Entry #20 - Ubatuba & Paraty

During our last weekend in Brazil, we took a beach trip. First, we went to Ubatuba, which is approximately 4 hours hours away from Sao Paulo City. We spent there all morning in a beach called Praia Grande. At first, we were worried that the weather wasn't going to be proper for a nice beach day, but as the day progressed, it kept getting better and better. We played sports, climbed up rocks, bought drinks, and ate lunch with an ocean view. Overall, it was the perfect beach day.

After Ubatuba, we went to a town called Paraty, which is where we stayed overnight. I must say it was great. Paraty is such a beautiful and intriguing little place. We had a short guided tour around the historical part of the town where we learn a lot of interesting facts about the history of this place. For instance, although it was a small town, it had many churches because each one was exclusive for certain gender or people with a certain skin color. For example, they had a church exclusively for women and one exclusively for black people. The woman who gave us the tour told us that the reason why Paraty is so well-preserved is because it used to be a very important port to export products to Rio de Janeiro, which at that time was the capital of Brazil, and Portugal, but when the railroad was built, it was totally forgotten, and it wasn't until years later, when people rediscovered the beauty of this town.

The next day, we were supposed to visit a nuclear plant in Angra, but there was a strike, which made it dangerous for to visit the site. Fortunately, we got a fair trade because instead of the nuclear plant, we got to go island hopping. We each paid 30 reais for an all-day trip around different islands close to Party. Our boat would stop in different places where we had around 40 minutes to explore and swim, or just do whatever we want. I must say that I'm utterly impressed with Paraty. You could easily spend there a week and not get bored considering that there is a vast amount of trips you can do from there everyday. Visit Paraty! I promise you won't regret it.

Entry #19 - Capoeira

We went to Capoeira class. I would describe it as a dance/martial art/break dance. If you think it sounds hard, you're right. It's ridiculously hard to do. It requires rhythm, coordination and speed (Most of which I don't have). However, it was still very entertaining and a very good work out. Moreover, we learned that Capoeira is just not about the "fight" itself. It's also about connecting with the music and your partner at the same time to create a perfect harmony.

I think that having both Capoeira and Samba classes were a terrific way to experience culture. Therefore, I'm profoundly grateful to have had opportunities like these.  

Entry #18 - Eco Museu Afro Brasil

On Ibirapuera Park in Sao Paulo, there is a relatively new museum called Eco Museu Afro Brasil. It's a place dedicated to afro-brazilian culture, which is a huge part of the history of Brazil. We were told that most of the exhibits museum were temporary, which means that you can come back in a few months and it'll be a whole different museum.

The art pieces in general had a lot of bright colors, which is common, or at least that's how I perceive it, of african culture. In addition, there is great  amount of pieces with religious meaning to them. They have both Catholic and African religious pieces, which is really interesting to see considering there was a cultural clash regarding this matter during the Brazilian colonization. Therefore, they had images of Saints, Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ, but at the same time, they had pieces of art of the different African Gods.

I like the fact that the exhibitions where really diverse. The had pieces from paintings to sculptures made in the shape of a food cart. Therefore, it wasn't a "boring" place to look around at all. Also, great souvenir shop. I got some medals and post cards for my family. 

It was such an enjoyable museum, and the fact that it was inside the park, made it even better. I'm actually surprised by the quality of this type of art considering I've never been interested in it. Not only that, the warmth and the passion you could feel when looking at the pieces was pleasantly enriching. Bottom line, it's totally worth it visiting this museum.

Here's the link to the museum's website for more information:

http://www.museuafrobrasil.org.br/

Entry #17 - Sao Joao Landfill

On Thursday, we visited the Sao Joao Landfill located 1 and a half hours east from the city of Sao Paulo. Unfortunately, the weather that day wasn't adequate enough to visit this site. It was cold and raining, thereby, we all didn't feel stimulated to ask a lot questions about the functioning of the landfill.

Sao Joao Landfill is actually closed for operation. It opened in 1992 and closed in 2009 so it operated for 17 years. It had a waste capacity of 30 million tons. Since it was closed, we went to another landfill located within the same complex called East Central of Waste Treatment, which is operated by a company called Eco Urbis, which started operations in 2004. A worker for the company gave a brief presentation about the construction and functioning of landfills. She said that they have to put a layer of a plastic called polyethylene on the bottom of the land so that the leachate, which is the contaminating liquid produce by the trash, doesn't filter into the soil and contaminate nearby water sources. To get rid of this liquid, they built a draine that takes this waste to a pool where they treat it afterwards.

This landfill is still under development. The company is still having trouble with the smell produced by the trash, which is why we went there it smelled so awful. Also, she said that it smells worse while it's raining. Either way, this seems to be a problem that needs to be solved soon so that it doesn't affect nearby communities. Moreover, there isn't a clear plan regarding the future of the landfill because they're still not sure that producing energy through the landfill is the right way to go considering that this wasn't profitable in Sao Joao Landfill. Although Sao Joao Landfill is closed, the power plant in that site is still in operation because the company who operates it, Biogas, still hasn't recovered their investment for the electric production system from biogas. We actually visited this plant, and they explained to us the process of getting the gas from the trash, and also, they explained all the security measurement they implement in case they have fire or any sort of accident. As soon as you come in, you see a sign that says that they haven't n\had any accidents for more than 600 days, which for this type of plants is really good. 

