Day Eleven: Into Atodi

Day Eleven, Saturday, January 17: Into Atodi

Here's a slo-mo video of one of the cooks tossing the farinha:

We awoke to a slight drizzle on Caracarai and to the sounds of kitchen noise and boat cleanup.  The crew just did whatever they needed to do, as did the cooks, and the fact that we were still sleeping was immaterial to their actions.  Because we remain so excited to be here, we don’t mind.

We had a lovely breakfast that did NOT include the food that we have eaten for every breakfast since we arrived in Anã: manioc.  Connor paraphrased Bubba from Forest Gump by saying: “There’s fried manioc and boiled manioc and manioc donuts and manioc squares and manioc cake and manioc crepes and manioc . . . “  We were getting a little sick of manioc, though we respect the range of uses to which the locals have put this essential local crop.  Today we had ham and cheese and lots of fruit and passion fruit juice, along with a cake NOT made from manioc.  Ahhhhhh.

We did some project work on the boat while Shawny and Jesse went to scout a new location in a motorboat.  They loved part of what they saw so we are planning to return tomorrow so we can all see it.  But first, we made our way to Atodi (pronounced like: ah-toe-GEE) to check out that community. 

Atodi has a guesthouse and area like the one where we stay in Anã.  They have a little song they sing when guests arrive and they have two special events that they offer.  One is a demonstration of the entire process for creating farinha, the cornmeal-like base that becomes a topping called farofa for almost everything we eat. 

The process is very complex and involves soaking the original plant (the manioc of which we have grown so tired), peeling it, grinding it, mixing it, straining it, squeezing it, and dry roasting it until it is crunchy and great.  It’s a pretty long but interesting process and we got to participate in different parts of it.

The second event that Atodi offers is a rain forest hike that we will undertake tomorrow.  For tonight, we are going to eat dinner in the community and then do some project work in the evening. 

We came down to our waiting boat and discovered that there was a faint cell signal available from our roof!  So now we are frantically trying to connect and post blog entries if possible. 

We’re cutting this entry short to try . . .

Daily Photos

Stephen sitting on the roof of the boat, watching the sunset over the village of Atodi.

The night's dish crew, Equipe Bananas Bacanas, sporting their colorful aprons.

The sunsets of the Amazon rainforest are always spectacular.

A bunch from the group desperately seeking WiFi from the roof of the boat to update the blog.

The Brasil flag blows in the wind in front of an immaculate sunrise over the river.

Community members sifting the farinha, another part of the cooking process. 

Sunset yoga on the beach of Caracarai.

The first step in preparing the manioc root to be cooked.

A father and son sharing a laugh in Atodi.

Carlos teaching everyone how to properly fluff up the farinha.