The Real Farewell to Anã

 January 20, 2026

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.