Olle Pettersson

Occasionally, I divert from tropical flora and life at Bosque Santa Lúcia to include a post about people who have visited the Bosque. These posts are listed under the "People" label off on the left hand side of the page. Olle Pettersson visited us in January of this year and I'll have to admit that I don't remember him at all because he was with a group of Scandinavians, maybe a dozen or so. It was only after his return to Sweden that we began to correspond about trees, of course. I discovered that Olle has been photographing trees for nearly five decades and little did I realize that in less than two hours at the Bosque, he added considerably to his portfolio. He recently sent me three CDs of photographs taken of his trip to Brazil, including the Bosque. I asked Olle to send me a pix of himself with some biographical data so that I could do this post. In his own humble way, he says very little about himself. But his art form speaks for him! His blogs are listed under "Links". His remarks follow:

Inspired by an old gringo!

You never really know these days what or who you are going to meet where. In January 2007 anyway, at Bosque Santa Lúcia, I met a pleasant man with a wide knowledge. I came here as an ordinary tourist with a group from Tema-resor Sweden. Steven guided us in both the biodiversity of the rain forest and the history of Ford's Belterra in the 1920s and the agro-industrial adventures and dangers of today in Santarém and Brazil. And he is a very good storyteller. My grandfather on my mother’s side, a self-educated carpenter, would have enjoyed lifting the heavy wood-samples at Steven’s small museum.

Now, every other day, I look into his blog to get a story of what he has met on his rounds in this Bosque and what is happening around it. It is very fascinating. He inspired me to put up my own blog on trees, flowers, stones and skies! And a “road-movie” from the market early one morning in Belem.

When I nowadays walk in the forests at home, the visit to the rain forest in Brazil has brushed up my eyes for all kinds of trees in this northern region were I live. Maybe in a more irresponsible sampling of forms and colours than is exposed in Steven’s blog. But still, maybe the search for beauty in trees also support in the long run the forces to preserve them?

So, anyone who plans to go to Brazil, Amazon and Santarem – book a visit to Bosque Santa Lucia!

I do not have a picture of myself from the Bosque Santa Lúcia so I enclose a picture at Artfjället with Lake Överuman in the background. Here you find the sources of Umeälven (Ume River), not the size of the Amazon, but still a beautiful river rolling down to the Baltic sea. Maybe I can inspire someone to visit the Swedish mountains?

Olle Pettersson

Tullinge

Sweden