Friday, August 24th

This morning we went to Ibama, the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment, to purchase our permits to enter the nature reserve in which Maguary is located. We were running rather late, and by the time we got there I realized that I was supposed to have brought my passport and didn't. But they gave me the permit anyways, phew! We caught the bus from the other side of town. When the bus stopped for a break, we realized that Arimar, the Manager of Couro Ecológica, whom we were going to Maguary to meet, was in fact on the bus. He spotted us and came to introduce himself. The bus took a couple of hours.

When we got to Maguary, I realized how different it was from Suruacá. First of all, Arimar got off the bus before we did - he is in the same community but lives way down the road from other people in the community. Thus Maguary is a lot more spread out. It doesn't have that same tightly-knit community feel that Suruacá did.

We got off at the stop for Dona Idu's house, the woman that we would be staying with. We are only here for one night, which is a bit odd, but due to the bus schedule and the timing of my flight back to Rio, that is the only way we could work it. I think Angela will be coming back, though.

 

The part of Maguary where Dona Idu's house is located is right next to the beach. There are several houses there, including one that is being built right next door. They are going to move into that house and leave their house for tourists. That should give an idea of just how into tourism they are here. Also, there is a little shop just a little ways down from their house that sells some of the ecological leather bags/purses as well as jewelry and other crafts. To be honest, I wasn't all that impressed by the selection of Couro Ecológica they had in the shop, but I bought several pieces because I knew that we wanted samples. But later when we went to the factory they had some really nice bags. I would have bought one for myself if I had brought more money. Drat! I think they may have been for a special order anyway, though. On the way back from the store, Dona Idu's husband, Joachim, showed us the rubber trees where they extract rubber for the natural latex. He actually has a small business doing this, and sells the rubber to the factory who uses it to make the eco-leather bags.

As we knew coming here, there is a lot more tourism here in Maguary, particularly in the touristy seasons (which I believe are July and January). There was a Brazilian tourist staying with Dona Idu while we were there. He was a very odd, quiet dude - a white guy with dreadlocks who never seemed to care about anything.

After visiting with the family for a while and looking at the shop, we finally went to the ecological leather factory. I say finally, because I was starting to get worried that we would miss our chance to film it if we dilly-dallied much longer. It doesn't stay light all that late (maybe 6 or so). I must say, I think I have been very patient on this trip. What with not knowing the language and being lost the majority of the time, I am usually pretty relaxed about it. But I have to admit I was starting to lose my marbles this afternoon. Since the main reason we decided to come here, after all, even just for one night, was to film the factory. So I was darn set on filming it! Anyways, we got there eventually and did get to film it, which was quite cool. Unfortunately it was not in operation (as in, people weren't there working). However, we did get some of the guys to show us through the process, starting with the rubber, pouring it over the fabric to make the "leather", letting it dry, and showing some examples of the final product, all sewn and colored. After the filming, Angela talked with Arimar and some of the other guys at the factory for a couple hours.

After our conversation we went out for a beer at a little bar in the community, and then back to the house for a late dinner, and then to bed. The bus was going to come at 3 in the morning, so we didn't want to stay up too late. (Plus people don't exactly stay up late around here anyways). I am actually a little bit cold - what a weird feeling! I wish I had brought my long sleeved shirt.

As Angela and I were talking on the way back from the factory, we agreed that Maguary seems to be much more organized in terms of entrepreneurship. I was surprised at how official Couro Ecológica was. I thought it was just getting off the ground, but they already have quite a few customers in different countries (mostly Europe I think). However, there is not the same sense of community as there is in Suruacá, and they don't seem to be as organized from the point of view of the community as a whole. However, we didn't exactly get very much time to assess that, so hopefully Angela will be back here to interview some more people and get a feeling for the leadership of the community.