We had seen a lot on our
trip to Brazil, from markets and beaches to power plants and factories. Overall
I gained an awareness of just how different this country was from home but also
how not all those differences were bad. Brazil may be behind us in lots of
everyday customs but it is definitely ahead in some important fields. The
culture there was a little slower than I was used to in the Northeast and that
I never got used to but I did take away some great experiences and reflections
with the people there and the place itself.
One of the first cultural experience I had was at the futbol game. We got to see SPFC play, and lose, and watch the fans' reactions. Even before we entered the stadium I could tell that these people were passionate about their team from the large tailgating community. While the scene was somewhat intimidating, I don't know if the heavy presence of SWAT made me feel more or less anxious.
Once inside the stadium
the sun was beating down relentlessly and audience chants were already started.
That's one thing you'll rarely see in the states, these chants went on for the
entire game. A man with a drum kept beating while other cheerleaders would
start or end calls. The universal gasps had by the whole stadium when a shot
just barely missed couldn't be ignored. Even as an outsider I really felt the
excitement of the game just by being there. I can't imagine the level of
electricity if the whole stadium was filled, that day maybe a third of the
capacity was in attendance. Once the home team was down by two goals a generous
lady in the crowd let us know that the fans were about to get angry and we should
leave as a group before anything happened. I'm not sure whether our fears were
justified or not but we left anyway, just enough time for me to buy a jersey
before heading back to the hostel.
Sao Paulo is home to
numerous museums and while we visited a decent amount I'm sure we didn't even
scratch the surface to what the city could offer. The first one was classical
Brazilian art in a building that was designed to be a school but became a
government building instead. From oil paintings of the beaches of Rio to
sculptures depicting the continuous class struggle and material excavation of
Brazil, I gained a sense that the people here knew where they came from and
were proud of it. We also went to an open-air, modernist museum depicting all
the cultures of Latin America. I don't normally identify with modern art but
much of what we saw was very eye opening. The traditional section that
displayed numerous aspects of latin culture was astounding. Traditional dress,
furniture, holidays and customs were all represented and one could see how
certain cultural aspects developed within each country.
Finally we visited a
futbol museum inside a local stadium. Much more of this museum was in English
and was identifiable. There was only a little representation of American soccer
teams there but it was eye-opening to read up on the history of Sao Paulo's
local teams; Sao Paulo Futbol Club, Palmerians and Corinthians. Our tour guide
and professor, Gustavo, was a die hard Corinthians fan and kept pushing us to
go to their games. Sadly we didn't get to but I'd had enough excitement at the
one we did attend. Some of us finished up at the museum early and decided to
kick a ball around out front. I'll never forget what Gustavo said to us on one
of our first days in Brazil, 'if you've got a ball around here, you'll have
people to kick it with.' This wasn't the only time that I had random kids or
adults run in and kick the ball around with us. Obviously I wasn't very good
compared to the locals but everyone always had a smile on their face when they
were forced to run after a poor kick on my part.
Our first site visit was
to the Tanquinho solar farm located outside the city of Campinas. Tanquinho is an experimental
power plant employing two types of solar panels and two types of mounting
systems, along with a series of windmills yet to be constructed. The two types
of panels used there are amorphous crystalline silicon and poly crystalline
silicon, the latter being the more efficient and expensive. Both types of
panels are employed in two ways: stationary mounted and tracking. The poly
crystalline tracking method is obviously the most efficient way to harness the
power of the sun due to the fact that the panel is constantly in direct sunlight,
not oblique light as in the stationary panels. Every five minutes the
panels are tuned by a few degrees to line them up with the suns rays. At night
and in high winds the panels go to their rest state, level to the ground, to
save energy and reduce strain. Brazil is closer to the equator than the US so
it receives more direct sunlight each year, making it a much better candidate
for solar generation. However, much of Brazil is rainforest which contributes
to a high moisture content in the air, creating clouds. The South West US is
actually ideal for solar since it has very low moisture content, thus less
clouds. Right now all of these panels at the Tanquinho site were constructed in
China, where silicon is abundant and the solar panel manufacturing industry is
booming. If you are looking to start a solar panel manufactury Brazil is a
great place to do so.
My
other favorite site visit was the Henry Borden Hydroelectric Plant. The
plant draws its power from a multitude of rivers high up in the mountains and
controls their drop through a series of large diameter pipes which ultimately
spin a series of large turbines. Using a property called electromagnetic
induction, electricity is generated and sent to the people
of Sao Paolo. The whole system was designed and impletmented in the early
1920's and is still in use today. The plant employs a specific, custom type of
turbine and jet design which utilized the high pressure water streams provided
by multiple pressure houses. An almost identical plant was built inside the
mountain after a failed attempt to bomb the main plant was executed by
revolutionaries in the 1950's. Henry Borden is one of a handful of
hydroelectric plants that generate nearly 80% of all electricity used in the
state of Sao Paulo. The US already employs a significant amount of
hydroelectric power at sites like the Hoover Dam and Niagara Falls. Seeing
these renewable energy sources utilized in Brazil makes me hopeful that the US
can cut its dependence on foreign oil and create a green energy industry.
Near the end of our trip
we took a bus to the colonial town of Paraty. Paraty was used to ship the gold
mined inland, and over the mountains, in Brazil back to Portugal and the rest
of Europe. Eventually a railroad and highway were established that created
trade routes directly to Sao Paulo and Rio de Janiero so the town had no
economic purpose and was thoroughly abandoned. Sometime after coffee became
Brazil’s number one export and the town was used again for shipping. Eventually
the state realized what a treasure they had in the preservation of Paraty and
now it relies mostly on tourism. The town has two parts, an old and new. The
old part of the town has been preserved due to strict regulations including no
motor vehicles, original paint and facades on all of its buildings and other
preservation efforts. We took a walking tour of the town and learned all sorts
of secrets; it was originally designed by the freemasons and was created in
such a way that when a very high tide occurs, one third of the streets are
flooded and effectively cleaned. On many buildings you can see strange symbols
which are actually some sort of freemason code; I’m still not sure what they
mean. The town has four different churches each with a rich history, one of
which was commissioned and built by a wealthy woman in the area, something
which, at the time, was very against societal norms. The next day we took a
boat tour around the area and stopped at four different beaches, a perfect
finish to our trip.
Overall my experience in
Brazil cannot be compared to anything else, it was completely unique and eye
opening. Being exposed to such a mixture of traditional culture and modern
engineering through our site visits offered a unique perspective to understand
this country which seems to be at a tipping point. I can see why the Brazilian
government wants to host the next Olympic Games and World Cup because it’s
their chance to show the world that they are a contender. Sadly, I find this
all to be smoke and mirrors. If Brazil could focus on providing effective
public transportation, medical care and housing rather than a handful of
stadiums which will be used for a few months, they would show the world that
they value their people more than they value the approval of FIFA. Brazil will
be on stage for the next few years and I’ve been lucky enough to see a side of
the story that you won’t see in the papers.
