The DIRT (Dismantle, Immerse, Reflect, Transform) team is returning to the Amazon for the tenth time! 15 of us are returning to our SMC home away from home in the Brazilian Amazon for Jan Term 2026. This page helps us to tell our story and -- even more importantly -- helps us to tell the stories of our friends and hosts in the Amazon . . .
We are in Brasília now, recovering from a long day of flying and a long night of eating huge amounts of meat. We went to a churrascararia that specializes in grilled meats and poultry (they have a huge salad bar, a sushi bar, and lots of other sides too, but who cares?) They have meat on huge skewers that they carve right onto your plate. You even have little tongs of your own that you use to hold it while they cut it. There are no limits, so you just have to pace yourself and make good choices. And even with those two ideas in mind, you are going to overeat. We did. No regrets.
We had some time to talk at the end of dinner about our thoughts on leaving Anã. We all expressed our deep love of the community and the people we met there, along with our joy about the projects in which we participated. But then we started talking even more about what made that community so happy and why we were so drawn to it so quickly. We talked about the things that make life meaningful and how sometimes we forget about meaning or get distracted by trivialities or get burdened by things that are out of our control. We speculated about why our communities at home don't feel as close as the one we experienced in Anã and we thought about ways that we might try to shift things, even if only in small ways. We rethought what it means to be "rich" and "poor." And we tried to think about whether our aspirations for our own lives might be changing. We will have to see how things play out once we return.
Speaking of our return, please SAVE THE DATE for our public presentation of some of our final documentary projects from this class: We hope you will join us on Thursday, February 19, at 7pm in Galileo Hall, Room 201 (we think?), on the Saint Mary's College campus. We will also try to livestream the event, though we don't have that part figured out yet.
We hope to see many of you there and we hope you bring friends, family, neighbors, and anyone else you can think of that might like to see what our experience in the Brazilian Amazon has been like. Of course, we hope to see many of you much sooner than the presentation date. Don't be surprised if we seem a little different. For one thing, our laundry STINKS worse than it has ever stunk. Sorry. For another thing, we have a tendency to try to think in elementary Portuguese. We will try not to be obnoxious about transitioning back to full time English. Most of us are also a little bit speckled from mosquito bites. We hope that those marks will fade soon. What we are sure won't fade is our deep connection to the place that has been our home for these few weeks and our sincere hope that the progress we've witnessed there is only the beginning of a continuing upward trajectory for those who live there.
Many thanks to all of you for supporting this endeavor, following our blog, and keeping us in your hearts throughout our time in the Amazon. We look forward to seeing you on February 19!
It was still raining when the boat motor started around 5:30 or so, but we were so bundled up and content that we managed to return to sleep much better than we did yesterday. Our destination this morning was our camp in Anã, where they would serve us our last breakfast in the pousada. A few people said that it was the best breakfast they had ever eaten, but if we think carefully, it probably wasn't much different from all of the other breakfasts we ate there; it was the occasion that made it special.
When we arrived, many of the kids who have been around us during these weeks were waiting patiently for us to come. They sat politely in chairs as we trickled off the boat and up the stairs, then joined in our breakfast once it started. (They drank coffee! Even the 8-year-olds!) Our table in the pousada was stuffed full, with the kids, our hosts, and us sprinkled all around, no longer staying with "our" group but all operating as one big blob of comfort and familiarity.
After breakfast, we sent Ava and Sofia to the clinic with the nurse because Ava had an exploded blister on her thumb that got infected. They fixed her right up and wrapped her thumb so it is in a huge unbreakable "thumbs up" gesture, which is perfect for this moment.
