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