Advice

I have made it back safely to the states!

I really enjoyed this trip. I have to spend lots of money on my classes for this degree, and I'm glad that I was able to spend that money on 3 credits and a 2 week trip to another country. Plus the topic of this class is actually something that interests me versus having to take another class that I would not enjoy.

I would like to leave some advice for next year's students that are going to be taking this class. First and foremost, Brazilians do not flush their toilet paper!! I guess their pipe systems can' t handle it so you will have to throw your used toilet tissues into the trash can that is present in every bathroom stall. 

I would highly suggest that you do not wait until you get to Brazil to get money out of an ATM like our class was repeatedly told. We only had 7 students in our group, and 2 of us were unable to get our cards to work in Brazil which means no money. I was one of the students whose card didn't work. Luckily I did not follow the advice given to us, and I had purchased Brazilian Reals from my local Triple A travel agency before going on the trip. I also used my credit card a lot while in Brazil. Luckily the other person whose card didn't work had brought a credit card that they used in addition to borrowing money from other students in the class that would have to be repaid later. 

Another thing that was difficult for us was the weather. Before our trip we were repeatedly told to expect it to be cold and to pack accordingly. During our trip it was pretty hot, usually around 75 or 80 degrees. It was considered to be a warm winter. You should check the weather before you leave on your trip though, because we were told that there was a year during the trip that the weather reached freezing temperatures. So basically, I'm just warning you that it will probably be difficult to figure out what type of clothes you should actually bring. 

Congrats on deciding to take this opportunity. Your going to have a great time in Brazil. Don't worry too much about the language barrier. There were plenty of people that spoke English and a lot of restraraunts also had menus printed in English that you could ask for. It would be helpful to try to learn a few phrases in Portuguese though. I used two apps to learn a little of the language, duolingo and memrise. 

Farm and Itaipu

Today was our last day together. Tomorrow we all head to the airport and go our respective ways. Our day started out with a trip to a farm. There were cows and pigs there, so I bet you can imagine what it smelled like. 

Our purpose for visiting the farm was to learn a little about the biogas system that they use there. The farmers collect the maure from the pigs and it has to stay in the bio digester for 28 days. Afterwards the leftover sludge can be used to fertilize the crop fields. In Brazil, manure can't be placed straight onto the fields, it has to be treated first. The farmers grow corn, and raise cattle and pigs for slaughter.  They have 5,000 pigs and a total of 300 cows. The farm is a family business in its 3rd generation. We met the current owners son, but he didn't speak any English. The farm produces about .4 MW of energy a day with the biogas system. Their system is pretty old and therefore not as efficient as it could be. 

After our farm visit, we went to visit the Itaipu Dam. Itaipu means rock that sings. Itaipu is a neutral ground for Brazil and Paraguay because they both own 50% of it. The two countries each get 50% of the power produced, the nationalities of the employees are split  50/50, etc.  Itaipu built a chanel so that fish that were disturbed due to the presence of the reservoir could still migrate past the dam.  There are 190 different species of fish. This project took 20 years to figure out what the best solution would be to help the migrating fish. The location where Itaipu stands was chosen because of the basalt rock that resides in the area, it would be strong enough to handle the weight of the dam. the dam handles 40 times more water than the average flow at the Iguaçu water falls (which we visited yesterday) that's a ton of water!! 

Something that I found interesting, was the worker's wood. Apparently employees that have been working for Itaipu for 15 years can plant a tree. Itaipu also has a program called Cultivating Good Water.  They also have a statue representing the workers. I guess the staff would have olympic games and they built this statue out of leftover parts from building the dam.

And, today was another hard hat day! Plus we wore little hair nets and these fancy headphone speaker sets.

We are about to head out for our farewell dinner. 

The next time you hear from me will be when I am back in the states.

Tchau! 

Birds and Water

Today was a very fun day filled with touristy activities. Our first stop was at the Parque Das Aves, the bird park. It is the largest aviary for macaws in the world, has 800+ animals and 140+ species. The park is a center for nature conservation and a sanctuary for the recuperation of rescued wildlife. Half of the birds in the park were rescued from mistreatment or trafficking, and 43% of their birds were born at the park.  I was able to see a few chicks that were in an enclosure with their parents. I saw an owl that was sitting on its nest, but I never got to see the little baby owls. 

After the bird park, we went to the Iguaçu National Park and saw the waterfalls there. A few of us also decided to take a short boat ride that would take you up close and personal with the falls. The falls were huge.

Sugarcane Plant

Today we visited Renuka Vale do Ivaí. It was located very close to our hotel,  just a few minutes away.  Renuka is the company that I did my presentation on in class before we left for Brazil. The company produces sugar, energy, and ethanol from their sugarcane crops. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures or videos of the industrial areas. It was another hard hat wearing day! Plus we were also given safety glasses and ear plugs to wear during the duration of our tour. 

