Bahía, where Brazil’s african culture is at its strongest, is at the same time the most visited state of the whole country… After having visited all the southern states, it felt like entering a new country. In Bahía, the sun shines more intense, the colors are brighter, the people are more outgoing, the music is everywhere,… It is also the place  where the martial art capoeira and the exotic samba originated.

After working on the beautiful puravida farm, where I helped with the cacao-harvest (yes, I was at the basis of chocolate and of course we also experimented with making our own chocolate, which was delicious and not comparable at all to what we get in Belgium, although Belgian chocolate still remains very good as well ), and where I learned more about the pratical side of agroforestry, I went to Salvador. Huge, crazy, chaotic and with lots of crack-problems and lots of poverty (the northern states of Brazil are clearly poorer than the southern ones). I didn’t stay long there. I headed towards a more quiet and relaxed place; Chapada Diamantina! Located in the center of Bahia, an oasis of ancient mountains, innumerable waterfalls, hidden caves with cristalline pools, million-year-old skeletons of dinosaurs, shining diamants and other gemstones, with a crazy and very diverse vegetation, colourfull sunsets, the brightest stars I ever saw, a perfect full moon, and an overwhelming, beautiful energy. This is Chapada, this is my favourite place in Brazil.

Time flew by and I had to leave. Frédérique was waiting for me in Colombia and I almost exceded my allowed number of days in the country. Together with Maria, a friend that I met in Chapada, I started a race towards Colombia. We went to Manaus, the capital of Amazonas, where we found it necessary to make some time to visit the mighty Amazon (the largest tropical rainforest on earth, the lung of our planet!!). However, we were quite disappointed afterwards. The situation is worse than I thought, the touroperators are not ecological at all, we didn’t hear a lot of jungle-sounds, nor saw many animals and big trees were strikingly absent in the forest. Apparently all you need is money and you can cut whatever you want… Corruption is a big problem and no-one seems to care.

With that as the last impression in our minds, we left Brazil. It took us 4 days of non-stop buses to cross Venezuela and arrive in Santa Marta at the carribic coast of Colombia. After countless passport-controls and unfriendly faces in Venezuela, but stunning landscapes (tabletop mountains in the south!), we arrived in a totaly different atmosphere. Colombians gave us nothing but kindness and warm hospitality. So I finally met Frédérique and we have been traveling in this beautiful country since.

I`ll soon write more about that trip!

“The project Porto Sul from the transnational company BAMIN is about to destroy a protected nature-area at the south-coast of Bahía. They are planning to build a big harbour to export iron to China. An area of 200 hectares will be used for that.

According to BAMIN, they will maximum hire 500 people to handle the machinery and most of them will have to come from another country than Brasil. On the other hand, the bahian government sais that this project will create about 10.000 jobs, however they never gave any concrete facts or proves on this.  Similar projects in Minas Gerais, Amapá and Pará did not improve the quality of life of the locals. The only ones who benefit from it are the companies themselves.

Specialists from the bahian government do confirm that this project will affect the region forever, harming the tourism around Ilhéus, Uruçuca (Serra Grande), Itacaré, Maraú and Camamu. Fishermen will lose their relationship with the sea and their current job opprtunities.  The iron-minig will pollute the air, rivers and sea and will endanger like that the health of the local people (e.g.  lung- and skin-diseases). The fishproduction will diminish, affecting the cost of life and food security. There will also be noise nuisance, which will impact the surrounding villages and nature. On top of that, the bahian government wants to install a steel factory and a nuclear plant. If the region has got a touristic vocation and people living in the whole cacao-region, then why a nuclear plant, of which we know it brings a high cost and higher risk for the health and security of the people? Why not revitalize the São Fransisco river and re-potentiate the turbines of the hidro-electric plant that already exists?

The BAMIN-project will affect the fauna and flora af the ecological corridor between ‘Parque Municipal da Esperança’ and ‘Parque estadual da Serra do Conduru’ between Ilhéus and Itacaré. This could drive several endemic species of the atlantic rainforest to extinction. Also, the ‘Lagoa Encantada’, an important water-body of about 24 kmª, is an UNESCO- protected area. The atlantic rainforest has got a direct influence on the people that lives in its area; the forest maintains the waterflux and fertility of the soil, regulates the climate and protects the slopes of the hills.

The bahian government hasn’t done any public consultation or audience. They ignored the municipal autonomy, the people, the communities and the touristic projects (projects that, ironically, that same government recommended before to make the region more attractive for tourists).

We are not going to accept such a horrible project, which ignores the society of Ilhéus and the whole region. We have an economy that needs relief and recuperation and Porto Sul will bury the good things we still have in the south of Bahía.”

