So, this past Saturday night I made my first (and hopefully only) trip to the hospital here in Brejo. It’s an interesting story, to say the least…

I was in my room, getting ready to head to bed, when I realized I had left the window open. I don’t like to leave the window open with the light on at night, because bugs just love to flock in and buzz around the light. Well, since I’d left it open, there were indeed a couple moths flying around the light. I don’t like going to bed with them in my room since I’m not a huge fan of having things land on my face when I’m sleeping, so I grabbed a sandal to either kill them or shoo them out of my room.

Well, I start swatting at them, but missed, which of course left them all agitated. One descended from the ceiling and started flying around my face, so I tried to brush it away. Next thing I know it FLIES INTO MY EAR! That was a wonderful feeling. So I tried to get it out. No luck with the hands, it was in too far. No luck with tilting my head and hitting the side of it (you know, like when you’re trying to get water out of your ear?). And various attempts only caused the moth to proceed further into my ear.

Alright, I thought, that’s it. I grabbed my tweezers and headed to the bathroom to use the mirror. Nothing doing. He was in too far and I couldn’t see a thing. I don’t think he liked the tweezers either… Finally I went to ask my host-dad Sérgio to try to get it out, though I didn’t know the word for moth, so that was a little confusing at first. But he couldn’t even see it it was in so far! After several failed attempts (I think all he succeeded in getting was a tiny bit of the wing) we decided the best course of action would be to head to the hospital and have them take it out there.

All this time waiting with a moth in my ear was not the most fun experience. When it wasn’t moving it was ok, but then he’d try to flutter around a little bit and get more comfortable, which was not a pleasant sensation for me. Every time we went over a speed bump on the way to the hospital – and believe me, there are a lot of speed bumps between my house and the hospital – our friend the moth didn’t really like that jarring motion and would decide to flutter around and burrow his way deeper.

So, we got to the hospital and told the doctor that a moth had flown into my ear and wouldn’t come out. He decided to have a look with one of those little instruments for looking in people’s ears (you know what I’m talking about), and concluded that yes, indeed, there was something in my ear. We headed to another room where he had me lay down on the table while he got some of those sweet long, angled tweezers. The first attempt I think he too only got some of the wing, though I could tell the moth really didn’t like this. The second attempt the doctor got a hold of it and succeeded in removing him from my ear! Hooray! Everyone, including the doctor but excluding me, was pretty shocked at how big it was. The moth’s wingspan was probably about an inch across! And what did it do once free? Just flew off. No problem.

The nurse flushed my ear out a couple times with water and then some alcohol to clean it up nicely, and Sérgio and I headed back home. Suffice it to say that I was very glad to have that thing out of my ear. It’s not an experience I’m anxious to repeat… but thanks to the fine men and women on duty in the emergency room in the Brejo Municipal Hospital I will live to see another day!

Yesterday we had the final chapter of the cistern saga; presenting the final product to the community. Betty and I, along with some other members of the rural workers syndicate, headed up to the community of Chã do Amaro where roughly a month ago we finished construction of a 52,000 liter cistern and 120 square meter collection field. It was my first visit up there since just before the construction was completed, so I was anxious to see how everything was holding up.

If you’ve read some of my other blogs about this cistern, you know that it was quite a saga, encountering a variety of problems along the way. However, we managed to make it though, and it was exciting to arrive there yesterday and see the cistern roughly a third of the way full and the collection area in good shape, which is what I was most worried about after we hit a couple snags in laying the cement for that.

So, we arrived at the house of Expedito and Cida, on whose property the cistern was built, at a little after 2 yesterday afternoon, in the scorching heat of the day. Slowly, more and more members of the community, many of whom had helped with the construction, began to show up and congregated in the shady areas near the cistern. It was great to see that Expedito has already started clearing land and planting gardens near the cistern. Since we’re currently in the rainy season, he hasn’t yet needed to use the water from the new cistern, but come dry season that water will support gardens that would previously have been impossible due to the lack of water. That means extra food for the community, as well as extra revenue from the sale of this produce in the market. The water from the new cistern will also be used for animals in the community, as well as supplementing the individual cisterns that each family has for domestic use. During the height of the dry season I will already be gone, but hopefully Betty, or perhaps a new SALTer will be able to visit and take stock of what exactly the water is being used for and better quantify the benefits.

