Indigenous population in the Amazon

Indigenous Brazilians, People of the Amazon, Amazon Indians, whichever name you chose to call them, are the owners of the Amazon and even though they in have been around for more than 500 years they still face an immense amount of hostility from the government and from trespassers.

Like in many other countries, Indians have been victims of inhumane treatment, land theft, rape, and slavery.

According to the Britannica Online Encyclopedia, Indians are the smallest of the major ethnic groups. However, about one-third of all Brazilians have some Indian ancestors.

Between two and six million Indians lived in the Amazon in the 15^th century before the Europeans made any contact.

But now, according to Antonio Messias Costa, a veterinarian at the Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi, there are about 100 known tribes still living in the Amazon. He says that there are about 30-100 people living per tribe. However, there are many tribes that choose to live in isolation and away from civilization. Hence, leaving the number of tribes technically unknown.

According to the Britannica Online Encyclopedia, the reason why some tribes are still deep in the Amazon is mainly because when the colonizers began to enslave the Indians the Indians decided to runaway and hid themselves in the most remote and inaccessible areas of the Amazon, where only they knew was safe and good enough to start a new life.

The Indians learned how to survive and built dugout canoes and rafts called jangadas. They slept in hammocks, made pottery and works of art and grew corn and cassava. This is still true and very common for Indians of all countries, not just Brazilian Indians.

According to Costa, who has spent many years studying and from time to time living with the indigenous people of Brazil, they all live in peace with each other and don’t care much about tomorrow. He also mentioned that women with saggy breast are highly sought by the young Indians because they are more experienced, meaning that they have lived much longer, know the land better and can probably catch their prey easier. Apparently these Indians, live day-to-day hoping to survive that day and spend it as well as they can.

There are many different tribes of Indians in Brazil and the greatest numbers of them reside in the Northern part of Brazil. However, now about half live in urban areas. The main Indian peoples include the Yanomami, who live in the state of Roraima, which is near the border of Venezuela. The Mundruku, who live in the state of Para and Amazonas. The Kayapó and the Kayabì, in Mato Grosso, the Guajajára and Fulnio in the Northeastern part of Brazil and finally the Kaingáng that live in the South. Most of these groups have some sort of contact with other Brazilians including personnel from the government’s National Indian Foundation.

However, there are those who have lived in isolation and have had no former contact with civilization. A few tribes have been recently discovered like the Cabellos Largos or the long-haired people. They are covered in red dye and live near the Peruvian border and Brazil. They seem to still use bows and arrows. Apparently, they have lived in isolation from the rest of the world and still do. Unfortunately, there isn’t any information about them including what language they speak and if they have some sort of contact with other tribes.

Today, there are about 350 Indian Reservations since the implementation of the 1988 constitution that entitles Indian communities to the territory they have occupied past and present. Their reservations are very big, nearly as big as Bolivia, when put together. However, many people do not respect the Indians territories and that’s where the problem begins.

Just like it happened 500 years ago, non-indigenous people who want to take what obviously does not belong to them are still pushing Indians around. Transient miners, as they are called, have been involved in many confrontations, which have ended in violence. Mainly these confrontations occurred in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Eventually, the government stepped in and issued new guidelines setting boundaries. But that is still not enough because there aren’t enough people to police the Amazon and shoo away trespassers.

Just recently in 2009, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, signed a bill “legalizing the landholdings of almost one million residents of state-owned land in the Amazon basin,” according to the Britannica Online Encyclopedia. The bill is an effort to control the intrusion and land theft problem in the rainforest. “Under the new law, farmers, loggers, and other settlers who occupied small areas received the title to their land for free; occupiers of larger parcels of land were required to purchase them.”

However, “environmentalists complained that the law would encourage extensive use of forest and lead to deforestation.”

In addition, last September, BBC News reported and has been reporting about many Indians being violently evicted from their lands.

A Guarani Kaoiwa community, of 130, was evicted and their land was then set on fire. The reason is mainly because non-indigenous people are removed from that land because it is set-aside for the indigenous people and the government does not properly compensate them, causing them to become hostile towards the indigenous population.

Another problem that the indigenous population in the Amazon faces is that the “Peruvian government is selling oil concessions to foreign oil companies of all the land in the Javari Valley on the Peruvian side of the border,” according to an article by Dan James Pantone and published on www.amazon-indians.org. “PeruPetro, a governmental corporation, recently sponsored a convention in Houston, Texas in which they presented the oil blocks that they are selling as uninhabited territories, a clear misrepresentation as it is known that uncontacted tribes and the Matsés live in this area. This raised the distinct possibility that the survival of Cabellos Largos and the Matsés tribe will be put in jeopardy by the invasion of their territory by these foreigners.”

