August 7, 2015
Itaipu Dam/ Hydroelectric Power Plant
This was the last full day of our trip, so naturally we had to cram as much in as possible. The morning started out with a trip to a farm which runs exclusively on biogas from animal waste. From there, we traveled to Itaipu Dam, one of the largest hydroelectric power plants in the world.

Farm visit:  Fazenda Colombari
This family owned farm makes their money growing pigs and cattle to be shipped off for slaughter. These livestock produce a great deal of... waste. That's where CIBiogás comes in. CIBiogás is a Brazilian company which installs and operates biodigesters on farms to produce fuel (mostly methane) to run these farms. On our farm visit, the biodegster only ran off of pig waste, due to its shorter digestion time (the digester can process pig manure in 28 days whereas cattle manure takes 32 days to fully break down). The cattle manure isn't wasted though, as it is used as fertilizer on this farm and other local farms. Additionally, pigs produce much more waste in regards to their body size, kicking out 10 L of manure per pig per day. This manure is high in hydrogen sulfide, a highly corrosive gas which must be removed prior to biodigestion (HS2 is what gives manure that rotten egg smell).

The biodegster itself is a pretty well engineered system. The base is a large trapezoidal trough, covered in high density polyethylene (HDPE) to prevent infiltration of the liquid waste into the ground. At one end, treated pig waste flows into the biodegester, and at the other end, a watery effluent flows out at the same rate. Bacteria in the tank break the organic matter into methane and carbon dioxide, which rises above the liquid to be collected. The effluent flows out, to be used as fertilizer, and the gas is sent to a 140 kVA (kilovolt-amperes) generator, producing 0.4 MW to power the farm. This treated biogas is much better for the environment than straight burning of manure as fuel, releasing 26 times less pollutants into the atmosphere.

Itaipu Dam
The Stone that Sings
Built on the Paran[a] river between Brazil and Parguay, Itaipu Dam was, until very recently, the largest power station in the world (Three Gorges Dam in China took over that distinction in 2014). The ownership of the plant is split 50/50 by Brazil and Parguay, although the Dam itself technically sits on neither of their land. When the construction began in 1975, both countries agreed to share the land, making it a neutral area where both peoples could work towards their common goal. Construction was finally finished in 2007, with the completion of the 20th generator (18a, on the right bank - the "Brazilian" side). Itaipu now operates 20 generators, half operating at 60 Hz (to supply Brazil with power) and half operating at 50 Hz (to supply Paraguay). This level of cooperation extends to the workers too, half of which are Brazilian, and half are Paraguayan. All signs and documents are printed in Portuguese, Spanish, and English. English is used as a neutral language in case the need arises. This partnership between Brazil and Parguay will continue until 2023, at which time the dam will have been paid off, allowing each country to do what it wants with it's portion of the dam.

Design Details
The main dam is a 196 m tall, 612 m long, hollow trapezoidal structure with wall that are 20m thick at the base and taper to 14 m thick at the top. This main dam was constructed with ice-cured concrete, supplied by an onsite ice factory (it was removed once concrete activities were completed). The reservoir behind the dam is held in place by a 1,98 4m long rockfill dam, a 1,438 m long buttress, and two earthfill dams, one stretching 2,294 m and the other of 872 m in length. There is also a spillway structure, opened when the reservoir gets too high. These gates are only needed for 10 days out of the year (more if there is a particularly rainy season). Water flows through 20 8-m diameter pipes located 23m below the top of the dam. These pipes drop the water into generators, each one supplying 1,400 m3/s to the 715 MW turbines. The generators never hit this maximum wattage, averaging closer 675 MW, with a peak of 700 MW. Each turbine is closed once per year for maintenence.
The structure was built with a design life of 60 years, although the main concern is the integrity of the reservoir, which is estimated to last until 2140.

