Take a picture

Today I found a tick trying to burrow into my skin as I was outside chatting with the girls. My hands itch so much sometimes it’s hard to sleep and I am constantly feeling like something is crawling on me. The southern sun has the most intense rays that burn your skin within minutes if you are not careful. Working out on the farm with 70% humidity, intense direct sunlight and me in pants and a long sleeve shirt. All the while the mosquitoes are eating away at me and the giant fly bottuca is buzzing violently in my ear. These are some of the temporary discomforts one might feel while living in the forest…

Sometime I wonder if I am crazy and tiffany and I laugh and say “well if we can’t do this now, we’ll never be able to do it.” And I think we’re right; sometimes it’s better to live in discomfort to be able to really live. Being here on this mountain, in this forest, with these women has been more real and true than anything else. Cut off from society, from Internet and television, from pop culture, from traffic and pollution and smog may just be worth the eternal scratching of my bites.

To use the Internet we must walk 30 minutes to the bus and then we still have a one-hour transit period. The ride is beautiful.  We pass by farms, and mountains and people. Sometimes I feel like were on the set of Jurassic park or we are living in a place that isn’t real, its just so beautiful it almost seems fake.  Once we get to the city Morretes we are happy to be in the company of other folks and we are free to wear shorts because we know we are safe (just for a while) from insects. 

Then we go back home to our small town called Rio Sagrado where everybody knows our name, they know where we are from and they know what we are here to do. Within 30 minutes we have stopped to kiss and talk to 3 families, we are integrated, this is it! We get home to our little house and Chris is waiting for us with the most delicious dinner you could ever imagine and we talk and drink coffee and eat.

To try to paint out Chris in words doesn’t do her enough justice but in this poem I hope to try and convey who she is:

Chris

           

She’s the smallest warrior you ever saw

She has the biggest heart and the biggest mouth

The whole town’s gossip is now mine

This place is no longer a village

             It is our village

When she screams it makes you laugh

How could she ever hurt an ant

As she smacks a bee and knocks it dead

She’s so cute.

She knows the land and understands lunar cycles

She understands centuries of knowledge

And she’s scared of heights!

Chris, I wish I could hug you all day

And put my feet in your boots and work your fields forever

Girl, you my hero

And you can’t even understand this!

This next collection of words tries to embody everything that is around me

In a few words our life looks like this:

My life with Ti in Rio Sagrado with Chris

We live with

45 chickens

3 grown dogs

2 puppies

One quacking duck

1 black cat

1 Large-flying cockroach

And with…

2.5 Brazilians

Daily we experience…

A sun full of sky

A sky full of mosquitoes

Mountains

Manioc

Music

And (because food is an experience)…

Beans

Rice

Bread

Jabuticaba Jelly

Coffee

Our activities include…

Laughter

Gossip

Strength

Emotion

This is the Brazil I love.

So basically, Every day is a challenge and a victory!

We are lucky to be able to go on a little vacation this weekend. We are going to Foz do Iguacu, these amazing waterfalls located in western tip of the state of Parana and bordering both Argentina and Paraguay. We are meeting up with a great friend and are going to have a temporary stay away from the beasts in the forest; I think it will be nice! We’ll be able to play in a different place and in a different way. Foz boasts the country’s oldest national park so we will most definitely be aproveitando (taking full advantage of) this place and hiking around. Should be fun, tomorrow tiffany and I have a ten-hour bus ride to look forward to and an epic weekend up a head… adventure is out there!

Love,

L

Beer and Futebol

Morretes, PR, Brasil

30/10/2010

Curacu, the best tasting Brazilian beer; it’s dark and sumptuous and just makes sense.

Two American girls in a small bar order two beers.

It doesn’t take more than 30 seconds to realize that we are the only girls at this bar. Hasn’t this happened before? This scene is quite common in small Brazilian towns. It sure beats walking into a brothel for a beer… but that’s a whole different story.

Back to the bar, and the girls. Two beers, and two girls and one table and one conversation and music, Jim Morrison- The Doors, oh yah that’s right I am from Los Angeles, and Jim… he was too.  Small laughter from the girls, then Offspring comes on and then Pink Floyd, we catch ourselves singing and wanting to join in on the fun.

A drunk Brazilian man asks us where we are from. “America” we exclaim!

“Oh really, which part?”

 I proudly smile and say, “California”, always a winner around these parts!

We small talk in English until the man realizes we speak Portuguese and then we have a real conversation.

