Harvest season for soy

The harvest of soybeans in this region is in full swing. I discovered this only three days ago when I was looking for an alternative route for getting back and forth to the Bosque, therefore avoiding the mud hole I've named Lake Maria. It's amazing how fast the crop disappears from the farmlands. The empty field shown in the attached image is one bordering the Bosque. I showed the growing crop of soybeans here only a few days ago. As I drove further southwest, all the other fields had also been harvested. Clean as a whistle, as the old saying goes. Mechanized agriculture at its best.

Past history, continued

As the last of the invited guests show up for the riverboat trip, I spotted a flower of a flamboyant tree flashing its color within a tangle of of other trees and plants. It was low enough that I was able to get this photograph without the use of a zoom. As Áurea and I boarded the riverboat, I thought to myself that I would like to return to this site to see the rest of what remains of a place I knew more than 20 years ago. The owner has gotten old. I've gotten older and the homestead has seen better days. Nature finds itself everywhere and brings new life for all.

Past history, continued

And yet another kind of fern begs for sunlight from a partially open roof that once covered the reception center catering to the wealthy and powerful class of the region.

Past history, continued

Another fern makes its debut on the stage of built of wood and ceramic tiles.

Past history, continued

I don't remember what this ceramic covered shed was all about in years past. Probably a shelter from sun and rain, since it was located close to the old barbecue pit. A gapping hole in the roof provided all the light necessary for a variety of ferns and other plants to grow. The old wooden beam provides the stage for the entire show.

Past history, continued

The trunks of the trees, a cashew tree taken over by either a clusia or strangler fig. My unauthorized guess is that it's a clusia.

Past history

This past Sunday we invited some friends from the medical community in Belém for a riverboat trip of the Tapajós and Amazon Rivers. It wasn't exactly our party because their cardiologist colleagues and families from Santarém did more than their share of providing hospitality and they took care of most of the expenses too. Our departure point was from a residential area on the sandy beach of the Tapajós River close to the old SUDAM headquarters. This home had at one time been the residence of one of the richest persons in Santarém, nothing less than a modest mansion. I remember it well from those days, but I was well aware that the owner has gotten old and is in poor health. He moved into house across from the street from the Tapajós River downtown and what was once a place of luxury has deteriorated considerably. The river and its sandy beach are still there in all their glory, but the residential infrastructure reminds me of some lost Mayan civilization. As expected, the departure time kept being pushed back, so I broke away from my friends to look at trees and plants. One of the first things I noticed was this fig-like tree that had taken over an old cashew tree. Looking at it closer, I came to the conclusion that maybe it wasn't a fig tree at all. Could it be that it's a Clusia? The two have a lot of the same attributes in that they produce enough roots and foliage that they eventually strangle their hosts. Next image, the trunk of the tree.

Lake Maria continues

The summer season is well underway and most dirt roads are drying out fast. Some are already getting dusty! I'm sad to report that access to Bosque Santa Lucia and villages beyond continues to be a problem because of our beloved Lake Maria, an enormous mud hole that has blocked most traffic for almost a year. The main problem in drying out is that whenever it rains, the runoff from the highway ends up in that swamp area. One rain can fill the lake to the brim from one hour to the next. In between rains, the water levels go down, but the bottom remains very muddy and slick. Numerous requests for repair of the road from the municipality government have fallen on deaf ears. That could change soon because elections are coming up in November and it's during the campaigns that things of this sort get done. In the meanwhile, I discovered a back route that may save the day for me. It's double the distance and requires going through private lands, lands which have been planted in soybeans. More about that later.

It's a long way

On BR-163, alias Santarém-Cuiabá Highway, there's an official road sign showing distances from the army base all the way to Porto Alegre, more than 5,000 kilometers away. It's not an easy place to stop, so I decided to do one of my own in the peace and quiet of Bosque Santa Lúcia. Last week I took advantage of Cleuson's good lettering ability to do it. For a guy who hasn't much more than primary education, he has a great hand for doing things like this. Poço Branco is the name of the village where the Bosque is located. The literal translation is "white well", referring to the whitish color of the water in the old indigenous waterhole. BR-163 refers to the aforementioned federal highway. Cuiabá is the next major city, located in Mato Grosso, nearly 2,000 kilometers down the road. Only 100 kilometers are paved in Pará. After getting to Mato Grosso, there's more asphalt.

