Montana Beija Flor - Leila Land

Helllo friends and lovers,

I am in Brazil! Been here for two weeks and so much has happened it´s hard to know where to begin.

We arrived in Miami two weeks ago and ten strangers were akwardly talking and getting to know eachother. Now we are family and can surely hold a conversation.

We arrived in Sao Paolo to then transfer to curitiba, spent a couple hours in the city and then off the the Mountain Reserve. We arrived  late at night, one hour up this incredible mountain and into a lovely ´paradise! a biological reserve like no other! when we arrived we were greeted with kisses from Leila, the owner of this reserve- she owns 50 ha of land and is making it into a national reserve. It is so beautiful. We slept in a bunk house, ten of us, 7 people one side, three on the other. We stayed up late every night talking and discovering each other. I have made great friends, and they are all wonderful!!

Everday we were served fresh bread, butter, jam, cake, coffee and tea for breakfast, fresh vegetables, salad, juice, beans, rice, manioc for lunch and for dinner we always had soup! Yummy yummy soup!

We had classes in a hut next to the water and learned about deforestation, frogs, birds, ethnobotany and the list goes on. We were taught by this man names Andre whom I love! We walked up this hill everyday to make phone calls and passed through patched of olf growth forest, and banana plantations and palmeiro plantations... this is sad but words cannot truly explain!


This program is incredible!! We are literally being taught by the leading scientist in this country about everything ecology, conservation, resource management. I am learning so much!! We went to a private forest reserve and walked for 7 km through this amazing patch of undisturbed land, it was like a fairy-tale to be there!! I am eager to share pictures and I will do so very soon.

It is hard to fill the gaps on these past two weeks so while in Curitiba I will try and add to this post and show images and try to explain what has happened in the last two weeks, because it seems like a dream.

I am so happy here, I love this country, I love these mountains and these birds, I love the call of frogs at night, and the clouds from the forest rolling into the dining room. I love the forest and its people, I love the artisans and their crafts and mostly I love seeing this all first hand because it is incredible!

The Atlantic coastal rainforest has been destroyed so much that less than 7% of the original forest remains. I have a special place in my heart for this forest, and I will never forget it! Luckily, I got an internship working on a manioc farm so I will return to this magical paradise in October and savor every second of it.

Love you guys!
L