Please sign the petition!! I added the link under the section ‘Projects’…

Other websites (in portuguese) where you can find information on this topic:

http://www.greenpeace.org/brasil/pt/Noticias/Destruicao-ambiental-em-Ilheus/

http://www.wwf.org.br/?24800/ONGs-lancam-manifesto-contra-ferrovia-e-porto-na-Bahia

Manifesto “Porto Sul – autoritarismo, desastre ambiental e desemprego no Sul da Bahia” (sexta-feira 15 de maio de 2009)

Porto Sul – autoritarismo, desastre ambiental e desemprego no Sul da Bahia

Ilhéus, maio de 2009

O Governo da Bahia, de maneira obscura, anuncia a instalação de um complexo intermodal (porto, retroporto, ferrovia, aeroporto) na região da Ponta da Tulha, litoral norte de Ilhéus, desde janeiro de 2008. Mais recentemente, já se noticia siderurgia e usina nuclear no Sul da Bahia, sob as sombras do Porto Sul.

Tudo começou com a BAMIN, empresa transnacional que adquiriu a licença para explorar a jazida de ferro em Caetité, e com isso deseja escoar o minério para a China. Outros negócios minerais surgiram nos últimos anos, estimulados pelo mercado internacional, antes da crise.

Na verdade, o que existe é o projeto de um porto em alto mar em frente ao mirante de Serra Grande, com um pátio imenso para depósito de minérios, ao lado da praia e vizinha a Ponta da Tulha. Este pátio ocuparia mais do que o dobro da área da vila (a área cedida para a BAMIN é de 200 hectares, sendo 80 hectares de pátio para depósito de minério de ferro a céu aberto em pilhas, ou seja, 80 campos de futebol só para este fim).

Para viabilizar o negócio privado, o Governo da Bahia decretou de utilidade pública uma área de 1.780 hectares na APA da Lagoa Encantada, repassada para a BAMIN, sem custo para a empresa. O porto e a retroárea usariam equipamentos importados em sua maioria, e muito pouca mão de obra. Segundo a Bamin, eles contratarão no máximo 300 funcionários para operar as máquinas, e a maioria dessas pessoas deve vir de fora. Por outro lado, o governo diz, sem apresentar nenhum fato concreto, que este projeto vai gerar 10 mil empregos e mudar a cara da região. De fato, a face do Sul da Bahia pode mudar para pior. Projetos semelhantes como a extração de minério de ferro para exportação, em Minas Gerais, Amapá e no Pará (Carajás), pouco ou nada resultaram em melhorias na qualidade de vida da população. Quem lucra com isso são as empresas. Para o Brasil e seu povo ficam a poluição, a degradação social e ambiental, e a miséria de parcelas crescentes de sua população.

Especialistas contratados pelo Governo da Bahia afirmam que este projeto vai afetar para sempre a região, prejudicando o turismo entre Ilhéus, Uruçuca (Serra Grande), Itacaré, Maraú e Camamu, eliminando empregos. Pescadores e jangadeiros vão perder suas relações com o mar e as atuais oportunidades de trabalho. A poluição do minério de ferro se espalha pelo ar, rios e pelo mar, podendo prejudicar a saúde dos moradores de toda a região, com doenças pulmonares e de pele, além do ruído, que afetará vilas e ambientes naturais. A produção de pescado vai diminuir, afetando o custo de vida e a segurança alimentar na região. Para piorar, o governo tem dito que quer instalar uma siderúrgica e também uma usina nuclear. Se o ferro vai para a China, e a jazida de Caetité tem uma duração prevista de apenas 15 a 25 anos, porque fazer uma siderúrgica? Ou será apenas um mote para novos apoios, prometendo novos empregos e mais investimentos? Se a região tem vocação turística e moradores em toda a zona cacaueira, porque uma usina nuclear, que sabemos ter alto custo e risco elevado de saúde e segurança para a população? Porque não revitalizar o Rio São Francisco e re-potencializar as turbinas das usinas hidroelétricas que já existem?

O projeto da BAMIN, na APA da Lagoa Encantada, afeta a fauna e a flora do Corredor Ecológico entre o Parque Municipal da Esperança e o Parque Estadual da Serra do Conduru, entre Ilhéus e Itacaré, com riscos para espécies ameaçadas de extinção que vivem naquele local, como a preguiça de coleira, a lontra, o macaco prego de peito amarelo e muitas outras espécies da Mata Atlântica. A Lagoa Encantada, por outro lado, é um importante corpo de água com aproximadamente 24 km2 de área, é um Posto Avançado da Reserva da Biosfera da Mata Atlântica, organismo nacional que representa a UNESCO. Mesmo reduzida e muito fragmentada, a Mata Atlântica na região Sul da Bahia exerce influência direta na vida população que vive em seu domínio por meio da manutenção do fluxo dos mananciais de água, a fertilidade do solo, a regulação do clima e a proteção de escarpas e encostas das serras, além de preservar um patrimônio histórico e cultural imenso.

