Brazil 2012: Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul

Monday, July 2:  We arrived to Santa Maria around 9:00 pm.  Travel went well, we are all just tired from a "sitting up" night of sleep....well, sort of sleep.

Tuesday, July 3:  Classes begin! 
There are 5 American and 5 Brazilian students (6 girls/4 guys) participating at this point (more will join when we get to Vitoria).  Yesterday Conrad taught, today Paiva is teaching.  We just had our mid-morning break which lasted 40 minutes...it will be lunch-time shortly!!!  :-)   The schedule is very loosely followed time-wise....usually things run 15-30 minutes later than the planned schedule.

Class ended at 3:00 so we could go to the weather monitoring site here on the UFSM campus.   Some of the instruments there have been in use since 1912.....so this month marks 100 years of data collection for the older instruments.  The professor giving the tour said they have been repaired many times and re-painted many, many, many times!!  They looked in remarkably good shape for the most part.   After the visit to the weather monitoring station Paiva took us on a brief tour of the campus.  UFSM is about the same size as VT (25,000 students) but the campus is very different -- fewer and smaller buildings.

For supper we went to Augusto's. We ordered a traditional chicken dish "Galeto" -- chicken are slaughtered at a young age (32 days) so the meat is incredibly tender. The marinate is a vinegar based BBQ sauce and is served on a small grill with coals in the bottom to keep it warm as you eat. It is served with fresh green salad and polenta. Very delicious!!

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Wednesday, July 4:  Class in the morning, and lab in the afternoon with Professor João Batista Dias de Paiva. 

Thursday, July 5:  Today we were scheduled to take a field trip to see some areas of interest and UFSM research sites.  The forecast was for rain and 60 degrees....but the UFSM bus showed up at the hotel this am at 8:00 and away we went!   We visited Mata, an area where there is a lot of petrified wood.  We stopped first at the museum and then went to a field where large pieces were strewn around -- impressive. 

From there we headed to a waterfall....and that's when the adventure began.  We missed the road to the cascades so the bus driver was going to turn around.  By then we were way out in the country on

narrow, dirt roads.  The bus wheel got off the edge of the road and suddenly we were stuck....really stuck.  All the guys jumped out and started working on getting us out, but everything they tried just ended up making us slip further off the road into the mud.  Long story short -- Paiva and another man went to find neighboring farmers to get help and each eventually came back with a farmer on a tractor.  We discovered that we had just missed the falls so while the tractors pulled the bus back to the road the rest of us walked to the falls in the light drizzle.  The pictures will tell the story --  the guys were a muddy mess!!!!

The falls were not spectacular, but just getting there became the primary objective!!!   There was a swinging bridge over the river which was a new experience for most of the students so that became the main event.... 

We finally stopped for lunch at 2:00 -- everyone was very ready for some hot food!! After lunch we made two more stops at research sites and called it a day. 

Friday, July 6:  Long day in the classroom -- didn't end until 7:30 pm!!!  Students went to Sarah's apartment for a BBQ after class.

Saturday, July 7:  Flow and sediment monitoring field (river) work with João Batista Dias de Paiva.  The students spent 4-5 hours in boats out on the river yesterday doing various tests/measurements.  The support crew (the rest of us) stood on the river bank and watched!  We were thankful for sunshine and no rain -- still a bit chilly, though!!

 

After the work was done, we were treated to a wonderful BBQ at Professor Jussara's house.  Brazilian BBQ is amazing.  Large amouts of meat are grilled -- usually a type of sausage, chicken and beef.  In addition there was potato salad, green salad, casava, beets, and bread.  As the meat is grilled it is cut it into chunks and brought around and served from cutting boards.  There was a steady steam of meat throughout the evening, and it was superb.  A delightful, and delicious end to the day!

Sunday, July 8:  Day of sightseeing.  On our way out of town we drove through Belgium Village, a historic section of town that is being restored.  These homes were built for the men who worked at building the railroad to Santa Maria in the very early 1900's.   Professor João Batista Dias de Paiva asked one owner if we could see the inside, and we were promptly welcomed in!! 

Our next stop was at a lookout over the city of Santa Maria.

For lunch we went to a popular Italian restaurant -- "Val de Buia" -- it was packed!!  The meal consisted of 6 courses:  1) appetizer of sausages, cheese, and bread/crackers, 2) tortellini soup, 3) rice, salad, polenta, and grilled chicken, 4) three selections of pasta:  pumpkin stuffed ravioli, three cheese pasta, and chicken lasagna, 5) choice of two desserts: ambrozia, (a rich custard) or Sagu de Vinho, made from tapioca pearls, juice, and wine, 6) a tray of rich candies.  There were unlimited portions of each course...and of course the usual strong, sweet, coffee at the end of the meal.

The rest of the afternoon we drove around the countryside, stopping at various points of interest.

Monday, July 9:  Our last day in Santa Maria!  We had a light day of class with a long break for lunch -- the UFSM Engineering department held a Farewell BBQ for Sarah, our VT student who has been attending UFSM this past semester.   It is obvious that Sarah was warmly received and accepted by both the students and professors. 

 

And finally, our last evening in Santa Maria with our special friends from UFSM -- sharing a delicious meal of pizza baked in a wood-fire oven at Frie Panca.

 (From left to right: Adam, Meghan, Pamina, Carolina, Aaron, Sarah, Janie, Conrad, Jussara Cruz, Eloisa Paiva, Geraldo Silveira, and João Batista Paiva)

Heading to Foz de Iguazu in the morning!!!