Putting it all together - Week 3 - Sep 23 - 27

A week of heads-down work. A few meetings to close out the development of our viewpoint. Distilling what we saw, heard, observed, looked up, learnt and experienced into a coherent guidebook for tourism development in the city. Cranked way down on the after-work activities in order to find time to think, write and rewrite. Here are my highlights of the week.

I walked to work most days of the week, and this gave me a good sense of the daily weather changes. Monday was very warm, light showers on Tuesday, Wednesday was chilly enough to need a jacket, and Friday was hot. I guess this is typical springtime weather here.

We had a few key meetings this week. A visit to Algar, a big local conglomerate, was Monday's highlight. With business interests in Telecom, Services, Agribusiness, Hotels and many others, and revenues last year of $2 bn, they are a big presence in the city. This Uberlandia-based  company is now run by the third generation of the founder's family. Impressively professional operations, with world-class corporate governance practices - especially impressive given that the company is not publicly-listed. We heard about Algar Institute's (the charitable arm of the group) programs on education and sustainability. Coincidentally, Cristiane, one of the UFU interns working with us, started her job with Algar last week.

 At Algar's Headquarters

The corporate campus is on the edge of town, and contained a number of buildings. Our meeting was at the Corporate Headquarters, from where you could see the founder's farmhouse, which was the only building on the land till a few years ago. Leonardo, who escorted us from the Municipal Tourism Department, grew up with Algar's CEO and told us about the time they used to ride horses here. As we were leaving, we met Luiz, the CEO for a brief chat. Word of our group and our activities in the city had already reached him - news travel quickly here !

Indoor greenery at Algar's CHQ

Then on at a meeting with the "G7", a grouping of Uberlandia's most prominent business leaders, at ACIUB. The meeting gets a bit contentious - the G7 wants to know how we could expect to grasp how the city operates and provide recommendations in 4 weeks, and how IBM expects to benefit in the process. Fair questions, to be sure, and we try to answer in a matter-of-fact manner. Paulo & Marise from the Tourism Department step in clarify several points, and I get the sense that we eventually gained a modicum of acceptance from the group.

At the G7 meeting

Monday evening we had the standing meeting of all the teams. Visibly tired faces around the room. The meeting is much shorter than the previous ones. I head out to dinner with Terumine to Tulipas, and learn more about his life in Tokyo.

Tuesday's heads-down work was interrupted late in the day by a chance meeting with visitors from Belo Horizonte who'd come to meet Marise, who suggested that we take advantage of their presence in town. Baques & Carlos, from Instituto Estrada Real, an organization that promotes tourism along a large area covering the states of Minas Gerais, Sao Paulo & Rio De Janeiro along a colonial "Royal Road" that led from the gold mines of Ouro Prieto to the port of Paraty, where the gold headed on to European destinations. Baques was a fount of knowledge, and additionally, spoke fluent English. He told us about his organization and how they have been promoting tourism in 200 municipalities in the area they cover and gave us solid tips on how to position Uberlandia.

Talking with Carlos (left) and Baques from the Instituto Estrada Real, Belo Horizonte

A reminder of work from back home - I had a 9 PM check-in call with the "study group" from the Cornerstone course I had recently attended at IBM Armonk. I am way behind on what I was supposed to have done - a lot of catching up is in order when I get back home,

Intense work on Wednesday. Highlight was lunch at the weekly farmer's market - a pastel and fresh-squeezed sugarcane juice, and a yummy tapioca crepe with coconut & condensed milk filling. Gym, followed by room-service (my first time) chicken soup, as I attempt to conserve time to finish my work. A group head out for the weekly Samba lesson and land up at a club afterwards to try out their newly acquired moves, which I hear, caused no injuries to anyone - so good job teaching us, Leandro.

Thursday morning walk to work was marked by attempts to converse in Portuguese with the laundry lady (went swimmingly well) and three different gas station store clerks to add minutes to my cell phone (didn't work all that well). Lunch at the mall at a risotto place with Marc. In an attempt to blend in with the crowd, I pick up a Brazilian football jersey.

I am amongst the first in at the office on Friday. We thanks our 4 UFU interns for their dedication and hard work by taking them out to lunch. Capital (pronounced "Capitao") Steakhouse at the nearby mall is fashioned less like a classic American steakhouse, and more like a Chili's or  Applebee's. All the interns opt for the rack of BBQ ribs. I tried the filet mignon, which is predictably good, and wash it down with a dark Brahma lager, which turned out to be better than the pale lager that I'd exclusively patronized to date.

The charming Municipal Museum was the Mayor's office till about 20 years ago

 Looking at a scale model of the city in its early days

Then straight on to a city tour organized by the Cecilia and Luciano of the Municipality on the occasion of World Tourism Day (September 27th). We are ensconced in a comfortable bus and taken to Parque do Sabia, where we go on a trip around on the "bus train". I spot fruit-laden mango trees and coconut water stands, which bring back memories of Kerala. Then on to the Municipal Museum, where we see farm implements from two centuries ago, at the time of the city's founding, and a reconstructed merchant's store with all sorts of early 20th century essentials (ant killing contraption, meat grinding things, things to press sugarcane juice). A stroll through the Municipal Market proves lucky, as I see a shop selling curry powder, cloves, cardamom and other spices, which would come in very handy for what I intend to try for Sunday's potluck at Larissa's father's place. I make a note to come back over the weekend to shop for my recipe.

#ibmcsc brazil