We found a friendly boat pilot who didn’t speak English. But Jerry was clever enough to go on WhatsApp and have me speak to someone who could. That person connected me with Maira Irigaray, whose interests dovetailed with my own. Aside from having lived in Florida and Denver and speaking English fluently, her focus was on environmental justice, and she was very familiar with the Munduruku people. She reinforced an important lesson I learned on my residency from fellow artist Sidouhi: Indigenous people don’t want to be objectified and used to demonstrate western sympathies. Too often, outsiders talk about them without real awareness or understanding. Maira argued it was best to celebrate the power, wisdom and sustainability of indigenous peoples rather than report on their abuse. We made plans to spend the next day with her on the river visiting a number of communities.
Our first day in Alter do Chau was devoted to recovering from our all night trip, organizing and working on some blog writing. After connecting with Maira, we wandered in town looking for a place for coffee. Ella spied a ACAÍ sign up the road where we settled at a table hosted by lovely Rosa.
