Day 13

This morning we woke up to say goodbye to everyone and headed to the airport. It is time to go back to my university for my senior year. I learned a lot on this short trip and got close with fifteen new friends whom I will visit when I return to Pittsburgh!

Day 12

Sadly, today was our last day in Brazil. After breakfast, we traveled to a cow farm that produced its own biogas that is used to power the farm. The cows defecate on to an automatic sweeper which sweeps the manure through some processes and eventfully gets deposited in an anaerobic digestor. This reactor produces the methane biogas which is burned as the fuel for the whole farm. This process is very sustainable the cow manure is essentially a renewable resource. After visiting the farm, we drove the Itaipu Dam, which is on the border of Paraguay and Brazil on the Parana River. The dam belongs 50% to Paraguay and 50% to Brazil because both countries but half of the resources to construct and maintain the dam. So, each country is entitles to 50% of the total power produced. Since Brazil's energy need is so much greater than Paraguay's, Paraguay sells its excess energy produced by the dam back to Brazil. This single dam provides 17% of Brazil's energy needs and 85% of Paraguay's needs. Itaipu's is listed as one of the seven modern wonders of the world, by the American Society of Civil Engineers. As the largest operating hydroelectric facility in terms of annual energy generation, I was in awe of its magnitude. We were lucky enough to get a tour of the inside of the dam and got to see many parts, including the moving shaft that turned the generating turbines.

Day 11

Today we went to the bird park and Iguaçu Falls! The bird park had hundreds of different species of birds from all over the country. Since Brazil is so large, it has many different ecosystems which contributes to the vast range of species. It was my first time seeing a toucan in real life so this was quite exciting for me. After lunch we got to pet a snake and hold a parrot on our arm. We left the bird park and walked right to the entrance to Iguacu falls. We took a bus to the first lookout point and saw the magnificent view of the falls. It was interesting to see the opposite side of the falls because that is where Argentina is and I was on the Argentinean side five years ago. It was nice to get a new vantage point. As we walked along the path, the views just got better and better. We saw full-arched rainbows that looked completely fake and we got soaking wet as we traversed a platform that brought us closer to the falls. The sound of thousands of liters per second falling over was like nothing you've experienced before. Iguacu falls is perhaps the best view I've seen in my entire life.

Day 10

The next morning we went to RENUKA  which is a sugar cane processing plant that produces raw sugar, ethanol, and power from steam. We had to wear hard hats and ear plugs while walking around the industrial site. We got to see trucks delivering the sugar cane plant, the washing of the crop, the grinders separating the juice from the pulp, boilers and evaporators that condense the molasses, yeast mixers for fermentation, centrifuges that separate the sugar crystals, and dryer that take out the moisture. We got to taste the raw sugar coming right out of the conveyor belt! This raw, unrefined sugar is then sent to refineries in India for refining then sold to companies such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Cadbury. The power created is from burning the waste dried sugar came pulp called  bagasse. This heats up water which produces highly pressured steam that generates energy from turbines. 18 MW are generated but the plant only uses 7 MW so they are looking into ways of selling the excess energy. We also got to see the operations rooms and the chemical laboratories where they test everything from the outgoing sugar to the waste water generated. We ate lunch in the company dining hall with the fellow workers then started our 7 hour bus journey to our hotel at Foz do Iguaçu.

Day 9

The next morning after breakfast we went to the University of Paraná. First we learned about the university and then learned how hydroelectric dams are first modeled on a 100:1 scale in large warehouses. A model of the terrain was created out of concrete and the correct water depth, flow, and velocity were replicated in order to see the effects of building the dam. This is the way they can get different scenarios, such as large storms, and measure their implications on the environment, society, and energy output. Results from these experiments are provided to the government who then gets to choose whether to take the advice. Something a little scary and interesting is that as each portion of the model gets approved, construction starts simultaneously. Although this saves an immense amount of time, if a portion of the model does not get approved, the project could be abandoned or need to be changed after it is built, which wastes vast amounts of time and money. After we explored the models for the dams (mostly the MonteBelo Dam) we went to the biofuel labs. We learned how biodiesel and biogas is obtained from microalgae cultures in a process with essentially no emissions. Hearing this was very exciting from an environmental perspective. However, we learned that not every biofuel lab is as sustainable. This particular lab had reached many of its goals but still had many more to accomplish. Ihor, our ISA staff member, said it was his 4th year taking groups there and he was seen the progression of the labs. After seeing the actual bioreactors in person, it made me want to learn more about bio fuels and microbiology. After we left the university, we got lunch in Curitiba for only R$11 then started our longest bus ride inland. The hotel we stayed at was in a very small town called Sao Pedro do Ivai. There wasn't much to do so we just hangout in one of our rooms, commenting how this was the most modest (to say the least) hotel we stayed at.

Day 8

We woke up and had wonderful breakfast (my favorite was pao do queijo, or cheese-stuffed bread) then start driving to Curitiba which took about 5 hours. After we got settled we walked to the mall to explore a little and eat dinner. In line for hamburgers, a Brazilian who went to high school in Canada overheard us struggling with the language barrier and helped us order. Since it was Sunday night, nothing was open in the city so we bought some beer and hung out and bonded in the hotel room.

Day 7

The next morning was overcast and raining, but we were in good spirits from a restful day yesterday. We drove to Santo Amaro to raft with Apuama Rafting. This was perhaps the most fun day we had on the trip. The bus dropped us off at the rafting center and we changed into wet suits since it was so cold. We then squished into an old VW van and drove to the river through the muddy dirt streets. Be got a safety debrief and were assigned 6 to a raft plus a guide. Our guide barely spoke English, except the commands needed. After getting used to paddling in unison with everyone else, we headed down river. We went over 4 meter waterfalls, raging rapids, and white water, all the time barely staying in the raft. Nobody on our raft  fell out but other rafts  had people fall out. The sites were amazing: foggy and rainy in the middle of the jungle. Joe had his waterproof GoPro set to take a photo every 30 seconds so hopefully he got some good shots. We stopped twice to jump off a rock into the river and also to take some photos by a waterfall on a beautiful hillside. Our guide was crazy and fun, having us lift our paddles and shout "lepo lepo!" which we have no idea what it means. After we ended our rafting adventure, we took the vans to our hotel. It was a hot springs resort called Aguas Mornas. Xin was my roommate tonight. After a hot shower to recover from the cold weather and rain, we had a wonderful buffet style lunch then decided to check out the hot springs and sauna. The hot springs were a bit of a disappointment: they were essentially like a lukewarm indoor pool, but that didn't bother us. It was nice to relax and swim. There were also two saunas: one dry heat and one wet/citronella, steamy sauna. Both were nice to be in but we alternated going into the sauna and going to the pool. Later that evening we had dinner which had live Brazilian music then we went to the game room to play pool, ping pong, dominoes, and Foosball.