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Today was our first full day in Sao Paulo. After getting a great night's sleep, we started off with a fantastic breakfast that consisted with an assortment of fruit, eggs, bacon, waffles, and juices. The yogurt was in a liquid form that you drink which was weird but it was still very good. 

We began with an hour drive of the city on the way to the zoo. We drove through some areas with shops and lots of people (everything was closed because it was Sunday and everyone closes up shop on Sunday) but we had seen some of the shops on the walk yesterday so we knew what they looked like. A lot of the houses that we drove by were gated and very close together. Most of them had little shops with garage doors on their properties which was very different from anything I've seen before. One of the things that stuck me was the streets and how confusing they were. The streets are so crazy steep and drivers were very erratic but we got there in one piece! The Zoologico de Sao Paulo was one of the coolest places that I've ever been in my life. The place was so lush and green and had a huge lake with little islands and monkeys on them! Adrian and Patty took us around the zoo and showed us the highlights of Brazil's animals. They included various types of alligators, macaws, wild cats, as well as many others. My favorite was seeing an ocelot that reminded me of the tv show Archer. The other thing that struck me as odd was how there were domestic cats walking around the exhibits (one of which was in the seal pen) but we found out that they were feral cats that lived there to take care of pests. 

We then went to the China Town area and that was nuts! There were so many people and there was something interesting to look at in every direction. The market was full of people getting lunch and shopping around the various tents. For lunch most of us got meat sticks (strip steak) called pichana while a few others tried some of the . Ordering was slightly overwhelming but once we got rescued by Patty we got our food quickly. The language barrier is extremely difficult but we try to work around it using simple phrases that we do know and a lot of pointing at stuff that we want. Amanda and I broke off and looked at some of the tents that were there. Venders had everything imaginable: jewelry, leather goods, clothing, and home decor. One of the things that I bought was a necklace that Patty showed us. It was my name written on a single grain of rice and set in a tiny vial filled with water. It was so cute! I'm hoping that I see some more leather goods later in the trip to see if I can find a pair of boots. The shopping continued on Avenue Paulista where there were more venders and antique sellers. There was music and the boys were dancing the zumba! Once it started to rain we got back on the bus and headed back to the hotel. Dr. Skaar took a few of us to the super market so we could get snacks and a few bottles of water. I got a lemon lime tart that tasted really good. Once back to the hotel again a few of us that decided that night life wasn't for us decided to go swimming and chatted around in the lounge.

And that was the day! I really look forward to tomorrow!  

We are currently in the town of Itu, Brazil experiencing the wonderful things that they have been doing with different horse breeds, one of them being the quarter horse. To get this experience we went and stopped at the Haras Raphaela ranch to talk to them about the things that work for them regarding the care and breeding of these horses as well as the barrel racing aspect in which their horses compete in. The ranch is about 160 acres and only about 100 of that is used for horse needs. The manager of the barn informed us that they use a large quantity of mares in the embryo transfer side of things, because by using another horse to raise the young it leaves the top level competitors for barrel racing to continue doing just that. He went on to speak to us about the different things they do for the horses like having an acupuncturist to come around once a month to see if any of the horses need it, as well as at least 3 vets coming and going constantly, with even an agronomist coming once a month to ensure that the quality of pasture stays at its peak condition.  After having toured the grounds and seeing the spectacular facilities we even got the opportunity to watch trainers from different areas around Brazil work horses on barrels and see the technique and thought they put into their training. Overall we had the time of our lives and can't wait to see what is next in store!

