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!

More pictures!

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to let everyone know that Caitlin put some pictures on her Facebook page from the Serrinha trip that she described in the previous post. You can find it here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2048593&l=a4232&id=28201280

We love you all and we'll be talking to you soon!

-Andy

Mission Accomplished...kind of

It’s been a while since the last post because we’ve been traveling a lot lately. I’ll do my best to update you :o)

Last week we went up to Serrinha (the same community where we had the mass) to install an underground dam near on of their main wells. It was an experience that I learned a lot from. It was both a communal success and a personal failure at the same time. I’ll explain.

This dam is important for a number of reasons. First of all, they’re going to build 26 water cisterns over the next year. Each house will collect the rain water off the roof and pipe it into the cistern to be used during the dry season for home use. They’re going to modify it a little, since there aren’t any families living up there, and use the cisterns to help w/crop irrigation too. They’re hoping to have at least 5 finished and full before this rainy season ends. The rest, we hope, will be filled by this well where we installed the dam. Unlike some of the other wells, it never goes dry. It gets low, but never dry. There’s an electric pump there that runs off of solar energy, so the water can be piped just about anywhere to fill up the cisterns. So, if we can keep that dam as full as possible during the dry season, then it’ll help fill up the cisterns in the coming months.

To give you an idea of the area, the well sits on one end of a small valley between two hills. Makes sense, right? The rainwater runs off the hills down into the valley and fills up the well. However, a lot of water runs down the hills, into the valley, and then continues running down the valley. Our goal was to slow down the water run within the valley, and keep it closer to the well. The idea was to dig a trench across the valley (hitting rock on the bottom) lay our plastic against one side of the trench creating a sort of impermeable wall, and then fill it in again. Our tools: thick plastic, picks, shovels, hoes and a lot of man-power.

There was one problem: a giant cashew tree. It’s probably been standing there for a hundred years, about 20 feet down-flow from the well. We had to decide whether to put the dam on the well side of the tree or on the other side. As the resident biologist I was asked what I thought. Obviously we didn’t want to hurt the tree. I looked at the tree, looked at the well, and said that the main roots probably went either straight down (like a tap root) or towards the well, since that’s where the most water is. So, the men started to dig on the other side of the tree. Well, I was wrong, and looking back now, I realize that had I spent a little more time thinking about it I would have suggested we dig on the other side. The tree was in fact leaning towards the well, so obviously the roots were running in the opposite direction in order to counterbalance the tree’s weight. (I know this is probably confusing, the pictures above should make it easier to understand) Within a couple hours it became very apparent that the main roots of the tree were running directly through our trench. The guys decided to cut through them. At this point it started to rain. Andy and John went to the school to make some lemonade for everyone and I stayed for a bit to keep watching. Eventually I went back to the school too.

Within half and hour we saw the men walk by in the rain with their shovels and picks, and Ribamar said that the hole had collapsed in on itself because of the rain. The men, however, were in good spirits and said they’d just finish it up the next day.

We woke up the next day to the news that the cashew tree had fallen down during the night. I felt so guilty I was almost sick. I was so disappointed in myself. The only consolation was that there were so many other things that could have gone wrong because of the fallen tree. I went down there to look. The two main branches had just barely missed the well, they landed on either side. Attached to one of the branches was the electric line that ran to the pump. It was pulled tight, but it hadn’t broken or ripped out of any connection. All things considered, we were very lucky. It just created more work for the farmers, who were already spending time doing this project instead of taking care of their crops. They pruned off some of the branches, freed the electric wire, left the rest of the tree as it was and started digging the hole again.

In true Brasilian fashion, the guys tried to make me feel better. They said it was an old tree that didn’t make much fruit any more, and that they would plant other, more useful and shady trees there in its place…but I still felt (still feel) horrible. All those families have countless memories of climbing and playing and eating of that tree by the well…

That day, I let Andy and John make the decisions with the guys. I had a really hard time trusting myself. If I couldn’t be trusted to make a decision concerning something I know a little about (trees), how could I be trusted to make decisions about something I know nothing about (dams). I realize now that it wasn’t entirely my fault, and I’m not writing this to ask for sympathy or consolation. Someone very close to me told me before I left to write about the good and the bad, that this was going to be an amazing learning experience, so I’m just trying to share how I’m growing and learning. Even if I learn some things the hard way.

It was almost lunch time when we finally hit rock all the way across the trench. The hole ended up being about 2 meters (~6 ft) deep, a meter (~3ft) wide, and about 10 meters (~30ft) long. It was a big hole. Senhor Geraldo rallied the troops and decided to finish the project before lunch break. Water was flowing into the hole from the direction of the dam (a good sign, as long as we could trap it), so that had to be bailed out before we started. The plastic was lowered in slowly, and folded at the bottom to create a sort of “L” to trap the water. I jumped in and helped. That, more than anything, made me feel better. I’m a hands-on type of girl, and it was nice to feel like I was tangibly helping after making such a blunder. The plastic sheets were only a meter wide, so we lowered another layer down behind the first sheet to overlap just a little bit. Then dirt and mud and rocks were packed in tight to keep the two layers together. Man did I get dirty. It was a wonderful feeling.

