SMC Amazon: Back to Work

January 13, 2026

Marlina’s birthday dinner went longer than usual, especially because so many of our local partners were at the pousada with us. We whispered around the table that we would skip our reflection conversation for the night and do the Order of the Purple Bike induction over breakfast. There was no way to gather as a group and “meet,” so many of us decided to make our way to the river beach below our camp and stargaze. We saw lots of shooting stars and made lots of (secret) wishes, but we also realized that for many of us, our wishes are already coming true right here right now.

Breakfast included leftover cake and as we finished, we began the induction ceremony of the newest entrant into the Order of the Purple Bike: Guido. Guido is a wild card like no other, but who wouldn’t welcome a truly valuable wild card in their hand? He has unique energy, unique perspectives, a 100% unique laugh, and a unique way of being in the world. He forms his own personal reflection circle, as he is constantly evaluating his behaviors, adjusting them when needed, celebrating them when they are admirable, and exploring what alternatives might be available. He is in a hurry all the time but is working to slow things down and absorb things in the moment. He takes a few risks (nothing dangerous) and is willing to make necessary adjustments if they don’t work out. He has the highest levels of curiosity of all of us and uses his curiosity as a key to connecting with our hosts, particularly by running right out onto the soccer field or into the free kick competition and smiling his way through it all. Guido is creative, receptive, adaptive, and reaching for a form of transcendence that is probably not too far from his grasp. We welcome Guido into the Order of the Purple Bike!

Our jobs today might not seem like they involve much new information, as we returned to the garden, the chicken coop, the children’s area of the health clinic, and the fish food factory. We made good progress in each, while also learning how slowly some of these projects progress (especially brick laying!). We have big fantasies about getting chickens for the coop before we leave, so a LOT needs to happen to make that possible. We would also like to plant some of the new starts that will help the garden thrive again, but we need for the materials (and the experts who know what to do) to all be in the right place at the right time to make that happen.

At the fish food factory, our crew cleaned the machine to perfection, though they were thwarted in making forward progress by the fact that there seems to be an electrical disconnect somewhere in the system. We will need some help with that issue.

We are leaving for our boat trip (an excursion to other neighboring communities to see the similarities with and differences from Anã) on Sunday, so our workdays are already dwindling if we are going to finish any (or all) of these projects. And we have our big USA v. Brasil soccer matches on Saturday, which will largely wipe us out on that day. Still, we have big dreams of seeing chickens in the coop and sprouts in the garden and doors on the playroom before we leave. We think it all seems possible.

Our second round of work helped us crank things even farther and also gave us another chance to talk on the community radio station. We, of course, used the opportunity to express our apologies about how badly we are going to beat them in soccer this weekend. (Um, just for the record, we know that this result is highly unlikely. In all of our years of visiting Anã, usually playing at least four games per visit, DIRT USA has won exactly one game.) They asked us to play some music and sing a song on the airwaves and we obliged.

We also saw a woman struggling with some high branches in a tree in her yard and asked if we could help. It turned out that she wanted to cut out the top branches (it’s a tree that will regrow quickly), so some of us got involved and Jesse used a machete to cut out the top of it while the rest of us dragged the branches around the back of the house to be cut up.

Some of us ran over to the soccer field after work and played some 5-on-5 games where we actually scored a few goals. A few of us even took on Guido on an otherwise all-Brazilian team. When we got home, we ate dinner kind of quickly and then went down onto the beach, turned off our lights, and did our reflection in the sand under the light of the stars.

We talked about things that we knew would be hard for us here that we’ve learned to overcome, and things that we thought would be hard that turned out to be easier than we guessed. People talked about their struggles with “embracing the chaos” and “pivoting” on a regular basis, though everyone is pretty used to those ideas now. Some talked about the heat and humidity; others about the sand that is constantly underfoot. We all acknowledged that people are doing really well at holding things together here, especially in this non-negotiable intense group setting.

We then did affirmations and heard about a lot of the impressive actions of recent days and the ways that different people held each other up. We had a lot of praise for “everyone,” as we remain pretty impressed that we have found a way to be healthy and happy and cohesive even when there is every reason to find such a state impossible to achieve.

The affirmation session included a lot of references to our latest Purple Biker: Gianni. Gianni is a leader and was so before he ever joined this group. But he has really become one of the prime navigators of the workspaces we join, the personalities within our group, and the group of friends with whom he registered for this class. He wishes he could be more connected to his family at home and we are all aware of it. But he continues to find strength and provide support for all of us, especially on our jobs. Though he doesn’t speak Portuguese, he is one of our primary translators, as he and Junio have found a way to connect across Junio’s Portuguese and Gianni’s Spanish. Gianni is a motivator and maintains high spirits at all times. He is also open to suggestions and really takes them to heart as he considers how to make use of the advice he hears. Everyone has felt uplifted by Gianni at one time or another. Thanks, Gianni, and welcome to the Order of the Purple Bike!

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We caught some audio of the howler monkeys (guaribas) today just with a cellphone. We have some more serious mics that would help but we don't have them at the ready when we are getting up in the morning. You'll at least get a sense of the sound, but we assure you that it is much louder here on the spot. It's that hum/growl/roar/machine noise in the background. You might think it's wind; it's not. Thomas says "it's like the sound they use in a movie when they want you to think it's really tempestuous outside." We'll keep trying on the zoguezogues.