It is about Amazon

Hanna and her friend and their Brazilian Exp.

I had a brief visit: Hanna and her friend. Too bad! no time for a drink but we chatted enough to learn she is quite cool...Below you read some(only some) of her experiences in my country. And if you have decided already to visit Brazil she means GO 4 IT!!
Don't you Hanna?

Get yourself a drink and get tangled on her words at: http://hannakolumna.wordpress.com/

So, we took our boat trip from Manaus to Santarém. 29 hours on a boat! We were warned of poor hygiene, awful food and an overall unromantic trip (according to Lonely Planet, the ship stays in the same small path in the middle of the river, far away from the bank). So, we brought several liters of water (to drink, brush our teeth, wash our hands …), lots of fruit and vegetables (emptied our medicine boxes to put chilis, spring onions and garlic in there to spice up anything on our plates) and a whole packet of wet cloths (so as to wipe our hands anytime we touched anything).

It wasn´t that bad, we actually loved the boat trip! It was a smallish boat, three decks, and just enough space from one railing to another to put up a hammock. We immediately ran to the top deck (Lonely Planet tip) and started to put up our hammocks at one end. We got there three hours early (so we could buy all the stuff at the Mercado across the street) so there weren´t that many people there yet, but it quickly filled. Hammock upon hammock, and some (it was true!) even across one another. "...fortunately", the most ??? guy of the whole boat spotted us and insisted on putting his hammock in between ours. We barely prevented that, and he just stayed right next to me :-( . He was really...Gorgeous?? (LOL)

Frisbee when Atlantic Rising

Amazon in Hipstamatic through Joe's lens

Windsurfing the Amazon

There are certain activities which we do, not because they are fun, but because the bragging rights are just reward for the pain of enduring them: swimming in Scotland, reading Penguin classics, visiting Hadrian’s wall. All of them tick boxes and fill the awkward dinner party silences, but the actual time you spend doing these activities is sweaty and painful. Sometimes you think it will never end (Tale of Two Cities), sometimes you think you might die in the process (Cumbria in January). All of them are much cheerier in retrospect. Onto this list I will add windsurfing on the Amazon.

We arrived in Santarem six days ago. It is a city that has convulsed in a series of ambitious industrial endeavours: gold, rubber and now soya. We have been lucky enough to make the acquaintance of Gil Serique, an ecologist, guide and local celebrity. Gil is an anthropomorphism of popping candy. As our boat pulled into Santarem harbour, Gil was gliding along on his windsurf. We waved. Gil howled like a mad dog. And we have been lodging at his house ever since.

Gil’s celebrity stems from his unique lifestyle, a cross between Bill (from Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey) and Dennis Hopper in Apocalypse Now. His mornings are spent on his balcony drinking caipirinhas and emailing friends, whilst afternoons involve a rendez-vous with his windsurf. Stress is not a word that features heavily in his vocabulary.
In the week that we have been at Gil’s house, he has taken us canoeing in the flooded forests of the Tapajos, exploring the primary forest around Santarem, and foraging in Henry Ford’s folley of a rubber plantation at Fordlandia. His ecological knowledge is as incredible as his contact base, but both are surpassed by his ability to generate chaos and fun out of order and normality.


On our second day with Gil, whilst canoeing in the flooded forest, he dived in to the muddy waters, emerging several minutes later with a broad grin on his face and wisdom on his lips. There are five different species of piranha found locally, however their danger is much over rated: “I only know of one person who has been killed by piranhas”. Colonel Kurtz would have been proud.

Two days later we were bumping our way down to Fordlandia. A fuller description of our time there will appear shortly on the site, but it suffices to say it is a fascinating and eerie landscape. A haunted landscape of faded dreams and failing buildings. The rubber plantations have largely been replaced by cattle ranches, but the ghost of Americana lives on in the water towers and bright red fire hydrants that line the streets.

Since then we have been spending a lot of time with soya farmers, trying to understand the history, politics and economics of an industry that threatens so much of the remaining forest around Santarem. More on this later.

