LOW KEY

SMOOTH DAY
DATE: Friday, April 19, 2013
LOCATION: Cacador


Today started off very slow. We all piled into two cars and drove around the city for a moment, stopping at a huge tree in the heart of town. The region is known for it's huge trees and Karen decided to show you all how big they can get. (Please take into consideration that Karen, my sister from another mother.....and father, is not the biggest person in the world but to her credit this tree would take about six people to wrap around it).

After our hug the tree moment, we headed to Sul Brasil. The company was founded by six brothers. The president of the company epitomizes the definition of a true entrepreneur. A typical entrepreneur stays in only one market or one industry, but not this guy. He likes to dabble in unrelated businesses, such as education, electronics, and fabric manufacturing. During our tour of the facilities we were introduced to these several areas of the business. First we were shown the showroom of electronics that the company produces under the brand name Braox. The electronics ranged from laptop, to an integrated computer and desk combo, to a 3-D television. Afterwards, they unveiled to us their vision of the classroom of tomorrow. The room included a smartboard, an integrated computer and desk combo for every student, and a variety of  interactive control functions at the teachers disposal that would display on the students desktop computers that would enhance their learning experience. All of us were amazed at the technology in the classroom. Then Sul Brasil took it a step further by installing the same classroom technology into a van and using it as their mobile showroom. Even though the price tag on installing the classroom technology for 25 students and providing the computer training for the teacher is $75,000, the company has had success in installing this package in schools throughout Brazil.

Integrated computer and desk combo

Integrated computer and desk combo

Van used to house the mobile classroom showroom

Some of the technology used in the classroom of tomorrow

Inside the mobile classroom 

Once completing our tour of Sul Brasil and eating lunch, we headed to Clori's former employer, Epagri. (Clori is a member of the Rotary club in Cacador, he's a native Brazilian, and he received his P.H.D from North Carolina State University). Eoagri is a company that focuses on research and analysis of data on flora and fona from the surrounding region. They also work closely with the fruit industry giving them important analysis and reports on samples that our sent to their laboratories. We were even allowed to go back into deep Brazilian forest to see their fish reserve.

Considering that we were on a tight schedule we had to rush back to make our next site visit appointment at Coocima. Coocima is a cooperative of 35 members that does recycling of materials for the region.They have two main ways of getting the recycled materials; either by going door to door and picking the items up, or having the individual homeowners drop off the materials at their location. They recycle everything from plastic bottles, to glass, to oil, and I even saw an oven that they were about to strip down and recycle its parts. The members of the cooperative get paid once a month and receive roughly $300 to $400.

Upon leaving Coocima and relaxing for a portion of the afternoon, we all headed to Tony's pizza, which was actually owned by a guy named Lucciono. Thankfully the pizzeria was directly across the street from the hotel. Everyone truly enjoyed themselves and  we had no issues walking back to the hotel to call it a night once the evening was over.