Shree Renuka Sugars has four sugar cane companies in Brazil, two of which are located in Paraná state. The plant that we visited was originally opened in 1981 and solely produced ethanol. In 1993 the company added producing sugar to their duties. The company was purchased by Shree Renuka Sugars in 2010 and renamed at that time. There are about 300 employees working in 3 shifts at this plant, and  the nearby plant has about 200 employees in 3 shifts. This was the first company we visited that actually had a lot of female employees. The other places we visited were dominated by male employees.

Renuka ranks 5th in the world in sugar production.  They have a crushing capacity of 450 tons per hour, which is equivalent to 9 trucks per hour. Each truck has 3 loading boxes, so in my mind, it's more like 27 trucks an hour. The plant produces both hydrous and anhydrous ethanol. Anhydrous ethanol is mixed with gasoline which is what flex fuel vehicles in Brazil will run on. 

Renuka has a large environmental commitment which is what I like to hear. They are committed to the environment by managing their solid waste and effluents. There is basically no waste at the plant because everything is reused. For example, they take the sugarcane waste (vinasse) and use it to fertilize the cane fields. They also monitor their gas emissions.  Renuka is also committed to the environment by having partnerships with public plant nurseries. They also  maintain and replant the vegetation along riparian areas.  Another interesting environmental commitment is that they manage a private natural heritage reserve which includes 560 hectares of preserved forest. 

At the beginning of the visit we were showed a video from the tv show "How It's Made" that showed us the whole process from harvesting the sugarcane in the field to packaging sugar for consumer sale. Apparently sugar used to be called white gold because it was valuable and hard to come by. 

Renuka does a lot of testing at different stages to ensure the quality of their sugarcane. The company does have a few sugarcane suppliers in addition to growing and maintaining their own sugarcane farms. Their suppliers are paid based on the quality of the sugarcane that they bring in, so it is in their best interest to make sure that they are growing a high quality crop. 

Sugarcane needs high temperatures and plenty to rain to grow well. It takes about 1 year for the crop to grow until  it can be harvested. The same crops will be good for about 7 years before the field needs to be replanted.  A particular problem that can occur at Renuka is frost. This will damage their crops. Renuka is located right on the border of where the best sugarcane growing areas are located. 

We ended up having lunch on site at Renuka before we departed on a 6 hour drive to our next destination. Tomorrow should be a fun packed day! 

Boa noite! 

Traveling Tuesday

Today we spent the day traveling to São Pedro do Ivaí in the state of Paraná. We left Curitiba around 9:00am and got to tonight's hotel around 6:30pm. What a long day of driving!! It wasn't too bad though because I was able to read some books that I had downloaded onto my iPad. I also played a card game called Mou with a few people for a little while but that was difficult since the bus ride is so bumpy. 

 I've gotta say that there is pretty much nothing to do in this little town. I'm also not a huge fan of this hotel. There was definitely a bug on my towel, which means I'm totally not showering. Lol The decor in our room is pretty interesting, very colorful.

 I'm glad we are only spending one night here before we move on to the next place tomorrow. Tomorrow is the day that we will be visiting the company that I made my pre-trip in class presentation on. I hope it's exciting!

In Brazil, they do a lot of receiving and have multiple bins lined up for different things. 

I wish this was something that I saw more of in the United States. Pitthas some  recycling bins on campus, but I have heard that the custodians just throw it all into the trash anyways which is sad.  When my husband and I were living in Churchhill, the community decided to start curbside recycling, and people were going door to door to protest it!!!! I wish more people were interested in doing things like recycling an composting their trash.

Universidade Federal do Paraná

Today we stayed in Curitiba and spent the day at Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR). During our time at the university, we visited the hydraulic laboratory, laboratory of energy production, and the high voltage lab. Lactec is a private company within the university that does a lot with research and development and they are focused on innovation. One of the companies that Lactec does work for is Tractebel Energia, which we visited last week. 

The first place we visited at the university was the hydraulics lab. This lab focuses on creating scaled models of some dams that are used for hydropower in Brazil.  We couldn't take any pictures in this lab because of the contracts that they have with the companies that they are working for. The lab currently had 3 different hydropower plants that they were modeling. These models aren't tiny, they take up a room the size of a warehouse. The models need to built because this type of stuff can't be modeled with computer programs. Some of the things that they were studying were the effects that the water from the dam will have on erosion at the site. There was one dam near a national forest and the lab was using their model to see what kind of affect the dam would have on that. All of the model pieces are handmade and someone glues rocks to the ground of various sizes to mimic what exists at the dam site in real life. The models are also used to test the safety of the dams and to see if the equipment can be made smaller to save on materials and to lessen the amount of land needed for the dam's structure.

