Port of Santos

Hi everyone. Here's another update on my many adventures in Brazil.

Today (Sunday, April 6), Kristin woke me up early and told me to pack my bags because we were going to be leaving Sao Paulo later in the day. But first she said we were going on another great adventure.

After we piled all of our bags into the van, we drove to a place called Santos. We have to drive down a steep and winding road to reach Santos. Here you can see the city from the winding road.

Kristin says Santos is important because the largest "port" in Latin America is located there. I had no idea! I wasn't sure I understood what a port was. Kristin told me to be patient. She said we were going to visit the port. Man, it is SO hard to be patient.

It seemed to take forever to get to Santos, so I was really excited when we finally stopped. First, I got to get out of the car. More importantly, I saw this really cool boat. That's when Kristin told me that we were going to take a ride on the boat. How cool is that?!

The boat was named "Master of the Seas." Don't believe me? Check out the pirate on the front of the boat.


How awesome is that pirate?! Once we got on the boat, I noticed that no one outside of our group got on. That's right. We had this HUGE boat all to ourselves.

There was one new person in our group today. His name is David Brown. He is going to host the new radio program (my friend Mr. B in New York was busy). The new Mr. B is really, really nice. I'm really glad he was able to join us in Brazil.

The boat ride was really neat. There were other boats like ours out on the water (except they were full of people...and we had our boat all to ourselves).

At first it seemed like we were boating through a lake. But then the captain told us we were actually going to go through the port! He also told me the port leads straight to the Atlantic Ocean. I had no idea!

It was really cool. I saw some of the biggest boats I have ever seen!

I asked Kristin why the boats were so big. That's when she told me the boats..or ships...carry items like food, cars, televisions and other electronics, and even toys from one part of the world to another. Who knew?

I learned that the items are put into these HUGE colorful boxes that Keith calls "containers."

The containers remind me of the trailers I see on the back of semi-trucks on the highways in America. Keith agreed and told me that sometimes the containers are used with big highway trucks or are placed on trains. But in the port, the "containers" are loaded onto the ships using cranes and other big machines.


Do you see how big the cranes are in the port? I don't think I've ever seen cranes this big in my entire life!

Here you can see me with Keith. Look closely and you will see some big cranes behind us.

Since the Port of Santos is the largest in Latin America, Kristin pointed out there were ships from all over the world in the docks. This one has a flag that I've seen before. Can you tell which country this ship is from?

If you guessed North Korea...you are right! I had no idea ships from North Korea visited places like Brazil. Did you?

It was cloudy during our boat ride. It was also VERY windy. So I spent most of my time looking at the port from my special place inside Kristin's purse. I was too afraid I was going to blow away!

Halfway through our boat ride, I saw something that looked like the large buildings farmers store grain in. Kristin said I was right. There were several "grain elevators" in the port like this one.
Kristin told me that Brazil sends more soybeans to other countries than any other country in the world and that's why there were are grain elevators in the port. Who knew?

I saw a few other interesting ships. This one is something Kristin calls a "cruise liner." That's a HUGE boat that takes people on overnight trips on the ocean. Cool!

I wanted to take a cruise on a big ship like the one in the photo above, but Kristin told me we didn't have time. :( Oh well, at least I got to spend some time on the "Master of the Seas" in Santos.

Just before we got off the boat, I noticed a huge Brazil flag.

I told Kristin I really liked the flag because it was so colorful. Kristin told me she was glad I liked the flag because we were leaving Santos to head to the airport so we could fly to a placed called "Brasilia." Brasilia is the capital of Brazil. See if you can find it on the map.

That's all for now. I'll update you again once I get to Brasilia.

Bye for now...

Riding with the Police of Sao Paulo

Hi everyone. I have had another very exciting day.

Today (Saturday, April 5) Kristin woke me up early and told me to be ready to spend most of the day "out in the field."

