Day 12

8/22 (Day 12)

 It was time to leave. After breakfast, I got to the bus to airport leaving for Pittsburgh. I should be happy because I had achieved my goal, learning more knowledge, making more friends and knowing more about Brazil. But every time saying goodbye, I felt very sad and not sure when we would meet next time. Luckily before the flight from Sao Paulo to New Jersey, Joe, Fowzia, DJ, Ivy and were still together playing cards. I even showed them my magic (LOL).

I appreciated this short Brazilian trip and nice to meet you guys. Good luck for you and your life in future. 

Day 11

8/21 (Day 11)

Today we would visit two places. The first one is a cattle farm Fazenda Colombari. During the visit, we knew how a farm worked. It was interesting to learn that more milk could be obtained if they listened to music during milking process. The manure from the cattle was of great use. Some of them were used as fertilizer, while the rest would be an energy source to produce biogas to power a generator. The farm helped me expand my horizon on sustainability.

After lunch, we got to have a travel on Itaipu Dam. The Dam was one of the largest energy sources in Brazil. In 2013, the plant created a world record in power generation of 98630 GWh, which reached 75% of the Paraguayan demand and 17% of the Brazilian demand. The Dam was super large and the total length of the dam is more than 7000 meters. When I stood close to the reservoir, I felt it boundless, though it ranked 7^th in size in Brazil. Then we went through the dam and saw the structure and control room. It was amazing to find harmonious cooperation between the two countries.

After Itaipu Dam, we visited local temple. It is interesting to see Bodhisattva in another country except China.

We had a farewell dinner tonight and I felt sad. Though the trip only lasted for 11 days, I thought it was too short and we just got to know each other. Memory of the trip would keep in my heart forever. I would treasure the knowledge I learnt and friendship we build.  

Day 10

8/20 (Day 10)

  Today we were going to visit Bird Park and Iguazu Falls National Park. When in the Bird Park, I could see various kinds of bird and had a close view on them. They were colorful, beautiful and clever, and some of them even could spoke after me! I also saw a huge snake and touched it, though I was somewhat feared. In this park, I felt relaxed and full of energy.

After lunch in the park, we went to see the fall. Iguazu falls was one of the seven natural wonders in the world. Some of us took a boat that could carry 20 people to the fall. The fall was worthy of its reputation. It was spectacular and unbelievable. The staff drove us under the fall, I felt exactly the nature power. It was pretty exciting that all of us were striken by the fall and then got wet. During the ride, we saw two beautiful rainbows. Afterwards, we walked to have a 360-view of the fall. It seemed that we were surrounded by the falls. I could see the amazing scenery, listen to the roar from the fall and feel the strong power of nature.

We then got to a place where we could see this three countries Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay at the same time! Later on, we went to enjoy the buffet and Latin shows in a restaurant. During the ride we went back to hotel, everybody kept singing and laughing. This was one of my unforgettable night. 

Day 9

8/19 (Day 9)

After breakfast and two-hour ride, we got to Renuka. At first we listened to a presentation. It was a sugarcane ethanol plant which was founded in 1998. It contained 11 mills (7 in India and 4 in Brazil) with total 20.7 Mtons/ year crushing capacity. In addition, the sugar quantity they produced ranked 5^th in the world. Sugar, ethanol and power were their major product. The power they produced solely to their own plant.

After the lecture, we had a visit the plant. All I could smell was sugar and it was really good. We saw several trucks loading sugar cane come in and then got to have a sample check to judge quality based on fiber degree. The production process would be modified according to the quality. Then sugar cane was unloaded for washing can crushing for juice. The sugar cane seemed too dry came into my notice. The instructor told me that was because they were burnt before harvest. After that the sugar could be extracted by a polymer. After crushing 5 times, some juice would continue a fermentation process for ethanol while others would conduct a crystallization process for raw sugar. The waste called bagasse would be burnt for energy. During the whole process, the use ratio of sugar in the company was up to 97%, but there was some larger plants with 98% efficiency. This trip was so meaningful that I could gradually understand the whole productive procedure.

We also had free lunch in the plant restaurant and after that travelled 7 hours to Foz fo Iguassu.

