It's cold!

No, not the weather. I am referring to...the refrigerator! Hurray. Thanks to a very skilled fridge technician, we once again have a working one. As much as I think that tunafish is delectable, I am pleased to have the comforts of modernity (even if 70s-style modernity) in addition to internet access.

Grandmother knew best...

Dear Grandma Bowman,
As one of the most devout readers of my blog that I am aware of, I wanted you to know that after the events of the last week, I have carefully re-thought my Christmas list for the upcoming year. This year, it may more closely resemble yours. While tunafish migh seem like an unusual item to put on a Christmas list to most, I will have you know that your wisdom when I asked, "Grandma, why would you put tunafish on your Christmas list?" will not soon be forgotten. To refresh your memory, you answered me so wisely: "welllllll, it is inexpensive, it's healthy and it tastes good, and you can always store it in your pantry! " I would now add to this list, dear Grandma, that you never know when your fridge might break down and you might be without one indefinitely! Please know that today, I thought of you as I walked to the grocery store and bought three cans of tunafish. If I had but had your foresight in the matter! I bet tunafish would even have made it through customs without the raising of an eyebrow. The picture below should bring back some fond memories of our time together during Christmas of 2006.
Love,
Your granddaughter, Maria

Garlic: The perfect complement.

Yesterday I sat down during the busier part of the lunch hour to eat my beets/squash/mango/rice/chicken next to a wiry-looking guy. A couple minutes into my meal, I notice that the guy is cutting something up ontop of his pile of food. I try and discreetly look over, but I guess not so discreetly. I see that he is slivering cloves of garlic on top of his food! He smiles and starts chattering: "Last week I was so sick...my throat was closed up so tightly I could barely swallow." He goes on about his week of garlic regimen and his theories about natural remedies. I nod and smile and ask a couple of questions and am thoroughly interested in his natural remedy involving slivering garlic onto his food.

He also gives me a delightfully unintentional compliment; part of the way through our exchange he says: "you know, when I sat down next to you, I thought you might be a foreigner." I smiled and said "oh, I am a foreigner!" He looks surprised and asks me where I'm from, and how long I've been here. Granted, we did only have a brief exchange in which I mostly expressed interest in his garlic-eating habits...

A geladeira pegou fogo.

That's right; today, the fridge at my house caught fire. But hey, who needs a fridge when you've got internet in your room? Basic needs--bah!

Ground truthing with Britaldo and Frank.

So, I mentioned in the previous post that we had an excellent last week of work here in Belo Horizonte—first, in me getting caught up on all of the things I have committed to working on with the signing of a contract with Woods Hole for the next year and a half, and then, in trying to model the rents of the cattle industry in the Brazilian Amazon. What I didn’t mention was that when Britaldo heard Frank was coming down, he immediately started planning a jaunt to his fazenda. Fortunately, Frank, Britaldo and I all seem to have the same idea of fun, which translates to “getting outside”. So, all week, we laughed about the ground-truthing we were going to do for our model by spending a weekend at Britaldo’s fazenda. I was psyched.

Frank and Britaldo sent a taxi for me at 8:30 on Saturday morning. I was feeling sort of spoiled, to be picked up by a taxi just to go meet them at Britaldo’s house, but it was a good thing they sent a taxi. Because, not only is Britaldo’s house 30 min. outside of B.H., it is also down 6 or 8 windy roads inside a complex of condominiums and there would have been absolutely no way for me to get there, even if I had been willing to take multiple busses. So, I was happy to be in the hands of Sergio, the taxi driver instead of wandering the hills of the suburbs of B.H., like a lost (black?) sheep.

Britaldo showed me around his house, and I met his darling 1.5 yr old daughter, Mariana, his son, Pedro Gabriel, and wife Nise (short for Denise). We all loaded into two vehicles. Along with, of course, the Brazilian staples: swimsuits, meat, beer, wine, and fruits and veggies.

After about 30 min., we turned onto dirt roads. We had to turn on the AC so as to not soil Britaldo’s car with clouds of dust. Frank navigated the somewhat treacherous little bridge crossings with ease, and before long we were there. A quick tour of the property included pool, rose garden, beautiful shrine to the virgin, pond, stable, barn (dairy), and the house and guesthouse. Lots of tiles, fruit trees, sunflowers for the birds, and the smells of the countryside. Hills and the sounds of running water.

We hit up some freshly-made cheese and some cachaça, aged 8 years in oak barrels on the farm. You know it is good when it is smooth enough to sip enjoyably, and it would be a sin to mix it. Lunch. Nap. The day only got better. Frank and Britaldo and I set out on our first ground-truthing expedition: a hike. First, we took some delightful pictures on the farm.

I told Frank we needed to jump in, for the full experience...


Frank and Britaldo had their picture taken with some grass, the choice food of cows. I don’t think it is Brachiaria brizantha, the grass that is getting seeded in our model at 15-20 kg of seed/ha, however. Frank measured the capacity of the feeding trough...quite scientifically.

Britaldo and I got in the waterfall on the way up the hill. Frank preferred to watch us holler as we jumped in the spring-fed water. We appointed him the picture taker.



We hiked up to a beautiful hill and Britaldo told us the histories of some of the properties, pointed out a mining site, and the only state forest in Minas Gerais (don’t worry, there are lots of other National Parks and forests, but this is the only “Flota”).

