Well folks, after a nice relaxing weekend after 2 weeks on the farm, I am back at it. But before the work began we were treated Monday with a very cool experience.
One of our bosses took us on a adventure to see some waterfalls in the area. The taller waterfall was only about 45 minutes from town, but the smaller, but cooler waterfall took another hour on a road where taxes are not paid. It was rough to say the least, but well worth it. At both falls the interns took a dip into the water hoping to not get eaten by either Piranhas or a giant anaconda. Haha!! I think those are only in the Amazon River/Rain forest. Anyways, it was a great trip and the pictures are even better. Some of them you might think that I didn't take, but would I lie??
Tuesday we headed back to the farm that I have missed. Dino was there and he was great as usual. He asked if our Portuguese has improved and I nodded yes and added "um poco", meaning a little. The rest of the day included finishing up on some work on planters, for Rondonia will be the first of GAI to be in the field. Something different an intern commented on; at home we wait for things to dry up to plant, but here we wait for the rain. Before we start planting, since its so dry here, we have to wait for enough moisture to be in the ground. Also, in Brazil we don't have a problem with the ground being too cool for germination, so moisture is the only thing were waiting for. Another thing you have to be careful about in this climate is getting too anxious. Putting your crop in too early because you think the rainy season is here can also be a costly mistake. It has rained in the last month, but it shuts off for 2-3 weeks. Meaning the crop would have germinated, but then will have to go through a 2-3 week drought in 90 degree weather everyday. Anyways, Eric our agronomist, is making sure the rainy season is here to stay before we get crazy putting in the crops.
Wednesday started off very slow, but it sure got exciting really quick. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Rondonia grows all the meat for itself and the other GAI farms. Well, they must have been getting low on beef, so we went to work. Lasso in hand, I eyed my first victim. He stands about 5 foot tall, black hair, hairy lips, big tongue, four legs, and some horns. I missed multiple times, but the other Brazilian didn't. He's good, I told him he could be a star in rodeos back in the U.S. We then tied him real close to a tree so we could knock him out and start carving. Very interesting process considering I am in Brazil and I have yet to see a steer killed and cut up anywhere. One down and one to go. The next one was a bit tougher to catch, but once it was tied to a tree, they wanted me to do the sacrificing. I didn't know what to think but I thought to myself; "just another experience I can talk about during an job interview". So I took the axe firmly, eyed my bullseye (ha ha that's funny, I really wasn't aiming for its eye) (wow, I am still laughing) and SWUNG, and obviously didn't hit it square. The steer stumbled a little, but was just laughing at me. So I regained my footing and swung again, again, and on the 4th hit he finally went to the ground. I was laughed at by all the Brazilians. All they do now is point and laugh at me saying QUATRO!! Besides the hazing, it was a good experience.
In the afternoon Dino told me to go sleep cause I will be taking the night shift Wednesday night. So I went back to the room and tried to sleep but couldn't. Anyways around 7 when my shift in the tractor was about to start I put all my things in the tractor. (ie, I-pod,cookies, & strawberry juice. Healthy I know) The Brazilians began totalk to me at this point and after getting our points across, I find out that we do not have a drop of diesel on the farm. I asked when it was coming, and all they said was maybe tomorrow, maybe the next day, or the next. This is the answer I have been repeatedly given while in Brazil after I have asked for something. Things are just slow, and not like the U.S.
Anyways, life is good down here. I am having a great experience!
It's around 90-95 degrees here about everyday, so all I am doing now is rubbing it in. Your Welcome
Signing off..............
- Hrubes
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2 comments:
hahaha, very funny your experience with the cow.
and..i saw a "tatu" dead on your photobucket...what happened with him?
I ran him over with one of the discs I was using to work the ground. Who is this??
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