April 9, 2005

• Field Trip…

  
  

  I know, I know… long time since I last wrote here or even visited Xanga. But believe me, working for 2 schools, preparing classes , correcting and grading students, being someone who lives alone(read: clean the house and cook), take dance classes, try to sleep well, and much more, isnt easy. I try my best though.

  
  

  Some weeks ago, the school Geography teacher, our coordinator and I took the freshmen and sophomore high school students to a field trip in Paranapiacaba, and interesting city between São Paulo and Santos.

  
  

  There is nearly a 2000 foot drop between the city of Sao Paulo, and the port at Santos. Only about 15 or 20 miles separates them. This has led to a long, spectacular incline railway, originally worked by steam powered cables, to move goods and people (no passenger service now) between the two.
  
  This has also led to a spectacular highway that winds around through several spirals down the nearly vertical drop off the edge of the Brazilian coastal mountains.
  
  There were six electric locomotives operating in Paranapiacaba on August 30, 2003. The locomotives were being used in pairs to haul iron ore cars down the hill. Two locomotives per each 100 ton iron ore car.
  
  The coastal mountains are high enough that clouds from the ocean appear as fog at this location. They are fairly common here.

  
  

  
  

  Unfortunately, the location also has within view a yard that contains a number of extremely historic and interesting locomotives and passenger cars that have been cast aside over the years. It is a little sad to see these historic and once beautiful machines simply rusting away into oblivion, with the only likely future to be sold for scrap metal to the highest bidder.
  
  The unit shown here was at one time named Estrella (Star) and was part of a set of modern trains that arrived in the 1930′s. (Link to photo page on the Brazilian Railway Photo Album web site)
  
  Another photo of the remains of this train, from a different angle, is available on that web site also.Fog is also common in the area. The fog combined with the many abandoned structures and railroad equipment makes for a somewhat ghostly atmosphere at times.
  
  The only web site that I can find about the museum are the Paranapiacaba tourism pages. These are in Portuguese.  

  
  

   

  
  

  In the next two pictures, we´re starting the tracking part. In front of me there´s Silvio, the other teacher. One of the city guide is ahead with the students, and the other was behind me.                   

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  The city had basically two kinds of colonization. The Upper part was colonized by Portuguese and the lower part of the city, by English people. The next four pictures displays a glimpse of the Portuguese heritage.

  
  

   

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  That´s some of us heading to the city

  
  

  

  
  

  These below were taken a bit before Easter. Some girls of the 8th grade pretending to be cute bunnies, and below them, when whole group.  I shall Add more detail to this post later, as to explain each picture, but I do feel an urge to post something, and something I do want to share….

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  Take care… have been missing this space here!

  
  

  
  

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  • 11:12 pm
  • 24 Comments