Piracicaba travel guide

Piracicaba is a city located in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. The population in 2004 was 355,039 on an area of 1,371.8 km², at an elevation of 547 m above sea level. This place name comes from a word in the Tupi language that means "place where the fishes stop." The name is due to the beautiful waterfalls of the Piracicaba river that bisect the city, where the "piracema" (fish swimming upstream to reproduce) or larger fish species such as the dourados can still be observed. It is famous for its sugarcane plantations, its traditional sugarcane spirit production, its traditional music, and the oldest Agronomist engineering college in Brazil, the Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz of the University of São Paulo. The college is more than 100 years old and is located on a farm with a fantastic collection of trees and plants. Some people from Piracicaba (known as "piracicabanos") have a distinctive accent, although, foreign people think that all "piracicabanos" have that accent. Piracicaba is known by the nickname "Noiva da Colina" (the bride of the hills). Every year Piracicaba is host to the "Festa das Nações" (Fair of the Countries), where people eat foods from all over the world, and the "Salão Internacional do Humor" (International Humor Exposition), where many cartoonists from all over the world display their comic drawings. (...) more....