“So girls, the bar is going to close down in 15 minutes because of futebol.”

“Huh, you are going to close down your bar, on a Saturday when you could be making money for futebol?”

“Yes, finish up your beers!”

I quietly tell Ti what is going on and we figure it would be nice to join in on the fun. There is promise of a barbeque at this match and we have not eaten all day, hence the beer. We slyly ask the boys if we could join them and we are received with a very enthusiastic yes. We get in a car and arrive at the field.

In Morretes they have a soccer tournament once a week where the community members get together and play. We sit down at the table with other folks and I eat a pastel and relish in its amazing flavor. The game has started and Ti orders another beer, we get lost in conversation and forget to watch the game! “DOH!”

We are meeting a friend at the bus station so we leave hastily and laugh at the situation. We always end up in the best places; we’re lucky that way.

Thoughts from the top of a mountain

 

Morretes, PR, Brasil

1/11/2010

 Abrolhos

The wind running across my head and through my hair could be no more pleasant than a kiss from my love, it reminds me that the world is unforgettably beautiful and that freedom is real, and that maybe one day it will “ring from sea to shining sea.”

The walk up the treacherous mountain, stopping every few minutes to stabilize our breath, walking up 90 degree slopes, and up water streams, and through the forest, these are some thoughts from the top of the mountain:

How did we get here? To Brazil? To the world? To this magnificent place?

None of these questions have answers and none of these questions matter. The only things that matter are these sights, this feeling of accomplishment, and this feeling of insurmountable joy.

Conjunto de Marumbi, a mountain chain surrounding Morretes has been climbed by thousands of tourists and even more locals, It’s importance to the small town in Brazil is immense, it is a playground for children to discover the rainforest, to discover the strength of their bodies and the amazing things it can do for you when you push it and pull it up steep mountain sides.

I’ll never forget this wonderful day, the fear I felt climbing down the mountain, sliding instead of walking and ripping holes through my pants. Conversing with a young traveler in French, laughing at myself, and falling and getting back up and doing it all over again.

Marumbi

You have shown me

That anything is possible

For a young girl like me.

Halloween

“Hey it’s Halloween”- L

 “ So lets dress up as girls”- Ti

Today is the 31^st of October 2010. We are in Brazil now, in the state of Parana in the small city of Morretes spending some time with Rafael and his wife Priscila, a true dynamic duo.

We met Rafael this Friday when he took Ti and I to get to know this Agro-Forestry project out in Antonia (hence the poem). We spent a nice day there learning and getting to know a lot of great biologists and agro-ecology students. It seriously might have been one of the greatest days in my youthful life. Everything was perfectly still and beautiful. The agro-forestry project they are undertaking is so brilliant. It consists of planting over 50 different species of crop plants that mimic the structure of a 3 strata forest with a combination of shade grown crops and climax species and nitrogen fixers etc etc. It was so amazing. We spent some time engaging in illicit activities that truly enhanced our experience. We walked down to the waterfront with the owner of the farm and stood in awe at the world. Before us was a large water way surrounded by bountiful trees and totally surrounded by these tremendous mountains with fog clinging over them. Then we could hear the sounds of a million buzzing insects and then it came over me this is where I belong.

Brazil continues to amaze me with its secret places and spaces. It is a country so rich in culture, and color and undying love for everyone. It never stops. It slowly exposes itself and with careful attention you can start to uncover its secrets. This country is so precious; it has triumphantly taken over my heart! VIVA BRASIl!

Back to the statement about Halloween. Ti and I can be found any given day in our hiking boots, hiking pants (mostly covered in dirt) and a t-shirt with a sports bra. Some day we sport bandanas, other days we do not. We mostly look like trabalhadores –workers and we have gotten quite used to this.

So today when the sun was shining and we woke up at 10 am (the latest we have woken up since this trip commenced) and we showered and I said that it was Halloween, Ti said “hey lets wear dresses and be girls” and it caught me off guard and then I burst into laughter. Oh yea… “lets be girls” what a funny concept. Femininity has been transformed into sweat, and the occasional night of gossip. But our clothes have remained neutral.  Today were going to dress up like girls and be girls. We’ll go out on the town and talk to artisans, enjoy the breeze and the cold water in the river. Maybe well buy a dress, or have a cocktail but mostly we are just going to enjoy this temporary “normalcy”; these days off from the field, in a small town in the South of Brazil. And we will celebrate Halloween by mocking these gender norms and parading ourselves around as “girls”. Happy Halloween to Ti and Lazz.

