Day 4 - Unico and the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange

The hotel is gorgeous and the fish ponds are a personal favorite. Ran was all over the coconut water at the breakfast buffet for its cleansing and health factors.




Sao Paulo is a city of extremes. We saw luxury car dealerships down the street from street vendors. $275,000 watches at the mall and beggers on the streets.



Before our meeting, Rob was interviewed by a local reporter about why we were there, a little about the program and what Canada has to offer in the bio-fuel field.

Unico is a company that deals with the ethanol production in Brazil by the manufacture and harvest of sugarcane. We were greeted with a wonderful presentation of the facts and figures of the company, the market and the future of ethanol based fuels both in Brazil and the world.




It was a eye opening experience to see the development and sufistication of the industry in Brazil. They have been developing biofuels with sugarcane for 30 years and now that they have it vertually perfected and the legislation to back them up, the world is now coming to them for the answers.

Flex-Fuel is a popular option in North America but at least 25% of all fuels in Brazil must be ethanol based. Some fuels are 100% bio fuel. Sugarcane is the most effective type of bio fuel which is why Brazil is leading the world in the industry.



We had lunch at the mall across the street and shopped till we dropped. Well some us. Brian got a couple of suits.

This clock above in the main court area is filled with green fluid and has a pertepual motion pendulum that keeps time by filling and draining the hour containers and then minute containers. It was pretty ingenius.

We took the tour bus across town to the financial district downtown to see the old and new Brazil stock exchange.

The old exchange is set up now as tourist spot until it will be taken down in July of this year. We watched a theatre style 3-D movie of the stock market and where it is going. Seemed like an odd place for a 3-D movie but it was well done and informative. They are a very suffisticated stock market and the largest in Latin America. It was interesting to have taken Corporate Finance last semester as the information shared during the presenation was certainly better understood. After we headed to the current market floor and watched the trading live it was fun to watch the hand signals and codes used to trade commodities.



We then headed to the old bank building which is the 2nd tallest in the city. We went out on the observation deck with only had a 5 ft wall between us and the ground, so with the wind it was a little intense but worth it for the view!




After leaving the financial district and going back to the hotel, the group relaxed, shopped, refreshed and whatever else until dinner.




Most of the group headed to a small pub and restaurant, The Ritz and had a great meal and a few drinks before hitting the sack for another great adventure!

Day 3 - Iguaçu Falls and Itaipu Dam

That was quite the day! After so much travel, many of the group had no trouble sleeping last night and the wake up call at 6:30am (remember we’re now 3 hours ahead of home time) seemed very early.

The breakfast buffet was excellent and Jzinge especially enjoyed the mangos. The bus arrived with Arlette, our guide, and we were off to our first adventure.

It was interesting to learn that at the resort we were only a few minutes drive form Paraguay and Argentina. Too bad our schedule didn’t allow us the time to go explore some more countries.

We arrived at Iguaçu National Park, which we learned is designated as a World Heritage Site and we soon found out why.

After we were through the gates, we headed down the trail on the Brazil side of the canyon and took lots of pictures of the Argentina side of falls. We saw a Toucan bird, the circling vultures over the falls and canyon and the Coati Mundi,


which similar to racoons but we were not allowed to feed them. This one was eating something that fell from the fruit tree above us.




The view was spectacular at the base of the falls (click the word for way better pictures) and the mist coming the water was cool as the sun was getting hot and we had been walking for half and hour. When the falls are more intense (they are currently about a 10th of the volume due to the fall season) the mist is almost a torrent and visitors get drenched from head to toe.

The elevator was good for an even better view of the area. It also revealed spiders under the walkway at the top that were almost as big as my hand but I couldn’t get a decent picture.
Although Rick pointed out the army of ants that had overtaken a green Praying Mantes for supper that night!




As we waited for lunch we also saw two lizards, lots of butterflies and a large school of fish that went crazy when food was thrown in the water from the balcony.

Lunch was great with a buffet and local fish dishes and most of us tried some Brazilian soft drink called Guarana. It would be like Schweppes Ginger-ale with a light cherry flavour.

The bus ride to Itaipu hydro-electric dam was filled with sleeping, worn out students and sorry I didn’t get a shot of it as I was one of the ones that had crashed in the very comfy seats!

The security was tight as it is the largest hydro-electric dam in the world and supplies 100% of the electricity for Paraguay and 75% for the electricity for Brazil.





The tour started with a video of the history and facts about the dam which I’m sure was great but the whole thing was in Portuguese so we looked at the pictures and moved on.
We learned that the dam is jointly owned by both Brazil and Paraguay as the border of the countries passes directly through the middle of the dam. It is shared by costs, employees, both generation and maintenance. Hopefully the two counties stay positive with each other or that arrangement may turn sour. The size of the two countries is vastly different as Brazil has 190 million people and Paraguay has 6 million, so Paraguay sells 90% of its power back to Brazil to help subsidize its costs.

The rocks used for the wall on the Brazil side to support the dam were all quarried from the river to make it big enough. The lake created by the dam is 175 feet deep and holds enough water to provide each person on earth with a 6000 litre drink!



The building at the base of the dam looks kinda small but is five stories tall! The spill gates are usually opened a few times a year when the lake level gets too high but limited rain has prevented them form it being used hardly at all recently. The water travels down the spillway at over 100 km/hour but they would not allow us to go down with inter tubes! I guess the reason was we didn’t bring our swimming trunks.