On the way down, we visited with the neighbor, and with his bull. I think Frank is telling us that there is only one bull in this picture. Either that, or he is having an Einstein-like moment as related to our cattle model. For your interest, we are assuming either a 1:20 or a 1:25 bull to cow ratio in our self-reproducing biological herd element of our model.

The neighbor left me wondering whether we weren’t barking up a very tall tree….”It’s all about the feeling of having your own land, of having a farm…” he said, “you can’t measure that in money.” “Maybe we’d better add a Utility model in there for our farm owner….” I said to Frank and Britaldo, as we were headed back to Britaldo’s land. Riiiiight.

Saturday night was great conversation, wine, and homemade pizza. We went to bed early, and I promised Britaldo I would get everybody up by seven. No need; everybody was up and rarin’ to go—we had breakfast and headed to the stable before 8. With some amusing pictures en route.


Frank and I had to ditch the hats, which were stylish, though too small to be comfortable. Britaldo had prepped me for my horse, which was the “mais manso” (the tamest, i.e. slowest). We swung into the saddle and took more pictures. This was to be a well-documented journey.

No more than 15 minutes into the ride, I was using my crop and digging my heels into my horse and still dragging behind. (Not mean enough?) Britaldo asked whether I wanted to switch with the horse caretaker who was along and so we did, both men telling me: “Now, hang on with your legs! Are you sure you want to do this?” The only person I felt bad for was the poor guy I switched with, who was much more apt with a crop than I. 10 minutes later when Britaldo caught up with me, he said “Ele anda bem com você…você sabe andar” (He does well with you..you know how to ride!). No need for me to belabor the point that women can ride horses, too.

We went up hills and down hills and through farms and along dirt roads, and into the only state forest in Minas Gerais for a short hike to a waterfall. We chatted with the park personnel, and took pictures.

There were many opportunities for races and flat-out runs…Frank led the last couple of miles into the homestretch at breakneck speed and even Cometa had trouble keeping up. We all wore big grins on our faces when we got off those horses. Two days later, I am still not walking quite straight.

We jumped in the pool and were then treated to an incredible Churrasco (cook out, BBQ) of chicken hearts, sausage, chicken and steak. Mmmmm. A last nap in a hammock and we packed up the cars and sat soaking up the stillness for a while longer before heading back into the city. I still couldn’t wipe the grin off my face, and Frank mentioned at least three times that we were going to convince Britaldo to take us on a three day ride the next time he came back down.

In summary: it is delightful when the people that you work with also enjoy having fun, and when you can all relax and do it together. It creates camaraderie and a sense of comfort that I might not otherwise feel. And when they generously share their fazendas and their families with me, I just smile and feel blessed. And thank them profusely.

it`s all about beef (my week, that is)

This week has been consumed with figuring out how to spatially model the profitability of ranching in the Brazilian Amazon. It has been a very intense and very fun week of brainstorming with Frank and with Britaldo, and has been a good way to get excited about finally beginning to bring this project to fruition. A visual from a power point slide this week should give you a laugh—I promise there was also useful information on this slide, not just a talking cow.

A casa das seis meninas

That's right. There are now six of us living in my house. Here are four of us, on Saturday, at the Casa de Baile by the Lagoa de Pampulha (two blocks from our house) for a free showing of Cidade de Deus (City of God).

And, the Casa de Baile after dark...

You'd think there were warm and fuzzy feelings all around...

If it weren't for the crowds of protestors and the import tax on Brazilian ethanol that seems to be excluded from consideration in cooperation agreements. Seems that the only thing he promised was to continue funneling research funding to alternative energy. Gee, how fortuitous for Brazil. More research money directed towards how to make ethanol more efficiently from....corn. Hmmmm. Way to combat global warming with global cooperation...by keeping prices high on alternative energy, George. Ok. For all my sarcasm, I do value the predicament of the Amer'can farmer, and am certainly concerned about deforestation in Brazil for soy, ethanol, etc. But man.

I can imagine him saying it right now, while warmly hugging Lula: "Isso não vai acontecer [reduzir a tarifa]". (It just isn't going to happen.) Sorry buddy.

São João del Rei

This weekend, my housemate Sara invited me to the town she grew up in: São João del Rei. Her grandfather turned 90 yesterday, and so a lot of her extended family was in town.
One of the interesting things about the state of Minas Gerais, Brasil (which literally means "general mines"), is that it has a great deal of history associated with the discovery of gold and other precious stones and metals. Similarly, because this gold was pretty much going to Portugal, a great deal of the wealth was preserved in the many Catholic churches and in the colonial architecture of the mining towns of the highlands of Minas Gerais.

Igreja de São Francisco

There is a historic steam-powered train that runs between São João and nearby Tiradentes..if I were to have had another day, I would have been psyched about this. As it was, we went into the train station to check it out, and I was amused at its orgins! Imagine shipping a steam engine to the highlands of Brazil from Philadelphia in 1893 and the ruckus it must have caused upon its arrival.

My housemate, Sara, in front of...another church.

It was nice to be in a quiet town out of the city for the weekend...where people hang out in parks on Sunday and sit on their stoops to watch the people go by. It was also wonderful to get to meet all of Sara's family...grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, Ringo the dog, and Pepita the parakeet. Homemade mineiro food is awesome, and Brazilians love to lay around and watch soccer and take naps. There was an eclipse on Saturday night that we sat and watched from the rooftop for nearly an hour. The full moon from the bus window on the way back to B.H. last night was also a sight to behold.