Working back to a couple of weeks ago we were in the Amazon city Manaus. The capital city of the Amazon state Amazonas.

We were in the capital of Brazil, Brasilia studying the worlds most bio-diverse Savannah termed “Cerrado” in Portuguese. 

We were in the Pantanal, one of the most amazing, unique ecosystems in the world. A huge wetland in the center of Brazil in the state of Matto Grosso. Two flights and a three-hour bus drive down an unpaved road and we had arrived to the Pantanal.

During this time we slept in hammocks with bug nets, we washed our clothes in the shower after every field day because of all the sweat that had accumulated in our clothes. We showered in pairs, in threes; everyone was welcome to join the party of cold water on stinky, sweaty bodies. Sometimes we woke up at 6 in the morning to collect insects, other times we were up early to go research Palha Branca in the Amazon. Other times we stopped to look at two Scarlett macaws chasing each other in the sky or stopped to pick mangoes off the tree. We went horseback riding and witnessed the most beautiful sunset; we saw amazing birds, and amazing trees. We built amazing memories. We ate copious amounts of beans and rice and vegetables. I had my first bite of fish and got infested with chiggers. My body still itches and remembers the little horrors of the jungle that suck your blood and leave you crazy. I remember the heat and the sweat and the thirst. And the moments when everything was quiet at the world seemed so perfectly beautiful and immense.

The past month of my life has completely changed everything. I could be no more certain that this life is worthwhile and these places are worth saving and that the environment is the most important thing. Being here has helped to slow me down; it has created a macro lens in which I can see the world. Every sound is significant, every bird, every leaf, every piece of soil, bacteria, ant, fruit, seed (I hope you get the picture).  Now I am working with Ti (Tiffany Lotz) on a manioc farm in the middle of this rural community in the Atlantic rainforest.  We work with a woman Chris who makes manioc flour, tapioca, cultivates manioc, coffee, and many exotic fruits. We work with her during the day and at night share meals, learn how to cook and talk about life, religion, love, and death, everything from A-Z. Chris is incredible. She is a single mother of an amazing 6-year-old boy named Tiago and she runs this operation with the help of her friend Hespeditto. She has incredible force! She is one of the more interesting, loving women I have ever met. She has the best sense of humor and is so open to broken Portuguese from an American city girl like me, oh ya and now an American girl with very little hair... woopie!! To answer any questions about uncertainty with the hair, my sole response is when in Brazil… shed the old bring on the new! Brazil, te amo.

In true Brazilian tradition every day gets better and everything slows down to the perfect tempo.

Today I am sitting in Rafael’s room listening to the Black Eyed Peas and thinking about all the happiness in my life and all the joy and luck I have. 

Paz y amor from the motherland,

L

Love comes in many forms

Antonina

PR, Brasil 29/10/10

I love you because you scare me

To escape this fear I must stand still

Or run like hell

I love you because you’re the first thing that I know that’s real

I love the sounds that surround you,

A young girl’s laughter,

The songs of the birds

And the sights…

The vines,

The epiphytes,

The leaves.

Take me to this special place

I already miss it there

Take me past fields of corn

And banana trees

Sunflower seeds and

Machetes.  

These are a few of my favorite things..

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens.."

These past few days (in true Brazilian fashion) have been incredible. I am in the city of São Paulo. It is the biggest urban center in South America and the birth place of a very special person in my life; Rodney Neves De Mello (this special person is my father). He lived here for many years and (naturally- i am very curious) I wanted to discover this place. Papa grew up in a city called Diadema, it is located on the periphery of the big city Sao Paulo and in the State of Sao Paulo. I came here to see the house he grew up in, to see things he might have seen and to feel a certain energy that was once a part of his life. Papa told me that it used to be very different in Diadema, there were more trees and less people. I felt the absence of these things, and I especially felt the absence of my father. Papa, I always wanted to come here with you, but you left me no choice but to come on my own!

I was greeted at the airport by my beautiful cousin Cintia! She is the daughter of my father´s closest cousin Walkirya. She is so incredibly beautiful, and so loving and so funny. We talked for hours on end and then I met her mother who is a very important figure in my father´s life (first kiss!!) she is like a sister to him and meeting her was like meeting my aunt, it was awesome! We chatted and they told me so many stories about my dad, and I just kept writing down everything they were saying! We invited more family over and I discovered that contrary to what I thought I have A LOT of family in Brazil! More than twenty people who are still alive and whom I must meet!!

