Wrap Up, or as Close as I Can Get

First of all I apologize for not wrapping up our experiences sooner. The last month of our trip was a whirlwind, and the couple of months that we’ve had back in the US have been as well.

Obviously we made it home, but I know that I can speak for Andy too when I say that we left a part of our heart in Brasil. I’ve had numerous people ask “so, how was it?” and the stock answer is: we formed relationships with people down there that will last a lifetime; it would be insulting to never go back. So many people have touched our lives, and in the reciprocal nature of traveling, we have touched theirs a well.

One of the hardest things about coming back is talking to people about what we experienced. Part of it is that we’re still processing all that happened; the other part is that it is a rare person who is genuinely interested. Few people want to sit through the thousands of photos we took…and I’m not complaining. It’s just the truth. There’s just no way to convey all that we feel and think about an entire culture in 30 seconds at the water cooler. So, the answer you’ll hear (unless we have some serious time together to talk) is “it was wonderful, a life-changing experience.” And, you know what? that’s exactly what people want to hear.

The question we hear most often is “what was your favorite?” Honestly, what kind of question is that? It begs a vague answer…the people, the food, the mountains… How can that tell a listener anything more than they probably already knew?

Or they want to hear about the bad things. The malnourished children, the terrifying bugs, the death-defying traffic or the anti-American sentiments…and all those things are true, but I’m hesitant to include them in a reader’s digest version of our trip because they all need to be explained in context. Rarely do the reasons (or even the justification) for seemingly horrifying things come to light in a short conversation. Crazy traffic issues involve pot holes, weather, negligent governments, and Brasilian fatalism, and all sorts of other complicated things. Malnourished children are the product of resource mismanagement, lack of education, and an entirely different way of thinking about nutrition. Bugs that look awesome and horrifying to us are often useful or even revered for what their presence signify (the giant grasshoppers that show up once there’s been enough rain for example). And the multitude of political discussions I got into and definite anti-American feelings we sometimes got? Well, we just hope that we’ve helped change the international American stereotype for at least a small group of people. What people rarely want to hear is how similar we are. How much Brasil felt very much like home... How the one thing we really learned is that people the world round desire and deserve the same things.

As I go back through this post I’m getting a resounding resentful and negative vibe, and that’s not what I mean to convey at all.

Brasil was wonderful. It was complicated and confusing and wonderful. And really the only way for someone to truly understand is to go there… Or to sit through hours of our photos and hear the story behind each :o). To learn the names of the people we met. Because they are real. They’re still there in the mountains and the cities. They live and breathe just as we do. I think our blog is a good way to start understanding our struggles and joys. We tried to explain what we were experiencing while it was going on. Even I go back and read the posts and remember things that are already fading…that makes me sad. Some day the memories I have will need to be reconstructed around photos and journal entries. It’s a good thing we plan on making more. And if you really are interested in what we learned and how we grew, we would LOVE to talk to you. Just budget in some serious time :o)

One more thing: these are all our impressions. Made through the lenses of our Western, White, Female and Male, English-speaking, Andy and Caitlin eyes. There is no way to leave that identity behind and of course it filtered our experience. You could have a completely different impression.

There’s so much more to know. So much more to be immersed in and try to understand. Honestly though, as hard as I may try, Brasil defies explanation. It must be experienced.

On Our Way Home

Though it's difficult to believe, our bags are packed. We leave Sobral today for Fortaleza. We'll spend the night there and fly out tomorrow (tuesday). I called this last month, O Mez das Lagrimas, the moth of tears because we've had to say goodbye to so many amazing people. The only ones left today are Dani and Joe...probably some of the hardest since we lived with them for so long.
We got back from Belo Horizonte a couple days ago, visiting "our Brasilians" the ones that lived in Spokane last year. It was a wonderful week. When we have time I'll write more and post some photos, though for the most part we'll be seeing all of you soon. Dione is here with us, and that has made these last to weeks even more wonderful.
Say a little prayer for us while we're flying, Tuesday and Wednesday. We love you all and hope to see you soon. We have lots of stories to tell.
Here's some photos from the beginning of Dione's trip when we took her up to Serra Verde:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2051835&l=c5d55&id=28201280
She's already MUCH tanner, dang Hawaiian...
Beijos

Maceio de Novo (Maceio again)