The building level of the dam showed the white outer casing of the turbines, which can funnel more water per second then the Iguaçu Falls total! The view up to the top of the dam is 75 meters and 150 meters down to the base of the original river bottom which did not show up well on the camera. The last time I felt so small and insignificant was when I lived in Northern California and stood in the Red Wood forest!

The next step was going deep into dam’s interior to see the main control rooms and the generators. The yellow line that Austin is straddling is the actual border between Brazil and Paraguay, although at this border they did not require our passports!

The elevators did not have floors for the buttons but feet from sea level instead. I think the engineers in the group appreciated that more then the rest of us.





Nothing is small in this place and the massive hallways are over 1 km long and hundreds of feet high.

They said that in 1997, after 30 years of paying, they finished paying off the interest of the loan and now are paying off the principle. That is projected to be paid off in year 2023. Wow, when you build the largest hydro power dam I guess a 50 year payment plan is normal!

We thanks our guides that did an excellent job of answering all of Ran’s questions (Ran is an engineer at SaskPower) and bid them farewell. The airport called and said the flight was overbooked so instead of eating out we went straight to the terminal for early check-in and ate at the airport. The food was good, many enjoyed some drinks and I was quite entertained watching the ant trail at my table.

Day 2 - Living in airports

The weather is humid but pleasant in Sao Paulo, approximately 25C. After flying past the downtown section to the runways it reminded us of LA or New York, the skyscrapers never end!

After clearing customs and checking into our 3^rd plane in 2 days the group had 4 hours to kill.

Tom Hanks plays in a movie called the Terminal in which he is forced to live an airline terminal for months. We are not there yet but after seeing everyone trying to brush their teeth and feel a little cleaner in the crowded airport washrooms, we could have used some tips from him I think!

Some of the group immediately tried some Brazilian coffee and quite enjoyed the experience, although don’t expect the “Mocha Grande” you’re used to in North America, these were only slightly larger than shooter glasses!

Most of the group finally made their way to a small restaurant and pub for a small lunch and some local beer. The waiter Andre was quite a character and a very good salesman. There were no drawn faces from the flight after an hour with him but maybe a few flushed cheeks from the cold beverages.

Our group definitely gets a lot of attention. I don’t know if it’s our ravishing good looks, our sheer mass of bodies moving into each ticket line and security check or our pale, white skin from a long and cold Saskatchewan winter, but whatever the reason, we give many people a chance to stare. It may be wise for the next year’s class, wherever they go, to get traffic controllers in the terminals to keep the people moving!

Before check-in to the plane we had a great conversation with some fellow travelers and had a very engaging conversation with some people from Ireland living and working in San Francisco and Indiana. People are always amazed that a group of 25 business people completing an MBA are in Brazil to study business practices in another part of the world. But hey, after last semester, we all needed a chance to get out of the classroom!

The bus ride to the plane was good and bad. Bad because we were jammed into the buses like Sardines and I feel sorry for who ever had to stand next to me after 2 days

in the same suit and shirt. Good because it was only a few minutes to the other tarmac!

When the plane arrived it was very hot but we were just glad to be off the planes and almost to the hotel.

During the bus ride the to hotel our guide explained some of the details of the falls and the area.

After everyone was checked to their rooms and had a chance to relax, shower and go down to the pool or do some exploring around the resort, we met for a drink and a great buffet dinner.

Actually while this is being written I am watching the only English channel on TV which happens to be JAWS. That is a great movie to watch right before heading to Rio on the coast of the Atlantic!

Day 1 - Layover in Toronto, Ont

We are off on our adventure and arrived in Toronto safe and sound. Some of the group stayed at the airport to relax and await the next flight and a smaller group headed downtown to take in the sights.

We arrived at the CN Tower and took in the sights of Toronto. The glass floor was quite an experience and Caroline did get out on the glass but she didn’t look down!

After some great shots of the city on the observation deck we headed another few hundred up to the top of the tower for an even higher bird’s eye view!

Before dinner we walked through downtown and saw the old with the new buildings and struggled through the crowds. We saw the Royal York Hotel and the Union Station as well as a Canadian icon – The Hockey Hall of Fame.

Brookfield Management above, that owns many spectacular buildings, is owned by a Brazilian company we will be touring in the coming days, nice to see a Brazil connection.

Dinner was at the Rich Tree market place. What an experience. It’s a restaurant consisting of 10 different types of markets all at one location. You choose what you want to eat and how much, you get a card that tracks your bill and pay as you are leaving.

There was Thai Tom Yum soup, Sushi, BBQ, Mexican food, Belgian waffles, dessert bar and smoothies. Good food and good times.

Yonge street was the final destination to see the all the sites, very expensive cars and tones of people. It was warm night and perfect for a stroll. The picture below shows some sidewalk chalk!

Rob G, our fearless leader, was also downtown but at meetings all day and Ian spent the afternoon with friends. Unfortunately, Rory had to return to home for medical reasons.

We all met up for the final leg to Sao Paulo and boarding the plane, took off into the night air.

BRAZIL aqui vamos nós (here we come!)

The preparations for the trip of 2009 are underway and we're all getting excited to leave for the southern hemisphere! The 3rd EMBA class of the University of Regina is off to Brazil to study how business is done outside of North America.

This blog is going to document our travels, tours, adventures and lessons learned. All the students will provide content, photos and video so everyone can see a little of life in Brazil.

Please feel free to comment, ask questions, send messages and give good ideas for us adventurers.

I hope you will enjoy this blog and feel part of our travels!