Before Ava went away, though, we were sure to induct her as the last new member of the Order of the Purple Bike. We had planned from long ago to have her moment be during the boat trip, but the surprise dance lessons meant that we didn't get a moment to do it last night. So we sat around the breakfast table and talked about what a positive force she has been in all of our lives here. Shawny pointed out that Ava (with Guido) had probably more fully embraced all of the early readings for this class than anyone else. She went at those readings with such vigor that she kept bringing them back into the conversation in the following retreats and while we have been traveling as well. She has been on quite a personal journey here. She said that she wanted to think about her style of leadership and improve her collaboration skills. She certainly has succeeded in that quest. She has been a FORCE on the worksite, taking jobs as far as they can be taken in any given day, learning things she didn't already know, being bold (but not too bold), while also questioning her own actions (but not too much). She has offered moving affirmations for all of us at different points in the trip and has formed forever friendships that she didn't foresee. We congratulate Ava for her membership in the Order of the Purple Bike as we thank her for all of her many contributions to our experience here.
Once breakfast ended, we played with the kids a bit, hung out at the vista point a bit, wandered the trails near camp a bit, and then faced the sad reality of packing up our last belongings and carrying them away from Anã. We got them all on the boat and the tears started to well up in most of us long before any of the talking began.
As we gathered on the beach by the boat, Junio took the floor and offered heartfelt thanks to all of us, telling us how much the many DIRT groups over the years have meant to him, his family, and the community. He talked about how deep and real the friendships we have developed here are and made sure to let us know that he and the rest of the community really hope we will return. He told us all to go home and hug our parents and realize that he and the people of Anã will be there with us when we are with our families from now on.
Isabelle spoke for our group and expressed our appreciation once again for how much love the community showed to us. She expressed our hopes for the fish farm, the fish food factory, the clinic, the children's play area, the chicken coop, the garden, the oca, the pousada, and more. And then we all reached our hands toward each of these areas to send our best vibes and positive intentions for all of the great things we hope will happen there. We hugged people over and over and over and then finally made our way onto the boat. Marlina had collected flowers for each of us, and as we pulled away from the shore, we each dropped our flower into the water, with thoughts of people we love, people we've lost, hopes for the future, wishes for the community, or whatever we wanted to send out over the water. Most of us went up on the upper deck of the boat to watch the community get farther and farther away. It doesn't take much distance before you can't see any of the structures there at all, as they are pretty masterfully blended into the landscape.
We headed for a community called Jari, where we hoped to see some animals that we haven't seen yet and we thought that we could fish for piranha. When we got to our first stopping point, we took a nature walk through a unique forest that held trees that are found in few other places and that we can't even spell. One of the greatest features of these trees is that they make perfect habitats for sloths, who love to eat their leaves. We saw six or so sloths doing their thing in the trees (mostly sleeping) and we had little families of yellow monkeys following us down the path. Our boat crew knew that we would benefit from some little chunks of banana as we walked the path and they were right. A few of us got to feed the banana to the monkeys directly and the proprietor/tour guide fed even more of them than we did but it meant that the monkeys came right down within our reach so we were very excited, whether or not we were doling out the bananas. Some of the trees on this short walk were as much as 400 years old, which is awesome to consider.
We then motored farther up the narrow passageways along Jari to see Vitoria Regia, which are those huge green lily pads you may have seen in pictures somewhere. We saw them in person. Some of them are 6 feet or more across and they really make you want to step out onto them and lie down and bask in the sun. They are not strong enough to do that, unfortunately, and they even have big stinging spikes underneath them that discourage that practice anyway. They have huge pink flowers that bloom from them and they apparently smell really wonderful but we didn't get close enough in our canoe to be sure of that.
The same place where the lily pads were was also supposed to be the place where we could fish for piranhas. We were very into this idea, but the person who met us there had been trying to catch some piranhas all day and had failed to get even one. We fished a bit and caught a few other things, but no piranhas this time. Sigh.
We are now headed back to Santarém, where we will be in a hotel tonight, shop for souvenirs in the morning, and then fly away in the afternoon. We only fly to Brasília, where we have a long enough layover to eat at a churrascaria (where they carve meat right onto your plate) and sleep a bit in a hotel there before making our trek to San Francisco, arriving late Thursday night. We need a couple more days together finishing our final projects in a computer lab on campus. We'll have more parting words for you before we see you, as there are many thoughts and emotions swirling as our journey reaches its end. Thanks for traveling along with us; it's been a pleasure.