August 6, 2015
Parque das Aves & Foz do Iguaçu

August 5, 2015

Renuka Vale do Ivaí visit and Travel to Foz do Iguaçu

Shree Renuka's sugar plant in Vale do Ivaí 

Only a few miles outside of S[a]o Pedro do Ivaí is the Renuka Vale do Ivaí sugar processing plant and ethanol distillery. We were met by one of the plant's engineers, Clever Junio Mastelari (Clever is his first name, although he was a very smart guy). We started with a brief presentation of the site's history and the corporate structure. Then we were given an exclusive tour of the factory and distillery. Finally, we had lunch in the cafeteria with some of the workers on their lunch break.

Clever gave us some sugar cane to suck on

Renuka Vale do Ivaí is held and controlled by Shree Renuka Sugars, the fifth largest sugar producer in the world. Renuka Vale do Ivaí started out as an independent ethanol distillery, but a downturn in the sugar market forced it to become a sugar plant in 1993, processing sugar cane into table sugar, ethanol, and fertilizer. Shree bought the facility in 2010. Currently, Renuka Vale do Ivaí creates sugar in bulk and transports it via trains to various ports in Brazil (this is unique for Brazilian companies, which typically use trucking as the main form of transporting goods). The plant also produces ethanol which is either sold to fuel companies or burned in generators to power the processing plant. Whatever energy is not used by the facility is sold back to the national power grid. The plant has a power generating capacity of 18 MW, and uses an average of 7 MW. This power comes from their production of hydrous ethanol (at 450,000 liters/ day). The plant also produces anhydrous ethanol (300,000 liters/day) which is sold to fuel companies to be mixed with gasoline. The plant's main product is sugar though, producing almost 1,000 tons/hour. Renuka Vale do Ivaí's plant operates 24 hours a day, 7 days per week, utilizing 300 employees working in 3 shifts. In addition to the production of sugar, ethanol, and energy, Renuka Vale do Ivaí prides itself on its commitment to environmental production, managing the solid waste and other effluents, monitoring gas emissions, and managing 560 hectares of preserved forest. Most of the effluents from the sugar production are sprayed back onto local farms as fertilizer (sugar production kicks out a huge amount of waste, with almost 10 liters of bagasse, the structural plant fibers, created for every 1 L of crushed sugar). In addition to monitoring the effluents, the plant also minimizes its influents, replanting the sugar only every 6 years and relying on the natural climate to keep the crops watered, negating the need for an irrigation system.

The sugar production process can best be explained through this Discovery Channel video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWl141Bu7fc
It should be noted though, that Renuka Vale do Ivaí does not bleach its sugar like the plant in the video. It also relies on another company to do the packaging.

Basic Overview
Table sugar starts out on the farm as sugarcane. Juice is extracted from the cane. The juice is then either stuck into a centrifuge, drawing out most of the moisture to produce crush-able sugar, or distilled into a "wine", a mixture of ethanol, yeast, and bagasse. The ethanol is separated from the mix via evaporation.

No pictures were allowed inside the factory. Additionally, due to liability issues, Renuka Vale do Ivaí typically doesn't allow site visits anymore, but allowed our entrance because of the longstanding relationship between the factory and ISA.

No pictures allowed inside the plant. Outside the plant is fair game though

August 4, 2015

Bus ride from Curitiba to São Pedro do Ivai

No energy company tours today. Or city tours. Or anything really. Just a 9 hour bus ride to a small town in  Paraná: São Pedro do Ivai. In the morning we'll tour the Renuka do Vale sugar plant and ethanol distillery.

Tchau, Curitiba

August 3, 2015

Federal University of Paraná (UFPR)

We were greeted on the polytechnic campus of the Federal University of Paraná by Dr. Alexandre Pescador from the mechanical engineering department. He gave us a tour of the campus, then introduced us to Dr. Alessandro Zimmer, the head of UFPR's electrical engineering department, and one of the University professors involved in LACTEC ( Instituto de Tecnologia para o Desenvolvimento). LACTEC is a private non-profit involved in various aspects of innovation and testing. The 2 labs we saw were the hydraulics lab, which featured many scaled models of construction projects, and the high-voltage lab. In between the two lab visits, we stopped in to UFPR's microalgae lab.

