Sugar sugar.

Last week my class toured a sugarcane processor on the eastern side of the state.  I was unaware that the cooperative was over three and a half hours away, and just grabbed a book and twenty reais on a whim before jetting out the door at 6am.
After 45 minutes on the bus, I asked Felipe, "So how much further is this place?"
He laughed at me.


The ethanol plant itself is a little dated, but it's the only one here in Rio Grande do Sul, and it gives a good visual idea of how the whole process runs.  We toured the field operations and got to see the planting, harvesting, and burning of cane plots in various stages of development.  Afterward, we were guided through the processing plant that extracts the liquid and ferments it in huge vats.  Then, to the quality assurance lab.

 Yeah.  That would pass inspections at home...

Snack time.

Fertilizer.

Extractor.

This is Professor Marchesan.  He teaches the sections over rice and cane production, which have been my favorites this year.  He is such a great professor, and as Leonardo says, "He takes care of you like you are his kid."

Fermentation.  

The ride home was so fun.  I am living in a great part of this country, where the people are just plain nice. For some reason, I am always surprised by how inclusive my classmates are of me.  It would be so much easier to just ignore the foreign chick that talks like a four year old, and misses more jokes than she catches.  But they never do. I always have friends to eat with, walk with, talk with, sit with, laugh with, and hug me.  I absolutely love it.  

On the way home, the someone busted out the honey liquor, and the isle of the bus turned into a cocktail party on wheels.  Literally.  And what cocktail party is complete without a crew of  sweet boys shouting South American cowboy songs like a band of drunken pirates late into the night?

Oh yeah, I have a blog.

Hello loved ones!

Very low key week here in the south.  I toured an ethanol production facility yesterday with my Agricultura Especial class, but haven't uploaded pictures, yet.  Instead, you get a crock-pot-soup of pictures from the previous three or four weeks.  I'll post more about the ethanol later.

...Serious business.  It's for a grade.

A giant emu!  And I saw some in the wild yesterday, grazing* in the passing field. 

We were on the bus, and Felipe leaned over and said, "Look at that bird.  Have you seen one before?"

"Oh, yeah, my family has one for a pet."

"No, not the parrot. The big bird, in the field."

"Yeah, I know.  We have one.  His name is Lyle."

He gives me his oh-so-familiar stare of confusion.

"This is crazy..." 

*grazing? hmm, not sure....  

Well, I think this is crazy.

That's right, folks.

Right on the bark.

Professor Daudt's winery and vineyard.

Surveying during prática.

More later.

Beijos!

Curitiba and Ilha do Mel

It seems like things just get better here.

I went to the city of Curitiba last week, with all of its urban bike trails and good music, and then to Ilha do Mel on the Parana coast.  I don't even know where to begin.  Liz found a couple couches for us to sleep on in Curitiba. Our host was Emi, and she was such a fantastic tour guide. We went for bike rides in the city, and ate really yummy Japanese food, and did Tai Chi in the mornings.

Oooo, and her family had homemade apiaries!

Then, Nathan Money flew into town and the three of us caught a train to the coast.  We hired a fishing boat for ten reais a piece to take us to Ilha do Mel.  The boatride took two hours and we got to sit back and relax with our caiprinhas. On the way, we met up with some Brits, a Frenchie, and an Alemão.  We had good company, good food, good sunshine. 

I do not have the time to write this story right now, and do it justice.  The island was absolutely magical. No cars, no streets or streetlights, no TVs. Just sand and rainforest and stars. And midnight dance parties in the surf.   

I have been experiencing withdrawls for the last week.

Saudade

I sat in a little cafe in the southern hemisphere last week, and watched the news story covering a tornado. It is global news.  I see a twister tearing through my home, miles and miles away, and understand words like destruição, perdidas, and tragédia.  The world is at one moment, very small yet very vast.

I ache for my loved ones right now, but send prayers and love, and hope that you can feel them reaching you.

