During the summer, most students travel to the local beaches in Maryland and Delaware. But for senior Timothy Morrow his summer looked a bit different.
Morrow spent one month of his summer on a farm in Minas Gerais, Brazil. He stayed and worked on a “cattle and coffee farm.” During his stay, Morrow stayed with a family friend. The senior really enjoyed meeting “the people” in Brazil because “they were really nice.”
Minas Gerais is an “inland state” that borders “Rio de Janeiro ”, and it is one of the largest and most populated states in Brazil, according to the culturetrip.com.
An ordinary day for Morrow in Brazil began when he woke up around six and “made a pot of coffee.” The coffee he would drink was “from the farm.” He would then “feed the cows, move the cows.” Next according to Morrow he would “take care of the calves” by giving them “their shots” and feeding the calves as well.
The good climate, magnitude of fertile soil and altitude of Minas Gerais, is what makes the coffee beans that grow there, such “high quality” according to foodandroad.com. Kamba.coffee writes that Minas Gerais “accounts for more than 55%” of Brazil’s coffee production. To add to that, nescafe.com states that “Brazil is a top producer of coffee” in the world, with an average production of “2.68 million metric tons” per year.
Coffee farming in Minas Gerais makes a large impact on that number for Brazil, since it produces more than half of Brazil’s international output. The farm Morrow stayed on, also contributes to this large number, so during his time there, he contributed to the overall number as well.
Morrow did not just stay on the farm during his entire stay, he was in “Belo Horizonte for three days.” He added that he “would regularly go to Santo Antônio do Amparo. The senior enjoyed both places because of their “friendly” atmospheres. However, he expressed that he liked Santo Antônio do Amparo more than Belo Horizonte due to the availability of activities with the locals, and how he was “treated like family.” When he would travel to Santo Antônio do Amparo the locals “would all greet” him.
During his trip through interactions with different people in Brazil’s large cities and small towns Morrow expressed that he was able “to better grasp the issues that people face outside of the United States.” He has high hopes to travel back to Brazil “next summer.”