The second area we visited was the lab of energy production. They are focusing on using microalgae to generate biodiesel. Micoalgae are unicellular algae with great photosynthetic capability and rapid growth due to their simple structure. This would be a very sustainable way to produce this type of energy. The USA imports more than 60% of its petroleum and are the largest consumers of energy in the world.  This lab uses photobioreactors to produce biodiesel with algae. This is a photo of their system. The algae is constantly moving throughout the system so that everything can obtain some sunlight which is needed for the algae system to function properly.  Otherwise, the stuff in the tubes in the middle would remain in the dark all the time.  Once the algae is ready to be collected, it has to be dried out which takes a lot of time. Only 6% of the algae biomass will become biodiesel, the leftover mass can be used in other ways such as composite material, or feed stock for fish.

We ended up having lunch at the university cafeteria. It made me feel like I was back in high school. As Lauren pointed out, I'm about 10 years older than the youngest college kid there. Isn't that crazy to think about?!?

The last area that we visited was the high voltage lab. I don't really know a lot about electrical or mechanical engineering, but the lab looked really cool.  They do a lot of testing to make sure that equipment in the field, such as transformers, will operate safely and be able to withstand power surges and high voltage. 

Travel to Curitiba

Today we traveled to Curitiba and the bus got a flat tire on the way there. It didn't take very long to fix at all and roadside assistance people showed up like immediately after we had pulled over on the side of the road. 

Once we got to Curitiba, we had some free time and decided to take a walk in a nearby public park. There were a lot of different types of birds there and there were some monkeys as well.

In the US, water is usually free whenever you go out to eat. In Brazil, you have to pay for your water because it is always bottled. The wait staff will bring out a glass and a bottle of water and sometimes they will open it and pour some into your glass. Brazilians don't drink straight from the bottle or can. If you get pop or another type of canned beverage, they will pour it into a separate glass and drink from that. It is a little weird to do since as Americans, we are used to drinking straight from the bottle or can. 

The bananas in Brazil are pretty tiny compared to the size that we see in the US.

White Water Rafting and Hot Springs Resort

Today we left Florianopolis and traveled to Santo Amaro to go white water rafting with Apuama Rafting. This was the first time that I ever tried to white water raft. Since there was an odd number in our group, we split up and 4 people went into one raft and 3 people were in the other one. I was in the raft with 3 people. 

 

Everything started out pretty well until we came to our first big rapids/waterfall. Our raft tipped over throwing all of us into the river. I was pretty scared since I can't swim and there was very fast moving water and a lot of rock obstacles. I think the reason that we flipped is because we didn't have the weight in our raft balanced out very well; I was on one side by myself. As soon as I hit the water, most of my body was under the raft, and I was afraid of getting trapped under it so I was struggling to get away from it. I also didn't wanna get too far because I wanted to be able to grab the raft rope so that I could hold onto something. So basically this translated into me flailing around in the water basically panicking because I didn't know what to do and the water was going pretty fast and I didn't know where I was in relation to anything. I'm pretty sure that the guy in our group, Rob, grabbed me at one point and said "your ok" (or something similar) which was very reassuring because I didn't feel so helpless because someone else was there. Eventually I ended up getting to some partially submerged rocks that the guys helped me get onto while they got the raft all situated and flipped back over. While on the rock, I proceeded to cry... Probably just because I was so scared and everything.

The guides were pretty nice about it. None of them spoke English but they kept checking to make sure I was okay (basically giving me a thumbs up sign lol). I did get back in the raft and finished our rafting trip. We didn't have any more mishaps after that first one and we rearranged ourselves in the raft to distribute our weight a little better.  

After a while, I noticed that my leg was a little sore. I must have scrapped my leg against some rocks and bruised my ankle during the raft tipping. I'll probably have a nice looking bruise covering the majority of the front of my  lower leg for a little while and my ankle is tender when walking. My chin is a little sore too, but I dont think its gonna bruise. 

Even after that bad experience at the beginning, I would still try white water rafting again. Next time I hope the guides are English speaking and that the weight in the raft is balanced out. 

The exit point for our rafting trip was right on a farm. It was really cool because one of the cows came up to say hi to us. It was really cute, and was a light milky tan color. 

After rafting, we went to our hotel which is at Áquas Mornas which is a hot spring resort. 

It's not what you think when you hear hot springs. I guess they take the water from the spring and put it in outdoor pools and they also had some pools indoors too. The resort is very nice! I think that I had the best dinner on this Brazil trip so far at the hotel. It was buffet style and they had soo many options. I got some beef, salmon, shrimp, veggies, potatoes, and tons of desserts.  I spent my afternoon/evening just relaxing at the resort.