Hydraulics Lab
LACTEC's hydraulics lab (CEHPAR) maintains contacts with several construction projects, so unfortunately no pictures were allowed because of non disclosure agreements. There were several scaled models of the Belo Monte Dam, and power plant on the Xingu River in Paraná. The first model was used to model the construction of the dam's effect on the area. Everything down to the rip rap used on the river bank was to scale. This model allows engineers to track flow patterns through the diversion structures by injecting a dye on the upstream side of the model. The first model we saw has already proved itself useful, as the engineers used data gathered at CEHPAR to eliminate 2 planned spillway structures (from 20 down to 18). Each one of these structures would be equivalent to building an office building at full scale, so the elimination of 2 of them is a huge cost savings opportunity for the companies involved.
Another dam being modelled was the SINOP dam, a proposed hydroelectric power station in Mato Grosso. This was a 1:100 scale model of the riverbed downstream from the dam's spillway. This model was used to determine the ideal rock size/composition to reduce erosion past the spillway. Each one of these models costs about b$2.5 million to build (about $720,000 US). This is still a cheaper and more inclusive method than computer modelling, which is limited by current technology to analysis of only a couple variables at a time.

Microalgae Lab
Our second stop was with Dr. José Virido Coelho Vargas, one of the professors involved in UFPR's bio-diesel facility. At this facility, students and faculty from UFPR and Florida State University study the feasibility of creating a totally self-sustainable bio-diesel production process using microalgae to produce bio-diesel. Algae is one of the simplest forms of organic matter, having survived on Earth for 3 billion years. This simplicity allows scientist to genetically modify it to produce higher yields of fatty acids (triglycerides), which when combined with methanol in a catalyzed reaction produces biodiesel. Most of the science went over my head (I haven't taken chemistry since I got a C in Freshman Chem), but the promise of a self-sustainable oil production process is pretty amazing.

There were 5 of these 10,000 L photobioreactors outside of the lab.

High Voltage Lab

After a stop for lunch in UFPR's campus cafeteria, we visited the high voltage lab. This lab is used to test power transmission lines, transformers, and substations by subjecting them to extremely high voltages (the lab can put out 3.2 Megavolts). Currently, they had 100 kV transmission lines to be tested, as well as a mock-up gas insulated substateion (similar to the transmission system used at Itaipu Dam). One thing that makes this lab unique in Brazil is the structure of the building itself. The metal walls are insulated from the ground in such a way that it acts as a Faraday cage (http://science.howstuffworks.com/faraday-cage.htm). This eliminates all outside electromagnetic noise, allowing the engineers at UFPR to obtain the most accurate measurements possible.

Vinicios, one of UFPR's Electrical Engineers, explains the processes and equipment being tested.

August 2, 2015

Travel to Curitiba.

Unfortunately our stay at the resort only lasted the one night. We had a 6 (ish) hour bus ride to Curitiba, in Paraná, I say 6ish because we were taking mostly mountainous roads, and ended up with a flat tire halfway through the trip. We had to stop for a half hour or so on the side of the road to fix that....

Our bus drive, Senhor Mauro, changing a flat [photo credit to Samantha Mielo]

Once the tire was fixed, we stopped for lunch at a pay-per kilo rest stop. After lunch, it was smooth driving to Curitiba. We had nothing planned so we went to the public park. It was more like a zoo/ aviary though, as there were tons of different South American birds in enclosures scattered around the park.

August 1, 2015
Rafting in Apuama, followed by relaxing at the Àguas Mornas Resort.

Since it was the weekend, our schedule allowed us to take the day off from learning about Brazil and its energy. This meant a short bus ride out to Santo Amaro de Imperatriz and Apuama (2 adjacent towns) to go rafting. Since there were 7 of us participating, we had to take 2 rafts. There were 3 other people in my raft: Katreena, Sam, and our guide Marcelino. On the bus ride out to Apuama, Dr. Abad had warned us that one of the guides was a little "crazy," and that if we were lucky, we wouldn't have him in our boat. Turns out Marcelino was the crazy one. Within 10 minutes of getting on the water, my boat flipped, dumping us into the river. Luckily no one was seriously hurt (Sam bruised her leg a little) and we were able to swim to the river bank and get back in the boat. The next 45 minutes were filled with Marcelino's voice, yelling commands, whistling at the other boat, or making animal noises when we passed wildlife. It was a pretty great time. [I was unable to take picture because I was rafting, but another guide got a ton of pictures which I'll upload when they send them to us].