Sorry for the long time between updates, we’ve been quite busy. If I were to write about everything, you’d be reading this blog for weeks, so I’ll try and hit the high points and let some photographs do the rest of the explaining.
We spent a week in Maceio visiting my host family from the last time I was here. It was a wonderful, love-filled time (not to mention we went to the beach every day :o)). We got to be there for the college graduation of my host sister Dani. This meant that there were a lot of people there in Ildiomar’s house (Dani’s Aunt). Dani studies in Maceio and lives with her Aunt and Uncle, but her family is from Minas Gerais, another state. I think more than 15 people came from out of town. Since Andy and I are a couple, we were some of the privileged who got an actual bedroom. Anyone who was single (even if it was just because their spouses didn’t come) slept in the living room with all the kids :o).
Like I said before, almost every morning was spent on the beach, and then every afternoon there was some activity to do for Dani’s graduation. The best part was seeing her mom and dad and siblings. They traveled to Maceio from Almenara (their little town in Minas) and were there for the same week. I hadn’t seen them since the week I spent in Almenara in 2006, and even though I only stayed with them for a short time, I really came to look at them as my Brasilian family. Ildiomar and Alcimar always felt more like an aunt and uncle to me than parents.
On top of the family visits Andy and I went back to UFAL (the university where I studied) and saw my Brasilian professors. We spent one whole day with Ana Maria Lopez, the professor that I did research with. That same day we met up with Francisco. He studied in Spokane last year during the second year of the exchange program I did. He’s since graduated and he’s now working on his masters degree in electro-chemical synthesis.
It was wonderful going back to Maceio and feeling right at home. I even remembered what buses Andy and I needed to take in order to get around. That gave us a certain amount of autonomy and freedom which was wonderful. We were able to travel and visit places and people without worrying about how to get home, or paying a taxi an arm and a leg to get us there.
This all sounds so dull when I try to list everything we did. It’s better just to show you. So, here’s a link to the pictures we’ve posted:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2051185&l=cc365&id=28201280
I’m trying to think of any funny or interesting little anecdotes from our time there… Well, Andy and I were both stung by jellyfish. That’s officially a first. It hurt like hell, and I don’t think I’ve ever swam for shore that fast before. We asked a man selling beer what would be the best thing to do and he said put some ice on it, so we did and that helped. Later we bought some coconuts to drink and the vendor said to open the coconut and put some of the white coconut flesh on the sting, and you know what? It helped. I love native knowledge! I still have a red mark but Andy’s is healed.
Hmm…anything else quickly…Andy got his teeth fixed. You can’t even tell they were broken. I’m not sure how good of a job it was, I’m not dentist, but it will at least protect the broken parts until we get back!
We said goodbye to all our friends in Serrinha yesterday. We won't have time to go up and see them again before we leave. It was a wonderful, tear-filled trip...but that will be an entire blogpost on its own. Soon, I promise.
Monday (tomorrow) we pick up our great friend Dione at the Fortaleza airport!! I’m so excited to physically share our experiences with someone. We’re actually all taking the same international flight out of the country, in 16 days. That’s a little crazy to think about. The last month always goes by the quickest.
As always we love you all and can’t wait to see you again. Don’t hesitate to send us emails or comment on the blog. We love hearing from you!

Accident Photos

This is a link that leads to photos related to the post below!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2049699&l=0eea0&id=28201280

The Accident

“Hey Andy, remember that time we were hiking up a mountain in Brasil and you slipped and chipped your tooth on a giant rock?” Before proceeding I’ll add a little caveat that he is ok and there’s nothing to worry about. But now Andy and I have a good story that’ll go down in our history books, and should be a topic of conversation for quite some time. Honestly, we already have plenty of memories and good stories to tell, but this one is especially good.

The plan was to hike up Serra Verde and start taking down some solar panels. This is the community that already has normal energy. We packed our bags, caught a minibus, and arrived in Recreio around 11. Dona Rosa insisted that we stay for lunch (and who’s gonna say no to that?), we sat around for a couple hours conversing with the people at the bottom of the hill, waiting for Manoel to come down so we could hike back up with him. His plan was to come down to pick up his wife who is 8 ½ months pregnant and had just gotten back from a doctor appointment. Around 4 pm we all started up the hill. The perfect time to go up: the sun is going down, it’s usually done raining, and the cooling clouds start rolling off the hills. It sure beats walking up in the noon-day sun.