 

Ranchin'

Ah, sweatpants-Thurday.  I have been looking forward to you.  Yes, that means I am staying in my house ALL day, and reading and writing and cleaning my tiny bedroom, which currently resembles the homeless man's camp in the lot next door.  Yesterday, I was feeling ambitious, and made a list!  Today, I have marked only five things off, two of which were 'soak beans' and 'check Ravelry account'.  Soon, I will scratch off 'blog'.  Anything that may involve 'enrollment' 'exercise' or 'graduation' will clearly be pushed onto tomorrow's list. 


Last weekend, my good friend, Gabi, invited Liz and I out to her family's 200 year old cattle ranch.  A group of vet students were all going out to help vaccinate, tag, and preg check, so we decided to join in.  Her grandmother made huge, very Italian meals everynight, with handmade pastas and slow cooked meats.  I was miserably fat for the entire extended weekend.  Behind the house, there was a beautiful orchard with oranges, lemons, limes, bergamots, figs, apples, peaches, avocados, carambolas!, kiwis!, pecans, pears, mangos, grapes, and others that I couldn't identify.  I came home with a feedsack full of bergamots and a mouth full of those tiny ulcers that only excessive amounts of citric acid are capable of causing. 

Francisco.

Squeeze chute. Made of wood. And really fancy.

Money shot.

Gremio and Inter played each other on Saturday.  They are the two futbol teams in my state and form the fifth most aggresive rivalry in the world.  I live with Leonardo, who is a purebred, steadfast Gremista, and because I value my hot showers, I also cheer flambouantly for blue.  Unless, I am staying with a red Inter family.  Shhhhhhh.......
Gabi's family is totally red and I witnessed her 74 year old Catholic, grieving widowed grandmother morph into a jumping, shreiking, horn-blowing dancer when International beat Gremio in Gremio's stadium on Saturday.  She blew off fireworks and got out her old CD player to blast Inter's victory anthem and made the only Gremista in the house dance with her while she sang all of the words.  Somebody has a picture of the woman wrapping me in a headlock.
I know what's up.  I cheered red, too. 

 

Vovo gave me a lot of warm handknitted things to wear. I'm going to replicate this one, I wore it all weekend.



Lemon Drops.

Homegrown kiwis!

View from my room.

Commencement of the churrasca saga.

Orchids everywhere.

Horseback exploration.

Oh, Aaaaaaaand...     While working cattle the last day, I got bit by a fly on the hand.  Leonardo told me last night he thinks I might have "a little worm" under my skin.   But no big deal, he says, when it is big enough, we will put sugar all over it and lure it to crawl out.  He tried to be reassuring, but I saw the single-second flash of hibby-jibbies betrayed in his face. Ha!

Roadtrips

I'm putting up pictures from a trip I just went on.  Down to Uruguay, over to the ocean, then up to wine country.  Cities, beaches, national forests, vineyards, and beautiful high plains.  I love this state.  Arguably, the second best state in the world. At least in my opinion.

First up, Rivera.  Ah, border towns: delightfully overwhelming Americans, the world over.  I got some cheap boots.  And met a yarn lady.  Score.

We stayed in a hotel, ran by Jorginho, and shared a bathroom with construction workers.

Next up, Pelotas.  Incredible architecture, gross city.  We went to a circus in the middle of town that featured a dance chorus full of leathery grandmas and a motorcycle in a tracked cage. And the knife thrower... oooo, don't get me started.  The poor grandma/showgirl that had to be subjected to that act was soooo not into it.  I got the impression he'd jacked up before...The bigtop had the seating capacity for about two hundred, but only brought in about twenty-five. 

oo.  heeby jeebies.
In an amusing kind of way, of course.

The beach at Pelotas was equally dirty, but there were many nice beaches to come, and I took that time to practice driving the rental car on sand.

This is a capybara, the largest roaming rodent on present-day earth.  He made noises like a guinea pig and let me pet him.  Fun fact: they eat their own feces to get maximum absorption of nutrients.

Hey... What the.....

-Canela, RS

And last but not least-

I couldn't forget May Day!

I'm a jerk.

Next time, I will remember the note for Dad, too.

Oops.