Bosque walkways, continued

Another view of the walkway on the eastern side of the reception center. Eventually, I'd like to build another one from where the cruise ship buses park to this one. During the height of the rainy season, the trail gets to be a soupy mess after 40 or more visitors hike over it. But that construction will have to wait for another season. For the time being, we'll concentrate on building some small steps going down to the ancient creek bed. That trail is showing signs of erosion and besides, it can get quite slippery.

Bosque walkways

To elaborate further on the attributes of my caretaker at Bosque Santa Lucia, Cleuson has also proven to be worth his "salt" in working with cement. Over the last few months he has built these block-like walkways around the reception center. It's not easy dealing with mud during the rainy season, but sidewalks help. I also find sidewalks important in defining spaces between the reception center, trees and plants.

Bosque signs

I lucked out when I hired Cleuson, the caretaker at Bosque Santa Lucia. To my surprise he has a good hand at making signs and he takes the initiative to experiment with different ways of labeling trees and plants. To boot, he's creative in making use of old paints and leftover wood for doing the job. The sign in the attached image is one pointing out a mahogany tree. Nomenclature of tropical trees is extremely complicated, so these signs at the entranceway and around the reception center are very helpful for guides conducting tours. Our Bosque tours, by the way, are mostly during the cruise ship season between November and March.

Home remedies

There's a medicine for whatever ails you and most of it from the forest.

Cacao for sale

The vendor at this marketplace stall has a good eye for attracting attention.

Passion fruit

The passion fruit is a a vine and, as such, needs support. This one found it in the form of a fence. People who raise the fruit commercially, build a support system that provides for greater space for spreading out. The larger fruit in this image is nearly ready for plucking. There's not a lot inside, except for a bunch of very small seeds and the pulp. All of this is scooped out and blended for the concentrate used for making juices.

Pineapples, continued

One of the best places to buy pineapple in Santarém is at the Mercadão 2000 market place. Starting this time of the year, there are truck loads of the fruit available for buyers. Cold sliced pineapples and pineapple juice are favorites for Santarenos, and visitors too. In the background, that lady in red pants is our friend Dona Joana. She is one of the best cooks around and obviously knows how to select the best foods. The huge white sack on the ground in front of Joana is a sack for planting trees. It came from California, a present from our friend, Marina Duncan. The idea didn't catch on here, so I used it as a shopping bag. I have to admit that many people stare at me as I carry this thing around at the market place. If nothing else, it's a good conversational piece to bring up the subject of planting trees.

Pineapple

A young pineapple fruit is making its way into the world. I didn't exactly plant this one. Maybe two years ago I threw the top of a pineapple out as organic trash. It liked the environment and now it's producing. Anyone that has passed through Santarém will agree that we have the sweetest pineapples in the world.

Colors of ingá, continued

Ingá leaves trick predators by showing up on stage in colors other than the normal green. They also pay body guards to help them out in the process of becoming mature ... and tough. Payment is made in the form of food for the ants. Click on the image for a better view of the ants having lunch at the extra-floral nectaries.

Green and yellow in the flag

With some graphical rearrangements, this leaf could be the Brazilian flag. Maybe that's the reason the tree is called Bandeirinha (little flag). It's a croton and originally from Asia, but I don't talk much about this fact because Brazilians are obviously proud of their colors. Most people plant this small tree in their yard and it does exceptionally well in these savanna soils. The more sun it gets, the more beautiful it becomes. I planted one at Bosque Santa Lucia. It does quite well during the dry season, but lacks luster during the rainy season. I've threatened to cut it down several times, but then the long hot summer season sets in and it pulls out of its slumber.

