SMC Amazon 2014: Day 16
It’s Jesse’s
birthday!!! More on this later in the
entry . . .
We had mixed results
sleeping on the boat, but no matter how much anyone slept, we all awoke
abruptly at 5:00 when the boat engine turned on to get things rolling for the
morning. We stayed in our hammocks until
about 6:00, had breakfast and then went into the community of Atodí just after
7:00. There, we broke into two groups,
each of which had a local guide, and started a four and a half hour hike
through the rain forest.
Our guides can move
through the forest very quickly and with great ease, so we did our best to keep
up. We started out on a trail that is a
central path between various communities and their source of farinha (the manioc flour that is at the
base of most of what we eat here). The
places where farinha is made started
uphill from the river, near a freshwater source called an igarapé. Even though the
(small) population is now more concentrated near the river, the food production
still remains in its traditional location, meaning that the path that leads to
the manioc huts is pretty well worn.
We were on that path for
about thirty minutes, then diverted out into the forest. In certain places, we were in old growth
areas with absolutely awesome trees and other forms of vegetation unlike
anything many of us had ever seen. There
were enormous palms whose fronds were actually truly 30 or 40 feet long just
standing right off the forest floor.
There were castanha (Brazil
nut) trees, many of which will be raised in the tree nursery we built in Anã,
that seemed like they might have been 100 feet tall. (We aren’t sure if that number is an
exaggeration or not.) The way they
looked from below against all of the other enormous plants and trees around
them and against the beautiful Amazon sky is almost impossible to describe in
words (or pictures). Some of the trees
were so enormous that we couldn’t get any perspective on them with our cameras
to even indicate their size.
We tasted Brazil nuts
fresh from the tree, star fruit, guava, a tree milk that is used to cure colds
and sore throats, and some other fruits and berries selected by our local
guides. We watched monkeys high up in a
tree tasting fruits as well and we noticed when we caught their attention as we
found them staring at us full of curiosity.
Our guides knew about our
work in the other community and they kept pointing out trees that our nursery
would help to propagate. They talked
about fires that had eliminated groves of native trees and about general
deforestation, mostly from outside entities profiting from the sale of the hardwoods
that were harvested without clear planning.
They gushed about how important it is to restore these species to the
rain forest and they assured us that our nursery would play an important part
in this process. We were thrilled.
We swam a bit in the
small fresh stream that we crossed and used the muds along its walls as a
refreshing exfoliating treatment for our skin.
We learned that the mud is used
by organic products companies for just that purpose.
We had lunch in a pousada much like the place where we
stayed in Anã and then went to one of the farinha
huts to take in the various parts of the process involved in making use of the
manioc plant.
Once we said our
farewells in the community, we drove the boat to a long, low sandbar way out in
the river called Ponte Grande (POHN-chee GRUN-jee). All of the SMC Amazon vets will remember this
stretch of sand and beach. We bathed in
the river wearing our swimsuits and then we all walked out to the farthest
point we could reach on foot out on the point of the sandbar. We watched the sunset then came back to the
boat to set up a beach dinner for Jesse’s birthday.
We stayed in awe of the
cloudless Amazon sky (though it’s incredible when big fluffy clouds are
everywhere too) and all of the colors that emerged as the sun dropped below the
horizon. We kept snapping pictures,
knowing they were all inadequate but wishing that somehow we could store and
share the beauty that we are experiencing here.
We sang happy birthday to
Jesse and gave him a feathered headdress much like the one we gave Ali
yesterday. We had a big fish dinner on
the beach and stared at the millions of stars that are visible when there are
no artificial lights anywhere for hundreds of miles. Louro made a very special birthday cake with
chocolate and maybe some pudding and some crunchy cereal stuff on top. It was excellent.
Some people stayed out on
the sand while others headed into the boat to stretch out their hammocks or to
work on videos. Tomorrow we head to
another community, this one with an emphasis on craftwork as its main economic
engine. More on this subject as soon as
we have learned more about it . . .
All,
ReplyDeleteI am so happy that you all get to experience Brazil, but specifically Ponte Grande. I still remember stepping off the boats plank on to the sand. It was a door into another world. I walked with Navarro along the beach as Jesse gamboled in ankle deep water with his ear-to-ear smile exclaiming, "I feel so free!" I hope you all had similar reactions. As far as constantly snapping pictures of the beauty goes - the clouds, the beach, the forest, and of course Jesse - I challenge all of you to leave some of that beauty in Brazil. Look through your eyes and not a lens. Experience that moment and that beauty as life. Reflect on yourself in that moment, let it flow through you until it is part of you and you are part of it. Next time you see beauty that sparks that knee-jerk reaction to grab your camera, don't. Just see it and when its finished appreciate that you were present and leave in peace with a content heart. Having the clarity of mind to see true beauty and not take the picture will forever imprint that beauty in your mind, because it will always be the picture you didn't take.
LOVED this video!! Great job putting it all together for our enjoyment! Looks like you are having a fabulous adventure. (and thank you for the special thank you at the end...!) xoxo
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