After the "EXTREME HRAFTING" (Marcelino's words), we took a short bus ride to the Àguas Mornas Palace Hotel, a resort just outside of Apuamas. We hung out in the pool, sunbathed, and played bocce ball... not bad for a mid-winter's day. Some of the girls got massages in the resort's spa, but I went to the basketball court to shoot around. One of the hotel's guests, an elderly Brazilian gentleman whose name I unfortunately forgot, taught me a shooting game similar to around-the-world. It consisted of 2 players taking turns shooting their way through 4 stages, each stage getting further from the hoop (or [circle] in Portuguese). In stage 1, you have to make 5 shots from inside the paint and under the basket. To move on to stage 2, you must make 5 shots in a row from the first stripe, then 3 consecutive free throws (this basketball court was set up a little differently from American courts). Stage 2 was 6 shots from different points around the key, followed by 5 and 3 consecutive shots from the free throw lines ("lance livre"). Stage 3 was 8 shots from around the key, and stage 4 was some shots from beyond the 3-point line. Our class had a planned dinner-time, so unfortunately I couldn't play out the game. Its probably a good thing, because by the time I left, meu amigo was on the 4th stage while I was still only shooting my second set of free throws. It was a great learning experience, as he taught me a few phrases in Portuguese and shared some English phrases ("Senhor, you're heating up"). One thing that continues to amaze me about Brazilian culture is how friendly and helpful people are, even to ignorant Americans like me.

Originally from Rio de Janiero, meu amigo has lived in Florianópolis for 30 years

Friday, July 31.

Today was our last full day in Florianópolis. There were no energy companies to tour today, so we were afforded the chance to learn about the history of the island and take in all the scenery. I'll update this post with facts and everything at a later date, but until then, these are some of the sights we stopped at on our tour.

"The heart of Florianópolis." This 150 year old tree has been preserved with support piles in A Praça XV de Novembro (15th of  November Plaza)

Our tour guide, Daniel, talks about the heart of Florianópolis

View of Downtown Florianópolis from the top of Morro da Cruz

The beach at Armação is famous for great surfing. 

Eating a light snack at an Oyster Bar (Bar de ostras) along the shoreline at Largo da Alfande

Panorama of the sunset at Largo da Alfandega

Today was marked by two extremely different activities. For most of the day, we were allowed to explore Floripa on our own, but after 5 pm, we were given the opportunity to be learn about the state of energy in Brazil from one of UNISUL's professors, Dr. Baltazar Guerra.

During our free time, we explored a Avenida das Rendeiras, a quaint street along the coast of the Lagoa da Conceição. From there we were able to buy some souvenirs, climb some dunes, and grab a hearty Brazilian-style buffet lunch. And we went paddle-boarding too on the lake [I'll have to upload those pictures as soon as I get copies]. All in, we spent about four hours on that part of the island.

View of the sand dunes. Avenida das Rendeiras is about 20 feet behind where this picture was taken. 

Street graffiti/ mural along a Avenida das Rendeiras

Lagoa da Conceição

When we returned to the main part of Florianópolis, Dina took us to the Campus Universitário da Grande Florianópolis (UNISUL) to attend a lecture on the state of Brazilian energy. The main speaker was Dr. Baltazar Guerra (full name José Baltazar Salgueirinho Osório Andrade Guerra, PhD), a professor of international relations whose work with the REGSA, a multinational project aimed at bringing sustainable energy to places which recently had zero access to a stable energy grid. The purpose of this lecture however, was the issues surrounding energy generation today, and how they will be compounded in the coming decades as the global population pushes towards 9 or 10 billion people.