As we climbed Manoel and I discussed the ramifications of removing solar power. He has always had an excellent understanding that some day the panels would be removed in order to help another community that is in need of them. However, not everyone up tops shares his opinion. Despite countless meetings with John and Manoel, there are some people who will be difficult to convince that it’s finally time. They have their reasons. The normal energy often goes out while it’s raining or when there’s a storm, or sometimes for no reason at all. This effectively sends them back to the pre-energy days of candles and flashlights, not to mention a lack of power for the refrigerators and TVs. Their solar power can’t provide energy to run all those things, but an overhead light bulb sure makes it easier to cook supper over the fire. Not to mention the solar energy is free, as opposed to the metered normal energy.

As we talked it became clear that it would be better for everyone if we took the solar panels off the old school first. Explanation: the school up top has a huge crack running down the North wall. They’ve moved the kids from there to an empty house for their classes and are waiting for the mayor’s signature on a new school to be built up top over the next 9 months or so (that’s how long it’ll take all the construction supplies to reach the top on the shoulders of men and the backs of donkeys). So, the school is not being used, and the solar panels have to come down anyway. There are 16 panels up top, more than enough to power the sustainable house we’re trying to build at Banco de Mudas.

We decided that taking those panels down first would serve as a type of messenger boy, alerting everyone to prepare because the removal is a reality. I don’t mean to sound harsh. Everyone has known since the beginning that solar energy was just a patch fix until real energy arrived. I admit, I’m a little nervous being the designated “taker-downer” since it wasn’t my project to start with, but since John can’t be everywhere and do everything, we’re happy to help. And we get to learn a thing or two about solar energy, which is also very interesting.

However this trip, it just didn’t quite work out “Não deu certo” as we like to say. The hike up is a couple kilometers and then once you reach the top it’s about a kilometer of flat-ish hiking to get to the village. On the flat area the trail runs parallel to several huge mountain rocks that are almost flush with the incline of earth. It’s been raining a lot lately (Thank God! You should see how green it is now!), and so water runs down these rocks as a fine steady sheet. This creates a giant slippery slab of granite. The trail runs along the bottom of the rock, so theoretically no one should actually have to walk on it (though the little kids run, and in flip-flops! I have no idea how that works). They built the trail out of rocks and cement a couple years ago because when a woman goes into labor they carry her down the mountain in a hammock attached to a stick stretched between shoulders of 2 men. (Quick tangent: they can get women down the hill in 30 minutes. Even walking fast it takes us at least 45. They have 10 guys from the community help out. They work in pairs and when the first pair gets tired they switch to the second and so on. That would be amazing to see, but I’m pretty sure I couldn’t keep up with their pace even if I wanted to).

We were so close to making it to the village. There are three sets of big rocks to get by, and we were walking across the last rock when Andy slipped.

It happened so fast nobody had time to react. Andy didn’t even have time to stick his hands out to catch his fall. He put one foot off the trail onto the rock in order to avoid a puddle on the trail and it just didn’t stick. He started to lean and his pack just took him all the way down. The pack was both a good thing and a bad thing. I think its weight ultimately made him fall instead of just slip, but it also hit the rock protecting his ribs and hips. We still haven’t figured out exactly how he hit, but as I hurried up to him he said “I broke a tooth!” (well, there were some other words too, but not quite fit for press :o)) I immediately imagined something from a movie where he would spit an entire tooth out into my hand, but it ended up just being a fragment, probably about 1/3 of his front left tooth. Only after that was thoroughly examined did we realize his chin was bleeding and that he has scraped up his knee too. Luckily I had a head cold so I had packed loads of Kleenex. We were able to press something relatively sterile onto his chin and before long the bleeding had slowed. A good sign. At the time we were stumped as to how he could only have those 3 points of impact. And why more teeth hadn’t broken. My theory now is that his chin hit the ground and made his bottom teeth collide with the top effectively breaking his tooth from the inside.

Manoel and Aparaceida (his wife) were a lot of help. We sat on the rock for a while, and to make the moment even more perfect it started raining lightly. Andy said he hadn’t hit his head, but I still watched for signs of a concussion or shock…which may have been a little bit of overkill, but in situations like these I’d much rather be safe than sorry.

