Xanxere and Abelardo Luz

Xanxere literally means "snake's rattle," and I think all of us we under its influence for a good night's sleep.  We met at 10:30 to visit Vovo Marca farm, which produces many kinds of herbs and plants for tea production.  We picked and smelled melissa (minty), anise (licorice-y), cidreira (lemongrass), marjoram, and chamomile; fresh herbs smell so good! The farm was actually the Xanxere rotary club president's grandfather's farm, and for the last 10 years, it has been organic.

fresh picked anise

our Introduction to marjoram

view of Xanxere from the farm

marjoram flower

After the farm, we hopped back in the van and drove to Abelardo Luz, which is the capital of the soybean seed.  First, we drove to Quedas do Rio Chapeco, which is an area with gorgeous waterfalls.  We had a quick lunch at the hotel overlooking the falls, and then drove down for a closer look.  Despite the mosquitoes biting, it was perfect, and we explored a few different areas of the falls.

With the A.L. rotary group before lunch

we are famous in Brazil; Nora, being interviewed by both a radio station and newspaper

view of the falls

hiking through the falls

From there, we drove to C-Vale, which is a cooperative of soybean seeds (the "C" in the company name stands for cooperative, and "Vale" translates to "value" = Cooperative Value).  Here, they make and process the seeds for all of the soybean plantations, because this region produces incredibly high quality soybean seeds that can then be grown into product for fuel and feed elsewhere.  The company is 50 years old and operates in 4 Brazilian states and Paraguay.  C-Vale provides the farmers with equipment and support, and then the farmers bring the harvested seed for processing.  First, the seeds are cleaned by air, which helps filter out anything not a grain; the second cleaning separates the seed by size and removes irregular pieces.  From there, the product is sorted by size and packaged for sale.  Annually, they process 14,000 tons of soybean seed, or 14,000,000 kilos.

soybean cleaning silos

after cleaning

the storage room.  Soybeans are a natural insulator, so there's no additional cooling equipment needed

Although we won't make it to the beach at any point on this trip, we did go to Prainha, which means "little beach," next.  There are camping facilities, chalets for rental, a social space for movies, and picnic tables, and we learned it's very crowded in the summer.  Today however, we were the only people there, and it couldn't have been more wonderful or peaceful.  For those of us covered in bug bites (ahem... me?), the cool water felt magical and help relieve some of the itching.  Beautiful AND medicinal? Yes!

At tonight's club meeting,the Xanxere mayor declared today a special day for the intercambios (exchanges) and gave each of us a proclamation decreeing so. We feel incredibly honored and privileged to meet this community, and we will remember today always. Muito obrigada, Xanxere.

Xanxere's mayor

Nora and the mayor, with his proclamation