Early checkout of the hotel (7:00 am) and a quick breakfast before boarding the bus for our first business visit of the day. We drove North for about 90 minutes and started to get into a more rural setting that seemed to support a large number of small industrial plants and warehouses. On the drive up I was amazed at the different types of trees, including a eucalyptus plantation and some massive pine trees that were just large spiky balls on the ends of branches, almost like a poodle with a bad haircut. The presentation at Husky Injection Molding was interesting, as the company has a Canadian connection and seems to be doing well in Brazil. We had a plant tour from one of the engineers, a German gentleman named Thomas who has been “in-country” for six years and has managed to marry a Brazilian girl.
On the drive back we stopped in a magical little town named Embu for a sightseeing and shopping excursion. The town was originally founded by Jesuits in the 1900’s like Sao Paulo. However unlike its larger sister city it has been left mostly untouched since then. The streets are quaint and lined with cobblestones, old churches and museums stand shoulder to shoulder and the town square still plays an integral role of a gathering place for the towns artisan residents. Embu is geared towards one thing, selling crafts. Wood carvings, handmade furniture, jewelry, weavings, you name it,…they’ve got it. We had lunch at an authentic German Biergarten where there were many other blond patrons,…bratwurst and sauerkraut were very good with a few cold beers to wash it down (20 Reals).
We drove back to Sao Paulo Airport, had a smooth check in and picked up a Brazil t-shirt for the kid. Must try to call home tonight if I can figure out the damn phone cards…Off to Rio de Janeiro
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Thoughts:
Got some great pictures today of dogs and kids in Embu
The main river/canal in Sao Paulo is being dredged and the banks are being covered with concrete and vegitation,..quite a big geotechnical project
The soil is very red in Sao Paulo
I saw real favelas (slums) today. They are very much like what I saw in Jamaica, however they are usually perched precariously on top of a hill or spilling down into the valley like running water.
The forests are very dense, green and tall. Eucalyptus and strange bally-pines dominate.
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