The Indian population is now statistically small, but they must be saved just like the Amazon urgently needs to be as well. The forest covers about three-fifths of Brazil and a big portion of it has been cut down and no one, not even Brazil, is benefiting from it. The indigenous population and animals are slowly being extinct and the forest is slowly becoming a small area of dirt. The rainforest is being perceived only for the value of its timber. One must not forget that more than 20 percent of the world’s oxygen comes from the Amazon and that many plants from the Amazon are used for medicinal purposes and may even be key for the cure of many diseases. Government and big companies are ignoring that the Indians are also humans. They are beings who also feel pain, discrimination, hate, love and compassion.

Click on the link below for video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umj5H48D5uo

Belem dia treze

Last night was our last night in Belem and it was just perfect.

At around 4:30 p.m. Raul picked me, Patrick, Tracy and Stephanie from the hotel and took us to das docas for the boat ride. However, his friend Amir, an engineering professor at CSULB, joined us. He had just arrived from California but decided to join us for our boat ride. He was a very interesting and funny man.We ate ice cream at Cairu and enjoyed one last beer at Amazon beer. At 5:30 p.m. we got on the boat, that took us out into the river for almost 2 hours. The boat ride was a lot of fun because they had two dancers, a man and a woman, who danced carimbo. They also got us to dance with them.

It was really fun and it was also a learning experience because the tour lady also spoke about the city and the many things to see.

After the boat ride we all went to this very fancy restaurant that had the most amazing view of the river. The food of course was delicious but what made the night very memorable was all the hilarious and amazing stories of Amir. He kept us all laughing all night. I then decided to go to the restroom and so did Patrick. After the restroom, we decided to walk down to where the river was at and out of nowhere it started to rain. It was amazing because i love the rain and the sound and smell of it. The rain lasted for about 30 minutes.

We then headed back to the hotel around 9 p.m. At around 10:30 p.m. Lucas, Isabella and the rest of our friends took us to Favela's for appetizers and drinks and then we headed over to Vogue, a nightclub, at around 1:30 a.m. We were there until 3:30 a.m. dancing and partying. It was a techno club. There was a lot of people and for some reason Brazilians start partying at around 1 a.m. and don't stop partying till the next day. It was the best night yet the worst because i was sad to leave.

Brazil was the best thing I have ever done. I wish it would have lasted longer but i hold no regrets. I did everything i wanted to do and enjoyed it tot he fullest. I will miss Brazil, it's amazing people, the great food and SIFE CESUPA.

I also learned a lot about deforestation and I really want to do something about it. But for now all I could do is just tell people that it is happening. The first step of doing something is letting people know about the problem so that then people can become aware of it and do something about it.

Belem dia doze

Las night was fun. We ended up going to "Toca," which is a bar/lounge. They had live music and great food and drinks. We danced the night away and totally lost track of time. We got home pretty late and like always me and Tracy woke up late this morning.

Today was our last day of class. We leave tomorrow at 5:25 p.m. Hopefully our flights are all on time. Well, Belem has been an experience of a lifetime. I've met wonderful people, not only the ones i came with but also the ones here in Belem. The people we met are great people not only because they offered to show us around without asking for anything in return but because they are in a program called SIFE CESUPA. They help people living in their community but most importantly they help people who live in small islands in the Amazon that aren't as fortunate as others. I'm so glad we came at the time we did because without Lucas, Isabella, Vivian, Julianna, Aejandro, Arturo, Gabih, Christian, Vanessa and the rest of SIFE CESUPA this trip wouldn't have been as fun as it has been.

In class, I did learn a lot but many of the things we talked about have already been discussed in my other journalism classes but what really did catch my attention was when Julian presented today. He is a professor at CESUPA. He talked about sustainable development and transportation in the Amazon. It was very sad to know that not many people here in Brasil, but mostly in the US and maybe in other countries, aren't well informed about how deforestation is affecting the Amazon and most importantly its people.

I think he was the best speaker, from the few that we had.

After class, we went to eat at Yamada's for one last time.

Tonight we are taking a boat ride, where we are going to learn Carimbo, a dance of Belem. I'm excited for our boat ride and also because tonight we are partying for the last time with our Brazilian friends. I will never forget them because they are each one of a kind.

I'll post pictures from today tomorrow.

Boa Tarde

Belem dia onze

For the first time this week Tracy and I woke up on time! Yeii for us! We decided to walk to school today because it's only 3 blocks away and because Tracy and Steph needed to take some pictures for their article. We arrived to school and had a longer than usual lesson. We talked about writing in different styles and finding your voice as a journalist. We then headed over to the Botanical Garden called "Jardim zoobotanico da Amazonia."