The men worked so hard. It was amazing to watch them shovel and ho and dig tirelessly. It’s easy to see how Ribamar and Mauro can eat a bucket of food at lunch. To them, this was just another day of work. I’m sure they sweat just as much raising their crops. And they do it to feed their families. The more time I spend with them, the more admirable they become.

All the water that flowed into the hole while we were working stayed there. It didn’t run through. In fact, it made a sort of quick-sand situation, and no matter how much dirt we piled on top, the area stayed saturated. It could be that the ground just wasn’t packed as tightly, but I like to look at it as a tentative sign of success. I have hope that it’ll work. We won’t be around to see the results since they’ll appear during the dry season.

The men left the fallen tree there. Some have hope that it’ll continue to grow. In this time of Easter, a time of resurrection, who knows? That’s my selfish wish too, that it’s not really dead. But, like the dam, that’ll take months to find out. I won’t be here. I’m still trying to figure out what I learned and in what way I can grow as the tree dies. I think that’ll take a while as well.

Levando Esperanca (Bringing Hope)

Last weekend, we three Americans made the long hike back up Serrinha’s ladder. And we did it at night. There was some mix up with information about the bus we were supposed to take from Sobral to Serrinha. When we arrived at the pick up spot, we found not a bus, but a van. AND about 20 people already waiting to get on (an easy fit in Brasil). Even if we hadn’t had our camping backpacks we probably wouldn’t have fit, so it was looking rather dismal, and no one wanted to help us. The conversation that followed went about like this (in Portuguese of course):

John, “Is this the 4 o’clock bus to Taperuaba?”

Brasilian, “Yep.”

“Is there another one”

“Nope”

“I was told there was going to be a bus, not a mini-van”

“Well, you’ll have to talk to the owner of the van if you want to get on”

“Ok, where is he?”

“Over there” points vaguely across the street.

“What does he look like?”

“Oh… you know… a guy.”

At that point it became pretty clear that the waiting Brasilians had sized-up us and our packs and decided they didn’t really want us on the bus. Surprising to me, because I’m used to the Brasilian phrase “Dar um jeito” which pretty much means “we’ll find a way.” So John, with his amazing connections, called City Hall, talked to his important friend Alex and Alex called a different bus that had been hired to take teachers to and from a conference. This bus had already left and was about 15 min outside of the city. He actually got it to turn around and pick us up! It was practically empty, a MUCH more comfortable ride than trying to squish into that little van. That’s more like the Brasilian hospitality I’m used to :o)

So, long story short, we arrived in Valsores (the city at the bottom of the hill) around 6:30 (already dark), and started hiking up at 7. It’s been raining so the road is filled with erosion run-off. Some cracks in the trail were 4 or 5 feet deep. We all have head lamps, so it was fine. We were all sweating like pigs the whole way up. I mean literally dripping. I think it was more humid than during the day and there wasn’t even a hint of a breeze. Oh, and we carried our packs up this time instead of loading them on a donkey. They probably only weighed 25 or 30 pounds, but when you’re hiking straight up a mountain, it sure feels like more. So, we just took it slowly, stopped every once in a while to look up and out. The lights from the cities below were like a reflection of the bright stars above us. Beautiful.

We were at the school (where we put up our tent) around 9 and there were already people there. I forgot to mention this past weekend was the “rejuvenation mass” that I wrote about in an earlier post. We went up there to take part in the celebration. The brothers who celebrated the mass were already at the school when we got there. There’s a shortage of priests in Brasil, just like any country, and so the community got a hold of a group of… monks, I guess you would call them. Alexandre and Edison decided to hike up and take part. Apart from having a shortage of priests, they were hard-pressed to find a priest that would be willing to hike up the 800m to the top. Several said they would go if they were paid $150R…so Alexandre and Edison were the best option. They were careful to call it a “celebration” since it wasn’t a complete mass, we used pre-consecrated hosts.

From beginning to end, it was a simple and beautiful weekend. The Holy Eucharist was kept locked in the school office with a candle burning. Since Andy and I spent Friday night in the school, we changed the candles when they burnt out, and it created a sacred space where we could do our nightly prayers. That evening we sat outside, listening to the frogs, and talked to the brothers. Alexandre listened attentively as John, Ribamar and Mauro told stories of what Serrinha used to be like, when the families were together. They talked about what it’s like now… separated and dry. Actually it’s been raining, so the whole area is super green, thanks be to God. And they talked about the future, the need for the cisterns and underground dam, and the hope for a road that someday will reunite everyone.

The following morning, during the celebration, it became apparent that Alexandre took to heart all that he had heard. A simple alter was constructed on a table in the school and around 50 people crowded inside and outside the building to attend the celebration. It’s a different picture than mass in the US. Imagine adults sitting in school desks in a semi-circle around the classroom. Children peak in through the windows from outside, and often run inside to sit on someone’s lap. People are standing and sitting and nursing and hushing and laughing and crying. There are old and young, women and men, brown and white…and yet everyone is there for the same reason: to bring comfort and hope to each other.