Tonico, Dona Odila and Junio saying goodbye to this year's SMC DIRT team.
Some community members waving us safe travels as we say goodbye to Anã.
The yellow monkeys at Jari following us since we had bananas to feed them.
The Vitoria Regia we saw in Jari. This particular flower bloomed this afternoon and was absolutely stunning.
A crane waiting for its next meal to show up.
A Sloth quietly watching our group from the trees.
A yellow monkey alpha looking starting the camera down as its next opponent.
A yellow monkey taking a banana from our guide's hand.
When you are trying to go by boat to a place that is an hour and a half away and get there by 6am, the boat has to make loud noises to start up and some big cha-chunking noises to get moving at 4:30. That reality was a harsh one for us to face today. We knew that the brutal wakeup was coming but that didn’t mean it was easy for us. Our plan was to get jolted awake when the boat started up, then go right back to sleep as we motored to our destination. We might have been 50% successful, but maybe not.
Nonetheless, we got to our destination, a small community named Atodi (pronounced ah-toe-GEE), but due to some inexplicable delays, we started into the actual community later than we expected. The plan was to start an 11-kilometer hike just after 6am, but we didn’t really get moving in the right direction until about 8am or so. The hike was supposed to be five hours long if we took the long version and three or more if we took the short version; either of these options would mean we would face some serious heat at some point in that hike. Still, we decided to go for the long hike but just do it really fast. And, oh, what a pace we set!
The hike we were pursuing took us into old growth Amazon rainforest, so we knew it would be worth some suffering. We walked a little over two miles down a relatively flat path at a very fast pace to get to an uphill turn-off to ascend into “the forest primeval.” By that time, a few of us had already figured out they could not keep that pace on a steep uphill path, so they took one of the guides and our friend Ivanete and pursued the shorter path. The other group plowed ahead and kept climbing until they got to a Brazil nut tree (called a “Castanha” here) that is said to be one of the world’s oldest. The guides told them stories of forest spirits and of the uses of the plants, seeds, and bark throughout the forest.
Both groups were accompanied by HUGE bright blue butterflies accompanying us along the path. And we could all hear monkeys and birds calling out through the trees throughout our treks. The long group also got to see a vista out over a couple of the intersecting rivers that gave them some amazing perspective on all that we were immersed in. No matter which group we were in, we rejoined at an igarapê (a waterway between two rivers), where there is a cool water (!) swimming hole lined by some kind of therapeutic clay that makes everyone’s skin really soft.
From that waterway, we all went to see a demonstration of how farinha (manioc flour) is made. It’s a pretty complex process that actually takes several days, but we got the accelerated version of it. The process ends with people tossing the grains in the air over a huge outdoor griddle and any of us who wanted got a turn to try it. Oscar became our clear and indisputable expert.
The “short” group ended up walking about 8 miles today, while the long group must have gone about 10 miles or so. We were spent, but we got back on the boat and ate a great lunch as we motored to our next destination: Vila Brasil.
Vila Brasil is a longstanding community that has just joined the arts and tourism collective through whom we connect with our friends in Anã called Turiarte (pronounced tur-ee-ARCH-ee). Dona Odila was one of the founders of this organization, as she and others realized that they would not be able to make progress without working together to establish networks to help them promote their interests and market their goods. The organization helps communities navigate the intricacies of federal financial laws, organizes some norms of what kinds of goods and services should be available to visitors, and also serves to cross promote the interests of the various groups to help people find their way to these growing communities.
As it turns out, unbeknownst to us, we were Vila Brasil’s first group of visitors. All of the community’s leaders were at the shore to meet us when we arrived, and they were all filming our every move from the moment we came in sight. As they were greeting us and welcoming us, we caught on that these were among the first public presentations that they had given, so we asked about their plans and their dreams and we learned that much of what has happened in exemplary ways in Anã is on the agenda for Vila Brasil next. They already have a very impressive viveiro full of fruit tree saplings, but they don’t have any hardwoods. Anã, on the other hand, has lots of hardwoods and few fruit trees in their nursery. So we think we have started a dialogue between the two to share the bounty they already possess.