Day 8

8/18 (Day 8)

  Today we went to the university Federal do Parana. There were two parts for us to visit. The first place we visited was hydraulic lab. There was a big dam simulation facility which helped to measure velocity as well as water level. But it didn’t concern the environmental impact of the dam. Then we saw a tank used for measuring water velocity by observing fish behavior since fish was sensitive to velocity. We also saw a spillway but it didn’t work. The lab was quite an interesting place.

  After that we visited the biomass lab. They cultivate microalgae and made use of it to produce algal biomass which can be used as health food, fertilizer, industrial materials and biofuel. They tested different bacterial with different conditions to obtain good result and then scaled them up for large use. Actually it took a long time to cultivate appropriate bacteria and they were sensitive to conditions change. I was told that many bacteria were dead in lab last two weeks because of the issues from compressed air facilities. Then we went outside to see the photobioreactors. The reactors were amazing. By receiving enough sunlight and carbon dioxide, they could produce microalgae biomass for different use, but only emit oxygen. The research group was still trying to improve the efficiency. It was really excited to see such sustainable project!

Then we went back to the bus and took a 7-hour trip to Sao Pedro do Ivai in Parana.

Day 7

8/17 (Day 7)

  After breakfast, we travelled to Curitiba. It was a long trip. Due to the traffic accident along the way, it took more than five hours to get to our destination, Oscar Niemeyer museum. Oscar Niemeyer was one of the most famous architects in the world, and known for his design of civic buildings for Brasilia. The museum looked magnificent, it was like an huge eye elevated in the sky. In the museum, there were plentiful art works. The famous part was the exhibit of Frida Kahlo, a famous artist known for her self-portraits. However, the waiting line for the exhibit was long and time was not enough, so I missed it. What a pity!

Then we went to the hotel in Curitiba to check in. At night we got to a shopping mall and enjoyed dinner with professors.

Day 6

8/16 (Day 6)

Today we were to go rafting and have hot spring. I felt very excited because it was my first time to raft. After leaving the hotel early, we took the bus to our destination for rafting. First of all, we all wore wet suits provided by staff. After 10 minutes warm-up, we got to the boat in the river and followed instructor’s command. The rafting was really amazing. River was cold and rushing, and we used the paddles to control the direction avoiding rocks. Following the wave, the boat went up and down and sometimes it seemed to sink as lots water got in the boat. Rafting was amazing, as well as the scenery on both sides of the river. Though rainy today, birds hovered above in the sky, trees were on the mountains covered by fog. Though felt cold and exhausted after landing, I thought it was one my most impressive experience during the trip.

After rafting, we checked in the hot springs resort. The buffet in the hotel was delicious. Then we enjoyed hot spring, sauna and swimming pool and play billiards, table tennis in the game room. All the day I felt wonderful.

Day 5

8/15 (Day 5)

Today was our free day! Due to the tight schedule and cold weather before, I had to get up early without a good sleep, so I didn’t wake up until 10 am. DJ and I decided to travel around the downtown of Florianopolis. After lunch, we walked along the street to downtown and found some graffito in the wall which were colorful and interesting. The downtown was prosperous and crowed. There were many stores along the street in downtown and I could find different kinds of goods. The salespeople were very nice, though we didn’t speak Portuguese, they always kept smile and tried their effort to explain with body language. They even helped us search the words we felt confused online! “Obrigado” was sincerely for them. And of course we bought something such as Brazilian coffee, Cuban cigar. During the trip, I saw something interesting. I saw old people enjoyed playing cards, acrobatics, national dance and street guitar performance.

 After traveling downtown, we went to a café nearby to try Italian food with Caipirinha, but the rice was too saltly.

 All in all, it was a nice day!

Day 4

8/14 (Day 4)

Today was quite an exciting day because we toured the city Florianopolis. Our first stop was Morro da Cruz, one of the highest points in Florianopolis. It was so amazing to overlook the whole city and everyone couldn’t help to take the beautiful pictures. Then we went to various beaches and one of them was called Joaquina which was the most famous beach in Florianopolis and people could enjoy surfing here. The sand of the beach was boundless and felt soft, water was clean and the sky looked blue. All of these made me feel comfortable. We also walked around in the sand dunes and found people sand surfing. At noon, we enjoyed our lunch close to the beach. After that, we got to a village which was colonized by the Azoreans.