Flower that brightens day

There's nothing like a big yellow flower to brighten the day. Yellow is one of the Brazilian's favorite colors. Yellow and green on the Brazilian flag. Yellow in the gold. Yellow in trees; yellow and green uniforms for the national soccer team; and yellow in flowers. Maybe that's what makes the Brazilians a happy people.

A feast for vultures, continued

A turkey vulture looks down on the dried up creek, remembering the delicious fish it eat over the last day or so.

A feast for vultures

There's been an unusual amount of vulture activity around the footbridge for the last three days. A combination of both black vultures and turkey vultures gathered to feast on dead fish left by the dramatic drying up of the water in the baixada, which is the lowland area that fills with water during the rainy season. Summer with blue, cloudless skies have left the ancient creek basin without a drop of water. I tried to get a picture of one of the small dead fish, but our friends didn't leave even a sign of them.

Tropical Savanna, continued

Yes, anacondas still exist in the waters of the Tapajós and Amazon Rivers. Does the cobra grande exist? Well, I suspect that there are still some big ones around, but the most beautiful one I've ever seen was at the Escola Floresta, the environmental education center to which I've referred. It's 5-6 meters long, carved from one piece of jacarandá of Pará wood (Dalbergia spruceana). I found the head of the creature to be exquisitely done, as seen in the image.

Tropical Savanna, continued

One of the thatched buildings at Escola Floresta has this spectacular view of Lago Verde, alias Green Lake. Off in the distance you can see Serra Alter do Chão, better known as Serra Piroca, which has a vulgar connotation, if you come from other parts of Brazil. The Tapajós River is just off to the left of the hill and the village of Alter do Chão is on other side of the landmass to the left of the image. This is definitely God's country.

Colors of savanna

This past weekend I took friends to Alter do Chão, where we visited the Escola Floresta, a school of environmental education operated by the Municipality of Santarém. This center was inaugurated just a few days ago and I was anxious to see the place. From one of the thatched roundhouses I spotted these new leaves presenting a show of colors. I compare these biological events to orchid flowers. They can be stunning.

Wild fig trees, continued

A closer look at the new root system produced by this wild fig tree.

Wild figs, continued

On another trail I discovered that this wild fig tree has put on some new clothes. That's quite a set of new roots it's produced and they are quite flashy in their red color.

Wild figs

Some premature figs are beginning to fall from this huge fig tree located on the other side of the footbridge. When mature, the figs will be a larger than these shown in the image, but never the size of the domesticated figs we are used to eating. People don't seem to have a taste for these wild varieities, but animals do. As we get into the season, I'll be showing the fruit again. The local name for this strangler fig tree is apuí. The scientific name is Ficus nymphacaefolia. I try to include scientific names, when possible, because not everyone commands the English language. With the scientific name, it's easier to research the subject.

Clitoris flower

It's not easy to find a botanical reference for this flower because of the millions of references to the anatomical counterpart. Maybe it's clitoria amazonum or clitoria racemosa. Regardless, it's a beauty!

Horned spider

One of the most commonly seen spiders at Bosque Santa Lucia is the horned-spider. Maybe it's seen more because it loves to spread its web across the open trails of the Bosque. I confronted this one this morning as I walked around the woods near the reception center. It's not often that I see a web of this design, so I found it very attractive. After some hit and miss shots with the sun rays coming in through the trees, I finally managed an image that captures both spider and its web.

Catfish

Santarém is famous for its fish. Hardly anyones leaves the city for Belém or Manaus without taking an ice-chest full of fish to family and friends. One of the favorite fish is catfish, the ones seen in the image. These two beauties ended up at our place for eating, and also for taking to Belém the next time Áurea visits her parents and our son, Daniel. Our friend, Dona Joana, did the honors of preparing the fish.

Old fence post

If only an old fence post could talk, think of the history it could tell. The fence that includes this old soldier is relatively new, put up by my neighbor at Bosque Santa Lucia to keep his cows and goats at home. But we can be sure that the post, itself, is several decades old. It's fought other wars in the past. The wood that remains is hard as nails, but it was probably much larger when a young soldier. Termites always start with the softest wood and then work up. I'm willing to bet that the fence post will be around for a few more decades. I know people who love to make charcoal from old fence material. It's said to be the best.