Our first stop of the day was a small police station and community center in a neighborhood called "Jardim Ranieri."

I was really excited when we arrived. I think police stations are cool. Kristin told me if I was really good, I would get to watch the police officers in action. Awesome!

But then I heard the commander tell Kristin that this neighborhood was, "the most violent neighborhood in the world," in 1999. Oh no! Suddenly I didn't feel very safe. Kristin must have seen the look on my face because she told me that we were going to be fine. She said the police have helped the neighborhood become much more safe. I still wasn't so sure, but then I saw how many police officers were working and I felt a little better.

Here you can see me and my friend Flat Gabby with Kristin standing near the police station.


The police station is on a very busy street. It looked like another busy street to me.

So I asked Kristin why this neighborhood used to be so scary. She says in the past 50 years, millions of people have moved from the rural areas of Brazil to big cities like Sao Paulo. Who knew? She says many of the people who moved here were very poor and sometimes people would fight over money, food, and property. I have seen many poor places on my adventures with Kristin and it makes me sad when I find out some people don't have enough money to buy food and have a safe house.

Kristin always tells me it is OK to be sad. But she reminds me that I should be grateful that I have a nice house and a loving family. She is right.

While we were visiting the police station, I learned that the people in this neighborhood didn't always like the police. But when criminals moved in and made Jardim Ranieri a scary place, the community asked the police for help. The community and the police worked together to build this police station and a library. The station commander says the police then put many bad people in jail and that's why Jardim Ranieri is much safer today.

Kristin says the way the neighborhood and the police worked together reminds her of the community police program in Muscatine. That's pretty cool.

After Kristin, Keith, Simon, and Steve interviewed the police commander and some people who live in the neighborhood, we got to see the police officers in action. There wasn't enough room for people to ride in the police cars (darn...that would have been really cool!) so we rode in the van.

I was still worried that some bad people would see us, but then I saw we had at least three police cars full of police officers around us at all times (sometimes there were even more police vehicles). We also had a police officer riding with us in our van.

I noticed the streets here are very narrow.

At first I thought the houses were narrow apartment-like buildings, but then I realized that some houses were built on top of other houses. Very interesting.


I was busy looking at the different houses when the van suddenly stopped. The police officer jumped out. Before I could figure out what was going on, Steve jumped out of the van with the video camera and Kristin jumped out with her digital camera. That's when I saw the police had stopped some men who were walking on the street.

The police made the men stand against the wall until they checked their identification cards. The police officers actually had their guns out, so I decided to stay inside of Kristin's bag. I watched the action through a small opening.

Then just as quickly as the men were stopped, everyone got back in the van and we continued driving through the neighborhood. Five minutes later, we stopped again. This time, the police stopped a man riding a motorcycle.

Here you can see one of the police officers calling the police station to check the man's license.


And here you can see an officer making sure the man didn't have anything bad in his pockets.

I noticed while the officers were checking the man's pockets that they also made him show his tattoos. The police officer riding in our van said certain tattoos would tell the police if the man was a gang member of had been in prison.

I was so busy watching the police officers that I didn't realize that we were attracting a crowd.


I was starting to worry about the crowd when the police officers let the man on the motorcycle go. Whew!

Next, the officers took us to a place where we could get a better view of the neighborhood. Wow! I knew I had counted a lot of houses, but I had no idea how many houses were in the neighborhood.



Here are a few more shots of the neighborhood.

Did you see the painting on the wall in one of the photos above? I've seen just about every place we have visited in Brazil. I asked Kristin why I kept seeing the same image and she told me that it is Brazil's flag. Who knew?

After spending another hour (or so) with the police officers, we left the neighborhood and our driver took us to another neighborhood about an hour away. This neighborhood is called "Parelheiros." I could tell right away the people who live in this neighborhood don't have very much money. The streets weren't even paved...and we were still in town. I thought everyone who lived in a city had paved streets.

