THE YAWANAWA MODEL OF SUSTAINABILITY

The Yawanawa tribe (wild boar people) is the guardian of an ecologic sanctuary of over 20,000 sq km, 98% of which is wild forest located deep in the heart of the amazon jungle. It is settled in a region of the state of Acre extremely rich in bio-diversity. Their forefathers, who lived in perfect harmony with nature, held the knowledge to the 

forest´s healing plants. Also, their spiritual endowment is outstanding.

The Yawanawa community is currently led by Tashka and Laura Yawanawa. Tashka Yawanawa had served as Chief of the Yananawa since 2001.

In just a few years, Tashka and his wife Laura have worked to increase Yawanawa territory, reinvigorate Yawanawa culture, and establish economically and socially empowering relationships with the outside world.

The Yawanawa community and their allies are developing a new model of sustainability that allows the Yawanawa to protect the rainforest and engage with the outside world on their own terms, without losing their cultural and spiritual identity.

The tribe is divided in seven villages the largest of which, Nova Esperança (New Hope) holds an annual festival so as to celebrate, meditate over and rescue an invaluable historic and cultural heritage handed down by many generations way long before discoverers reached the Americas. Non-indigenous visitors are welcome to share their wisdom and participate in the festivities.

 PHOTOS

THE YAWANAWA PROJECT

DO´S AND DONT´S DURING FESTIVAL

Tourist Region	Jurua-Acre Valley - Brasil
Municipalities and districts encompassed by the tour	Rio Branco, Tarauaca and/or Cruzeiro do Sul, Vila Sao Vicente.
Duration of festivities	6 days and 5 nights
Modes of transportation	Air, land, river (canoe)
Beginning and end of trip under responsibility of Yawanawa Production team	Sao Vicente village, at the margin of   Gregorio River
Time lapse on land: Rio Branco/Sao Vicente Cruzeiro do Sul/Sao Vicente Tarauaca/São Vicente	6 hours 3 hours 1 hour
Time lapse in water (canoe): Sao Vicente/Aldeia	7 hours
When	From October 25th through the 30th
Reservations I	At least 30 days prior to the event
Package cost (values from 2012)	Foreigners: R$2.500,00 Brazilians: R$2.000,00
Reservations II	coopyawa@hotmail.com Phone #s:(68) 9941-7836 (speak to Shaneihu) (68) 3469-1000 (village) – speak to Biraci Nixiwaka

CONTEMPORARY ART IN A BOTANICAL GARDEN?

The Centro de Arte Contemporânea Inhotim is a museum and contemporary art museum located in Brumadinho in southeast Brazil, founded by former mining magnate Bernardo Paz.


Beginning in the 1980s, Paz converted a 3,000-acre ranch into a sprawling botanical garden designed by the late landscape artist Roberto Burle Marx, a friend of Paz′s. Inhotim, now at 5,000 acres, is vast enough to require 1,000 employees. The garden, which boasts two dozen art “pavilions”, opened to the public in 2006. In 2011, it attracted nearly 250,000 visitors from all over the world.



The pavilions include more than 500 works by noted Brazilian and international artists, such as Hélio Oiticica, Yayoi Kusama, Anish Kapoor, Thomas Hirschhorn, Matthew Barney, Doug Aitken, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Steve McQueen, Cildo Meireles and Vik Muniz. One pavilion is devoted to one of Paz′s ex-wives, the Brazilian artist Adriana Varejão.Paz has plans to expand Inhotim with 10 or more new hotels, an 15,000-capacity amphitheater, and even a complex of “lofts” for those who want to live amid the collection.



https://vimeo.com/79258788


Source: WIKIPEDIA, INHOTIM´S OFFICIAL PAGE

80 DAYS ON MULEBACK? NO WAY!

Yes! That is what a group of mule riders has been doing for the last month - crossing part of Brazil to fulfill an old dream of theirs.  
Why mules? Because a mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse, and the mule possesses the even temper, patience, endurance and sure-footedness of the donkey, and the vigor, strength and courage of the horse.
The adventurers will travel almost 3,500 miles and spend three months away from home. The ride began one month ago in the municipality of  Espera Feliz (Happy Wait) in Minas Gerais and the adventure will only end in Passo Fundo, in the gaucho state. 

