Manaus and the joys of being a pesquisador

Wrapping up my time here in Manaus, Amazonas state at the IPA permaculture institute (www.ipapermaculture.org). Makes me think that I'm also wrapping up my time in Brazil, which is just universally conflicting in so many ways. Obviously there are adventures to come, but every time Im in the middle of two hugely optimistic experiences, its hard to feel sure about either.

How many wild and exotic places shed their light? Certainly not enough. What did I learn? It wasn't learning so much as understanding, leaving the path of words for the path of knowlege. How many people have I met that I hope to see again? Get your calculator. Speaking of calculators...

Research here at IPA has gotten much more entrenched than was imaginable at the beginning. The issue of simple data collection hasn't been a problem, in fact, most of the data existed already. The problem is I unintentionally stepped into the world of multi-variable calculus in trying to create some idea of the economy at a permaculture site like this one.

Permaculture, what the hell is that? Well, permaculture was 'created' or just written about by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, two Aussies enamored by the ways of nature. They layed down ideas for building our human culture in a more intelligently designed way, working with the grain of the wood, so to speak. Originally, their design was based on zeroing in the mileage on our food, and eliminating dependency on skewed markets. This means onsite agriculture, managed in a new way, with laws observed from the earth.

This site was instituted by an American, Ali Sharif, and a Brazilian, Carlos Miller, out of the pocket of the good ol' Brazzo government, and a granola mix of NGOs. The site sits smack in the shit of Manaus proper, from my lofty hammock I can see the pink city glow behind the profiles of towering palms. The site is a bizarre 12 hectares surrounded by urban neighborhoods like Zumbi das Palmares (literal translation Zombie of the Palms), and gunshots ring like firecrackers 3 or 4 times a day. The idea of the site is to act as an institute, and many classes are given to the strange mix of agriculture students from the school across the street.

The site uses multiple filtration tanks filled with various plants to clean their wastewater onsite, there is a food forest that has become the unwitting subject of my research, and of course the pig shit is piled in a giant press to extract the methane for cooking use. My donation of food waste back to the natural system is done on a lofty, gargoyle-like, composting toilet. I feel like a complete hippy. Almost all the systems here operate with a kind of synergy that is painfully absent in our modern style of living.

But back to the exciting stuff, academia! My goal here is to analyze permaculture as a way of conserving the Amazon region productively. I mentioned the ills of slash and burn agriculture earlier, a very large (23.9%) cause of Amazon rainforest deforestation. This systems is more or less the antithesis of permaculture, designed around quick yields and short term gain. Can a move to a different type of cultivation be a lifeline for the tropical rainforest? Developing a economical/mathematical function to model what is happening here at IPA has been the real challenge, and has been draining a good deal of my time lately.

Sometimes the difficulty is the incentive, or at least the fuel for the fire. Just something to think about.

Brazil really is an amazing place. Culture here has such diversity, many different traditions, ways of life, religions, foods, languages, all with a lowest common denominator of horrible beer, of course. Nevertheless, I have an urge to see it all! Particularly the deep south, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina with their breathtaking geographical formations, surfing, sailing, and reputation for all things extreme.

I'm finding myself missing the simplest things, of course, mainly the flavors of home. Brazilians have a bit of a fear of flavors at the extremes of the spectrum. A block of good cheese will no doubt be a highlight of my return. Also going to try my best to bring back goma, a manioc product that makes delicious pancakes, and guarana powder, a natural energetic.

Back to Belém soon, going to put a wraps on my 30 pages (or probably more) and present. The next 7 days are sure to be an intoxicating concoction of remorse and joy.

-Forrest