Spider on stage

This spider is normally quite cryptic, almost invisible on the trunk of trees. At this photographic session it was highlighted because of the blotch of fungus in the background.

Orchid, back to the tree

I showed this orchid in bloom some days ago, after which I discovered from Cláudio Serique that it would develop better if put on the side of a tree, rather than in a vase. Come to think of it, I never saw one of these rat-tailed orchids in a vase. Always on the trunk of a tree. I tied this one onto a rosewood tree close to the reception center. It seemed to have like the charcoal I had in the vase, so I left the pieces on the root system.

Tails of leaves, continued

I discovered this little tree loaded with new leaves only meters from the one shown on the previous post. It has the look of having been broken off at the top.

Tails of leaves

I've heard that trees will produce new leaves in different colors to fake off leaf cutting insects, thus giving the leaves a chance to get tough and mature. These must be rather appetizing because they're getting eaten up anyway. Maybe the green is showing!

Tento, continued

If I hadn't been looking up into the tento tree when we were removing leaf samples, I wouldn't have seen that it was in bloom. The flowers were almost up in the crown of the tree, so I got the best zoom shot I could with a simple digital camera. The image won't win any prizes, but it's good for the records of comparing trees. By the way, the genus of the tento tree is Ormosia. The family is Fabaceae. Sorry, I don't have the species.

Tento

On placing this image, I need to make it clear that I'm not a forester. And no, I'm not a botanist. I'm only interested in these things and there are times when I get into pissing contests with others who are likewise not professionally qualified to identify certain trees. Having samples of leaves and seeds make a case. The hard, red seed in the image is called tento. It's used by everyone in the arts and crafts industry as a favorite for making necklaces, bracelets and other jewelry and decorations. But ... biodiversity being what it is here in the Amazon, there are many different kinds of tento trees. Some produce red seeds in different sizes and formats. Some produce black and red seeds. And so it goes. I'll keep these leaves and seeds around to compare with others, as I find them.

Fungi on manioc press

The two vertical pieces of wood are what remain of an old manioc press used by the former residents of the farm where Bosque Santa Lucia is located today. My wife and I bought the property in 1981, and I remember that our caretaker continued to used the press and other infrastructure for at least three years. So, I guess it's been about 25 years since the press was last used. The tree to the right, a pau mulato (Calycophyllum spruceanum), has grown up since that time. We can rest assured that those two pieces of wood are of some noble wood, maybe cumuru (Dipteryx odorate). Otherwise the termites would have eaten them up completely. No matter how noble we might be, fungi will get us us sooner or later.

Guaraná

At last this young guaraná plant (Paulinia cupana) is moving forward. I planted it from a seed taken from the first tree planted many years ago around the old roundhouse. In reality, the older one is more of a vine than a tree. When planted in the shade of other trees, guaraná grows up as a vine. When planted out in the open, it becomes a tree. Well, sort of! We'll see what this one becomes.

Vulture's herb

The erva de urubu plants are at their best now. Local informants report that the juice of this berry is good for getting rid of skin fungus, that type that leaves white blotches on our epidermis.

Fungi 2008, continued

This dead tree was loaded with white fungi from the top to the bottom. I've never seen a whiter white.

The Thief at the End of the World

I'm delighted to have received Joe Jackson's book, The Thief at the End of the World. I'm even more pleased to have received it from the author, himself. Joe spent one morning with me at Bosque Santa Lucia in October, 2005, while researching the life of Henry Wickham, the alias "thief", who made off with the rubber tree seeds. Wickham immigrated to the Amazon from England in 1871, and farmed at piquía-tuba, which is at the top of the hill on the way to the Bosque. It can't be more than 3-4 kilometers away, as the vulture flies. Knowing the place and some of the history of rubber, I savored every last word in Joe's book. Image: latex forming from a cut on a rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) at Bosque Santa Lúcia.

