We started our day with a typical drive down the bustling streets of São Paulo passing stunning murals and ancient cathedrals. Our scenic route led to downtown which had B3, the Brazilian Stock Exchange, the only one in Brazil. We were given a presentation about Brazil's financial markets and the future outlook of exchanged across the globe. An interesting point made was that B3's future competitors would not be other exchanges but the decentralized market, specifically, bitcoin. As shown by recent investments in bitcoin ETFs and market technology by companies like Nasdaq, one can only wonder how quickly this transition will be. Afterwards, we went to the exchange's museum which featured historic figures and pictures. Obviously we took an obscene amount of pictures but also learned a lot about how the capital markets evolved with technology and other inventions.
After a quick bite of McDonalds, we embarked on an hour long bus ride to Campinas, one of Brazil's key agricultural cities. We visited the Agronomic Institute where we learned about the scientific research being conducted to develop healthy fruits and vegetables. We walked around the farm and tried red coffee beans (which had an interesting discovery, something about female seduction?). After a delicious dinner under the moonlight we rode back to São Paulo, playing a game of stop, pointing fingers, yelling names and laughing hysterically. I was dead on my feet when I arrived at the hotel, but wouldn't have changed a thing about the day.
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