The Winds of Change

A long time cerrado visitor, who annually visits here, came "home" in the middle of Monday night.  She has been visiting the cerrado for millennia.  Her name?  Chuva.  Rain.  For the past 2 days, I’ve noticed the clouds have been building up late in the day.  The large raindrops awakened me soon after falling asleep.

As I sat in my room with the windows open on Tuesday morning, it was apparent that the sounds of the city had changed.  While winter comes to close on the cerrado and spring begins, I noticed the rains have awakened the bird life.   In the prior 10 days, there was a random bird song / call from the English sparrow, bem-te-vie, swifts, swallows, and local parrots.  (NOTE: Bem-te-vie (pronounced bem – chay – vie’) is a fairly common bird in the city.  Its name sounds like its call.  Last week, Itamar told me that bem-te-vie literally means “I saw you well.”)  As is the case with other bird life when nesting season is imminent, bird activity increases.  (For the 1^st ten days of my assignment, the weather has been hot and dry, with a lot of sun.  Given the cerrado’s dryness, it’s not uncommon for me to drink 3 liters of water per day)

Today, Toni (Ipe’s president) picked us up in the morning because Aline had a final exam.   When we arrived at Ipe, fellow IBMers Christy & Anna (and CSC participants) were already there to meet with Toni.  They are working at Acao Moradia, which is also an NGO.  (One of Acao Moradia’s missions is to train families in the production of ecological bricks for low-income houses.)  Currently, Acao is experiencing an 8% - 10% breakage before the bricks have completely dried.  It takes about 28 days for a full pallet of bricks to dry in the cerrado heat.  The breakage problem is partially due to the fact that Acao’s pallets are not properly designed for carrying such a heavy load.  

              

Toni and Ipe are well known in the community and he was glad to help.  He talked with Senor Oscar (from Acao), the 2 interns (Fernanda & Elissangel), and the IBMers.  Given Toni’s experience, knowledge of pallets, and willingness to assist another NGO, the 90 minute meeting was a huge success.  Among other things, Toni suggested that one of his workers at Ipe could build a prototype pallet (that meets Acao’s needs).  Once Acao is confident the design will work, then Toni will send his worker to Acao to show them how to make a stronger pallet.

       

Another group of older students (from Sao Paschoall) came to visit Ipe while Toni was finishing his consultation with Acao.  As with the prior school visits, you hear the students’ excitement well before you actually see them.  Toni personally spent a lot of time with these middle school aged kids and talked to them in depth about sustainability, composting, solar power, and protecting / giving back to the environment.   

Mid afternoon, Luchino forewarned me of an impending rain storm.  He told me that if I didn’t quickly head back to the hotel, I may be either caught at Ipe for an extended period or prevented from crossing the Avenida Gov. Rondon Pacheco (which is where the San Diego Hotel is located) because of localized flooding.  By the time Itamar dropped me off at the hotel, the winds had picked up to 20+ mph, the clouds were getting darker, and rain was imminent. 

       

The heavy rains started just as I was setting up my laptop, in my room, to continue working on our deliverables.

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