People who live along the coast of Alagoas say this over and over, proudly: “See that coral reef? That coral reef is the second largest one in the world. It’s second only to Australia’s.” According to an Alagoas-born fisherman, who supplements his income by working as a tourist guide during his free time, the reef extends from the State of Bahia to the State of Maranhão.

I’ve traveled the entire coast of Alagoas, but spent more time in the northern portion of the State. I took a route known as “Ecologic Route” where the beaches are not so exploited for tourism. There, the color of the sea varies: aqua, emerald-green, baby-blue and sky-blue. It’s like the Caribbean, a total knockout!

Along the entire coast we can see, from the beach, the waves breaking at the ocean’s horizon. That indicates the location of the coral reefs. (The two photos above are from the same beach; the one on the top was taken during low tide.) When the tide is low, you can walk over the rocks near the corals and free-dive with snorkels. The water is no more than two meters deep. The “coral” shade mixes with the sky-blue color of the ocean… it’s so beautiful that you could weep.

Some towns, like Japaratinga, have two coral reefs. One of them is near the beach so when the tide is low you can get there by foot—see the boats aground in the photo on the right. The other one is approximately two kilometers away. If you don’t feel like swimming, the fishermen can take you there during their free time. By the way, most of the boat cruises I took during my trip were fruit of this arrangement. The fishermen admit that they make more money with tourists than fishing.

I took this marvelous photo at Croa Island—a sandbank with rocks and corals—where we met an octopus fisherman. He was less than 18 years old and told us that a kilo of octopus was sold for R$12. He would swim to the Island, which is approximately two kilometers away from the beach, catch the octopuses and swim his way back. “There are no jobs in this region, we need to live of the sea,” he said.

In my opinion, two must-see places are: São Miguel dos Milagres and Japaratinga. Set aside three days for each one of these towns, it’s worth it.

The future of Coruripe

Coruripe is a modest little town located south of Maceio. Its inhabitants live of tourism, fishing and commerce. Besides its wonderful emerald-green sea, the coolest thing about the town is that Coruripe’s coral reef is very close to the beach. When the tide is low, the sea creates natural pools. You can see sea creatures without going deep into the water.

Recently, after returning from the trip, I read that a shipyard—which will manufacture ships and oil platforms—in being built in the town. See the article here. I don’t know the project details, so I can’t make any comments. I just think that, for the sake of our economic development, we need shipyards and industrial plants. But that area is so beautiful…

A while ago, I received a book from the publishing house Jorge Zahar Editor. It is called “Arqueologia da Amazônia” (Archeology of the Amazon Region) and was written by researcher Eduardo Góes Neves. I started reading it yesterday, in the wee hours, and devoured it in one sitting. The book is interesting. It summarizes and contextualizes the archeology of the Amazon region as well as other important information, and it includes all of the countries that comprise the region.

According to the author, one of the purposes of the book is to use historical information to help to solve the region’s occupation problem. After all, unlike many people believe, the Amazon region was heavily populated in the past. Communities from entirely different cultures used to cohabit there. Some of them were agriculture-based or got their food from several sources, like farming or hunting. Others had networks of towns connected by roads while others were traders.

The occupation is ancient… one of the most remote archaeological sites in the region-located in the valley of the Guapore River, State of Mato Grosso-dates from 12,000 BC. We still have a lot to uncover and find out about our country’s past. In addition, we need to prevent the pillage and the smuggling activities that are taking place in the region, possibly on a weekly basis. According to the book, the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (Coiab) is pressuring archeologists and public authorities to protect the area. To find out more and help, I selected some of the facts included in the book. I need to share them:

• The occupation of the Amazon region, both in terms of space and time, was never uniform.
• Contemporary cities such as Santarém, Manaus, Manacapuru and Tefé were built on top of large archaeological sites;
• In the estuary and coastal areas, they identified sites with some of South America’s oldest pottery;
• The languages spoken in the Amazon basin belong to at least four different families: tupi-guarani, arawak, carib and gê. In Europe, for example, with the exception of the languages that were introduced from Africa and Asia, there is only one major linguistic family, the Indo-European;
• The planet’s climate has been changing for thousands of years and so has the Amazon forest. From 10,000 and 8,000 BC, the climate and ecologic conditions in the Amazon region were similar to today’s;
• The indigenous domesticated-a process that preceded farming-a series of plants, such as pineapple, peanut, papaya, cassava and peach-palm. Cassava and peach-palm were probably domesticated where the State of Rondonia is now;
• With the domestication, some plants developed a mutual dependency in relation to human beings. For instance, some varieties of cassava are no longer able to set seeds by themselves so farmers need to break and plant their branches;
• The Amazon soil is poor, but the areas known as “black dirt” are rich in nutrients and very valued by farmers. Archeologists believe that they result from the deposit of organic wastes generated by sedentary tribes thousands of years ago.

