Mato Grosso do Sul, Thursday and Friday (Part 1)

Mato Grosso do Sul (The thick forest). Two weekends ago, I ventured out of Sao Paulo. It was one of my first trips outside of the city in a long time. It had been a while since I had last traveled across the Sao Paulo border, but it was a good chance to escape the city air and light pollution for a bit. And escape it I certainly did. Mato Grosso do Sul is the bunt of a lot of jokes in Sao Paulo, being known as a hardly populated, back-water state. I went to the city of Tres Lagoas, a “large” city of 80,000 there. The trip was coordinated for the Americans who had stayed in Brazil an entire year, making the total 5 students in all.



While it was a good experience, I’m not going to lie… I missed Sao Paulo shortly after leaving… However the good thing about the state is that it is much warmer than Sao Paulo. The cold Sao Paulo winter (okay, 50s and 60s are cold for me...) is certainly not my idea of the Brazilian paradise.



To arrive at the next state over, I took a 9 hour overnight bus. I left Thursday night and arrived early Friday morning. Unfortunately there were a number of stops on the way so every two hours a large group was leaving and a new group of people was entering, making it impossible to sleep. Lights on, people yakking, it was not a pleasant night's sleep.



Friday morning I dined at the hotel and then my group headed out to the local hydraulic power plant. It was terribly. A six hour tour of the power plant and surrounding local projects left me exhausted and in a somewhat grumpy mood.



However, I did learn one interesting tidbit on the trip: In Brazil, during a major soccer game, the power plant has to have extra people watch the energy usage. While the game is playing, the energy usage is fine. However, during a commercial break, all of the people using the power from the plant leave their televisions on during the commercials and use the bathroom, pop popcorn, etc, draining all the energy stores! I thought that very amusing.



In the middle of the tour, we stopped for a much-needed lunch break. Here is the movie I took of us eating a traditional Brazilian lunch and listening to Brazilian music.



That night, we took a tour of the downtown of the small town of Tres Lagoas. Then the group headed out to a Churrasco. It was the best Churrasco in town and it was packed. A Churrasco is a Brazilian BBQ. We ate. And ate. And ate. There was beef and chicken and fish. There were beans and rice. There were salads and bread. And for dessert, there was baked ice cream. It was a meal meant for royalty. And it was delicious.



Following the dinner was the option to visit a dormitory to meet college students. However, after the long night of now sleep from before, I was suffering from a terrible cold and could not go out. I enjoyed a good night’s rest though.