Second trip: Espirito Santo

In the easterweekend I went on my second trip with a Michiel (NL), Liza (F) and Johanne (F). With a rented car and our packed bags we decided to go to the region of… the beach!

Our trip was as follows: First we drove to the hostel Maimbá in Guarapari. On our way to there, we decided to visit the Waterfall of Matilde (Cachoeira de Matilde).

The drive was longer then expected. we decided to walk through the neighbourhood a bit, eat something and then it was past midnight. The next thing on the schedule was: the beach of Guarapari!

With help from the hostel-owner, we had found this beautyful piece of paradise beach, between te city coasts. A lot of beaches that are close to the cities are polluted because  the sewage usually ends in de ocean. We learned soon enough not to swim in areas where no one is swimming. But this small piece had clear water! It was amazing. After the beach we drank coconutwater straight out of coconuts. The people here take this for granted!

In the evening we decided to check out the beach close to the hostel (at the hostel the beach was drawn on the wall) and we visited one of the many lakes in the neighbourhood.

The next day (saterday) we went kayaking in a nature reserve called Parque Estadual Paulo César Vinha. There was also a very very very small part of Atlantic forrest preserved.

After kayaking we drove to Vitoria, the capital city of the region Espirito Santo to check out the city. After arriving at the Hotel Avenida, we soon discovered that the area of the city was really poor and didn’t have a lot to do. It was better for us to wait for the sunday: We planned on climbing up a mountain in the centre of Vitoria, to take some pictures and enjoy the view. At the top of the mountain a suprise waited for us: Monkeys!.

 

After this mountain we has lunch and drove back to Viçosa, only to arrive there at 21:30 pm, with Portugese classes on monday at 8:00 am!

This was it, i hope you enjoyed. A couple of grouppictures will be added afterwards.

Tchau!

Discovering: First trip

Coffee: check!
Glasses: check!
Music coming out of my laptop’s speakers: check!
New discoveries: check!
Let’s work on my blog.

Discovering the environment outside of my internship and the University campus is my new hobby.

At first I found myself thinking that Viçosa was a big city despite what every local told me,  now I disagree. The past couple of weeks flew by with incredible speed. Week 3 had a lot of mandatory bureaucratic stuff, which I won’t bother you with. In the weekend I went to a coulorada: A party that’s ment for the freshmen! Despite the music, I got to know a lot of new people and I had a great time. The student ambassadores (= the University had organised a buddy-system: every foreigner could choose to get help from a student for housing, meeting people, getting to know the city: a student ambassador) had organised a picknick for all the exchange students to meet eachother.

We had a great time and here we organised our first trip to Ouro Preto ( Black gold) a historic city with a lot of churches, close to Viçosa! This was planned for next saterday (Week 4).

This was a nice experience and here I also met a lot of cool people!

These were another two weeks of my stay in Brazil. Next blog will be following soon!

Tchau!

Introducing…

Nice to make your acquaintance!

Name: Inge Pistorius.
Age: 23
Education: 3th year of my bachelor in Environmental Science
School: HAS Hogeschool, ‘s-Hertogenbosch

With this blog I would gladly share with you my stories and experiences during my stay in Viçosa.

I will be doing an internship at the Federal University of Viçosa, Minais Gerias (BR), through EPAMIG.

More information will be following soon.

 

Off to Viçosa (MG), Brazil!

Save travels!

The 15th of february was Dday: after saying goodbye to my friends and family at home the weekend before, we went on a nearly 36 hour journey to finally arrive at Viçosa. First we traveled to Amsterdam, the capital city of The Netherlands. From here we flew to Madrid (Spain) and from here to Sao Paulo. In Sao Paulo we had to switch airports and after this we flew to Belo Horizonte. In Belo Horizonte the company of my internship (EPAMIG) was kind enough to pick us up by car, so we drove to Viçosa. They helped us get some groceries and after that I arrived at my apartment. Because we both were extremely tired, and because of the jetlag, we went to sleep immediately!

So… approximately 9.388,30 km in bird’s eye view away from home, in a country that speaks a strange language and has different cultural habits. What an adventure!

The first week was all about adjusting to the climate and meeting people. I already went to a coffeefarm and they explained to me how everything works. The countrysite is breathtaking!

The second week, 22th of February, my internship started at Epamig and they explained to me what I will be doing. For the coffeepreparation a lot of water is used to peel of the fruit untill you reach the coffeebean. With the classic system, you can use up to app. 4 liters/kg of water per 1 kg of coffee! They are currently designing a system that will be build at the farm before harvestingseason (may) to not only purify better, but also recycle the water more. I will write the evaluation along with a student from the UFV for this system.

Every day is different. One day we examen the soil of the farm, the other day we take a look at the water or the herbicides. In Brazil it’s common to walk along with a professor rather than doing your own research, when you are doing an internship (because this is for gaining experience about the working conditions after school).

This is it for this now! Tchau!