and everyone was tired but fulfilled at the end of the day. The group I was in sang songs the whole day. It was amazing the variation and amount of songs we covered. Anything from country to oldies, to Disney. I am not sure what the Portuguese people thought of it but the entertainment was fun. The house has been built for a 52 year old women who lost her son last year and is now raising her grandson. The family and MUCCAP are very appreciative of our effort.

Today (Wednesday) we are back in class. We leave in the morning for a trip to Sao Paulo for four days which should be both educational and fun.

Week 2 - Friday:

Today was farm visits all day. In the morning we visited a modern dairy farm using a carousel style milking parlor milking 18 cows at a time. He milks on average 300-350 cows three times a day, 4:00 am, 11:00 am and 7:00 pm. It is a family owned farm with focus on milk production. Breeding is done 100% through AI. The owner that did the tour was a son and veterinarian by background but most of his time now is spent evaluating current and implementing new practices, to continue to improve milk production without impacting the health of the animals negatively. We were able to watch part of the 11:00 am milking. Students saw the operation from start (calves one day old) to finish (milk in tanks ready for pick up). The carousel system was German made. It is much easier to pasture dairy cows in Brazil than the U.S. The cows were mostly all Holstein but you could see a few crossed with Brahma. This farm sat on top of a huge hill and the view was nothing like anything you would see in Ohio. An interesting experience for those who are very interested in dairy production as well as those students who had never seen a dairy farm. This farmer also produced beef cows, so we stopped at that section of the farm also. We ate a wonderful lunch at Restaurant Churrrascar.

In the afternoon we loaded the bus and continued to drive higher into the mountains. The O-H-I-O gives you some indication of how high we were. We arrived at the top to observe a different dairy farm set up. There were six smaller farms located side by side, three on one side of the river and three on the other, whose focus was on sustaining the needs of the family and then anything extra would go to market. Each farm owner realized that making a profit individually would be extremely difficult so they created their own cooperative. Of these six farms, four were in the same extended family. Over time, 51 farms have joined the cooperative producing milk and milk products with 106 total farms participating in producing other crops. The cooperative built their own dairy called Leite de Campo and we were able to taste their fresh milk and liquid yogurt. The milk is sold at the grocery in half gallon ziploc bags and the yogurt by the bottle. We sampled coconut, pineapple, and strawberry yogurt. Ummmm good on a hot summer day.