Passados 16 meses da primeira noticia, o Governo da Bahia não fez qualquer tipo de consulta ou audiência pública, desconsiderando a autonomia municipal, passando por cima da sociedade civil, do Plano Diretor do município de Ilhéus, da APA da Lagoa Encantada, das comunidades e condomínios e dos projetos turísticos recomendados pelo mesmo governo para virem para a região. Comunidades da região de Caetité também estão descontentes e contrariadas com a mineração do ferro que vai destruir seus modos de vida e seus recursos ambientais, sem gerar benefícios para a maioria.

Não vamos aceitar que um projeto tão ruim e que vem sendo imposto de goela abaixo, ignorando a sociedade de Ilhéus e de toda a região. Nós temos uma economia que precisa de socorro e recuperação, e o Porto Sul vem para ajudar a enterrar algo de bom que ainda temos no Sul da Bahia.

Conselho Indigenista Missionário -CIMI – Equipe Itabuna
Comissão Pastoral da Terra- CPT – Equipe sulsudoeste
Federação de Órgãos para a Assistência Social e Educacional – FASE – Itabuna
Associação Ação Ilhéus – (Ilhéus)
Pastoral da Juventude – Diocese de Itabuna
Associação para o resgate social – ARES – (Camacan)
Associação de Moradores de Aritaguá e Retiro – (Ilhéus)
Povo Indígena Pataxó Hã-Hã-Hãe – (Pau Brasil, Itajú do Colônia e Camacan)
Povo Indígena Tupinambá de Olivença – (Buerarema, Una e Ilhéus)
Conselho de Cidadania Paroquial – (Itabuna)
Ceta sul da Bahia – Região sul da Bahia
Movimento Negro Unificado- MNU – (Itabuna)
União Brasileira de Mulheres- UBM – (Itabuna)
Floresta Viva –(Ilhéus)
Comunidades Eclesiais de Base- CEB’s – (Itabuna e Ilhéus)
Escola Agrícola Comunitária Margarida Alves – (Ilhéus)
Associação de Moradores do Fonseca – (Itabuna)
União das Associações de Bairro de Itabuna – (Itabuna)
Movimento Quilombola – (Itacaré)
Associação dos Moradores da Vila Juerana (Ilhéus)
Associação dos Moradores da Lagoa Encantada (Ilhéus)
Associação dos Moradores da Vila Juerana – AMORVIJU

Enjoy!

From wetlands, exuberant rainforest, hidden caves, magnificent waterfalls and paradise-beaches to colourful fishermen towns and exciting metropolises full of life. Brasil is a very diverse country and everywhere people are very friendly and helpful.

Next to all the beauty and happiness, there’s also a dark side… Hallucinant amounts of Mata Atlântica (i.e. Atlantic Rainforest, one of the most biodiverse biomes in the world, stretching out along the coast from the state of Rio Gande do Sul in the south until the state of Rio Grande do Norte in the northeast) have been cleared in order to meet the mainly western world’s greed. Lots of it is replaced by pastures full of cows, sugarcane- and coffee- plantations, soy fields and pine and eucalypt monocultures.

There are several factors that have been leading to the degradation of this beautiful forest; the expansion of cities and the real estate market, big hydroelectric power plants, mining, the building of shrimpfarms, the expansion of monocultures of exotic trees without any proper planning (the government hardly controls this), the exploration and trafic of threatened species, and also the cutting of forest to produce charcoal (this happened in a project in the state of Piauí under the name of ‘Energia Verde’!!! The irony…).

The results are devastating; exhaustion of the soil, erosion, mudflows, subsidence of roads,…

There’s a website where you can find more info about this: http://www.apremavi.org.br/.

I’ve got the impression there’s not a lot of environmental education in Brasil, however there are some motivated souls that do what they can to change this, cfr. video above.

So, as some of you already know, I changed my way of transportation. Because of the ways of life, I had to return to Belgium and I decided to leave my bike there and continue my trip with public transport. I cycled until Peruíbe, which is about a 100km from São Paulo. Overall, I’m very happy that I got to know Uruguay and the South of Brasil in this slow and intense way. But I’m as happy to travel in a different way now, both have got there advantages and disadvantages…

Until now I’ve already learned so much on this trip. I will learn even more in the next 4 weeks, since from today on, I’ll start working on a permaculture farm close to Itacaré in the state of Bahia. Their project is called PURAVIDA, they have a website; I added the link in the column on the right side under ‘projects’. Have a look! This means as well that I won’t be able to reply any e-mails in this period of time. It’s completely back to basics..!