A significant percentage of this population growth comes from China and India. Each of these countries are frightening for different reasons. China's population boom threatens the Earth because its government never signed the Kyoto Protocol. Basically, China has no incentive to minimize carbon dioxide emissions, instead choosing cheap, yet dirty burning coal and gas to power its emergence as a global superpower. India's size is scary for a different reason though. A large portion of India's 1.2 billion people do not have access to electricity. What will happen in the coming decades as a larger percentage of Indians gain access to electricty? There is no source for this energy in place today, and engineers will either have to find sources, or subject a significant portion of the human population to blackouts.

Is hydro-power a clean energy source? Hydro-power is a renewable method of energy generation, but this does not make it clean, and it certainly has its drawbacks. When a dam is erected and an area flooded, this creates many environmental concerns. The water destroys ecosystems, forcing animals to adapt, migrate, or die. The new lake occupies land which may be suited to better uses, like growing crops for food, materials, or energy production (using biomass fuels like ethanol). Additionally, as the water rises, tons and tons of vegetation is killed, and this decomposing mass slowly releases huge amounts of methane into the air, contributing to global climate change. Brazil is the place to study the effects of hydroelectric generation, as over 65% of the energy used in Brazil in 2014 came from hydro-power stations. We'll learn more about hydro-power next week though, when we visit Itaipu Dam in Paraná.

*note. It's late, I'm sleepy, and there's many more pictures to upload. I'll update this post when we get more reliable wifi

Looking up at one of the Wind Turbines operated by Ventos do Sul

July 29 -- Ventos do Sul Wind Farm visit

Site Description
The wind farm at Osório stretches 13 km long by 7 km wide (approximately 9000 hectares) with 148 wind turbines, each with a capacity of 2.3 MW. Our tour started with a visit to the substation control room, continued with a coffee break and a presentation about the companies involved, and concluded with us going to the base of one of the turbine towers.
Last year, Ventos do Sul produced enough energy to power 450,000 Brazilian homes, or approximately 1.5 million people. 60% of this production occurred in September, October, November, and April, with a significant drop off during the summer and winter months. The site only produces energy for 50% of the year. This may not sound great, but the typical wind farm in the United States is producing energy only about 30% of the time. This higher efficiency can be attributed to two things: great site selection, and smart turbine designs. Osório is a great location for a wind farm because it is flat and exposed on three sides with a mountainous backdrop to the West. The winds typically flow from the Northeast, reducing the amount of movement the turbines need in a given day. Also, each turbine is equipped with an anemometer and a built in computer which will tell the turbine when to turn on or off and the ideal orientation for the head to be pointed.

Ventos do Sul owns 172 turbines spread over 6 farms, accounting for a 375 MW capacity

How the turbines work
Basically, a turbine works like a box fan, just in reverse. Whereas a fan uses energy to turn blades to make wind, a turbine uses wind to turn blades to make usable energy. The turbines used by Ventos do Sul are 110 m tall (from the base to the top of the blade diameter) and utilize 35m long blades. These turbines operate at  windspeeds from 2.5 m/s up the 25 m/s (6 mph to 55 mph). Too little wind, and the blades won't turn. Too much wind and the internal mechanism can not keep up with the blades. The turbines at Osório are most efficient in wind speeds around 11-12 m/s. This large range of operational speeds is due to Ventos do Sul's use of newer turbine models. Designed by German engineers, these turbine use a direct drive system in the turbine head, getting rid of internal gears featured in previous models and simplifying the entire process.