Community members read the bible passages and the brothers lead the congregation in prayer and song. Alexandre stood up to give a homily and did a fantastic job. Ultimately our hope lies in Jesus, he said. He wove in parts of the readings with stories he had heard from the night before. He told of brave men who suffered to bring up all the materials to construct the school that was now closed. He made people laugh as they remembered how Cid (the governor) landed his helicopter on a giant rock up there to visit the people. Tears fell as he related how difficult it is now to remain a community. He even said that John, Andy and I were living symbols of hope, that we were there to show that Serrinha is a place worth believing in and hoping for…The most humbling experience of my life…As he was speaking it started to rain. Rain here is the ultimate symbol of hope. It means that the crops will grow. It means the children will be fed. It means the animals won’t starve. It means that all their work will literally bear fruit. As the rain trickles down into the ground to water the crops and stimulate growth it refreshes to soul too. What a beautiful image.

The sign of peace was a giant hug-fest, and I don’t think my smile could have stretched any further than it did. We shook hands and hugged everybody. Some people we had known for a couple weeks, others we had met just that day. It didn’t matter. Everyone felt like family. Afterwards there was a big lunch with chicken and pasta and rice and beans. We talked for hours with people of the community. Andy even spoke English with a couple of the young men who are taking classes (that made him happy). I divided my time between conversation and taking pictures of half-naked babies dancing in the rain. Judging by the smiles and laughter I heard during lunch, I would say the celebration was a great success. Now Andy and I have an idea of what it must have been like 5 or 6 years ago. It was wonderful to see everyone together.

I don’t know if they’ll ever get a road. John says it’s unlikely but he’s going to try hard to make it happen. I don’t know if the families will ever live together up top again. Maybe the men working now will be the last generation of farmers in Serrinha. Regardless, it was an honor and a joy to take part in the service. A service that brought the hope of better days.

Project Update

It’s hard to believe it’s already the end of February. Andy had to remind me that tomorrow is Leap Day (I’m not sure if that’s really a word or not, but it is in my book)! We’ve been here for a month already. Crazy how time flies. I can’t decide whether I think we’ve made good progress or not. There’s still so much to do… We have met a lot of people, and we have traveled quite a bit. So, I consider it a success so far!

Our digester project is coming along. Slower than I would like, but then again I run on American time, not Brasilian time. No. I can’t blame it on them. Andy and I are the ones having issues. Doing this on our own is foreign to us. So, doing it on our own, in a different country, and in a different language? Seems pretty impossible. Luckily we’re still talking to each other, and I have faith it’ll all work out. For people who want technical details: the sewage flow is too fast for us to divert it all straight into a digester. So, we’re thinking about designing a settling tank for the water to flow through, depositing the solids on the bottom, and then taking those solids and putting them in a batch digester. We’re not sure yet if that’ll make the water clean enough, so there may be another step in there. We won’t have any problem with digestion and methane production. Methane is already bubbling up from the bottom in the sewer flow itself. Kind of impressive that a body of water moving that quickly can have such an enormous amount of anaerobic activity.

Here’s the intimidating part: Thursday, Andy, John, Ricardo and I are going to talk to Senhor Campello. He’s pretty much the city planner of Sobral, kind of important. It intimidates me to talk to well-educated Brasilians. I know that sounds funny, and I don’t mean it to sound condescending, it’s all about my lack of Portuguese. It’s easier to speak with people who also make errors. Sr. Campello has volunteered his time, and found money w/in the city budget, to design a type of completely sustainable house that will accompany the digester at Banco de Mudas. He’s a very well accomplished architect. Most all of the amazing city changes that have happened in Sobral over the last 20 years or so have come about from him sitting in a place, looking at a slum area, sketching some ideas, and building from those sketches. I’ve already met him once, and he’s an awesome guy. Super nice and friendly, John’s good friend. So in reality I shouldn’t be so scared. I’m sure it’ll be fine.

Today we met with a Professora from CENTEC, the technology center right next to our house in Sobral. Her lab is going to do some tests on the water for us next week, which is great. I’ll get to be in the lab helping out, which is a really familiar and wonderful feeling. Next week as well, we’re heading back up to Serrinha to install an underground dam next to their well and go to the mass their having up there on the 8th. I’m so excited to go back and see everyone, and even more excited for the mass, because EVERYONE, all the kids, all the families, all the elders of the community (no pun intended ha ha ha) will be there to celebrate. I think we’ll get a chance to see Serrinha like it once was: full of life and laughter.

We’re still working on getting our visas extended and our plane tickets changed so we can stay until the end of May instead of the end of April. I sure wouldn’t mind :o) The weather is beautiful, the people are incredibly hospitable and the food is great. What more could anyone want?

We hope you guys are having a good week and can’t wait to hear from you. If anyone wants a post card or a snail-mail letter, just email us your address.
Beijos e Abracos

Serra Verde

Serra Verde at sunset
I wish I was that color

Beautiful...