We had a decision to make and it was getting dark. Either we could continue a couple hundred meters to the village, spend the night there and hike down early the next morning, or we could hike down at that moment and try to find some way to get back to Sobral. Transportation had already stopped to and from but we were certain that if we paid someone with a car enough money they would take us. Andy and I discussed the options and decided it would be better to get back to Sobral as soon as possible just in case he needed stitches and to try and see a dentist about how bad off his tooth was. Manoel used up almost all his cell phone credits (that’s a discussion for another blog, but the short of it is that the cost of cell phone calls here is ridiculous, at least $1R per call) trying to get a hold of someone. After a couple minutes Jocelito called us back, a little worried. The message Manoel left was pretty much “Hey, this is Manoel from Serra Verde. There’s been a little accident up here with the Americans. Everyone’s fine, but we’re hiking back down now. Give me a call back.” Manoel explained the situation better once he called back, and Joe pretty much said, “Ok, get them down the mountain and find any way you can to get them back to Sobral. Call me if you can’t find anyone to drive.”

This is just to give you an example of what amazing friends we’ve made here. Joe must have called John because John immediately called Manoel. He was super worried, so we did our best to tell him that Andy was ok, we were walking back down the hill (yes in the dark, yes in the rain), but we would find some way to get back to Sobral. John called everybody. Everyone short of the national guard, just in case we needed to be evacuated off the hill. He knows almost all the doctors in Sobral because he teaches them English classes. So, we were set to see someone at the hospital before we even got down the mountain.

As we hiked down Manoel and I tried to make light of the situation. Andy just focused on not slipping again. We left his pack at the top. One of the little guys carried it to the village to store for us until we came back up again. That made his hike a little easier. We all pretty much decided that it could have been A LOT worse, and that eventually it would make a good story.

At the bottom of the hill Dona Rosa was at the house worried sick about us. She had called her daughter at the top to see if we arrived, only to be told there was an accident and we were coming back down. She sat us down and made us coffee and food (neither of which Andy could eat at the time), and hung up a hammock just in case Andy wanted to lie down.

Just as we thought, there wasn’t anymore transportation out of Recreio for the night, and as we were discussing this Joe called back to find out what was going on. Without a second’s hesitation he decided to drive out and get us. Recreio is probably a 30 or 40 min drive from Sobral. So we waited and talked to people. As news spread through Recreio more and more people stopped by the house to see the poor American guy who has slipped and hurt himself out of a mix of worry and curiosity. We already get a lot of weird looks walking through the town with our hiking packs, thank goodness is was night when we were walking back, ragged and bloody!

Within an hour Joe was there to pick us up and take us straight to the hospital. He was relieved to see that the damage wasn’t as bad as he thought. Manoel waited with us. He went back up the hill shortly after we left, meaning that he hiked the mountain twice…I was hurting after walking up and down only once in one day. He’s a really great guy. I know I keep saying this, but we have really great friends here. And it’s not like we’ve known these people for years, we’re talking 2 months!

We pulled right up to Santa Casa (hospital) and John had a dentist waiting for us. He took a look at Andy’s tooth, tapped on in a couple times, and decided that it was mostly superficial damage. It didn’t kill the tooth and there wasn’t any root exposure. There weren’t any fractures that he could see. And it’s definitely reparable. He took a look at Andy’s chin and lead us to his ER doctor friend. That doctor took a look and decided there wasn’t a need for stitches and just cleaned him up a little bit. Honestly, that water-washed rock was probably one of the most sterile places in Brasil he could have cut himself open on.

The dentist waited to make sure we were taken care of, that we didn’t have any more questions and then left. Public healthcare is free in Brasil, so the visit didn’t cost us a penny. When we get his tooth fixed, which we’ll probably do here, that will cost because it’ll have to be done at a private practice, but thank God for travel insurance!! They should pay us back. His knee and chin have healed nicely, and his tooth is only sensitive with hot and cold foods. No pain all the time, which means we should be able to get it fixed soon.

We’ve already been back up to Serra Verde one time this past week, and it didn’t work to take down the solar panels that time either, but that’s a different blog post. It was still a wonderful couple of days up there with the families. I think it all turned out pretty ok. Apart from Andy’s new goofy smile, everything’s already back to normal.

(Pictures to follow with a better internet connection :o))

A Date

So, for those of you who have been following our ongoing drama about extending our visas and changing our plane tickets, we have good news:
After 2 trips to Fortaleza, totalling 12 hrs on buses and more money than I like to mention, we're finally all changed for the end of May instead of the end of April. We have an additional 60 days on our visa, and a plane ticket out of Brasil on May 27th. That's coming up faster than I can imagine...
Plans from here on out, we're visiting my host family in Maceió at the end of April, and Belo Horizonte right before we leave. We're still working on the digester, and just praying we get something done before we leave!
More to follow, of course, there's always more stories to tell.
Beijos

Snapshots of a Shower

After we got back from Serrinha, building the dam (see post below), we had a choice to make: where to go for Easter? Serra Verde or the Delta of Parnaiba. We chose both. We went to Serra Verde first to build a shower. I use “we” very loosely. It was definitely the people there that built the shower. We just brought up the materials, and even that part was simple. All we bought was a big blue barrel, a small shower head, some rope and some nails. Total, it probably cost $40 US, and that’s a high estimate.