Dr. Gobaso showed us the school yard and teaching facilities after our morning breakfast. When comparing the buildings to our own, there are several pros and cons to each to take into account. What I believe to be essentially important to their school system is the rustic architectural structure of the buildings, and the food at their cafetaria that is grown right there on the farms. What I like about our classes over theirs is how clean and organized our buildings are because it appears that our educational system is more structured, even with its flaws. On a side note, we all had a great laugh feeding the carp in the pond in front of the school. Afterwards, we took a bus ride to the research barns where we had the privilege of witnessing banana fields, nelore cross cattle, etc. It was great to see that many Brazilian farmers also favor using Alis and Massey tractors to my ammusement. The Brazilian students gave us a quick guided tour of the facilities after we got off the bus, and presented their research findings. It was quite difficult trying to get over the language barrier when asking them questions over their findings, but the overall experience proved to be beneficial in learning their interests. We than rode the bus to a river full of restaurants where we had a fish buffet. The scenery was something I could get use to as the shops and riverbed looked like a scene from the movies. The food was very much like an American buffet, in the sense that there was a couple great dishes with the rest being filler or questionable at best. Following the buffet we said our good byes and took an airplane ride to Gioania. The bus ride to the resort from the airport was long with one sketchy stop along the way, but it was well worth the wait. The resort had many amenities such as two meals a day, swim up bars, and zip lining. Pictures and words alone are not enough to describe the enormity and excitement of this place. The resort was in a gated community of sorts and gave a sense of safety, until you walked in town a couple blocks. Personally, I liked this about the resort because you could escape during the night life to witness tents of the food vendors. Lastly, the waterpark that was included was overall impressive, but it was not as good as the Wisconsin Dells. The water park here had several slides, but it felt like it was going for more of a relax on the beach feel. What shined the most was the hot springs at night with rocks beneth our feet. We all spent most of the night here, and will likely do so tomorrow. 

Jared G.

Yesterday we had another relaxing day at Rio Quente resorts. There were slides we could go on and very relaxing hot springs that we could go swim in. We were able to meet Pedro and his family at the resort, Pedro works as a consultant for Cargill. Pedro is going to be our tour guide as we go to Goies and visit some of the cattle stops. Today we visited one of the largest cattle feedlots in Brazil. They usually raise around 35,000 bulls a year that they take to harvest. Brazil's cattle industry is very different from ours and they usually do not casterate their males because they can not put implants in their beef cattle. So the cattle producers like the males to have higher levels of testosterone so they gain faster. It typically takes a market animal around 2 1/2  -  3 years to get to market weight. 

This morning, we went to a beef packing plant called JBS. I have very little beef background and had never been to a meat packing plant before. When we got there, we had a fantastic breakfast while we learned a little bit about the plant. After that, we put on some marshmallow suits that were white and clean. We got some boots and a helmet and a very thick sweatshirt that I (and several others) wished we could bring home with us because they would be perfect for Iowa winters. After we all got dressed and took a group picture, we started the tour of the plant itself.

We started with the end of the process and ended at the beginning with the newly slaughtered cattle and then the holding pens in order to keep from spreading microbes from the dirtier parts to the cleaner parts. We started by looking at boxes containing the meat-the final product being shipped out. Then we moved on to where they loaded the boxes and then where they vacuum packed the meat. After that, we saw the carcasses in the refrigerators hanging on hooks like we do in the meat lab. However, because these carcasses were primarily from Nelore cattle, they were much larger than the ones we normally see in Iowa. We then watched the workers cutting the meat from the bones and learned that the bones and fat and any other waste products were ground up and used in animal feed. Moving on from there, we began to see slightly more bloody parts of the animals such as skinned heads moving past us on hooks. We then started to see whole carcasses being skinned and having some of the parts removed such as the gastrointestinal tract and hooves. Then we went to the room where the newly slaughtered cattle were hung on hooks and then drained of blood. We then washed off our boots again and went outside to the holding pens. Those are different that in the US because they are required to feed the animals before slaughter instead of fasting them.

Personally, this was not my favorite stop of the trip. I had previously seen American feedlots and cow/calf operations, as well as those in Brazil. I had also seen the carcasses hanging in the meat lab for classes, so that doesn't bother me. However, the part that began to get to me was the newly slaughtered cattle because I had never seen an unskinned dead bull before. That, combined with the sheer volume of blood that the animals contain, made me feel a little odd.

While I appreciate the value of seeing the slaughterhouse and understanding how it works, I do not feel that I would be able to do that job for my entire life. I did find it very interesting that there were a lot of workers compared to the machines that we use in the United States. The entire trip, in my opinion, was very valuable in learning how the horse and beef industries are similar and different than we are used to in the US, and I am glad I had the experience.