Vila Brasil also has a number of artisans who use natural materials to create woven objects and jewelry. They set up a little waterfront store for our arrival and we ended up with quite a bit of their inventory on our boat as we departed (some of it might be coming to YOU, reader!).
We motored to a beautiful sandbar called Ponta Grande (pronounced like it is POON-tuh Grungy). Every DIRT trip to Brazil has stopped at this beautiful oasis; it is likely the only throughline of all of the ten trips so far. We swam and bathed and watched an amazing sunset that first sent orange rays in a huge corona and then blue ones. We were so mesmerized that there might not be any pictures, as no one wanted to divert their attention from the beauty we were experiencing in that very moment.
We had another beach piracaia with more excellent fish and (this time) sausage. The proprietors of our boat then brought out a speaker and some traditional skirts, with the plan to teach us the local dance called Carimbó. The women all got right into the mix and started swinging those skirts and learning the steps along with our male crew members Ruan and Flauvio, who are the sons of our friends Junio/Joelma and Nivaldo/Ivanete. Our male group members were so wrapped up in a conversation about California burger options that they missed out on most of the fun.
We were all still quite tired from our sleepless first night on the boat, so we packed things up somewhat early. Surprisingly, soon thereafter a pretty feisty rainstorm blew up, meaning we had to drop the tarps and move our things to the middle of the deck to keep them from getting soaked. We only partially succeeded. It rained and the wind blew all night, which kept our hammocks swaying but also led to a very pleasant temperature for sleeping, which has been a foreign idea for our whole stay here.
The one other thing we accomplished today was to induct another member into the Order of the Purple Bike: Thomas. Thomas has been probably the most “on it” group member from Day One. Whenever there is a job being done, Thomas is either doing it or running toward it saying “How can I help?” He is one of the most curious people we know, so he asks a lot about the people around him, including our Portuguese-speaking hosts. He is willing to stumble a bit in broken Portuguese to make a connection and it works. The DIRT group of 2017 had installed a water purification system at the camp, but something had gone wrong with its motor in the intervening years. Another visitor had sent a new motor, but no one had tried to install it. Several of us (Jesse, Shawny, Guido, Brendan, and Thomas) started trying to address it, but it was Thomas who actually got the thing to fire up and pump water. There are still a few parts that need to be replaced to prevent leaks, but we think the members of the community can now finish that job and have their system back in play soon. Thomas is also our bug collector. He got fascinated by some of the insects early in the trip, including catching a big spider in the oca on the first day or so. From that moment on, every fearsome bug sparked a call for “Thomas!!!!” and he would come running and address the issue as quickly as possible, usually sparing the life of the bug as he calmed our nerves. We are grateful to have Thomas among us!
A map of Atodi. The hike we walked today is the trail marked in red.
Oscar mixing the farinha and ensuring it is properly cooked through.
Inside the viveiro at Vila Brasil. This viveiro had plant saplings properly marked.
Here is an example of the Goiaba saplings that are growing. These plants are still too young to be traded and transported.
These are the materials used to dye the woven baskets and artwork.
These are the different natural dyes that are used for their art work at Vila Brasil.
The wonderful artisans that helped weave the beautiful pieces.
Arriving to Ponta Grande as the sun was setting.
A tree that is well over a hundred years old provides a rest point on our hike! Here's to a hundred more!
These vines are a ladder for the zogue zogue Monkeys.
The cleansing pool called the Igarapé that had a clay that heals your skin.
Three men fishing on their boat. I wonder if they caught anything!
No alarm today. No wakeup for kitchen duty. No prep for the worksite. No hurry. The sun rose and we were still in bed. But the zoguezogues came and we still got our dose of monkey symphony from our hammocks. We actually caught some audio this time so we will include it below. All but two of us were up by 8am without any prodding and breakfast wasn’t until 9 so we were fine.
