A Weekend in Sao Paulo

We left Piracicaba early Friday morning for Food Town/ JBS in Osasco/SP. It's primary function is producing the food for McDonalds. Three companies actually joined at one location to work together. There is a bread factory, meat factory and Martin Brower for logistics. JBS has 200,000 employees world wide and 140 plants. The factory we toured produced 3610 tons of meat a month. They also handled the various requirements of the middle eastern countries and Japan. I think I remember them saying that they have 80 different recipes they are trying to improve or develop new. We visited the meat factory and saw hamburgers being made. They are 70% lean meat and 30% frozen trimmings. We saw the process of shaping and freezing the meat. Quite interesting.

We ate lunch in a new mall in Sao Paulo and had a very short time to look at some of the stores. We left the mall and went to Rabobank which is in Sao Paulo. This bank specifically focuses on serving the farmer. I believe it is the largest bank in the world that focuses on the farmer. It was interesting to see the services they provide across the country. They gave us several figures on production, loans, financial improvements.

From there we checked into the hotel and got ready for an evening of learning the Samba and Brazil's National celebration of Carnival. We were running late and supper took longer than expected so we arrived late. Normally we arrive at one of Sao Paulo's top dance teams location. We see the costumes from previous years, learn about what Carnival is in Brazil, the theme for the current year and how to dance the samba. Then we go out into the town and dance through the streets back in a parade to the home location with the whole team. The energy and family committment to Carnival is amazing. When we arrived the dance team was already out in the community so we had to find them. We watched them parade by us and then joined them at the end of the parade. They taught us along the way but it wasn't until we arrived back to the home location where we actually learned the samba. The students still had a grand time joining the parade. Once we got back to their home location we saw the costumes, the band continued playing and a few Brazilians taught the students the samba. Then a few more Brazilians joined us and the whole group was dancing the samba and enjoying the experience. It was a great evening. Once we arrived back at the hotel I took my pictures off the camera and put them on my computer. It was late so I intended to work on the blog in the morning. When I woke the hard drive on my computer had crashed and we have not been able to pull anything off my computer. Hopefully we we get home our OSU tech person will be able to recover the information on the computer and the pictures from Friday. I will post them then if we are lucky.

Saturday morning we left about 8:30 and headed to the zoo. Many of the students were really looking forward to the visit. The animals are closer to you then in the United States and there are different species. You can see a variety of animals below.

From there we ate lunch at a different mall and some of the students made a few purchases. We then went to Pinacoteca which is a famous art museum in Sao Paulo. The building was very old and being renovated. It looked like it had a garden in the middle originally but had since been covered. We had a guide walk us through some of the rooms so the students could see some of the important art representing Brazil.

Then we went to a soccer game. It was the beginning of the series of games that would determine who would represent Sao Paulo in the National playoffs. The students got a good vision of soccer in Brazil. The stadium was old, concrete slab to sit on, heavy security of police on foot and police on horses and the people were rowdy just like at OSU. The view of Sao Paulo from both inside the stadium and outside of the stadium was gorgeous.

Sunday morning was the Hippie Market. I always enjoy going. The students indicated both the buyers and sellers were very nice. You really see the culture and history of Brazil through the exhibits. It is the best place for students to buy gifts for family and friends. I always enjoy seeing what the students buy and how proud they are of their purchases.

Then to the big barbecue that Shirota has been touting since the students arrived. It is an upper end barbecue where one standard cost is paid and you can eat as much as you want. There is a salad bar but what it is known for is all the meat cuts served to you by waiters. There are something like 22 different cuts including beef, pork, lamb, beef, poultry, salmon, shrimp etc. We were there over two hours. You will have to ask the students who ate the most!!

Most everyone slept on the trip home. It seems nothing goes without a hitch and there are always unique things that happen even beyond my hard drive crashing. Ask the students about the unique things that happened.