Anyway, after sitting outside in the shade for a while, talking about all manner of things, we headed inside the house, where Betty had connected her computer to the TV to show a series of pictures from the preparation and construction of the cistern, almost all of which I had taken while helping with the process. Anytime anyone recognized themselves or others in a picture there was much laughing, and all in all it was a very fun time, seeing people really take pride in the work and excited to see the fruits of their labor.

The finished cistern and collection area, with the beginnings of a new garden in the background

Betty showing the pictures of the construction process to various members of the community; I was watching through the window!

Expedito and Cida, along with their kids, in front of the finished cistern and collection field.

On the Tuesday of Carnaval, my colleague Betty decided it was a good day to go exploring, so we hopped on our motorcycles and off we went! She planned to take me on a loop through a small patch of rainforest here and I wasn’t sure what else would be in store. But when you’re with Betty, you just kind of have to follow her, so, I did just that and it turned into quite the day!

Betty isn’t one to participate in too much of the festivities during Carnaval, but she likes to take advantage of the time of to go hiking or do some other fun activity outside, so this was no exception. She showed up at my house a little past 7, at which point I was still asleep. I rolled out of bed not long after, when I heard her voice outside my door, and, after some slight hesitation, decided it would be a fun day, so I set about getting ready. Betty attempted to convince my host-family to come along, but to no avail, and the other possible participant dropped out as well, so Beth and I set off on our motorcycles up into the mountains around Brejo.

The climb involved some just wonderful roads… mud and motorcycles don’t mix well. We made it through with little to no problems though, and arrived at our first stop. We left our motorcycles on the side of the road, and set off into the rainforest! It’s really wild that so close to Brejo and the surrounding areas where water is such a big issue there’s this pristine rainforest, so green and abundant.

Hiking in the Mata da Rita rainforest

An absolutely massive tree we came upon

After a little hike we got back on our bikes and headed on, with some great views of the surrounding countryside. At one put we hit the mud patch to end all mud patches… Betty went first and got stuck about halfway through, and I went in to help push her out. We finally succeeded, and then it was my turn. I tried a slightly different route that I thought might be better. Nice try. Here I am, mired in the muck.

Mud + motorcycle = not fun

Eventually I got out, with help from Betty, but yeah, not the most fun situation. I’ve decided I don’t like mud. At least, not while driving my motorcycle.

Our loop also took us past the Santana II reservoir, which supplies water to Brejo. It was cool to see, and Betty also knows the people who run the treatment plant, so I’m hoping to get a tour of that at some point, I’d love to see how they treat their water.

the Santana II reservoir

Then, instead of completing the loop, we decided to pass by the Cachoeira (waterfall) de São Fransisco, which I’d heard was pretty cool. We didn’t join the various people taking a swim, but it was still cool to see, a pretty impressive waterfall.

I thought we were about done after that. Or not. From there we headed up a ridiculously steep hill to the summit of Serra da Prata, a large hill that overlooks Brejo. Betty’s motorcycle got stuck in a rut during the climb, so I had to get off and push again, haha, but we finally made it up, and I must say it was definitely worth it! Alongside all the communications antennae and satellites there is a little overlook structure, which provides an impressive view of the town of Brejo da Madre de Deus below, along with the surrounding countryside.

The view looking down on Brejo from the top of Serra da Prata - I can see my house from up here!

With that, our day was finally over. It was a whirlwind tour of the mountains surrounding Brejo, and it was a lot of fun, but also exhausting, even on a motorcycle! Betty asked if I was up for going to see some cool rock formations that afternoon. No. Thanks. A nap sounded much more appealing. But maybe some other time!

(Written Thursday, February 26)

This past weekend was Carnaval. Some of you might be wondering what Carnaval is. Basically, all of Brazil spends Saturday through the early morning hours of Wednesday before the start of Lent partying like none other! So, naturally, I had to check this out.

I elected to head back into Recife to experience Carnaval there, instead of staying in Brejo, where the festivities would be much smaller. I was planning on going with my host parents, but I learned a few days before hand that my host dad Sérgio, being the Secretary of Agriculture in the new mayor’s administration, had to stay here in Brejo to help kick off Carnaval under the new mayor. But Sérgio has a brother, Breno, who lives in Recife who’d I’d met once before, so we worked out for me to stay with him and his family and join them for the celebrations.