We slowly started sorting our things so that we can pack the stuff that is going home all the way down, save a few things to wear in Santarém and Brasília on the way home, and, of course, separate out what we need for the boat trip that will start today. The plan on the boat trip is to visit other communities similar to the one where we’ve been staying. Different areas focus on unique enterprises and community assets, and even when some parts of the communities overlap (like the presence of an ecotourism area like ours), there are big differences that are fun to observe.
We will sleep on the boat in our hammocks for the next two nights, then swing through Anã one last time on Tuesday morning for breakfast and to pick up the bulk of our luggage. We will likely see many of our host friends on Tuesday when we pass through, but with a few of them we are saying farewell today.
We are excited to explore new territory but we are heartbroken to leave our beautiful home. The day is overcast, so we can easily be out on the decks and look at the vast expanse of the rivers we are motoring across. The sky has a few dark clouds, so we might be in for some rain and some cool winds, which we will welcome after our many hot nights in the oca. Our first stop is a point in the river called Caracaraí (sounds like “car-uh-car-eye-EE”), where we will swim and bathe in the river until it’s time to dig a pit in the sand, build a fire in there, and cook some freshly caught fish (not by us), and have a beach piracaia (pronounced “pee-ric-EYE-uh”).
We will check back in later from the boat and let you know about the weather and the amazing dinner we expect to have!
We swam and took in the sunset and the awesome Amazon sky. The boat crew set up a whole dining area on the beach and grilled fish and pork and we all ate like we hadn’t eaten for a long, long time. We had acaí for dessert and then the boat crew lit a bonfire. It burned pretty fast but we sat around it for a while and just kept marveling over the fact that we are in class right now. We feel great sympathy for those who are sitting in classrooms across the country to get their college credits this month.
Our sleeping situation was a bit tighter than we might have imagined but we found a way to get everyone in place. A breeze blew through all night so we actually got to feel the slightest chill. Morning is coming early so we hope that sleep comes easily.
Here are a couple of audio files of the zoguezogues:
The sunset off our boat this evening
Taking a dip in the Arapiuns at dusk
Our boat
Guido and a pitomba
The happy chickens we visited before we left
Casey and James getting off the boat, the Marclei, that we will be staying on for the next couple days!
A snapshot of the breathtaking clouds behind one of the little huts on the beach we stopped at for the night.
We had a beautiful, fiery, sunset tonight! Reds, oranges, and pinks were very prominent against the darkening clouds. On the bottom left, silhouettes of the girls standing on the beach stand under the last light of the setting sun can be seen.
Our delicious dinner spread for the evening! Doña Odila described to us how they usually enjoy their beach dinners and that they usually dig a pit in the sand to roast the fish but were unable to this time due to the way previous people left the sand. The food was still absolutely fantastic (my mouth is watering as I am writing this)
After dinner, we had a bonfire on the beach and played the game
Special note: we have fallen behind posting videos and photos, but we are going to be on a boat for the next few days with lots of opportunities to catch up. Please be patient and we will post as soon as we can.
January 17, 2026
It’s a bittersweet day, as we realize that this is our last day of work in our beloved community of Anã. We welcome the idea of taking a break, but we don’t welcome the idea of saying goodbye. We’ve already taken the jobs farther than they were expected to get in this time period, but we still want more, more, more!
We moved quickly to get to the worksite (everyone in the garden complex, either at the chicken coop or the planting beds). The coop folks finished the door, sealed more of the coop enclosure, and got everything set for chickens to move in. The garden people kept moving through those bagged saplings, freeing them from each other and sorting them for distribution throughout the community. We finally got the hang of removing them from each other without destroying their taproots, sometimes using a posthole digger (called a draga in Portuguese) or machetes. We used those same machetes to take out stumps, some of which we created over the last few days and some of which pre-existed our arrival. Tonico reconnected the pipewater source and Joelma started compiling lists of worthy recipients of some of the valuable starts.
Throughout most of this time, Shawny and Jesse had gone by quadricycle (a 4-wheeled motorcycle like thing that they use for fighting fires, among other things) to the nearby community of Maripá. It turns out that Tonico and Joelma both grew up there and each contacted relatives over there to see if they would sell us some chickens. Tonico’s sister was willing so that’s where they went.
