Our final mill destination was the Fibria mill in the town of Aracruz. This mill makes 7000 TONS PER DAY of eucalptus market pulp using three lines, making it the largest mill in the world. We had a curvy 1.5-hour bus ride to the mill, which is located in a somewhat mountainous area. We received a warm greeting from the General Manager of the facility (!) and a team of engineers and assistants.
One complication -- we found out a few days ago that the bus company would only take cash, no cards (a familiar story, it seems). Dr. Byrd had not brought that much cash with him..the plan was for him to get a cash advance on his company card and use it to pay the bus company. But the small bank branch at the mill (it's so big it has two banks!) said "impossible.". The bus company said it would cancel the rest of the trip if the money were not deposited by early afternoon. So, in a panic mode, Dr. Byrd went with one of the mill employees to the bank in town, while the students continued their tour. Of course, the bank in town also said "impossible." After some frantic maneuvering, the situation was at long last resolved (thanks, Mrs. Martin!).
The mill is impressive..both in scale and operation and attitude! Super clean and efficient. The loading area had miles and miles of baled pulp waiting for shipment. There are three lines. Two lines each feed two pulp drying machine, while one newer line feeds a single machine.
After the tour, we boarded the bus for a trip we had been warned would be long and challening ride to Vicosa, on some tough roads. (Vicosa, although a university town, has no airport...the nearest airport is 3.5 hours away!). As we passed through Vitoria again, we stopped to drop Danny off...and there went our ONLY Portuguese speaker -- and our drive spoke no English. Fun!!!
We had not been warned nearly enough about this ride! This ride was 100 % on a 2-lane road filled with trucks, bikes, donkey carts, and tiny, tiny villages with dozens of speed bumps. The mountain-filled countryside did not permit us to see where we were going in the dark. We stopped midway for a drive rest and a bit to eat....at the equivalent of a truck stop. That was an interesting cultural experience! Jailson said we had "3-4 hours to go" (using sign language, of course). As it got later and later, and all we could see was flashes of the moon between mountains, we began to worry about our location. There were absolutely no signs indicating a distance or direction to Vicosa!
This reminded Dr. Byrd spookily of the terrifying bus ride the first PIE group took from Jinan to Beijing, after the plane ride had been canceled due to fog. That overnight ride, which nobody will EVER forget, was affectionated deemed "Death Bus 3000." Now, we have Death Bus 4000 in Brazil!
At about 1:20 in the morning, we finally rolled up to the Alfa hotel in downtown Vicosa, checked in, and collapsed.
Wow.
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