Following the tour time, we attend a lecture from Professor Baltazar Guerra on renewable energy. Even though Dr Baltazar Guerra was an economist, he was devoted to advance sustainability in Brazil. In the lecture, he pointed out Brazil is a world leader in the use of renewable energy and in 2007, only 1.5% of the greenhouse gases emissions were generated by Brazilian electric systems while in the rest of the world was 24%. Since the energy demand in Brazil increased, he strongly advocated sustainable energy sources. Actually 50% of Brazilian vehicles were able to run on either by petroleum or biofuel, this is pretty compelling. And Professor trusted in their future of sustainable energy.

After the lecture, I went to have authentic Portuguese dishes with DJ in a local restaurant. It was tasty but a little bit expensive.

Day 3

8/13 (Day 3)

  Today after breakfast in hotel, when I stepped out of the door in hotel, what I felt most impressive was the cold weather, though the sun was shining. I felt excited for today’s trip since we were going to visit wind farm at Osorio.

  The wind farms are one of the section of an intentional company called Elecnor. The company holds different wind farms in different countries such as Canada, Spain and Brazil and plans to operate in Australia. The wind farms in Osorio are able to produce 318 MW per year with the efficiency of 99%. The turbines have more advantages than the conventional ones since they create less sound, operate more efficiently and safely. In the control room, we can find out different parameters including wind speed, direction, turbines speed.

   We also saw beautiful scenery in the field. 125 windmills lined up neatly and thousand of grazing animals walked on the grass leisurely. It was really amazing to see that wind electricity generation could be conducted without threatening the native grazing function. What a harmonious energy! I believe wind energy could be a feasible energy alternative!

    After visiting the farm, we stopped by to have lunch and tasted the delicious Brazilian barbeque. Then we went back to Florianopolis and finally travel to a local shopping mall at night.

Day 2

 8/12 (Day 2)

After a light breakfast, we took 3 hours bus ride to our first company visit in Capivari de Baixo. Before the visit, we stopped for lunch at a local restaurant. We had buffet and enjoyed the delicious dishes.

After lunch, we arrived in the Tractebel Energia in around 30 minutes. We attended a presentation of the company first. We learned that Tractebel Energia is the largest private electrical generating company in Brazil, including plants of hydro, thermoelectric and wind generators. All the plants are certified under ISO standard for process quality and environmental quality norms. 82% electricity from the company is from hydro plants and 14% from the thermal, and Tractebel is able to make up around 7% of Brazilian electricity generation. Due to flexible weather conditions, drought may occur and river level can drop down, which have negative impact on electricity generation. Thus the company makes use of fossil fuel to maintain stable energy supply in case of emergency. To provide sustainable energy, they are trying to research energy resources such as wave energy, wind, biomass, solar. Though nuclear energy is one alternate source, they are not going to adopt because of intractable waste.

Then we visited the coal-fired power plant. In the control room, we saw different parameters on screen to help monitor the burning process. Following we visited a community center with many amazing pictures inside. They told us that lots of ash was buried under this construction since this place was used to be an ash field.

After the visit, we spent 4 hours back to Osorio for dinner and sleep.

Day 1

  8/11 (Day 1)


   Today is the beginning to the trip in Brazil! After around 19 hours flight from Pittsburgh, I finally landed in Florianopolis. This is quite a long time! But fortunately I met some classmates during the trip and we spent a great time playing cards at the transfer stop in Sao Paulo. It was also funny when we tried to buy some food from Pizza Hut, we finished the order by body language since we didn’t understand Portuguese. Then we were picked up to the hotel by Rodrigo and Danie. An orientation was hold this evening to help us better understand the country as well as the schedule for next 2 week. After that, we had dinner together in a nearby restaurant. Some of us then explored the city, walking along the beach and enjoying the wind. In the end, we went out for a drink and after tasting the local drink Caipirinha. It was so amazing of the drink and I became its fan.

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