The journey began on Thursday 19th June as we departed Melbourne on our way to Curitiba, Brazil. We started off full of anticipation and excitement as we soared into the sky, but after 35+ hours in transit and still some time away from our destination, the levels of excitement had dropped a little. Not even the thought of an exotic burger from McDonalds in Sao Paulo could muster any energy from Rhys.
We finally arrived at Curitiba around 11.30pm on Friday 20th June and quickly made our way outside to get some fresh air and a taxi to our hotel. We arrived safely at at hotel Pestana and were checked in very quickly and made our way to the rooms with haste. The rooms were incredible and I would recommend to anyone heading to that part the world to consider staying at hotel Pestana, although security appeared to be a little over the top.
The following day we were greeted in reception by Flavio Robl from WEG Marketing. Flavio was a tremendous host and showed us around different parts of the town and also gave us a run down of the different elements that make Curitiba what it is today. After driving around for a short while, we were taken to a local market. We sat in a café and sipped on beautiful coffee, an experience within itself.
From there we were off to have some lunch, something light to eat sounded quite appealing. We ate at the Churrascaria Jardins Grill which the food and service was fantastic, this was a terrific introduction to the manner in which Brazilians consume food. We were having an all you can eat banquet with a BBQ theme and the amount of food available was enormous. After being in transit for a few days, this was welcomed with open arms and we made a pretty good fist of consuming everything that was on offer. Of course Beer was made available and as a result the mood was quite merry. With enough food and alcohol consumed to feed a small village, we were in need of some excersice so we headed off to the Botanical Gardens. At this stage fatique was starting to take effect, so we made our way back to the hotel for a little rest. Flavio was a great host and the first day was very enjoyable.
On the Sunday we were picked up nice and early for the Curitiba – Paranagua Train Ride. Both Alan and Rhys had requested this element of our trip and I must admit I wasn’t as excited as my two collegues, but in hindsight it was a great experience. It was great to have a nice relaxing day enjoying some amazing scenary through the mountains. We also stopped by and had lunch and ventured into a small market. It was a teriffic snaphot of how I thought Brazil would have looked many moons ago with the paved roads and style of buildings on display.
We then had a leasurally bus ride back to the hotel, where a message from Flavio was awaiting us. He and his wife were hoping to take us out for a few drinks and maybe a meal. After a little rest back at the hotel we were ready for a great night out. This was followed up by a visit to “MADERO” which apparently has the best burgers in the world. This was the fanciest Hamburger restaurant we had ever been too and yes the burgers were very good.
The day had finally come (the reason we were here), Australia V Spain in the FIFA World Cup. We met up with Mauro in the foyer after breakfast and were amazed at the atmosphere in the building. Little did we know that the Australian Team were staying in the same Hotel, so when we came down to reception it was like we were “Rock Stars”. There were fans screaming, a huge media contigent and security that was unimaginable. After the commotion of the team leaving subsided, we took to the streets of Curitiba and walked to the ground, this added to an already teriffic atmosphere.
The atmosphere at the ground was like an AFL Grand Final. We had a look around the Fan Zone and quickly made our way to the hospitality area, where we had access to more food and drink. Again the service and hospitality on offer was incredible. While the soccer was not great, the day was very memorable and one that we will never forget. We headed back to the Hotel where we watched Brazil play a game on TV, I thought I had seen passion in sport before but the passion shown by the people of Brazil when watching there football team play was an another moment that added to a terfiffic day. To finish the day off we went out for dinner and again it was a feast of BBQ and beer. Special thanks to Mauro for a wonderful day.
Up early on the Tuesaday and off to Jaragua for a visit to “THE FACTORY”. I must admit leading up to this point I had heard so much about WEG Brazil and the sheer size of the facility, that I thought it would be anti-climatic, I was very wrong. We arrived and were introduced to some WEG staff and then went through a presentation about WEG. Proceeding the presentations we were taken to the hotel to check in and get a little rest before dinner.
The next two night we were taken to Madalena Chopp e Cozinha for dinner by Alexandre Silva Rizzatti and Cachacaria Agua Doce the following night by Fernando Giacomini, again the hospitality was greatly appreciated by all. By the way they were all you can eat places again!!
Off to the factory and we were taken around the LV Motors section by Rafaelle. The journey started in the copper factory then to laminations, the foundary – this is when it dawned on me how large this operation was. The sheer magnitude of the network in place to make this work and more importantly work smoothly was truelly incredible.
After this we were taken out to lunch again (all you can eat) and then back to have a quick tour through the Energy Factory. I thought I had seen some big motors, but I was mistaken. Both Rhys and Alan were suitably impressed.
During the day Rhys had asked some engineers about the impact on the dBa level of a motor when under load and when being controlled by a VSD. For years AIRENG had requested this information and become frustrated that we couldn’t supply, this had been communicated to Jacson while we were there and he organised a meeting with some experts in the field for the Thursday morning. Both Rhys and Alan were mighty impressed with the impromptu meeting and the data that was available. Since that day we have been able to give AIRENG more data regarding this matter and this has been well recieved.
As a result of this we were late to the Transformer Factory, but we still had a full tour (and an all you can eat lunch with a BBQ theme). Again we were all blown away by the sheer size of the operation. We left Blumenau around 4.00pm and arrived at Balneario around 5.30pm. This was our first night on our own since we arrived and a light meal was the call of the day.
Jacson arrived early on Friday morning and we headed off to the Cable Car ride and lunch in Laranjeiras. This was a wonderful day with spectacular views from the Cable Car and a fantastic seafood lunch on the beach. From here we were taken back to the centre of the town and had a quick look through the markets.
Up early for what was our last day in Brazil. Everyone did a little shopping in preparation for the trip home. It just happenned that Brazil was playing Chile so we ventured to a bar to sit down and enjoy the afternoon. We couldn’t stay for the entire match, but it was another terrific atmosphere.
On behalf of Rhys, Alan and myself I would like to thank everyone involved in making this happen. We were very appreciative of the organisation required to make the entire trip a truly memorable experience and we will be forever grateful to all at WEG both in Australia and abroad for there time and effort.
It was a once in a lifetime experience that all parties will remember forever.
Thankyou.
Paul Davis