The next day we went to vote because everyone in Brazil is REQUIRED to vote! It was a fun experience, my cousin took me into the voting booth with her and everything here is electronic ( this makes so much sense, the US really needs to convert to this system). The streets were full of people and there was so much traffic!! In Brazil during election time they are not supposed to sell alcohol it is prohibited. But I quickly learned from my cousin that in Brazil many things are prohibited but... they are not. You cannot do many things BUT you can do everything. I like that about Brazil, rules are meant to be broken, the sooner we understand that the better! We went to the house where my father lived and I even asked the woman who lived there if I could please enter and she said no... urgh!! Later i went to the house of my father´s first childhood friend Helio! Oh, the happiness I felt when i saw him! He came to visit my father in 1994 when I was five and I remember him and I remember the photos we took together. My father loves this man so much so consequently I do too! What a happy happy day!! Later we went to meet other family members and my heart was full of joy (still is).

Before leaving to vote my cousin and I went around her property (she lives on a beautiful piece of land with a lake many birds, trees etc) and we were chased around by a peacock! Never have I been so scared of something so beautiful! It must  be mating season here in Brazil so this bird is very hormonal and could have hurt us really bad. My cousin and I were running around like maniacs and then we got into the house and could not stop laughing.. we were being chased by a peacock, this is absurd!

Today, I spent the day in the city and went to the University of Sao Paulo where my dad got his degree in Philosophy! The school is sooo cool and so big! I walked through the halls imagining a day long ago when a young, hopefuly, idealistic papa was walking through those same halls. It was fun! I kept wishing that it could be the end of the 1970´s so I could talk to my dad! Later I met my grandma Heroina´s twin sisters Erecina and Edith. I never met  my grandma and they told me so many beautiful stories about her. They were crying when they were talking about her, they miss her alot. I miss her too, and it hurts a lot that I never met her. I love her though and I think of her often so I hope that is enough.

Tonight Courtney and I go back to Curitiba and tomorrow morning we leave to Brasilia the capital of Brazil. There we will study the Cerrado, the Brazilian Savannah and by October 9th ill be in the capital city of Amazonas MANAUS. I am so excited for the following weeks where the program travels North. We are going to enter the tropical Brazil that I am so anxious to know about!! I do not know how much access I will have in the North but I know that it will be the adventure of a lifetime.

Until then I send you all a warm kiss.
Lazzuly

Pontal du Sul, 30 days in Brazil.

Oi friends!! Greetings from the coast of Parana!!
We are currently studying marine biology and conservation at an extension of the Universidade Federal do Parana`s center for marine science and education on the beautiful coast! These last few days have been phenomenal! Leaving Curitiba was sad but this place is great! I got to say Brazil gets better everyday and my love grows, it grows so much!

We are learning about birds, so many birds!! My favorite one is the brown booby! The most magnificent creature I have EVER seen. We were working with the people at the rehabiliation center and got to see penguins, birds, sea lions and a turtle!! SOme of the folks much braver than I got to feed the penguins!!! So cute, my heart melted!! We have been taking walks on the beach and finding far too many dead birds but we have learned a lot from these deaths. We must be more careful with our damn consumption patterns because these behaviors hurt wildlife all over!

Yesterday however was the best day, arguably one of the best of my life. We got to take a boat ride to the Ilha do mel (Honey Island) hiked around the forest and in the sand. Went swimming in warm water, massaged eachother, splashed water and drank caipirinha`s on the beach ( in true brazilian fashion!) we drank brazilian beers and enjoyed the island and eachother and the magnificent ocean and trees and ahh!! Only words AHHHHH i loove it here!! On the way back to land they played music on the boat and everyone got down and danced for thirty minutes! I sat on the boat and drank a SKOL and could not stop smiling, damn i love these people, i love this place, thank god this exists, please i never want it to end!

We spent today surveying and mapping burrowing owl nests and they were so cute, then it rained on us and we were soaked and very unhappy but then we got to change and went back to the marine center to study macrofauna and benthic organisms and got invited to a beach party by cute brazilian hippies!! We are all excited to practice our portugeuse and make some new friends.

I am looking forward for the things we have planned for the week; dissecting a sea turtle, releasing penguins back into the ocean and more talks and more fun!

Viva Brazil.

Amor y Paz

Lazzuly