The routine begins with a prayer and soon everybody is on horseback for another day's journey. The ride takes an average of 40 km/day, and at that pace they are supposed to cross six states in 80 days. They should reach their final destination in the first half of May. The group is made ​​up of 20 riders, mostly traders, farmers and retirees from the states of  Espirito Santo and Minas Gerais, who invested in the project of  reviving long gone muleteer times. "Our objective is to unwind and get to know new families of horseriders", says one of the participants. 

The trip was planned over a year, and everything is happening as anticipated. Difficulties were also included along the journey - leaving family and jobs behind. The second obstacle was the  knock-down heat in Rio de Janeiro. The third one is the cold south. In short, they chose to tread the path of ancient drovers. And it pays!

WANNA JOIN US ON A COWDOG TRIAL?

A herding dog, also known as a stock dog or working dog, is a type of pastoral dog that either has been trained in herding or belongs to breeds developed for herding. Their ability to be trained to act on the sound of a whistle or word of command is renowned throughout the world.

All herding behavior is modified predatory behavior. Through selective breeding, humans have been able to minimize the dog's natural inclination to treat cattle and sheep as prey while simultaneously maintaining the dog's hunting skills, thereby creating an effective herding dog. 

In Australia, New Zealand and the United States herding dogs are known as working dogs irrespective of their breeding. Some herding breeds work well with any kind of animals; others have been bred for generations to work with specific kinds of animals and have developed physical characteristics or styles of working that enhance their ability to handle these animals. Commonly mustered animals include cattle, sheep, goats and reindeer, although it is not unusual for poultry to be handled by dogs.

In Brazil the Brazilian Border Collie Association (ABBC) has been developing working dogs for herding cattle since 2005, having as its members the Association from the state of Rio Grande do Sul (AGBC – Associaçao Gaucha de Criadores de Border Collie) and the Association from the state of Sao Paulo (APPas – Associação Paulista de Pastoreio).

In January 2006 the ABBC was approved by the ISDS (International Sheep Dog Society), the worldwide recognized sheep dog entity.

The video below shows the first trial for the year 2013 in Pirajui, a town 400 km inland from Sao Paulo city.

Jefferson Munhoz, the first Brazilian to compete at the World Trials, is dressed head to toe in traditional gaucho gear accompanied by his dog, Guapo

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2038300/World-Sheep-Dog-Trials-TV--speedometers-collies.html#ixzz2QCKY3mxo 
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              NEXT TRIALS

Sources: WIKIPEDIA, Brazilian Gaucho Sheep Dog, Herding Dogs, World Sheep Dog Trials, Canil Boiadeiro 

BRAZIL IS NOT ONLY ABOUT THE AMAZON

The Taim Ecological Reserve is located in part of the Rio Grande and Santa Vitoria do Palmar municipalities, in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The BR-471 road crosses the reserve in the longitudinal direction, where the entrance to the ecological station is located. 

The coastal plateau in Rio Grande do Sul features areas of great value in the environment of the extreme south of Brazil and has been formed as a result of the advance and retreat of the sea. The Taim wetlands contains diverse ecosystems, in lagunal and marine beaches, lagoons, swamps, grasslands and dune ranges and fields.

The Taim Ecological Station, is administered by IBAMA (Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources), having an area of 33,815 hectares (83,560 acres). It is located in a narrow land strip between the Atlantic Ocean and the Lagoa Mirim—Merín Lagoon. The objective is to preserve one of the main coastal ecosystems in the country, as well as to allow for scientific studies conducted by institutions and universities. The Ecological Station and nature preserve was created in 1978.