Ruth Cardoso, in memoriam

Ruth Cardoso, ex-president Henrique Cardoso's wife, died at their apartment in São Paulo this morning. I had the pleasure of accompanying her on a visit to the Museum for the Preservation of Indigenous Arts in Alter do Chão back in 1997. Indigenous art isn't exactly my cup of tea, but David Richardson, owner of the museum, was away and asked me the favor. It turned out to be an easy task because Ruth Cardoso didn't need a lot of explanations. She was well versed in the subject matter. I made mention of the visit in my book, Santarém - Riverboat Town.

"On occasion, visitors ask where they can purchase gold nuggets, or gold jewelry. As a matter of fact, Santarém boasts several outstanding goldsmiths, but most of them work on a custom-made basis for their clients. Thus, it is not easy to find a shop with any great selection of pieces from which to purchase on the spot. The closest is Joalheria João Sena, located in downtown Santarém on Travessa 15 de Agosto. An item of special interest is a flat gold pendant representing the legendary Muiraquitã, a frog amulet. João Sena, one of the most skilled goldsmiths in Santarém, makes diverse gold-crafted pendants portraying both Tapajônica and Marajoara designs. Ouro is ouro and the Brazilian standard for jewelry is 18 karat, so do not be surprised if prices reflect these little details. It is noteworthy to mention that when the Primeira Dama (first lady) of Brazil, Dona Ruth Cardoso, visited Santarém in 1997; the gift presented to her by Santarenos was none other than that of a gold muiraquitã pendant. She was thrilled, as she should have been, for she is an anthropologist. " Image: replica of an indigenous mask in front of the old Museum for the Preservation of Indigenous Arts.

Hairy cats

Speaking of caterpillars, last week one of these little devils caused a great deal of pain to Gustavo, a medical student visiting Fundaçao Esperança. He and Marina, a visiting professor at the university, had just started their walking tour at Bosque Santa Lúcia when he remarked that something had stung his right thumb. Indeed his thumb was red and rapidly swelling up. Then I noticed the caterpillar on his shirt. I thought for a moment that we would need to return to Santarém for treatment, but an application of topical anesthetic and a great deal of "biting the bullet" on the part of Gustavo resolved the problem.

Small caterpillar

The day that I returned that wad of giant caterpillars to the woods, I nearly stepped on this small one. It's less than an inch long. Click on the image to get a better view of it. Can you tell which end is the head and which is the tail? I've never seen this one before, but something tells me that it's capable to producing a lot of pain, if touched.

Colors of ginja

In the middle of many plants making up the ornamental fence at the entranceway is ginja, a fruit tree in genus of Eugenia. It produces a delicious red fruit, which is one of my favorite. These plants come from seeds taken from an old ginja tree, which used to be in our backyard here in the city.

Roadside flower

Out of nowhere, beautiful flowers make their appearance on the side of the dirt road going into Bosque Santa Lucia. I don't know the name of this one; you don't know the name of it; I dare say that nobody knows the name of it, but that doesn't take the beauty away from the flower. Such is tropical biodiversity.

Marimari da Terra Firme blooming

Another year has flown by and the marimari da terra firme trees (Senna multijuga) are blooming again. It doesn't get to be a big tree, but its one well endowed with beautiful yellow flowers.

Henry Ford in the jungle

On my trip to Belterra a few days ago, I made a stop to collect some Brazilian cedar (Cedrela odorata) seeds from that very high tree in the middle of the image, the one without leaves. It was loaded with pods, but none had fallen. I thought the tree might be dead, since our cedar trees at Bosque Santa Lucia have been in full dress since the rainy season started. A local employee came out of a neighboring building to say hello. He had visited our Bosque a few years ago as part of a course he was taking in Santarem. He told me that the tree was very much alive, but the seed pods hadn't started to fall. The neat white house in the background is referred to as "House Number one." It was build exclusively for Henry Ford, who had planned a visit to his rubber tree plantations in the Amazon. Unfortunately, the trip was canceled because of the death of his son and the industrial magnate never scheduled another visit. As a matter of fact, Henry Ford never once set foot in the Amazon.