Our team has been kept extremely busy. As you can imagine it takes time to sort and prepare my photos and then to add to the blog - so I am way behind, and probably won´t catch up until after I am home in Canada. This morning, I am in a beautiful hotel in the desert by the Fransisco River - so not able to access any photos. I decided to skip a few days - but give you a description of what we have been doing the last couple of days. I will fill in the other days, and add photos later. Also please forgive my spelling of names and places. Again I will fill in the details later when I have access to maps and brochures.
Wednesday was an extremely busy day. We first went to tour a large Fertalizer plant. I am sure it is similar to large facilities in Alberta. Their product is Urea.
Here is our group at the Petrobras facility. Our tour guide, Process Engineer Rose´Ronaldo De Oliverira, is on the left. Petrobras is a huge government corporation. They also produce fuel, and manage the off shore oil platforms. They also sponsor and maintain many of the parks in the City.
This is the final product - Urea. It is a dry, coarse, product, made up of pellets or balls of about 2mm (1/8 inch) size. We were able to walk up to it and hold it in our hands.
Then we toured the fourth oldest town in Brazil, and a Slave museum. A local African girl showed us through the museum in detail.
This street is original, dating back to the 1700´s.
Very interesting architecture and colours in the town! Narrow streets - some much narrower than this - Paulo´s small car just fit down one of the street - you would be out of luck in an SUV.
The museum was very interesting. It included the tools that the slaves worked with to till and plant the fields, as well as tourcher devices to control and punish the slaves 0- very crule.
The museum is in an original plantation house. Some of the furniture is original.
They also had statutes dressed as the African gods. They weren´t allowed to worship their original gods, so they fashioned them as catholic saints - and re-named them.
We weren´t allowed to take photo´s, but we talked our guide into this one.
Then we had a supprise!! We went to Big Paulo´s home town. When we arrived at the square there was a crowd of people lining the streets, and a Band getting ready to play.
We first toured a beautiful old church which dates to the 1700´s - it is a museum with lots of original artifacts from the first churches in Brazil. We met the Mayor and member of their local Rotary Club. Then they started a parade in our honour. They normally have this festival in June - but they did it just for us. The whole town was out. There was music from the band, and lots of people in costumes. Four giants, and many people dancing in the streets. At first only the people in costure, then everyone joined in dancing in the street and following the parade around town. The TV Station for Aracaju was out and seemed particularly interested in Sheila, Gwen, and Arlaine dancing with the locals! We followed the parade another Church/Museum which is famous for preparing traditional foods and sweets. We had a lunch with many many different kinds of foods and treats. They then presented each of us with a certificate of welcome from the mayor of the City, and also a basket of sweets and treats..
Thursday was a "free" day so we all did something different. My Paulo (host) took me to the beach. We swam in the waves and tried interesting foods at the beach bar. We happened to run in to Gwen and Ana on the beach and sat with them for a while.
We then went home for lunch (the big meal of the day) - and then Paulo took me on a tour of Aracaju. He took a "typical Tourist" photo of me by a statue downtown of a Parot and Caju - the symbols of the city - very large and colorful.
At 7:00 we went to Caroline and Weliton´s house. It is like a Holleywood Mansion! Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful! There is a large area inside the gate - probably used for vehicles, which had been converted to a dance floor. A local band was playing, and many people from Carols school were dressed up and doing local dances. They tried to teach us Canadians. Everyone had brought something to eat and drink, so there was lots of food and fellowship. Everyone had a wonderful time. Again - everyone here is so friendly. We have developed amazing friendships.
Yesterday (Saturday) we had an early start. We first stopped to fisit a fellow who is famous for his handling of falcons and other birds. He is the only person in the world to have successfully bred some of these birds. He trains many of them as show birds. We were able to touch and hold many of the birds. I have a photo of many of us with a Falcon or other bird on our shoulder. Even Arlene, who is terrified of birds was able to hold two at one time!!! I have photo´s to prove it!!
After a long drive, we arrived at a museum of archiology. We saw models of ancient civilization in this area - very interesting.
Next we toured a hydro power Dam - the fourth largest in Brazil. 140m high by 800m wide with 6 turbines. It generates power for the North East of Brazil.
We then went to a beautiful old town on the riverside where there was a beach - but even though we were hot - we did not have our swimsuits so we didnt swim. We had lunch on at a restraunt which was perched on top of a very high hill looking down over the town and river. Very good fish - but also french fries with bits of steak. Very good!!
Some us us walked down a very long set of steps to the town. They had a train station museum in the town with lots of crafts for sale.
At the end of the day, we arived at the Xingo Paroue Hotel. A beautiful hotel in the desert - a few miles away from the river. It had a beautful pool with COLD water - it felt wonderful. I actually had to get out of the pool because I was getting cold. It is the first time I was cold since arriving here. Very nice!!!
We had a late supper in the restraunt - again different food, but very good. They have a type of root that is similar to potato - but served in slices.
Today (Sunday) we are scheduled to go on a boat ride down the river through some canyons. It sounds wonderful - I will tell you all about it.
TCHAU (Chow)
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