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