Diagram snagged from Ventos do Sul's on-site learning center

Environmental Concerns
In previous wind turbine designs, a large concern for widespread use of wind power was the turbines' impact on bird flight paths. The turbines in Osório utilize longer blades with a much slower rotational speed, making the blades easier for birds to avoid. Additionally, the birds of the region tend to stay below 30m in elevation, 10-15 meters below the lowest point in the blade path. An environmental impact study concluded that between 2006 and 2014, the turbines at Osório were responsible for less than 0.5 bird collisions per turbine per year.
Another advantage to the newer turbine design is a significant noise reduction per turbine. These turbines were nearly silent -- we couldn't here them even when we were at the base of one of the towers. The lack of noise pollution allows local landowner to continue to use most of the land around the towers for regular farming operations. The wind farm at Osório was covered in livestock, rice paddies, and fishing ponds; only 3% of the land here was used for wind turbines.
During construction of the first turbines at Osório in 2006, Ventos do Sul performed a life-cycle assessment of the structures being constructed. This assessment included construction, 30 years of operation, and demolition. The researchers found that, when compared to conventional methods of energy production (i.e. fossil fuels), the wind farm actually has a positive carbon footprint, with the same contribution as taking 536,000 barrels of oil out of use per year. The company representative did not say whether this life-cycle assessment also included the embodied carbon of the steel or concrete used in the turbines.

97% of the land at the Osório Wind farm is used by local farmers for livestock grazing and rice farming.

Company Profile
Ventos do Sol is owned and operated by Enerfín, which is the renewable energy division of Elecnor, a Global leader in energy infrastructure concessions and construction. A concession company is one that makes money by owning and maintaining projects for a set length of time (20-30 years in Elecnor's case), and then reaping the benefits once the contract is completed. Enerf[i]n controls a global capacity of 2315 MW in wind generation, and has sites in Spain, Brazil, and the United States [and one more... look this up]. This amounts to approximated $500 million (US) in operational wind farms.
Moving forward, Ventos do Sul plans to expand their capacity, with 188 MW worth of turbine's to be installed in the coming years. As far as constructability is concerned, Ventos do Sul was able to build 75 turbines in the first 15 months of operation (approximately 1 turbine per week). After they gained some experience, Ventos do Sul was able to increase that efficiency to almost 3 turbines per week during their last major construction phase, in 2014.

The annual capacity maintained by Ventos do Sul is equivalent to removing 160 thousand cars from the road.

July 28
Tractebel Energia visit

Today was the first real day of our trip. Dina handed us off to Roderigo, another ISA representative, and sent us on our way, leaving the hotel by 9:30 this morning. After driving for about three hours (mais ou menos, I felt asleep and didn't really look at the clock) our bus arrived in Capivari de Baixo, home to the Jorge Lacerda Thermoelectric Complex, a power station managed by Tractebel Energia, a Brazilian firm under the global energy company GDF Suez. Prior to eating lunch, we were given a short tour of Capivari de Baixo's environmental park. This area was once a dump-site for charcoal, ash, and other waste kicked out by burning fossil fuels. Tractebel paid for the rehabilitation of the site, cleaning the soil and planting almost 35,000 trees. This 50-acre park contains 3.5 km of walking trails, a 380 seat theatre, a large playground for children, and a classroom, all free for the community of Capivari de Baixo. Some of the history of the power plant is preserved in this park, as old plant components, made obsolete when Brazil standardized its electrical grid to operate at 60 Hz, are displayed at the park's entrance.

Before we went into the thermoelectric complex itself, we were given a tour of the site's research and development facility, where engineers from Tractebel partner with researchers from the Federal University of Santa Catarina to study sustainable energy technologies. This facility consists of a 3 MW capacity solar power plant and a 2.1 MW capacity wind turbine. This R&D venture has been in operation since 2013 and features 3 types of photovoltaic setups: 2 thin-film technologies and 1 crystalline silicon cell rig. Each type of photovoltaic cell has a capacity of 1 MW, however this capacity is really only reached at midday in the summer. The goal of this project is to determine which technology makes the most sense, from an economic and a power capacity viewpoint, for Tractebel Energia to invest in for the future. The engineers told us that so far the crystalline silicon technology is producing more power year round, but at a higher cost than either thin-film set-up. Moving forward, Tractebel plans to install a large photovoltaic based power plant in Northern Brazil, much closer to the equator and therefore exposed to significantly more solar radiance for the entire year.