MORE AT: PROTECTED PLANET; INSTITUTO CHICO MENDES; WHERE TO STAY; NATURE RESERVES IN BRAZIL; 

CHORO - THE MOST DEEPLY BRAZILIAN MUSIC STYLE

On talking about Brazilian music anywhere in the world, samba and bossa nova are some of the Brazilian beats remembered and recognized for their originality, contagious rhythm and melody. However, except for the foreign visitors who have been to Brazil, especially to Rio, or have a Brazilian friend, not many people know about one of our musical traditions, which  mixes European and African sounds from the 19th century. The Chorinho is distinctly Brazilian in name and in thematic material. 

The chorinho uses instruments such as flute, clarinet, guitar and a pint of improvisation. The literal translation of “chorinho” would be a “little cry or lament”. Though the songs in this style are a bit nostalgic, they don’t make us cry at all. In fact, when you go to bars and there is a group of chorinho (“roda de choro”) playing, you feel uplifted because of its upbeat sounds.

Chorinho is an instrumental type of music which calls for a lot of mastery on the part of the musician and always carries the possibility of adding his/her touch of creativity and improvisation. Some scholars have compared these chorões, to early American jazz bands, although these choro groups appear before the beginnings of jazz. 

Part of its sound uniqueness is given by an instrument which is typically Brazilian, called “cavaquinho”. “The cavaquinho (pronounced [kavɐˈkiɲu] in Portuguese) is a small string instrument of the European guitar family with four wire or gut strings.” [Wikipedia]

Here is a sample of a chorinho group:

"Brasileirinho", one of the most performed and well-known pieces, is amazingly  performed by Yo Yo Ma:

SOURCE: Pocket Cultures

CHORO JAZZ is a music festival held in Ceará and it has joined the list of the most important musical events of Brazil and the world, part of the European Forum Of Worldwide Music Festivals. To promote the 2012 edition of this Festival, Íntegra, an advertising agency, created "Seashell jazz": seashells equipped with a specially produced mini sound system. Scattered alongside the main and busiest beaches of Fortaleza/CE, one of the places where the event takes place, the shells arose the curiosity of passers by. By doing the typical gesture of one who puts the shell in the ear to listen to the noise of the sea, people were surprised by the sound that is part of the Festival program.

Already getting into it? Check out these valuable recommendations:

Marilynn Mair Mandolin

ON HELPING PROTECT SHARKS AND MANTA RAYS

The millions of sharks killed every year to feed the vast appetite for shark-fin soup in Asia now have greater protection, after the 178 nations at the world's biggest wildlife summit voted to crack down on the trade.

Those fishing for oceanic whitetip, porbeagle and three species of hammerhead shark will now require strictly controlled permits to export the fins. The move is a landmark moment for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) because many previous attempts to protect marine species – including these sharks – have failed, largely due to opposition from Japan and China. Those nations argued other bodies have responsibility for fisheries, but their opponents, including the EU, US and Brazil, said Cites is far more effective and conservation campaigners were delighted. 

Manta rays,  known by divers as friendly and inquisitive gentle giants with a seven-metre wingspan, got new protection against exports at the Cites summit, backed by 80% of the voting nations. They are easy to catch but extremely slow to reproduce, delivering just one pup every two to five years. Their populations are being devastated off Sri Lanka and Indonesia to feed a newly created Chinese medicine market in which their gill plates, used to filter food from the ocean, are sold as a purifying tonic. Around 5,000 a year are killed, generating $5m for traders, but where protected they bring in $140m from tourism.

Sharks are highly sought after but are slow to mature and have few offspring, making them extremely vulnerable to overfishing. The culling of 1 million oceanic whitetip sharks every year has resulted, for example, in its Pacific population crashing by 93% between 1995 and 2010. Today the species was given protection in a close vote that just achieved the two-thirds majority required.

Sources: THE GUARDIAN; BBC NEWS; INDEPENDENT; DIVERS 4 SHARKS; BBC BRASIL