Day 4

Ironically, in the morning the shower had no cold water: all the water that came out of the shower was scalding hot and I couldn't stand under the stream. After breakfast (eggs, meat, cheese, sweet avocado juice, papaya juice) we drive to  the outskirts of Osório to visit a wind farm called Vientos do Sul, which is a wind farm in the Enerfín (wind energy) branch of Elecnor energy company. This visit was really enlightening because I didn't know much about wind turbines. It was cool to see the progression of increasing efficiency of turbines over the last few years and it made me excited to see how wind energy can help power the world in the future. I have seen wind turbines from a distance but never before have I seen so many in one place and been so close to one. Hearing the whooshing noise of the 80 meter diameter blades was fascinating. The area was incredible windy, so no wonder they picked this spot for a wind farm! We then went the wind farm's substation and got to see the control room. This was a stark contrast with the power plant because all the controls were digitized while the power plant controls were analog. Learning how each turbine adjusted itself for optimal wind exposure helped answer some questions about wind turbines that I had before. Enerfín has wind farms in Brazil, Spain, and Canada. Different considerations need to be taken into place based on location. For example, since it gets very cold in Canada, the turbine blades  need to generate heat so that they don't freeze up and destroy the whole turbine.

Day 3

The next morning we woke up, ate breakfast at the hotel and left to drive south in a very nice coach bus. After a 3 hour bus ride we ate at an all you can eat buffet, which is very common, for R$20. We then traveled to Tractebel Energia, the largest private energy company in Brazil which supplies 7% of energy to Brazil. The facility we visited was a thermometric (coal) power plant. We learned some interesting things about Brazil's energy industry, such that 83% is hydro electric and they want to move towards more thermal (coal, natural gas, etc) in order to have more energy security. We got a tour of the power plant including the control room. Is was nice to see schematics of the thermal process, exactly as I leaned in some courses at my university! There is an environmental park in the power plant "village" which we also explored. After our tour we drove 4 hours to a small town called Tramandaí. We had another "livre" dinner with a lot of fish and meat and rice then walked to  our hotel. Although pretty decent, it was freezing in the room and I had to put 2 additional large blankets on.

Day 2

The next morning I got up early, walked to the lake in the middle of Rio, and circumnavigated it. It was very large and took a long time. It was hot so in the middle of my walk I stopped for coconut water, drank from a straw from a coconut that the vendor cut with a hatchet. It was super refreshing. I then walked to the Rio botanical gardens, and explored a bit. Eventually  I got very tired so I went back to the hostel to charge up and wait for my airport transfer.  A guy in a regular car picked me up and we talked about his life and the situation in Brazil. I got on my flight and arrived in Florianopolis that evening. An ISA representative, Daniel, picked me up and took me to the hotel to drop off bags then we walked down the street to meet the rest of the group at a restaurant. After dinner a lot of us taxied to a bar in downtown and had caipirinhas and beer.

Day 1

On my way  to Rio from Charlotte, I slept most of the way. I Arrived in Rio and took taxi to my hostel and booked a tour. I Met Ketty, who is from France, and her friends and we walked along beautiful beach and eventually took the metro to meet her friends. We met at a cafe in Copacabana and had my first caipirinha. I then walked from Copacabana to Leblon where the hostel was and I got picked up for the tour. Our first stop was Christ the redeemer. The huge statue was very impressive and had a 360 degree view of the water and city. However, it was incredibly crowded. We then stopped in various places in the city including the famous mosaic steps, Santa Teresa neighborhood, and the spot where Carnival starts. At nightfall, we went to sugar loaf mountain. We took cable cars up the mountain and saw a gorgeous full moon. It was after sunset and saw the whole city lights and mountainous geography. I met two very nice Colombians, Carlos and Cynthia, who invited me back to their hostel for caipirinha night. I learned how to make them and took over the bartenders job by making them for everyone. We then went to a chill bar with other people in the hostel. After, we came back to hostel for more drinks then I took a taxi back to my hostel and went to bed.