Scott Couey

Map showing Londrina, Brazil

It’s hard to believe that the countdown for my Brazil Mission trip has officially begun. In 73 days I will be leaving for Londrina, Brazil – it sounds like it’s far off, but it’s really only about 11 weeks away (about two and a half months). Most people have heard of Brazilian cities like Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, but most people are not familiar with the city of Londrina. Here are a few facts about what has come to be one of my favorite places in the world.

• According to the 2010 Census, the city has a population of 506,645
• The city’s nickname is Pequena Londres which translates into “Little London”
• Londrina is in the northern region of the state of Paraná and is 369 km from the capital of Curitiba
• The native language of Brazil is Portuguese, but English and Spanish are taught in the high schools and colleges
• Roman Catholic is the main religion, but primarily in name alone as most people do not attend church or are not “practicing” Catholics.
• Futbol (American Soccer) is the major sport in Brazil.
• The city can be found at the coordinates 23°18′36″S 51°09′46″W
• There are several colleges and universities in the city of Londrina including Universidade Estadual de Londrina and Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná
• The average temperature in Brazil is 21.5 °C (71 °F) with the warmest average temperature being 30 °C (86 °F) in September and the coolest average temperature being 11 °C (52 °F) in June or July.
• Major Brazilian exports include aircraft, textiles, footwear, iron ore, coffee, orange juice, soybeans, and corned beef
• Popular Brazilian music styles include samba, MPB, choro, Sertanejo, brega, forró, frevo, maracatu, bossa nova, and axé but they also love American music
• The Brazilian currency is called the real (pronounced /reI’AːL/) and the plural is reais. They also use what is called centavos. As of today, the current exchange rate is 2.05546 Brazilian Real to 1 US Dollar.

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Photo Credit: By http://www.mapsofworld.com