The first thing that I noticed about this city, and what I loved, were all the Jacaranda trees with their intense purple flowers! Another nice observation was the movement of the sun! Since I’m in the southern hemisphere now, the sun is moving from east over north to west and never comes in the south, which means that the sun moves from the right to the left (which is of course logic, but most of you know I’m not really fond of logical thinking , so I needed some time to figure it out completely).

Despite its size, I actually didn’t really have the feeling that BsAs was that big or crowded. Probably because the city is really spread out, and all the avenues and streets are very broad. And of course, not to forget, if you think of Buenos Aires, you think of Tango! I already loved the music, and now that I actually learned a little bit how to dance it, I love it even more! There is some discussion about the origin of tango; people from BsAs will say it originated in their city, whereas people from Montevideo claim it to be originally Uruguayan. Anyhow, what is certain is that it arose in the prostitute-areas of one of these two cities.

Since BsAs is a metropole, there’s always something to do, days as well as nights are never boring in this city! A good start of my trip indeed..!

The first of December, the first day of cycling in South America! The day before, I took the boat to cross Río de la Plata, a huge delta which separates Argentina from Uruguay. I started cycling from Colonia del Sacramento and followed the boarder of the Río de la Plata delta and subsequently the atlantic coast of Uruguay until Brasil.

A big concern to me is the delta of Río de la Plata, which is officially an ecological reserve, but is severely polluted. I saw loads of dead fish and garbage washed up on the beach or floating in the water. Despite the ECOPLATA programme (http://www.unesco.org/csi/act/plata/ecoplata.htm) that started in 1996, more than 13 years later the pollution still remains an urgent problem that has to be solved.

Fishery for human consumption is prohibited in Río de la Plata, because of the high level of toxic substances that are building up in the fish, e.g. derivates of petroleum and PCBs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polychlorinated_biphenyl). However, apparently money is valuated higher than human health, and lots of illegal fishing is happening. The fish is then being sold and exported with a false label of origin. Especially a fish called ‘sábalo’ (Alosa alosa) is used for this horrible practice.

My favorite part of Uruguay is definitely Rocha, this is a province in the east part of Uruguay, with an amazing coast and picturesque little villages, especially Punta del Diablo was really beautiful. The other parts of Uruguay had much more monotonous and less natural landscapes (they mainly consisted of pastures with cattle, eucalyptus plantations and fields with soya) and therefore was rather boring to cycle through. In Rocha, the natural vegetation is much more visible, there are several lagoons and many wetlands with lots of wildlife, huge dunes in Cabo Polonio, palm groves with 200 to 300 year old Butiá palms,… These palm forests however are severely threatened by overgrazing; young plants don’t get the chance to grow. But recently a part of this palm forest has been purchased by the organisation ‘Aves Uruguay’, funded by ‘World Land Trust’, to conserve the original habitat (http://www.worldlandtrust.org/news/2009/10/threatened-buti-palm-forests-in-uruguay.htm).

Uruguay is also a land of birds. I was amazed by all the colourful birds, impressive raptors, flamingos, wading birds with long beaks, parrots, and so many more… I especially liked one specific bird, called Brazilian cardinal (Paroaria coronata), which has a bright red head and funny crest.

About 12 days ago, I crossed the border to Brasil. The first 300km were quite similar to Uruguay when it comes to landscapes but then it started to change to more subtropical vegetation. Seeing landscapes changing like that, is so much different to experience when you are on a bicycle compared to when you’re in a bus or in a car; you smell the flowers, you hear all the animals… it is much more intense! I also got really excited to see the first trees covered in epiphytes.

I had some problems with my bike as well, the luggage carrier broke (I guess this means I’m lugging along to much stuff… :s), but I got a new one today, so in a few days I’m jumping back on my bike and I’ll be cycling towards more beautiful beaches and impressive landscapes…

Oh and yes, I guess I have some explanation to give, why I changed my route. As it says in the quote at the top of my blog: “A good traveller has no fixed plans…”

And now a little message for those who are interested (this will mainly be mycologists). It was a nice and calm afternoon, the sun was shining, and I was cruising around at the famous Boqueria market in Barcelona, and suddenly… there it was, positioned between some ordinary boletes, the king, or should I say the emperor of the edible mushrooms; Amanita caesarea!! I have been told by many people that this should be the most tasty mushroom you could ever eat, so, extremely enthusiastic I headed over to the salesgirl, who surprisingly didn’t share my enthusiasm. But anyway, I bought two nice examples and floated home to prepare them. Maybe I didn’t prepare them in the right way, but I didn’t find them very spectacular. They tasted good, but not excellent. Maybe my expectations were to high? But besides the slight disappointment, I’m still very happy that I have finally tasted them!

So, that was it for today, more South-American stories and adventures will follow soon…

Still 9 hours to go and then I’ll finally start my trip, destination South America! The red lines on the map, indicate more or less the route that I’ll be following.. which I will be doing or at least try to do by bicycle!