Over the weekend, Andy and I met up with John in Jericoacoara again. Oh darn, beach time :o) He was brought his Uncle Heinz (who literally introduced himself as “I’m Heinz, like the ketchup” I laughed so hard!) and his friend Marcus, both from Germany. They had spent a week or so traveling and seen Rio de Janeiro and Curitiba, both places I haven’t been to yet. But, they hadn’t gone to the beach and swam in the ocean yet, so Jeri was the perfect place to spend a couple days being beach bums!


After spending the weekend in Jeri we came back to Sobral with the gang on Monday, ate lunch and headed straight out to Serra Verde (green hill), the other small village where John works. Its name describes the contrast w/Serrinha perfectly. It is SO green. I thought Serrinha was pretty, well Serra Verde is beautiful. It’s a greener, happier version of Serrinha and for several reasons. One: the have a lot more rain. Their crops are already well on their way to being harvested, whereas in Serrinha, some farmers are having to replant everything since there wasn’t enough water to sustain them over the last couple months. Two: the families are together. That is so amazing and heart-warming to see.


We got there and stopped at a little house in the village Recreio (recess) at the bottom of the hill. It’s owned by Sr Paulo and Sra Rosa, pretty much the original family in Serra Verde. Out of the 16 or 17 families that live up there on top probably 10 or 11 are related to this couple. They keep the little house down there for the children from up top who study below. They have a place to sleep or to eat or just to hang out. It’s a wonderful resource for them because they still hike up and down the mountain every day to go to school. John, Marcus, Heinz and I hiked up the hill around 5pm, right after a huge rain, so perfect time and perfect temperature. It takes just as long as the hike to Serrinha, but this isn’t nearly as steep. We were met part-way up by Manuel, the leader of this community and one of Sr Paulo’s sons. It was great to talk to him as we went up. He is full of amazing stories about this place he loves so much.


They have real energy in Serra Verde, and it was a labor of love to get it there. Power line poles here are wood, they’re solid cement. It took 20-30 men to drag each of these poles up the hill and install them in the right places. On the second to last pole, near the top of the 800m summit the men got excited that they were to close to being done and walked faster. The result was a cement pole, cracked down the center, and another trip to the bottom to get a pole. It’s still lying there next to the trail, right where it broke.


One of Manuel’s sons raced up the hill after us on his way back from school, and Manuel was eager to tell us why this young man was different from the rest. When a woman up top goes into labor, the men put her in a hammock and carry her down the hill. This time they didn’t have quite enough time, and his son was born right there on the trail. Everything was fine, and he’s probably 9 or 10 now, but I can’t even imagine! Manuel’s wife is pregnant with their 8th child, and, God willing, she’ll give birth to a little girl in a couple months. Hopefully they get a little bit of a jumpstart on the descent this time.


Health care is something interesting here, and something I haven’t talked very much about. At least in Serra Verde, it’s almost non-existent. There is supposed to be a nurse that comes up to visit them every once in a while, but she doesn’t. They even got a paper she was supposed to sign every time she came less she lose her job, a kind of threat. It worked for a while, but now it’s been 2 years since her last visit. She just plain doesn’t want to hike up the hill, even though it’s part of her pay. Instead, when the villagers have problems they hike down the hill and see someone in Recreio if possible and if it’s something serious they catch a bus to Sobral (about an hour away). Manuel’s wife was on her way down the hill, 6 months pregnant, in order to have her checkup. Ridiculous if you ask me.


Anyway, Serra Verde was amazing. They have a rock called Espia (spy) from which you can see for miles! I’ll post a couple photos because words don’t even come close to doing it justice. Like I said before, it’s super green, and the crops are doing well. Families are together, and people are happy. Of course they cooked us supper, beans, rice, pasta, chicken and farofa. A regular feast, one that I hope didn’t cost the family too much. We sat around eating, watching the novellas and talking about the area. Heinz, in a very German/tourist kind of way asked if the kids would sing something or dance or do some sort of entertainment instead of watch the TV and John made a good point. He said something to the affect that kids in the developed world can sit and watch hours of TV at a time and no one complains. But, people see picture of kids and families in developing countries huddled around a television set and it’s considered almost a tragedy. Why? Why is that so unacceptable? It was an interesting thought to me, and helped me realize a preconception I myself had.


I’ll be writing more soon, but for now that’s all the time I’ve got.
Miss you and love you even more!
Cait and Andy

Traveling again

Hey all,
Tomorrow, Andy and I are catching a bus to head out to Jericoacoara again for the weeekend. Considering it's like $10US a piece for a 3 or 4 hr bus ride, I think we can afford it :o) This time we'll take a bus part way and then be in the back of a truck for like an hour, but hey *shrug. We'll take what we can get.