They took a rough ride through a narrow path in the rainforest, crossing creeks spanned by handmade bridges and zooming up slippery slopes while dodging limbs and brush alongside and over the path. They arrived at a bustling chicken farm with chicks, hens, and roosters frolicking all over the place. There was much negotiation over how many of which kinds the farm could spare, and in the end they left with five hens and one rooster. Joelma and Tonico’s sister tied their legs together and stuffed them in a white flour sack for the journey to Anã. Tonico’s son had shown up at his aunt’s house (the chicken farm) on his motorcycle, so they sent the bag of chickens back to the coop with him so they would get home faster.
As he (Ailson) started motoring the chickens toward their new home, the quadricycle people (Shawny, Jesse, Joelma, and the driver) stopped at a fledgling ecotourism site in Maripá on the bank of the Tapajós River. It’s a sweet little beachside eating establishment in a community where very few tourists ever venture. People arrange ahead of time to lunch there, and the proprietor and his mother get everything organized for them. They were aware of our groups and our impact on Anã. They let us know that they had lots of needs and would welcome a visit from the DIRT crew to their community. We’ll see.
Back at the viveiro, Ailson arrived at the garden with his bag of chickens, but only Junio could recognize what was going on. He yelled out “Chickens!” and we all flooded toward the coop following the bag. Junio opened the bag and untied the chickens one by one as some of us watched from inside the coop while others watched from outside. The five hens and one rooster seemed to adapt to their new larger enclosure pretty quickly. Lots of us were filming and we were ecstatically happy. We each fed them a handful of corn kernels and then gathered in the garden area to do a brief reflection led by Marlina.
We talked about how grateful we felt that the community trusted us with their property and their projects. Lots of us talked about our relationships with and affection for Junio, and he, in turn, talked about all that he had learned from us and all that the community had gained because we came. He said that he had more to say but would wait until we were really saying goodbye. Many tears were shed and we are certain that many more will come.
We went back to camp, had lunch, and then got surprised by a real Amazon rainshower, which we haven’t fully experienced in our whole time here. Someone shouted out “laundry!” and we all ran for the lines and frantically grabbed our not-quite-dry clothes. The frenzy was so crazy that once we got our clothes under cover, we immediately ran back out into the rain and frolicked like maniacs. We kicked the soccer ball around, danced, sang, and hugged in huge groups. It was stupid. And it was fun.
Once the rain stopped and we were all wet anyway, we made a run for the river and had even more ridiculous fun. We filtered back up slowly but surely and started to prep for the big soccer games. We drank guarana, which is a highly caffeinated soft drink here. We got ready to be humiliated.
And then we went to the field. Hardly anyone was there, as even the opposing team had not yet shown up. We determined that the women would play first, in a match composed of two twenty-minute periods. Then the men for the same duration. We warmed up a bit and an announcer started hyping up the games on a loudspeaker that could likely be heard throughout the entire community. We got our Brazilian teammates organized with our four US players (Isabelle, Lilly, Ava, and Sofia). And then we noticed on all of the edges of the field that people were starting to come out into their yards and more people came to the same place where we were sitting along the sidelines. The announcer really got going about the importance of this game and about the longstanding relationship between us and the people of Anã.
The game suddenly started and our players were running around like crazy, staying right on the ball constantly and making some amazing blocks and passes. Sofia was particularly feisty out there, as we have never seen her in competition mode before. Ava was wearing literal combat boots to play and we were begging her to use them to slam a ball the length of the field. Lilly was running from side to side and chasing down the Brazilians every time they got things going in their favor. And Isabelle revealed her warrior side as she pestered her opponents relentlessly. Our Brazilian teammates had a few practiced plays that almost worked for us, but our women did not manage to score. The Brazilian team, on the other hand, slipped one over our Brazilian goalkeeper, but we all realized that it was just a great shot that was almost impossible to stop. It looked like we might get another shot off near the very end, but time ran out before we pulled it off. Sigh.