Note: Want to learn more about the Amazon region? I recommend the reading of the “A Amazônia não é virgem” and “Cientistas descobrem a idade do rio Amazonas” posts (in Portuguese). The latter was written by me for Blog do Planeta. For even more context, I also recommend the reading of the “Fique em dia com o planeta!” article, published in the iG website.

People who have talent are born with it. This is undeniable. I’m amazed with Usha Velasco’s admirable work. The designer transforms materials found in the trash into surprising furniture and decorative objects. Paint cans, newspapers, pet bottles, iron scraps, construction wood, buckets and whatever else he finds in recycling centers.

Don’t miss the opportunity to check out this young man’s sensational work. I’m still drooling. I’ll try to make something for my new apartment—that is, if my lack of ability doesn’t get too much in the way. Too bad these pieces are not for sale. However, the designer offers courses and workshops. Check out the details of the room above:

The pieces are designed for easy reproduction. According to the artist, they don’t require any special ability (ha, ha, ha, he doesn’t know that I’m totally clumsy). You can copy, save, reproduce or change the designs. The entire blog’s content is absolutely copyright-free. Everybody can be inspired by the designs, copy and disseminate them. And quote the source, of course, because the artist deserves and is entitled to this recognition.

This precious tip was sent to me by dear @anaclaudiabessa. Thanks, girl!

Photos - Ateliê do Lixo

Lampshades, fruit bowls and other decorative objects made of butane gas canisters complete the decoration of Tyranny of Distance, a coffeehouse located in Melbourne, Australia.

The decoration of the coffeehouse was devised by designer Marcos Davidson, who embraced a recycling philosophy. There, the bar becomes an accidental gallery where several recycled pieces and craft objects are on display.

Are we developing the “Burnout syndrome,” which according to research conducted by the National Confederation of Education Workers (CNTE) affects approximately 25 percent of the teachers? “It’s not stress, depression or anguish: it’s worse, because the teacher becomes a robot, which is a very serious thing since education implies in dedication.

The syndrome makes workers feel detached from their work so nothing else matters and every effort seems useless. It makes them feel highly unmotivated and appears when workers face the violence that is hitting both private and public schools. This violence affects teachers and harms the performance of the students.”

When I look at the students, I realize that they are not quite sure about what the purposes of our classes are, and why they need to learn all these things. I try to explain why by showing that our history can be registered using several methods, from different types of Arts, and that, in their lives, they are able to choose their favorite method to learn the universal history of the nations, travel through the human adventure, and uncover the most transcendental issues about the meaning of life.

My job is to introduce them to the Literary Art. None of them has asked me why, in this case, they are not forced to have Music, or Painting, or Sculpture, or Archeology, or Anthropology or Drama classes, for example. In their opinion, knowing the literary movements, their authors and works is not really useful, except for the things they’ll come across in their “SATs”

So, I think that, if students ask “why do we need this for?” or “why do we need to know all of this?” it’s either because my classes are not conveying the importance of learning Literature or because the content is boring and out of context. What is their lack of interest trying to tell me? What do they really want to tell me when they talk, make jokes or sleep during classes (yes, some of them sleep in class) or behave aggressively?

I feel that their attitudes are not aimed specifically at me or the subject they need to learn, but to this boring, asphyxiating environment that classrooms have become. Perhaps they’d rather be in another place, certainly in their rooms, or playing computer games or in an environment that makes they feel like participating in the activities and never wanting to stop.

At these moments, I see my limitations to turn my classes into something creative and interesting, and to go beyond my limits. And I ask myself: “why am I a teacher,” if everybody has within themselves an anxiety, a natural curiosity to uncover their past as well as the means to get such knowledge (provided this is what they want, of course)?

So I come to the conclusion that, for students who really want to broaden their culture and satisfy their hunger for knowledge, simply attending classes and seating at those desks is not enough. I need to rethink my methods. Perhaps we, the teachers, have already been discarded and swallowed by the globalization engine, as we face a generation whose purposes are so different and immediate. A robot teacher. Really? Read more about the burnout syndrome here and here.

Image: Repliee Q2 Robot