So the cover photo for this post is from last night's dinner. That's Bill King, our US expat operations manager here in Curitiba. We are sharing the national cocktail of Brazil called a caipirinha. It is made with cachaca, a Brazilian liquor made from fermented sugar cane, mixed with crushed limes and sugar. Very tasty, but with a kick like a margarita.

Spent all of today with our Brazilian colleagues making supplier visits and showing them how to do evaluations. It was a cloudy, sometimes rainy day and traffic was not cooperative.

I listened to a lot of Portuguese today and it sounds a lot less like Spanish than I expected. It is less staccato than Spanish and has elements of French and Italian in the tones. Maybe it's unique to the Brazilian form of the language.

I'm also getting exposed to lunch as the main meal, and also the idea that Brazilians like to eat. Lunch is no less than an hour long and seems to always include meat. None of this yogurt and fruit stuff for Curitibans. The fried bananas are a unique side dish. If meat is not affordable or they are eating basic, beans and rice are the staple.

We are going non-traditional this evening and going to a sushi place for dinner. That's a good plan since tomorrow night we are taking the team out to an Italian place near our hotel. Some fish sounds really good.

More thoughts tomorrow. Two more days before we head home.