Serra Verde is trying hard to become a site for ecotourism, and they have everything necessary. Well, almost everything. There are welcoming people, worth getting to know, a different way of life, worth exploring, loads of cute kids to take pictures of, good home-made food, and interesting history (for example, Sr. Paulo was actually threatened at gunpoint to leave his land by the owners, and he didn’t back down. He told the people they could shoot him, but that’s where he was born, where his kids were born, his grandkids and where he planned on dying. So, the people left…and haven’t come back. This sounds complicated, but since there have been 6 generations born in Serra Verde, they have squatter’s rights to the land) continuing with my list of things worth seeing: beautiful hikes to amazing views, lots of interesting bugs and animals (trust me, I’m a biologist…he he), and even rooms and beds that people can stay in if they don’t have a tent or don’t like sleeping in a hammock.

However, there are some things that people expect, no matter how much they want to delve into the local way of life and a shower is one of them. The water is clean, and people there do shower, they just use buckets. I don’t mind, but there are some people who do. Not to mention it’s a convenience for the families there. Now they don’t have to carry buckets of water to and from the well. The project went swimmingly.

We were a little worried about how to get the 250 L bucket up the mountain, but one of Manuel’s brothers rolled up his t-shirt and wrapped it up and put the barrel on his head with the t-shirt in between. He and Manuel took turns carrying it up the “ladder” as they call it. There was also a 8 ½ month pregnant woman walking up with us, so no matter how heavy my camping pack seemed I didn’t complain one bit!

Rather than explain exactly how it was constructed (there is a link below to our pictures that can explain better), I’d rather just give you written snapshots of what I felt and saw.

I laughed into the camera when all the little kids picked up the barrel together and chanted “Forminginhas”-“Little Ants” as they carried it away to be washed.

I laughed until I cried as I watched Manuel Filho hammer nails into a board and carry buckets of dirt, copying every move his father made (he’s 2 years old).

I cringed under the hot sun as I watched Manuel climb to the top of the structure holding the barrel and kick down loose tiles.

I filmed the work on the shower, trying to both photograph and experience what was going on at the same time (it’s hard!).

I smiled and took pictures as the shower was baptized by showering water on the not-yet-baptized (Manuel Filho, they’ll wait and do him and his sister together when she’s born).

I talked in my accent-laden Portuguese about my parents, and my sisters, trying desperately to explain and understand how life is different here, and yet everyone I know is fundamentally the same.

I listened in the dark kitchen as Senhora Rosa sang the songs she wrote that she has guarded in her memory about good times, bad times and God.

I hiked far into the hills and tried to imagine doing it every day as Manuel does.

I watched as a boy flew a kite made out of a plastic bag high above the world on “Pedra Americana,”and felt a sadness when he let it fly away on the wind.

I swam in the cool water of their man-made dam, filled with murky, dirty, nutrient-rich water in my shorts and tank top, and surprised the wet kids with my ability to do a handstand.

I burned in the mid-day sun as we walked back from the swimming hole for lunch.

I apologized as I explained that we couldn’t stay for all of Holy Week since we had already bought tickets to Parnaiba.

I tired as we hurried back down the mountain at a moment’s notice so not to miss our bus.

I waited as the rain poured, literally poured down on us as we watched for motorcycles to take us to the nearest town with a bus (Rafael Arruda).

I prayed as the bus driver narrowly missed oncoming traffic to pass a slower car (no worries, that’s Brasil, and they’re good drivers, I promise).

I arrived in Sobral refreshed, alive and ready to go back to Serra Verde again.

There are pictures online of this adventure

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2048596&l=64a92&id=28201280

I know it’s a lot like looking at someone else’s vacation photos, not always the most fun thing in the world. But I hope that this blog and my descriptions can give you a little more of a window into our world right now and that the pictures help :o) Just remember that all the people you see in the pictures are people we’ve talked to, touched, laughed with and listened too. It’s a beautiful place to be, and we truly wish all of you could be here too.

Beijos!