But now, on our penultimate day in Santarem, I am standing in a pair of heavily battered shorts with Gil shrieking in my ear. In front of me, the Tapajos river collides with the Amazon: muddy water crashing into the clear currents of the lowland Tapajos. The water from the Amazon is both faster-flowing and denser and the two bodies of water do not readily mix. A choppy boundary separates them, and it was here that Gil insists that we head.

I know this much. I am a terrible windsurfer. And I will never be any good. I grab the quivering mast and wobble precariously on the board. A gust of wind suddenly launches me from the bank and with Gil’s cat calling ringing in my ears, I embark on my mission towards the meeting of the waters. Thoughts of caimans, piranhas and anacondas surge through my mind as I totter into the main current. Just don’t cut yourself.

Too late.

The wind drops and I collapse backwards into the water, the boom crashing down on the bridge of my nose. A small drop of blood leaves my left nostril.


The future flashes in front of me. A snatch of clothing found of the river bank. A telegram to my parents. A brief piece on Scotland Tonight about a watersports disaster involving unseen fish. I slowly hoist the sail and edge closer to land.

Gil greets me with a howl. Apparently I looked awesome. I hide my shaking hands and sniff energetically. Do I want another go? No Gil, you have a go. I am all done.

I retreat to the house and immediatly draft emails telling people I have just windsurfed on the Amazon. Next month, I promise, we will be wrestling anacondas in the Orinoco.

By Will from Atlantic Rising

Jungle Marathon on Playboy

Interview with Scott Schandler ( Master of Fine Arts Student at Concordia University

Interview with Scott Schandler(LEFT) ( Master of Fine Arts Student at Concordia University in Montréal about his photo project in Fordlandia and Belterra)


Gil Serique: Where were you born and raised?

SC: I grew up just north of Toronto in a town called Aurora. I lived with my parents until I was 18 years old and moved to Toronto. I lived in the China town neighborhood until I was 24 and then moved to Montreal where I live now. I have been there for two years.

GS: How did you get into photography?

SC: I was always interested in art and did a lot of painting in high school. When my grand-father died I inherited his 35mm SLR camera found I was better able to make the images I envisioned with photography than with painting.


GS: What was your most recent project?

SC: My most recent project was photographing interior of strip clubs in Montreal. Montreal is known for its strip clubs but the city is very discouraging of them and trying to shut them down. The photos are of empty strip clubs with no people and all the lights turned on.


GS: How did you find out about Fordlandia?


SC: I came across it on Wikipedia and I was surprised no one had done a project on it yet. I felt very drawn to this town and I knew I had to come here to photograph it. I also noticed some similarities to past projects I had done. I did a project about hotel lobbies in Toronto that was one place simulating another and a project on my neighborhood of Griffin town in Montreal which was one vibrant but has now fallen apart and become forgotten.

GS: What equipment did you bring?

SC: I brought two cameras, one a small digital camera to test out images and for snap shots, and my main camera is a 4x5 Toyo field Camera, It uses single shit colour 4x5 inch film, of which I brought 400 shits. It is very good for making very large detailed prints. I will develop it in Toronto and print it in Montreal.


GS: How long will you be in Fordland for?]

SC: I will be here for two months. I arrived in Santarem last week, visited Belterra for one day and spent several days in Santarem. I arrived in Fordlandia yesterday via boat. I spent the day shown around and introduced to everyone.

GS: What were you expectations and how do you feel so far?

SC: I expected to be more isolated and less populated. There is a great community here with more modern amenities than I thought. I am very impressed with what I saw see so far and I am even more excited than before. The weather is about what I expected.

GS: What do you plan on doing with the images?

SC: I will be using them for my Master’s thesis exhibition and then plan on sending the exhibition to different cities around the world. I would also like to send prints to Santarem, Fordlandia and Belterra to be displayed. And hopefully, I can publish them on a book.

I am very grateful for you Gil, for all your assistance and accommodations, for introducing me to your friends and letting me to stay with them and for helping to make my project possible.

GS: Our pleasure and honour mate. Go for it!!! I wish you the best mind light.

cheers

Atlantic Rising