Then came the men’s game. Our men were amped up. As were the Brazilians who were playing on our team. In fact, when the game was about to start, there were 13 players out there in our jerseys and we had to strip out a few of the local volunteers who were hoping to play for our side.
The game started hard and fast. It was clear that it was going to be physical and competitive. One advantage we had going for us was that the day was overcast, so the temperature was not as debilitating as it often is. We definitely met the challenge. James was our goalkeeper and the Brazilians slipped one by him somewhat early in the game. We had some questions about whether the player had actually scored but our challenges were not entertained as valid.
But we did not get demoralized. We reorganized and started driving for the goal. There were some rough personal fouls against us (Taylor took a tumble, bounced off his own chest, spun around, and popped right back up like a ninja) and we committed a couple of fouls as well (Thomas was particularly adept at meting those out). James did some great diving blocks against their shots on goal and Brendan did a fabulous job of hustling around and bothering the Brazilians in the corners into making mistakes on which he capitalized. Oscar looked like he was playing American football at times (but not in such a way that he was breaking any rules) and he kicked some long balls far into our territory to help us make lots of shots on goal. Casey used his height to intimidate his Brazilian foes and pulled off some amazingly precise headers at really opportune moments. Gianni ran around and around the other side, disorienting and confusing them and goading them into mistakes.
But the stars of the show turned out to be Taylor and Guido. Taylor scored the first U.S. goal, just perfectly placing it between all of the aggressive defenders and dropping the ball right in the space it needed to go. He was ecstatic, as was our whole side of the field. The announcer was screaming into the PA system, but you would hardly know it because we were outyelling him by far. And later, Guido, who had been zooming up and down the field like he had been assigned to run laps, pulled off a perfect combination with an assist from Tonico to score the winning goal. Of course, we had to hold them back for a bit before we could be sure that WAS the winning goal, but things worked out in our favor and we reigned supreme.
As we said earlier, we have played quite a few soccer games in this community over the years (maybe 30 or so?) and until tonight we had only won once. That one was a 2-0 victory by the U.S. women over the Brazilians. And now, after all of these years, we have our first men’s team victory! The level of joy on that field after the game was impossible to measure. We took a big group photo with all of us and many of our local friends right out on the soccer field after the game. Taylor and Guido both got interviewed over the PA system and represented themselves and all of us well.
We came home under the understanding that there would be a “cultural night” with our local hosts. But we secretly knew that the kitchen was plotting a surprise party for Jesse’s birthday, which is January 23. He has spent many birthdays here and they didn’t want to miss the chance to do it again, even if we will be back in the U.S. by that date. We actually managed to surprise him and we got to hear and deliver speeches of appreciation. Our hosts were tearing up talking about what our relationship has meant to them and a few of us just could NOT stop crying happy tears of joy out of love for this place. James (whom they call “Maui”) spoke for us and expressed our appreciation for their excellent hospitality and for creating a second home for all of us. He talked about how much we enjoyed the food, the friendships, the community, the work, and everything else that we experienced here. He expressed our love and admiration for everyone we have met here and they were very grateful for his words.
Speaking of James, he is our Purple Biker of the day. We knew a long time ago that we were saving his induction for the soccer game, because we knew he would be the keeper and he would either deserve congratulations or condolences for the game. He was excellent at his job on the field, but he is also a master at the roles he plays in our group off the field. He is an excellent worker who is very committed to the projects at hand, he is skilled at connecting across the language barrier, he is a friendly and warm personality that appeals to everyone, and he has formed deep friendships here that will long outlast this trip. We are fortunate to have James among us and we are happy to induct him into the Order of the Purple Bike!
Funnel Spider inside the wood at the Galinheiro. Will I become Spiderman if it bites me?
This Cricket is huge. It is longer than the charging cable head.
Isabelle holds a funny pose one of the children put her in and pretends to be a robot!
Junis goes to town on a dying limb of a tree with the chainsaw and it is super satisfying when it finally comes down.
Oscar poses with his little frog friend that he named Bernard.
We’ve gotten good at the morning thing, with no resistance to our early morning wakeup call. It’s surprising since we are all definitely experiencing sleep deprivation, partially because we keep staying up not to miss out on anything. When someone is really feeling it, we have them stay in for half a day and most often they rally from there and are fine.