We've started designing the waste water system we're going to install at Banco de Mudas. It's a little bit intimidating. I'm not the expert here, Andy is. So often I just function as the translator, which can be difficult when we're talking in technical terms, but it's all working out. God is taking care of us. Andy and I were sitting in the office, and I came to the realization that I need to do some of the tests that I learned at the Waste Water Treatment Plant in Spokane in order to really create a working digester system. At that moment Ricardo (the guy in charge) came in and introduced us to a couple students from one of the local universities. They went on to say (in Portuguese of course) "hey, we're students from the environmental lab at CENTEC. If you need to do any experiments you should come on over. Our professora is picking us up right now if you want to talk to her".

Amazing huh? It's not like anyone understood the conversation between Andy and I, it just happened perfectly. So, we talked with the Professor, and Tuesday we're getting a tour of the lab so I can do some tests on the water (shout out to my friends at the WWTP, you know what tests I'll be doing. Wish you could see this water, it's grosser than any PINF I've ever seen!)

So, it's all working out, one way or another. It's really scary, being considered experts on something, but the truth is we're not working alone. We just need to ask for help. There are so many people here who are more knowledgable about this stuff than we are. It's great to make relationships with them and learn from them.

We're still missing the mountains, but we're falling into a routine here, which is nice. We'll go back soon. John and the people there are organizing a mass for March 1st (maybe I already wrote about this, I'm not sure), to "resurrect" the community. So at the latest we'll be back for that.

So, we'll be on the beach this weekend. John's German cousin Heinz is visiting. It'll be nice to have someone to speak to in English (especially for Andy). You should have seen Andy the other day. We were on a school bus back from Serrinha, and two college students who are studying English talked with him the whole way back to Sobral. It was the happiest I'd seen him in a while (not that he's unhappy). He's doing so well. His Portuguese gets better every day, and he understands everything I say when I'm speaking. But it's still hard to understand other people. Good thing I know exactly how he's feeling :o)

So, we love you all, and can't wait to hear from you! Feel free to post comments here on the blog or email us caitlinelder25@gmail.com andy.elder@gmail.com

Beijos

How to Drink Water

Now, if you were to guess what I am missing the most from home, I’m sure you would say, “I know Andy, and he’s addicted to ice tea and a nice cold glass of milk.” Well, I can safely say that I found something that I miss even more: clean water, as much as I want, when I want it!

Now, I’m used to drinking 2-3 L of water at work, when I was just sitting at the computer…it’s good for me, and I learned to enjoy drinking that much water. Well, I found out that it’s really difficult to drink this much in Brazil. Even when we’re in John’s house, or Jocelito’s house, which are modern, beautiful houses, I have to get water out of a water filter in the fridge or out of a big bottle in the kitchen. The water comes out slowly, and I feel bad drinking a lot of it.

Now, we’re in Serrinha, and the water source is a well that’s a 5 minute walk away. Usually, the houses here have water pumped to them from this well, but the pump broke in October, and they haven’t been able to get a replacement yet, but they should soon. So everyday, the men have to walk down to the well and bring back enough for the day. Luckily, we were fortunate enough for them to bring some back for us.

So I thought that I would describe how long it takes Cait and I to get clean water to drink. We first pour the milky white water into three 2L bottles that the men gave us, and put in 6 crushed up little seeds. These seeds are pretty dang cool…an elementary school kid found out for her science fair project that when you put them in dirty water, it makes all the sediment fall out! They’re actually doing research on these seeds in some of the universities in Rio. Anyway, so I put 6 crushed up seeds in each bottle; this takes 10 minutes per bottle. Then I put the bottles in the little fridge in the school, so at least we have cold water, which is awesome! So the bottles then have to sit for hours…usually 4-6 hours.

Then we pull the bottles out one by one and filter them into my Nalgene. We got a really spiffy water filter for our wedding from some of the guys (Thanks!) and it’s literally saved our stomachs from amoebic dysentery (John got it the first time he was here). It works so well that it actually clogs after a liter or two of filtering. So after 10 minutes of filtering to get a liter of water (it should only take a minute or so if there’s no sediment), I have to take the ceramic filter out and wipe off some of the dirt that’s accumulated. So toward the end of my filtering spree, it’s going much slower, and by the end it’s dirty again. Luckily, Cait and I both have CamelBacks, so we pour the water from the Nalgene into the CamelBacks, so we can have a couple of liters each accumulated. Then it’s time to fill the bottles up again and add the seeds J Needless to say, it’s really made me appreciate being able to safely drink water out of the tap in the US!!!

