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That night we had a light dinner at our restaurant, as we were looking forward to a big lunch tomorrow. I had not realized that American Football had become that popular in Brazil. We finished our food and went back to the hotel to get ready for the next day. It was cool to see the snakes and spiders that are native to Brazil. The view from the top of the art museum was gorgeous! We were able to see art from painters in Brazil and around the world.
We first headed over to the John Deere dealer here in Piracicaba. Next we went out to see the rest of the facility, obviously getting in every tractor we were allowed! We discussed the meanings of the numbers that are seen on the side of every tractor, and made comparisons between the tractors used in the United States versus the tractors used in Brazil, most seeming smaller in the latter. We walked through their tractor lot, saw the large majority of where they work on the tractors, and even got the opportunity to see a sugar cane harvester work.
It was a huge, loud piece of machinery, and comfortably sat two in its enclosed cabin. It was so tall, we had to climb a ladder to get up to the controls, and there were at least four of us up there at one time all checking out the view, controls, and how comfortable the seats were. Once we were finished, we got a picture with our guides, and presented them with a gift and card to express our gratitude.
It was so awesome of them to allow us to see their facility snd to demonstrate the power that a sugar cane harvester has for us. Once we said our goodbyes, we headed back onto the bus to go to the Natura facility. Natura produces lots of body washes, lotions, make up and more, all of which are environmentally friendly. We were first offered water and coffee while we waited to begin, and then were directed to a room where we would learn about the history and current information about everything Nautrua does.
After we were fully educated on all things Natura, we began the tour of their amazing company grounds. The design of the facility was obviously taken into extreme consideration, whether we are talking about the panels disguised as butterflies, or the use of the open concept where there was always natural breezes flowing through, often having no doors or complete walls on buildings. We continued the tour walking through their factory buildings.
We observed the packaging of one of their products sold in stores, as well saw how certain products were made in certain areas of the facility. Additionally we learned of the many great things it provides for its employees like extended maternity leave, day care, and transportation to the company grounds. The company truly was one of beauty and environmentally friendly products.
One of the last stops we made was in the store on grounds that they have, where our guide told us a bit about what was popular and more about the productsthat they sold. As we finished the tour, we took a picture with their logo and presented a gift and a card to our guide who in turn also gave each of us a gift of body wash from the company.
We said our goodbyes and headed to our hotel. The majority of us napped at this time, and we all went to have dinner at the local mall. After the short trip to the mall, we made our way to a samba school, specifically the Golden Roses, or Rosas de Ouro. There we waited for a bit in an area full of different vendors and people selling food and drinks. When we were finally able to enter, we waited in the huge area for the fun to begin. The building was massive with souvenir shops all the way around it, as well as second story VIP areas above that.
In addition, there were two huge signs with the name of the samba school on it, one on the ceiling, and the other as giant letters you could get pictures with. While we waited, we noticed a man being recorded, and realized the school was currently on the news. We had been informed that this samba school had won the competition between schools in the last year, making it a very busy place.
We ended up asking to get a picture with him, learning from Leticia, our student from ESALQ who helps run our program, that he was a very famous news reporter. It took a while, and a lot of watching of the recording they were doing, but we finally got a photo. He hurriedly grabbed and hugged the girls and gladly took a photo with us, being very energetic.
As the night drew on, Samba time started and we watched a bit of samba from the professionals and listened to the live music. Johnny was in heaven at the John Deere dealership! Thank you Natura for sharing your facilities with us!
DOURADO'S RESTAURANTE PIRACICABA: Excellent / Excelente - See NOVA PIRACICABA, Piracicaba, State of Sao Paulo , Brazil Reviewed December 29, Excellent / Excelente. One of my favorite restaurants. stand up and walked away. bad experience for the service, price and quality. started, we had no idea to what part of Brazil we were actually direct- ing our steps Piracicaba is a flourishing town, mostly built of blue, one-storied houses, on the jaguars), but one night a puma chased one of the dogs, and once, while we were covering, so that we could stand at one end of the house and through it.
The morning class session was our final session with Professor Fernando Perez. We had a very productive discussion about the global environment and the role brazil plays in helping keep our climate healthy. We heard a lot about the work they do with The Ohio State University concerning sugar cane and teak wood. Teak is a tree native to Asia, but it thrives here in Brazil. Both of these initiatives will help make our world a more sustainable place!
The afternoon was more relaxed than usual. We experienced quite a lot that Piracicaba has to offer.
A typical Brazilian bakery and spa were some of the places we had the opportunity to experience. Over dinner we broke into small groups to try different restaurants near our temporary home. We used our new Portuguese skills to order our food and interact with some locals. The food was amazing all around.
Hopefully all of you back home are enjoying the great winter weather. It reached almost 90 degrees Fahrenheit down here! Thank you Fernando for sharing your knowledge with us about economics in Brazil! We were able to dive into the culture and have manis and pedis!
King even took part in the fun! After five full days of classes, it was fun to break up the routine! Today, we got to sleep-in 45 minutes before walking to ESALQ for a tour of their horticulture department. There were a wide variety of plants, including:. And lucky us, we were there the day they were harvesting grapes, so we got to try fresh, off-the-vine grapes!
Due to the sweltering hot weather, we made a small edit to the schedule to head back to the hotel to get out of the sun. Here, we were able to rehydrate, catch up on journaling, and swim. Our last event of the day was after lunch, where we toured Coplacana, an agricultural cooperative.
Cooperatives are businesses owned by the farmers to get more purchasing power on supplies such as fertilizers and equipment. These services have been helping farmers in Brazil since when it was founded celebrating 70 years! After touring the headquarters, we went to one of their branches that had test plots and a soil and nematode research laboratory. In terms of ecotourism, Sprout Juquitiba has a fine infrastructure. With The HDI education factor in the state in reached the mark of 0.
There are companies established there, generating 53, jobs. The original airport's two terminals are designed to handle In , over thousand metric tons of freight passed through the container terminal. In , it was the busiest airport in Brazil in terms of aircraft movements and the second busiest in terms of passengers, handling , aircraft movements and 17,, passengers. The city of Campinas is one of Brazil's leaders in technology.
Besides excellent highway connections, it is the location of major universities and many high-tech companies. Because of this, the airport is one of Infraero's highest investment priorities. The old "landing field" as it was called has become one of the main connection points in Latin America. The airport began to concentrate in the international air cargo sector in the s and today this is the airports leading source of revenue. Since , Infraero has been investing to implement the first phase of the airport's master plan, making major improvements to the cargo and passenger terminals.