Shoes, shoes and more shoes

What a day! First off to a specialist school which teaches young college children a trade in either electrical, mechanics or engineering. Industry has input into the school and also pays a levy which goes towards buying the machinery. The Senai centre of excellence has 70% of its students finding jobs at the end. These students are motivated, as they go to regular school in the morning, to work for the afternoon and then to this school for evening classes until 11pm.

Next stop the tannery. This one was the 3rd largest in Brazil, using 12, 000 hides/day in a number of factories. The majority of the tanned skins exported to USA, Europe, Africa and Asia.

Then the shoe factory. Well I now have a new appreciation for good shoes. This factory did one 8 hour shift, producing 5000 pairs of shoes, with each shoe going through 60 pairs of hands in the process. What detail involved in each stage and each person has their own little bit to contribute.

Now comes the good bit. Girls and shoes are like cheese and wine! Sara and Brenda (now known as Blender) were in heaven. However one problem, this factory only produced shoes for men. So guess what Sam and Dave. . . .

Bring out your tuxedos these girls are bringing you home the latest trends from Brazil. You are both the proud owners the shoe front right on this picture. Hope that wasnt swearing I heard as these were not cheap and both Sara and Blender were over the moon with their purchases.

And just to finish off the day a visit to the Franca shoe museum.

Thats enough shoeing from me for one day. I´m off to talk about NZ wildlife.

Tchau Petra