We had a sleepy one yesterday and another sleepy one today, but neither had fevers or other symptoms; they were just tired. We are also feeling some mixed anxieties: one set related to our reluctance to leave next week, another set related to wanting every project to get as far as it can possibly get.
On the coop, we fashioned a door that was much more substantial than the prior one, made with wooden slats. We sealed every hole we could see in the chicken coop, as we intend to have chickens in residence tomorrow. I guess we will find out how well our repairs have gone. The team up there has been 100% committed to taking that project to the next level at every turn. They have great pride in what they have accomplished and rightly so.
The people who are working the garden are feeling equally committed to their task. They get parts of it organized and cleared, but keep finding more and more to do to make it better. They felled a couple more trees at the request of the garden stewards, always preceded by long conversations about the best direction to drop the tree for the highest possible order of safety. They stripped vines and weeds out of the surviving plants in the garden, and continued to rescue transplantable trees for distribution to the community. We found rows and rows of ipe, which we recognize as a popular wood in the U.S. We found dozens of trees that are native to the area, including the precious and endangered jacaranda. Known more popularly as “Brazilian rosewood,” it is not the kind of jacaranda found in the southern parts of the U.S. Perhaps because of its beauty and strength, it was overharvested in the 20th century and is now considered an endangered species. No one can cut down a jacaranda without special permission and no one can use the wood from a newly-felled jacaranda for any commercial purpose. The discovery of these jacaranda starts was like finding a buried treasure. Casey dug three holes in the front of the garden, and we collectively planted three jacarandas up there to serve as the entry point for all who visit. We hope they survive and thrive for many, many years.
We broke for lunch and took an exceptionally long sesta to help everyone catch up on laundry and rest. We considered not returning to the worksite, but then most of us decided to do so. A few opted to stay home and they took care of some jobs that would help all of us. Win win.
Tomorrow is a big day. We will do our last pushes on the garden and the chicken coop. We hope to move some chickens into their new home. We hope to deliver some sapling trees to new homes. And we will bid farewell to those two primary worksites, having already bid farewell to the Tink Tink Tink (which held a gathering today that was similar to yesterday’s meeting for children and families; this one was for “the elderly” and many of the folks we’ve been passing on the road over these weeks were there).
As if these events are not enough, we have another big commitment tomorrow: the Brazil v. U.S. soccer match! We look forward to busting out our new uniforms and running around like maniacs on their field as they zoom past us and outscore us massively. There will be a men’s game and a women’s game, but the women’s team will be highly dependent on some of our Brazilian friends to fill our ranks. The men will need a few extra teammates as well, and we are trying to figure out if the young kids that hang out with us all the time can outrun the older adults or if we need some of those older experienced guys to outsmart those young guys. We will figure it out.
Our reflection tonight focused on the sustainable practices that we have observed or used here that we hope to bring home with us. People talked a lot about efficient use and reuse of materials (including hammering the bends out of nails so they can still be used), about water conservation, about creative use of available items (like the canoes that became planters in the garden or the plastic bottles that become many things here once they are emptied), about accumulating less stuff in general, and about really valuing the people and things that are around you.
We then moved to the induction of our next member of the Order of the Purple Bike: Taylor. You may never meet a person more even-keeled than Taylor is. He certainly can notice things that are worthy of complaint, but he almost always finds a way to overcome the issue. He has connected individually with everyone here, and everyone appreciates him as a listener and a conversationalist. When someone is down, he is particularly attentive to their needs and finds a way to boost them. He has been a central advisor on video planning and he gets a large portion of the credit for our best shot so far (one where they passed the camera through the kitchen window seamlessly). You have probably noticed his beaming smile in some of the selfies related to pickup soccer and the triumphs of the roofing crew. It is a thrill to watch him love his experiences here, which he clearly does. Here’s hoping these last few days bring lots more joy and more huge smiles. Congratulations, Taylor!
The three jacarandas across the front of the garden
