After our tour of old Rio, about 16 of us went to the gem workshop owned by H.Sterns in Ipanema. H.Sterns owns the rights to much of the precious gems mined in Brazil, sort of the De Beers of South America . We got to see the science and art behind selecting, weighing, authenticating, and certifying gems as well as the stages involved in converting them into fine jewellery such as cutting, polishing and setting. Of course the tour ended in the showroom where many of us admired the various displays. Amazingly we all walked away empty handed! Now that's discipline!
We then split up into smaller groups to explore Ipanema before heading back to the hotel. Natalie, Megan, Amanda B. , Sam, Kayleigh, Cheryl and I went off in search of the Girl From Ipanema cafe. After a lot of walking we finally found it only to discover that our photographs of it would be marked by the McDonald's sign right in front of it. Globalization is everywhere! Even though sometimes we wish it wasn't .
Met the rest of the group back at the gem factory and headed back to the hotel. The power which had been lost for four hours was still not back on. It struck me several times throughout the day that Brazil is truly an in-between middle income country. Aspiring to higher income status with modern high rises and gleaming glass structures but still clearly a developing country with visible signs of poverty, income inequality, and aging infrastructure. The students have been noticing the income disparities as well as we traveled through the city on our tour today. There will probably be a stark example of that when we visit a favela on Thursday. But that will be another story...
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