It was really big and also very muddy. There were a few animals like monkeys and turtles but there was mostly lots of plants and trees. We also found a cave-like place with a small but beautiful waterfall.

We were there for maybe 2 hours and then we headed to the shopping mall to grab some food. The food was amazing like always and in most places it's buffet style and they weight it. My total is always about 20 reias which is about 10 dollars. After my meal, i ordered ice cream or sorvete from Cairu, which is like their Baskin Robins. All the flavors are amazing and they taste fresh so far i've has morango, which is strawberry, floco, which is vanilla and chocolate chip, menta, which is mint, Casta de Para, which is only sold here in Belem and it has nuts it's really good, Tapioca and Acai, which is my least favorite and today i tried cookie, which is like cookies and cream but the vanilla is just amazing here and so are the cookie chunks. From there everyone headed to the hotel but me and Steph went to Museu do Indio do Para. We took a cab to Ver-o-peso, which is where they sell fish because the museum is right next to it and we didn't know the museums name.

The museum is so interesting and i needed pictures for my article. Unfortunately my camera ran out of battery but Steph let me borrow her camera to take pictures.

After i finished my task, we went next door to a market place where they sell a lot of food, shoes, arts and crafts and clothes. Steph bought a Brasil jersey for her father. We then took a taxi back to the hotel. Tonight we are headed to dinner and to either a club or a lounge with Isabella, Lucas and friends. We are almost leaving and we still need some more dancing to do!

I will post pictures of tonight in tomorrows blog so stay tune!

Boa tarde!

Belem dia dez

Today was such an exciting day no class!!! WOOO!! But no really it was. We went to the zoo. Belem's zoo is very different from the one back at home because they don't have many animals but they do have very interesting trees. The zoo is about 120 years old.

The zoo was even better because we had our own personal tour guide, who was just amazing. Antonio Messias Costa, who is a veterinarian, covered everything in the zoo and much more.

At first he let us pet a baby jaguar it was amazing. He played with my arm and licked my hand. His tongue was very rough rather than moist. We also were able to carry and pet a baby sloth he was just adorable. He kept licking my neck. We were also able to pet a baby tapir. It was a bit difficult because it's mother was very protective so she kept coming back and we had to move away.

Messias, as he liked to be called, also told us that sloths, iguanas and agoutis roam freely in the zoo. A sloth can turn its head 270 degrees and it consumes it water from nearby plants.

He also told us that manatees are the most endangered species in the amazon. All the animals in the zoo can be found in the amazon.

In addition, he said that deforestation is a huge problem for jaguars and that there's actually some talk from the government to make long corridors that will stretch out from Mexico all the way to Brazil to protect them from harm.

This pink house in the zoo was used for research in the amazon. The zoo also has a museum and a library. There is actually a research institution in the middle of the amazon.

We saw many different species of animals at the zoo like big headed Amazon river turtles, giant south american river turtles, giant otters, alligators, parrots, spider monkeys and many other different kinds of birds.

He also showed us a lot of different trees. One that really stood out to me was a palm tree that did not have its roots in the soil. He said that it actually walks and that in probably 50 years from now the tree would have walked maybe like 3 or 4 feet.

Messias shares the passion of photography with me and every time he would see an amazing scenario to take a picture he would stop us all and tell us to pose.

Another of the trees that he showed us was a Samauma tree. They actually grow up to 90 feet in about 80 years.

Another tree he showed us was Carnauba and they use this tree to make wax and also to make vinyls.

He showed us other trees like Copaipa, which is used to make medicine and Anderoba, which is used to make bug repellent as well as medicines such as ache oil.

Messias, is actually a very active person in the Amazon, who has visited many different parts of it and has actually lived with the indigenous population. This was very interesting and beneficial because i'm writing an article about that topic.

He talked a bit about the indigenous people and how many tribes are actually left in the Amazon. He said there is more than 100 tribes left, which was a bit shocking because there were thousands of them, of course this was a long time ago. But i'm sure that there is a lot of people per tribe.

However, over lunch we talked more about the issue.

At around 1:30 p.m. Isabella and Lucas came to pick me and the group up to take us to this amazing private club. This was all thanks to Juliana, a SIFE CESUPA member. Apparently, her father use to be the director of the place and so they got us in for free. This place was amazing it had various pools including a wet bar! It also had a sauna,tennis courts, beach volleyball courts, basketball courts, a massage parlor, an auditorium to hold events, restaurants and a gym.

We all went swimming for a while and then got massages.

In the club I ordered quibe, which is fried meat, it was just amazing.

Brasil eu te amo!