Serrinha Part Two

(scroll down for the first part of this post)

I say “guy” because that’s all the people up here. This is the second tragedy of Serrinha. The government has a program to universalize education. Good right? The kids are in school, the parents get money. For Serrinha, it’s a different story. They only had grades 1-3 here, and afterwards the kids went to the bottom of the hill for education. The government decided that was not necessary and gave all the money they had allocated for up here to the schools down below. This left Serrinha’s community with no choice but to send all their kids to the bottom of the hill. Well, the other choice would have been no education for 5-8 year olds, and no money for the parents. Practically no choice. So, the mothers moved to the bottom of the hill with their children. During the week, the families are separated from Mon-Fri, then the women and children make the hike back up to Serrinha to be with their husbands and fathers for the weekend. It’s really very sad. A place that every night should be filled with the sound of children’s laughter is silent. Many families have already permanently left Serrinha. Some men make the hike up and down every day. It’s already taken its toll. One wife had a nervous break down, another never wants to return. There has already been several pre-teen pregnancies, and it’s been like this for years already. On many levels mountain people are different than valley people, and so it’s hard for people to understand why families would still choose to live here. It’s a hard life. They work every day from sun-up (4:30) to sun-down (6:30). I’m still working that out for myself. Part of me says “abandon this! Open a store below, find work where you can be with your family,” and the other part understands that the men are freer here than they would be anywhere else. What else could they do? Work in a factory? Cut sugarcane? Here they are their own boss, and the work together as a community. Some men here can trace their roots back hundreds of years to this land. Growing and creating is a beautiful way of life. It’s a culture that shouldn’t be lost. I don’t mean to give the wrong impression about these men. They’re intelligent and hard working. They installed and maintain the solar panels on their roofs. They’ve designed their own working drip-irrigation systems. It’s not like farming is all that they can do. It’s what they choose to do.
There is some small hope for the families. The government has promised to put in a road on a less-steep part of the mountain. With the road comes real electricity (they’re on solar right now, John’s project) and a school bus for the kids. It would be wonderful. Everyone could live together again. John firmly believes that once there’s a road people will return. It’s hard to imagine now, especially when the road is still 1 or 2 years away, but at least there is still that hope. John is trying to organize a mass for March 1st to “resurrect” Serrinha. It’s in the month of Easter, and will involve all the families and all the people in Sobral that work with John and are friends of the village. I think it’s just what everyone here needs.
We’re going to try and help in our own small way. We’ll be here to watch as they install an underground dam several meters down-flow from their main well. This will help keep it dry and full all year round by trapping the rain water once it comes. And it will come. March is usually when it starts. It always rains, it’s just an issue of whether it rains enough. The well needs to stay full because they’re installing water cisterns behind every house to catch roof run-off during the rainy season. But until that rain comes, the cisterns need to be filled via the well so that the cement doesn’t crack. Seven of 26 holes are dug (by volunteers from Serrinha’s community), and they’re hoping to fill them up entirely with this rainy season. Each holds 16,000 L. The water is supposed to be for in-house usage only, but since it’s just the men up here right now, they’ll be able to use some for irrigation too.
The other project we’re thinking about involves collecting runoff from the side of a nearby hill that’s one giant rock. We haven’t seen it ourselves, but apparently when it rains the water just runs down the side. If we can somehow bypass it into the cisterns there would be less danger of them drying up and cracking. I haven’t really thought about the ramifications of diverting so much water from the land right below that, but we’re still in the very planning stages of everything.
So, those are my impressions so far. I’m sure it seems like a lot to read, but it was amazing how effortlessly it was typed. Serrinha is a beautiful place. One worth getting to know, and one worth being passionate about helping.

Serrinha Part One

(this is the first part of a rather long post written on the computer while we were out in the rural area of Serrinha, enjoy)

I write this as we complete our second day in Serrinha. It’s a place that can’t be described in a word. It’s beautiful, dry, sad, lonely, stunning, green, calm, peaceful, simple, caring…so many things. I have a hard time verbalizing the feeling of being here. First things first, I’ll try and describe the terrain. We bused from Sobral to a little town right outside of Taperuaba. On the way we were presented with some of the most beautiful country in Brazil: tall green hill/mountains probably about 800 meters tall. We drove through valleys and saw lakes. The classic red soil preceded us wherever we went. Serrinha is one of these hills (it literally means little hill). We took motorcycles to the bottom of the hill, loaded our backpacks onto a donkey, and started our hour-long ascent. And I truly mean we were walking up the side of a mountain for an hour. It’s nothing like the temperate rainforest we’re used to. There’s lots of dust, and dry and cacti, and loads of rocks. I don’t know what ancient force created these hills, but whatever did tumbled HUGE rocks over and under each other. They create the coolest multi-rock caves I’ve ever seen. Imagine tall smooth monoliths leaning against one another leaving just enough room between at the bottom for a loaded-down donkey to pass through. That’s where the beautiful and stunning adjectives come into play.
The “village” itself is actually a collection of 26 houses spread over several hills and valleys, each belonging to a subsistence farmer. We’re staying in a school that no longer operates, but used to teach the first 3 grades. Our tent is set up inside, and for good reason. We’ve already seen a tarantula, wasps the size of Andy’s hand, 8” centipedes, giant lizards, snakes, and loads of flies. It’s comforting to know none of the aforementioned has figured out how to use a zipper. Last night, though, we definitely heard one of the wasps walking around our tent. When you can HEAR a wasp walking, you keep the door closed no matter how hot it gets.
Actually the weather is perfect. It’s only hot during the day. In the morning and once the sun goes down, there’s a beautiful mountain wind that cools everything down. We like it a lot more than Sobral, where it’s 90 degrees no matter the time.
The sadness mentioned above is brought about by two major reasons. The first is the ongoing drought. For the last 5 years or so there hasn’t been nearly as much rain as is needed to grow all the crops. They have the ability to grow bananas, manioc, corn, beans, papaya, mangoes, all sorts of delicious things (there is practically nothing better than a mango right off the tree). However, with the lack of rain, they’ve been forced to buy most of these things recently “down below” as they call the city at the bottom. Can you imagine walking up and down a mountain every day? They work as a community though, so if a guy needs something and someone is already going down, more often than not they’ll pick it up for them.

