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.