Another tough day at the office!

Well you cant come to Brazil without experiencing the coffee. So first stop this morning was a coffee plantation.

And of course our man got to sit behind the wheels of this harvester, although not sure if orange was really the colour for James!

Then Brenda leading from the front, dived head first into coffee tasting Brazil style. This involved a smell test, then tasting with sound and lastly spitting. Brenda did us proud and now totally addicted to coffee was offered a job on the spot.

As for James, he also stepped up to the mark. It just took a while to coordinate a smile with a slurp but got there in the end. Watch out Otaki as freshly ground Brazilian coffee could be coming your way soon!

Then you wouldnt believe it but THE Brazilian BBQ once again for lunch. Being old hands here we had it sorted. Good control turning our token to red to pace ourselves but the waiters, who I´m sure are colour blind kept rolling that food out.

I even did my bit but somehow ended up with 5 chicken hearts . . . not exactly the tastiest item on the menu.

Then after lunch, not sure who did the planning here, it was down to the water treatment plant. A bit hard to handle on a full stomach but managed to get a pic of Brenda talking a pile of s . . . , sorry that was standing infront of . . . .

Then the highlight for me today was a visit with the commissioner for the environmental police. These police deal with illegal activities such as hunting, deforestation, fires, rubbish dumping and pollution. They even spend time educating the young. I really appreciated the time this guy had given up for me and as a result have a better understanding of some of the issues they are facing.

And of course to finish off the evening our Rotary presentation. This time the 6 clubs from Franca came together to hear us talk and ask questions. Brazilians are always interested in what we knew about Brazil before coming and what we think now. The people from Franca have been so welcoming, informative and given us some really good stories to tell.

Oh I should mention, some members of the team (no names to be published yet) did some serious shoe shopping today. Their other halves may want to check out credit card statements to just understand what I mean by serious.

Good day had by all. Time for some shut eye.

Tchau Petra