We were visiting this neighborhood to meet Deise and her daughter Silvia. They own a beauty salon.

The salon is located in a converted garage. It sure doesn't look like a salon in Muscatine. Kristin agreed but she told me the salon is really important. That's because Deise (pronounced "Daisy") and Silvia got money from the local government to go to school so they could open the salon. Now they make their own money and soon they will not need aid from the government to buy groceries and the things they need for their family. How cool is that?! The salon was busy the entire time we were there, so Deise and Silvia must be good.

We left the salon just before dusk and went back to the hotel. I must have been really tired because I fell asleep in the van!

That's all for now. Until next time....

Meet My Friend Flat Gabby!

Hi everyone! I have exciting news! I have a new Flat friend! Her name is Gabby and she is friends with Keith.

Flat Gabby is SO flat that she arrived by e-mail this morning (April 4).. How awesome is that?! Even though Flat Gabby is a girl, it is nice to be able to share my adventures with another flat person.

I first met Flat Gabby at a place called the Brazil Mercantile and Futures Exchange.

Kristin says the Brazil Mercantile and Futures Exchange is very similar to BOVESPA, the stock exchange I visited earlier this week. The only difference is that instead of trading stocks, people at the Brazil Mercantile and Futures Exchange trade "commodities." Kristin says corn, soybeans, sugar, and ethanol are some of the "commodities" traded here.

Kristin tried to explain that commodities are traded differently than stocks, but I forgot what she told me because I was too busy watching the trading floor. It is a CRAZY place. There were hundreds of men in several circles screaming, shouting, and watching electronic boards like this one.

Kristin says the prices for the commodities like corn and soybeans are displayed on the big boards. I couldn't really read them so I am going to have to trust her on this.

The men on the floor sounded angry, but Kristin told me they were just doing their job. Hmm...I think it is cool that the floor traders here get to scream and shout. Maybe I should become a commodities trader?!

That's all for now...bye!

Sugar is Sweet!

Hi everyone. I hope all is well.

Today (April 3) Kristin woke me up early and told me we were going on a long van ride. Yuck! It seems like it takes FOREVER to get anywhere in Brazil. Kristin must have seen the look on my face because she told me that the van ride would be worth it. I'm not sure how she can top Embraer, but I decided not to complain.

In the end, the day was pretty cool! I got to visit a sugar farm. I LOVE sugar!

At first I was very confused about the sugar farm. I didn't know sugar came from a farm. I told Kristin I thought sugar came from bags at the grocery store.

That's when Kristin told me to look closely at the tall, green leafy plants growing in the fields. It is a plant called "sugar cane" and it was everywhere!

Kristin told me that sugar comes from "sugar cane." Who knew? But I quickly learned it isn't easy to make the sugar that my Aunt Lynn buys at the store.

Kristin says when the sugar cane is ready to harvest, each stalk (like the one in the photo below) is taken from the field.

Here I am with Keith "tasting" a stalk that was cut down in the field. It does NOT taste like sugar. It tasted more like dirt than anything else!

Once the stalks are harvested at this farm, they are taken to a processing facility like this one.

The stalks then get put into big machines that squeeze the stalks so all of the liquid comes out. Kristin says this sugar liquid can then be turned into many different things including the sugar that my Aunt Lynn makes cakes with.

I really wanted to see this process but Kristin says it isn't the right time of year for harvesting the sugar cane. :( At least I got to see one of the sugar processing facilities.

I really liked visiting the sugar farm, but I wasn't really sure why we were there. That's when Keith told me that one of the things made from sugar cane is something people in Brazil call "alcool." He says "alcool" is called "ethanol" in the United States. He also told me that most "ethanol" in the United States is made from corn (not sugar cane). I had no idea!

I also didn't realize that "ethanol" can be used as a fuel in cars. Keith says many cars in Brazil run on ethanol made from sugar cane instead of gasoline. Very interesting. Kristin says the gasoline she puts in her car at home is a mix of gasoline and corn ethanol. I'll have to ask Aunt Lynn if she uses this ethanol stuff in her gasoline.