Seahorse!

This is the photo I promised at the end of the next blog, enjoy!

The Plan...sort of

Hey all,
It's 10:30ish Sunday night. Today we went to mass, which I always enjoy. Since I understand the translation, it's easy to see how universal the Church really is. It's a comforting experience, that also invokes a little home-sickness. So you all are in my thoughts and prayers tonight.
We tried putting pics online on facebook, but the internet isn't cooperating. Then Andy tried downloading them onto his google pics page (picasaweb.google.com/andy.elder), and only 5 made it...so, those are there to enjoy if you so desire.
Sobral, the city we're in right now, will pretty much be our home base from here on out. There are two villages outside of Sobral called Serrinha and Serra Verde. We'll be doing projects (hopefully) in both and the biogas digester here in Sobral. We're going to Serrinha tomorrow and will probably be there for a week or so. 7 water cisterns are being installed for the farmers there so that during the dry season they still have water. Our first project is to determine the local for an underground dam. This'll hold the water back under the earth and keep their well full instead of dry in the coming months. These projects are important because this is the rainy season, so if they want water in the coming dry months it has to get done. They're in the midst of a 5 year drought, and all the families are subsistence farmers. So they live off of what they grow. The other possible project is some sort of rain collection system off of some rocks. We'll have more specifics when we get back!
In Serra Verde John is thinking about some sanatation projects: bathrooms and a shower. He already has some good designs, so we'd really just be along for the ride. We're excited either way!
So, we should be back online in a week or so, with pictures and stories to tell! It's exciting to finally be getting started (don't get me wrong, I love the beach, but I also like be productive, you all know that :o))
We'll leave you with a picture (if it'll work). We got to see a seahorse refuge area when we were in Jericoacoara. This is Andy and I holding one in half a coconut shell. They're super fragile so we put him right back (Don't worry).
All our love
Beijos

And We're Off!

Hey all,
Tomorrow we're going to Sobral to meet Jocelito (johns college roommate from when he was at GU), and from there we'll head out to Serrinha, one of the little villages, to check out a possible irrigation project. Sobral will pretty much be our home base from here on out.
We'll write more when we get there, and hopefully post some pictures. The internet connection should be better.
All our Love, Beijos
Cait and Andy

Carnival!

Oi gente (hey you guys)!
Andy and I are in Jericoacoara (jeri-cwa-cwara) for Carnival with John. From Fortaleza we took a 5 hour bus ride here. It's further North along the coast of Ceará. It's a beautiful little beach town, full of people for Carnival. So, imagine what you see on television of Carnival in Rio or São Paulo...this is nothing like that :0) It's a lot more tranquil. Jeri is pretty much a lazy, laid-back hippie-meets-yuppie kind of town (the hippies selling jewelery on the beach and the yuppies buying it). There was a concert on the beach tonight, but unlike normal Brasilian concerts which start at 11PM and end at 4AM, the concert went from 3PM to 8PM. It's all the locals would allow. John said 10 years ago barely anybody came here for Carnival, and you could lay on the beach and pretend like it was just a normal time of the year.
I would love to see Rio or São Paulo, and dance in the streets all night long, but this is good too. Practically a second honey moon. Andy and I can swim, eat, swim, sleep in a hammock, eat some more and no one tells us to do any different. It's hard letting go, after preparing so hard to come. I always feel like I should be doing something, but then I remember to enjoy this, work is coming soon, sit back in my hammock and sleep :o)
We only have rough plans right now about where we're going from here. Wednesday we go back to Fortaleza and prepare to go out to the "campo" the rural area where we'll be working. We'll go up there for a couple weeks, get to know the people (2 villages, one w/150 people, one w/50 or so), see if there's a project to do there, and then head to Sobral to work on a biogas digester. Super rough, especially since we're working on Brasil time...
Just like I remember, the people are amazing, hospitable, and a lot of fun. We've never gone hungry or thirsty, though camping last night was rough...we really should have brought sleeping pads :o) They say the first night is the worst, so hopefully tonight will be better. It's SUPER hot, but that just makes the water (which is warm too) feel that much better. Andy's Portugûes skills are improving by leaps and bounds every day, and mine are being tested to the max. It's intimidating to think that at some point we'll be left all by ourselves in the campo...but we'll manage. Anyone who's been outside of the US knows that hand signals do wonders!
Well, our rented internet time is limited, so we've got to go. We'll write as often as we can. The connection in Fortaleza is slow, and we'll definitely not have any in the villages, but we'll keep you updated somehow!
We miss everyone, but don't miss the snow :o)

Beijos!!!
Andy and Cait

PS Andy hasn't had any more mosquito bites yet, but he hasn't killed any either, so it's still 163:3

We arrived!

