Coffee in Santos, Brazil

We docked early in Santos, the island port that is less than one hour's drive from Sao Paulo in Brazil. Sao Paulo is a huge city....one of the largest in the world. We chose to not visit Sao Paulo this time, but instead, concentrate our time in Santos.

It was stinking hot when we arrived, well over 35 degrees Centigrade. After the icebergs and glaciers, it was a bit of a shock to the system, but we survived. On Monday afternoon we went into the city to a shopping centre to try to get some Brazilian Reals, the currency of the country. It took us about an hour to find an ATM that would accept our cards. It wasn't too much of a hardship, though, as the third floor of the shopping mall had about a dozen different bank machines lined up. What took the most time was waiting for the locals to conclude their banking business on these machines. I think many of them were paying bills/mortgages, or whatever on these machines. It was a lengthy business, whatever it was.

Today we went with another couple and found ourselves a young 23 year old Baptist student (he wants to be a missionary to South East Asia or Africa) and he took us on a city tour that was delightful.

Our first stop was Casa de Cafe, the original coffee auction house. Santos is from where most of Brazil's coffee is exported. The original Casa de Cafe is now a museum. It is a beautiful building. Everything in the construction was imported except for the Brazilian rosewood that is found throughout.

We especially enjoyed the pictures that were displayed. The coffee plantations were originally worked by African slaves. Brazil has the dubious distinction of having the largest number of slaves from Africa. Once slavery was outlawed, huge numbers of Japanese were brought over to work the fields. Farmers would bring in coffee and it would be weighed, graded and then auctioned. They would watch the auction process from the mezzanine level of the building, keeping a close eye on their agents on the auction floor below.

Coffee was shipped in 60 kg sacks. It became a badge of honor for Santos stevedores to carry as much on their back as possible, with competitions breaking out at any time.

Once we left the Casa de Cafe, we drove along the beachfront, which is in the Guiness World Book of Records for having the longest beachfront garden....11 kms of beachfront with beautiful gardens on the boulevards. There were many people on the beaches, although it is only Tuesday and not a holiday. Our driver Lucas took us to the top of a small mountain where we could get a good view of all the beaches and the numerous apartment buildings.

We also stopped in at a couple of churches and then visited the aquarium, which was nice. There was no question but we could get in at no charge because we were old. I was half-hoping I would have to show ID, but alas, no one even questioned it.

A couple of facts about Santos.....most people are Catholic, although a form of African religion is still practised here. They don't CALL it voodoo, but it sounds an awful lot like it.

....it is the largest seaport in Brazil and there are millions of containers here. Also many many trucks waiting to be loaded and unloaded.

.....today, in addition to our cruise ship, there are two others at the dock. One is a Costa ship....a sister ship to the one that went aground off the coast of Italy. It is a huge ship and I can't imagine it going down.

Well, we are going to the Italian restaurant for dinner tonight with two other couples. We set sail at 6:00 p.m. for Paraty, arriving there tomorrow morning. There will be a 45 minute tender ride to get into that port, so Steve is considering staying onboard the ship. I'll let you know tomorrow.

 OUTSIDE THE CASA DE CAFE...THE ORIGINAL COFFEE AUCTION HOUSE THAT IS NOW A MUSEUM.

ONCE AFRICAN SLAVES WERE NO LONGER ABLE TO BE USED TO WORK THE COFFEE PLANTATIONS, JAPANESE WORKERS WERE ENTICED TO COME TO SANTOS. SOME OF THESE WORKERS LOOK PRETTY YOUNG.

EACH COFFEE SACK WEIGHED 60 KGS. STEVEDORES WOULD HOLD SPONTANTEOUS CONTESTS TO SEE WHO COULD CARRY THE MOST.

JUAN VALDEZ....NO, IT'S STEVIE HAWRISHOK IN FRONT OF SOME OF THE COFFEE BRANDS THAT USE BRAZILIAN COFFEE.

 A HAZY DAY SO YOU CAN'T GET A GOOD VIEW, BUT THIS IS ONE OF THE WORLD'S LONGEST SUBURBAN BEACHES....11 KMS LONG. THERE IS A GARDEN THAT FOLLOWS IT FOR THE ENTIRE 11 KMS.