That's all for now. Bye!

Bandag in Brazil...Who Knew?

Hi everyone. I am SO excited. Today (April 3) I saw a sign along the road with a logo that I know from Muscatine: Bandag. How cool is that?

I never thought I would see a sign from a company based in Muscatine here in Brazil. Here is one of the signs just outside of the town of Piracicaba, about two hours outside of Sao Paulo.

It was raining when I saw the sign so it was hard for Kristin to take my picture.

A few minutes later I saw another Bandag shop near Piracicaba's shopping mall. Wow, two Bandag places in one day!


Kristin was also excited to see Bandag. Her husband, Eugene, works for Bandag. She told me Bandag has many shops and offices in Brazil. I had no idea!

Until next time...

Planes, Planes and More Planes!

Hi again. I hope all is well.

I always know I am going to see interesting places when I travel with Keith and Kristin. But on Wednesday (April 2), we visited the coolest place ever!

It is a business called Embraer.

Embraer is located a couple of hours from Sao Paulo. It seemed like it took forever to get there, and I was pretty bored in the van. But Kristin promised me that Embraer was worth the wait. Guess what, she was right! Embraer makes airplanes and we got special permission to watch the workers build planes. How cool is that??!!!

Do you see the Embraer sign on the building in the photo above? It is the same logo that I saw at BOVESPA yesterday! Now I know why Kristin wanted me to pay special attention to that sign.

Kristin says Embraer is the third largest airplane builder in the world. I had no idea! Kristin told me a lot of other things about Embraer, but I really can't remember what she told me. I was too busy watching people build airplanes. I LOVE watching airplanes when I am waiting at the airport but visiting the factory is even better.

Here I am just outside one of the HUGE buildings where the airplanes are under construction.

How cool is that photo above?!

I don't remember how long we spent in this building, but it was long enough for me to see how some of the plane pieces go together. It is hard to show you photos of how the pieces go together but here are some of the photos Kristin took in the hangar.

Below you can see what the inside of a plane looks like before the wires, walls, seats, and pilot controls are added.


If you look closely in the photo above, you can see me sitting on the nose of this plane. How cool is that!?
Here I am with Keith and the part of a plane where the pilots sit.

At some point, everyone in our group went to another part of the building where different parts of planes are built. It was REALLY loud so Keith and Kristin had to wear earplugs (they didn't have earplugs in my size so I just covered them with my hands). And, since it was a construction zone, Keith and Kristin also had to wear these really funny plastic glasses. Kristin says they are called "safety glasses."

Don't they look funny with those glasses!? They didn't have any of the funny glasses in my size, so Kristin made me stay in her bag most of the time so I wouldn't get hurt. She did let me look out through a small opening and sometimes she took me out for photos (but only after she knew we were in a safe area).

Here you can see me with Kristin. Can you tell Kristin was having a hard time holding me and the equipment too?

Here are some more photos that I think are really cool.




After our visit to the construction hangars, we had lunch with Embraer officials. Later my friend Simon interviewed a company executive for a television story. And just before we left Embraer, we went back to the first hangar we saw so Simon could do something he calls a "stand up." During a "stand up," a reporter reads a script on camera at the location he/she is reporting from. Very interesting. Kristin and Keith don't have to do this for radio (but they do talk to their recorder all the time, so I guess they are doing something similar).

Here you can see Simon and Steve recording Simon's "stand up." Kristin says I will likely see this on TV and the Web when the project is done. Cool!

It seemed to take Simon and Steve a really long time to record the "stand up" and tape all of the pictures they need for TV. I forgot from my trip to Djibouti that it takes MUCH longer make a television story. But I didn't mind. It gave me more time to watch the workers.

Well that's all for now. Until next time....