Hey everyone! Caitlin and I just wanted to let everyone know that we arrived in Brazil safely! We were able to make all of our flights, and John (our contact) met us at the airport. Right now we're at he and his wife's house (her name is Joana); they have a beautiful house and have been wonderful guests! We'll send pictures when we can. :-)

We won't be able to get online here in Fortaleza as much as we thought; John only has dial-up here. We'll do the best we can, though.

But we're not going to be here much longer...tomorrow (Saturday) we'll be heading to Jericucara (6 hrs NW of here, on the coast), to celebrate Carnival on the beach :-) The plan is to be back on Wednesday.

We'll write more when we can; we love you all and you're in our prayers!

Tchau,
Andy and Caitlin

Caitlin's addition:
Andy: 3
Mosquitoes: 163
I'll be keeping count... :o)
Beijos

On Our Way

Hey all, we're sitting here in the hotel in Seattle, mentally preparing ourselves for this journey and we can't help but think...

"HA! They're stuck in the snow, and we're going to the tropics! HA!" Just kidding! Just kidding! 

With all the goodbyes we've been saying we've heard a lot about the snow and ice out on the East side, and we wanted everyone to know that you're in our thoughts and prayers. 

Our plane leaves Seattle tomorrow (Wednesday) at 7AM, and after several stops in places like JFK, Sao Paulo, and another random Brasilian city, we'll finally arrive in Fortaleza our destination. Hopefully total travel time will be something around 26 hours, but considering it took me 50+ hours to get home last time, we have no expectations :o)

We'll let everyone know as soon as we can once we've arrived. 

We love you all and look forward to future conversations! Keep us updated about your lives, as we will you about ours. Send us pictures of the snow! We want to show our Brasilian friends what it's like in Spokane, and it's difficult to explain "snow" to someone who's never seen it, felt it, tasted it...driven in it. 

All our Love and God Bless

Cait and Andy

Announcement

Hi everyone,

We just wanted to let all our loved ones know that we received our visas today! So that means in 19 days, on the 30th, we'll be leaving out of Seattle for Brazil. Our scheduled return date is 3 months from then, but we'll most likely be applying for an extension so that we get back at the end of May, beginning of June. Just in time for Corey's graduation!

Thanks for all the positive thoughts and prayers. I'm sure they made a difference. It's been an emotional roller coaster the last couple days waiting to hear back from the visa service. In fact, last night we were checking on the status of our visas, and Andy's said "canceled." We couldn't believe it. This was our second attempt at visas (our first was denied for various complicated reasons). There was crying and planning and resolving to make it work at a later time. We had trusted in God's plan for us, and our constant prayer over the last 2 weeks was "Thy will be done." When we called the help line this morning to discover the reason for the cancellation we were shocked to hear it was because Andy already had a viable visa. Turns out (which I should have checked, stupid me) that Andy's visa from visiting me last year was still good. "And in fact" said the helpline fellow "both visas should be arriving today, fedexed overnight." Lo and behold, now that I hold his passport in my hands, his visa does indeed say "5 years." My shiny new passport (due to name change) now also holds a visa, and we will be leaving soon.

For the next couple weeks, Andy will be working, and I'll be home preparing (it's kinda nice being unemployed at the moment :o)). There are a million things to get done, but now I can approach everything with a greater resolve and excitement since I know our trip is a reality.

For those that we haven't explained anything too, I apologize. We'll be trying to design and install a biogas digester. It takes sewer sludge, compost, pretty much anything, and anaerobically digests the material. Methane, which can be used as a cooking gas, and biosolids (fertilizers) can be harvested from the digester and sold. The idea is not only to help with sanitation issues but to also create a type of micro-economy. Andy's familiar with digesters because it was his senior design project, and I'm familiar with them, well, because I worked at the Sewer Plant and we have several GIANT digesters (very interesting, if you ever get the chance to check them out you should, and the people who work in the lab are nice, I promise). We might also be working on a water cistern project and perhaps something to do with irrigation in the arid desert region.

We're going to Sobral (So-brau) which is in the North East state of Ceara (Say-a-ra), and I'm SO excited to be speaking Portuguese again. Andy is learning, and I have no doubt that his skills will drastically improve once he's inundated. I know mine did while I was there. We will have access to email and internet, so we'll be keeping a blog about our adventures. If anyone wants postcards or snail mail, please send us your mailing address. The blog can be found at:
http://cabrazil.blogspot.com That's this website :o)

We hope that all is well with you, and if you're in Spokane or close, we would love to see you before we leave. We'll be in the Seattle area (Port Angeles) probably from the weekend of the 26th until we leave and would love to see you out there too.

All our love and God bless
Beijos, Tchau
Caitling and Andy