Tractebel Energia's solar and wind power R&D field

A few things of note about Tractebel's solar power plant... The most efficient angle for a panel table to be incline is the angle of latitude for that area. For Tractebel, this angle is 28° , however this angle was reduced to 20° so that the shadow of one table won't interfere with the bottom of the table behind it. Secondly there are no batteries or any energy storage capacity at the site, so it can only contribute power to the grid when the weather is cooperating. Finally, the station manager, Fabian, said that by the summer, they will buy 2 sheep to keep the grass cut.

Fora do Complexo Termelétrico Jorge Lacerda

The final part of our tour took us to the control room for 2 of the coal-fired generators on the premise (there are 7 in total). The plants opened in 1979, and although the instruments and measurement devices have evolved over time, the basic crew remained the same: 6 workers to run a power plant -- 2 to read the panels, 2 to make split second decisions, and 2 workers to leave the room to investigate on-site issues. The control panel operator, Vilmar, spoke English well and explained the purpose of the instruments. He explained to us that a good deal of information about the boiler can be obtained using a microphone inside the tower. A working generator will sound a certain way, whereas a damaged boiler will emit a different sound. The microphone picks this up and lets the control room know that something is wrong so they can shut down the process for maintenance before any real damage can be done. Vilmar also confessed to us that one of his dreams was to talk about his job in English and was very enthusiastic to answer all of our questions. He even gave each of us a copy of his magazine "Bons e Novos" (Things good and new).

Last night we ate dinner in Florianópolis with Dina (pronounced like "Gina"), one of our ISA contacts. We went to a local Italian restaurant and tried a Brazilian take on Italian food. The custom at this restaurant (and many other places throughout Brazil, Dina tells us) is to order one entré for two people, and then split it. Dr. Abad and I split an order of Fettuccine Bolognese. After spending the last 2 days eating airport snacks and airline dinners, this dish was amazing. We did add a little Brazilian flair to the meal though, as Dina ordered an appetizer of polentas. These little biscuits are made from fried condensed cream. One of the classmates, Liz, told us that we have these in America, however they are made with cornmeal, not thickened cream. I wasn't a huge fan of the polentas (they were a bit too oily), but most everyone else at the table seemed to like them.

One thing too note about the dinner is that we ordered far too much food. This goes unnoticed in the United States, but the Brazilian culture advocates only ordering what you need, so as not too waste food. This prompted Dina to ask for the leftovers to be packaged up, with the intention of giving the leftovers to some of the people living on the streets.

Polentas [image via gwiv.com]

July 27, 2015
Here... We... Go...

I've been in airports for the past 24 hours, so this first post is going to be a couple different reactions all in one go.

Part 1... July 26
For the past two weeks, a significant percentage of conversations with family and friends have started with them asking me, "Are you excited?" or "Are you pumped?" and on one occasion, "Are you FREAKING OUT YET!?!?"

It didn't feel real to me until I went to sleep last night. So despite my previous responses over the last week or two, yes I'm excited, pumped, maybe even freaking out. Its a good thing.

I fly from Pittsburgh to Dallas, then overnight to São Paulo and then finally touch down in Florianópolis around 3:15 tomorrow afternoon.

I haven't even left Pittsburgh yet and this trip is already going great. On the way to my gate I stopped at a coffee cart for a bottle of water and maybe an iced coffee. As I set the bottle of water on the table, the barista asked me, "Do you like biscotti? What about free biscotti?" My answer to both questions was yes, but I only answered the latter. I was about to order an iced coffee on top of that, when the second barista asked, "Any chance you'd also want a free iced coffee? I messed up the last guy's order and had to redo it."

A medium iced coffee, biscotti, and a bottle of water for $2. I haven't even left Pittsburgh yet and I'm already having a solid trip.

Part 2... the plot thickens.

I'm writing this section from the São Paulo airport, waiting for the flight to Florianópolis. "Você fala Inglês" has been my catchphrase so far ("Do you speak English?"). The answers have been hit or miss -- a good deal of the Brazilians I've talked to speak English "so-so." To be fair, that is wayyy better than my Portuguese. I'll post more later, once we actually get out of the airports and into Brazil. Hopefully there will be pictures on the posts to come.