Entry #16 - Meeting with the Sub-secretary of Renewable Energy for the State of Sao Paulo

This week, we had a meeting with Milton Flávio Marques Lautenschlager, who is the Sub-secretary of Renewable Energy for the State of Sao Paulo. We went to the Secretary of Energy offices where he gave us a presentation about all the renewable energy-related projects regarding the State of Sao Paulo. In terms of renewable technologies, the state of Sao Paulo is the most advanced and the one that produces the most in all Brazil. 

I must say it was impressive to meet someone with such a long carrer as Dr. Milton Flávio Marques Lautenschlager, who is a Professor at the Medical School of UNESP, a doctor in experimental surgery, a former state representative at the senate, among others. If you like to find out more about who he is, check out this website: 

http://www.energia.sp.gov.br/portal.php/institucional_quem_e_quem

According to him, the potential for hydroelectricity power is tapped out in this state, which is why they've had to put more effort in developing other renewable technologies considering that that the State of Sao Paulo is going to keep growing rapidly, and there won't be enough renewable energy supply for its inhabitants. One of this technologies is biomass obtained from bagasse. He said that 66% of this is exported to other states in Brazil. Moreover, he talked about what products companies, such as Petrobras, use to produce ethanol. For instance, he said that 13 and a half liters of vinasse, a sugar byproduct, are used to produce 1 liter of ethanol. On the other hand, he said that there are other alternatives to ethanol such as biodiesel, whose production can be increased greatly considering that it's infrastructure is being sub-used.

In terms of wind power, the State of Sao Paulo has currently no power generation for this type of technology. Though, Dr. Marques Lautenschlager pointed out that this could be a good solution for power generation in rural areas in Brazil such as Campinas. Furthermore, we explained us all about the potential for solar power this state has, which if taken advantage from, could represent a solid power source for this state.

After his presentation, we were allowed to ask him some questions. Naturally, we were particularly interested in asking about the Paulista Energy Plan, which a project for the State of Sao Paulo that intends to increase their energy supply from renewable sources from 55% to 69% by 2020. He said that in fact this is possible and he restated all the potential there is for solar, wind and biomass produced energy that can hel the state achieve that goal. Also, although the hydroelectric potential is tapped out, there is some potential is the PCHs, which are small hydroelectric centrals, which don't account for the big hydropower plants. In terms of expanding solar power, he said that the state is already developing project with supermarkets, stores and schools to install solar panels on the roof of this establishments. 

More than 90% of the vehicles in Brazil have flex engines, which make them suitable to use ethanol as fuel. However, this made us wonder if there's any other alternative to renewable fueled cars in Brazil such as electrical cars. The answer is no. He simply stated that they don't have the infrastructure to do so because this technology is still too expensive.

At the beginning of the presentation, he had stated that they were planning to have tax incentives to promote the expansion of the renewable industry, but he never specified what those were. Also, I had read in an article that he was planning to reduce the ICMS (Tax on circulation of goods and services for interstate transportation, and intercity communication) for ethanol. Therefore, I asked him how his office was planning to do so, and he told me that in fact they had already done so. The ICMS for ethanol all around Brazil is 25%, while in the State of Sao Paulo 12%, which explains why this state has the largest ethanol production countrywide. 

Someone asked a really interesting question regarding social differences and renewable technologies in Sao Paulo. Since renewable technologies are expensive, poor people can't afford them. Therefore, because of these technologies, the gap between the rich and the poor is unfortunately going to continue growing. In addition, the government doesn't even want to implement these technologies in the lowest-income neighborhoods because they are scared that the equipment, such as solar panels, might get stolen.  

There is an article about our meeting with the sub-secretary. Here's the link to it:

http://www.energia.sp.gov.br/lenoticia.php?id=530

Entry #15 - Mercadão

Yesterday, we went to the famous food market in Sao Paulo called "Mercadão." It's located near the famous shopping street called 25 de Marzo. It was definitely an all-around well organized and clean market, which was refreshing considering that markets aren't usually like this. 

Before going there, our professor taught us some basic phrases in portuguese so that we could ask for the name and price of any fruit or vegetables, or simply if we wanted to try any of them. Moreover, we were told that everything there was going to be overpriced, which is why they also taught how to bargain. I wanted to buy two mangostim so I told the seller how much they were and he told me 18 reais. It definitely was way more expensive than I expected, which is why I told him that I just wanted to get one, but he refused because he wanted to sell both. I was about to walk out when he told me that I could have both for 10 reais. Obviously, I took them, but I'm still not sure if that was a good price.

We were assigned to find at least 10 fruits and vegetables that we wouldn't normally find back home, take a picture and write their names. Also, we had to translate these names to English. I added some I already know just to learn their name in portuguese. Here they are:

Rambutão lichia - Lychee Rambutan

Caju - Cashew

Romã - Pomegranate 

Graviola - Soursop

Goaiaba vermelha - Red guava

Jabuticaba - Brazilian Grape Tree

Atemoia - Sugar-apple

Carambola doce - Sweet Starfruit

Noni - Cheese Fruit

Acerola - West Indian Cherry

Bruxelas - Brussels

Alho Negro - Black Garlic

Dekopon (No translation)

Azeitona chilenas - Chilean Olives

Shimeji Cogumelo - Shimeji Mushroom

Pitaia Colombiana - Colombian Pitaya