So I headed off Friday afternoon. To get to Recife, I first hop a ride in a jeep/taxi to Caruaru, where I catch a bus for Recife. I had planned to catch the 3:00 bus and arrive there around 5. Well, I forgot one minor detail. Recife is the site of the world’s largest carnival parade, Galo da Madrugada, which takes place Saturday morning. Really, it’s the biggest. It’s in the Guinness Book of World Records. So, naturally, I was not the only one catching a bus to Recife on the Friday before Carnaval! Luckily they had buses going every 15 minutes, instead of the regular hourly buses, and I managed to get onto the 3:45 bus. Once in Recife I managed to find my way to Breno’s apartment, thanks to the help of some people on my bus telling me which buses to catch once in Recife!

The next morning we were planning on heading out at about 8 to get situated for the parade, which always starts at 10. Normally, they pay to spend the day in a club or restaurant or something along the parade route, but this year Breno and his wife had the opportunity to ride through the parade route on top of one of the “trio elétricos,” which are basically enormous semi trucks with bands playing and people dancing on top that make their way through the multitudes of people along the parade route! So I planned to spend the day with some friends of theirs and a couple other cousins of Sérgio’s, meeting back up with Breno later.

an example of a trio elétrico

However, just before 8:00 Breno went to drop his kids at their grandma’s house, and on the way back, at the intersection at the corner of his apartment building, another car broadsided him. Nobody involved was hurt, but the car didn’t come out so hot. Then we had to wait for the police and insurance and all that, so we didn’t actually end up heading out until a little before 11.

Since we were so late in getting there it didn’t make sense to find a place along the route to camp out, and Breno and his wife couldn’t get on the trio anymore, so we headed into the belly of the beast, joining the insane crowds right in the midst of the parade! I’d never seen anything like it! Music blasting from every corner, bands marching through the streets, people in every type of costume you could imagine, beer flowing freely, and people everywhere tighter than elbow to elbow, laughing, singing, screaming, and dancing up a storm! We crossed several times through the main heart of the parade, where you essentially move at the mercy of the crowd, which doesn’t make sticking together the easiest thing! But we managed to stay all together and had a blast.

Near the end of the parade, Breno spotted the trio they were going to be on, so he and his wife rushed off to try to get on for a little bit, and the rest of us moved down the parade route a bit to keep an eye out for them. We never did see them up top, but apparently they did make it. After some more partying we staggered back to the car (which was no short distance away), exhausted from dancing and putting up with the crowds under the scorching sun.

look, there I am! along with 1.6 million other people in downtown Recife for the Galo da Madrugada celebration!

there he is, the Galo himself

I later found out that there were a bunch of big name actors and actresses from the novellas participating in Carnaval in Recife, and I also learned that this year’s event set a new record with 1.6 million people participating!

So, that wrapped up around 2 or 3 in the afternoon. But don’t worry, we were by no means done! After a stop at Sérgio and Breno’s aunts house, which included some food, music, and of course more dancing, we headed off to Recife Antigo. There the party continued, despite the onset of rain, with more food, music, and dancing, though thankfully it was less crowded. The “blocos” were moving through the streets, bands of people playing music with crowds following and dancing along. We met up with some other relatives of Sérgios who were running a taco stand, so we made that our home base, periodically joining up with the processions and dancing our way along through the occasionally torrential rain, haha, it was great!

my favorite sign from Carnaval in Recife - Brahma is a Brazilian beer!

All in all, my first day of Carnaval was great fun and something I will not soon forget! I came back here to Brejo on Monday, but that was by no means the end of my Carnaval experience. This year, under the new mayor, Brejo was putting on a decent Carnaval as well, though obviously nothing compared to Recife. Tuesday night, the last night of festivities, I went with my host-parents down to the main plaza for a night of maracatu and much music and dancing. I even got to go up on stage with the mayor and members of his new administration and families, thanks to my Sérgio’s position as Secretary of Agriculture. Later in the evening I accompanied Sérgio and Edelson, the vice-mayor, as they made their rounds through the crowds, greeting people, shaking hands, etc., and I felt very important (well, not really, since people didn’t know who I was, but it was still kind of fun to be there!).

traditional maracatu in Brejo

oh Pedro, my hilarious and adorable host-brother, enjoying the festivities

I could go on, but this post has gotten far too long already, if anyone is still even reading, haha. Never before had I experienced anything quite like this; I think the only other time I was in crowds as thick was when a few friends and I took part in La Tomatina, a giant tomato fight/festival in Buñol, Spain a couple years ago. But there the crowds were nowhere near as extensive, everyone was just packed into a small space! Who knows when I’ll get the chance to experience another Carnaval, but hopefully someday I can make it back. I already have a couple friends from home who want to join in next time, so who knows!