On Day 9 we visited with Ugulina Bare, the matriarch of a community on the Cuieiras River. We docked there, got off, and wandered through a group of buildings, some rudimentary, others quite sophisticated with solar panels.

The story is that Ugulina, many years ago, brought her ten children to settle there with another community and built a thriving village with their own school where both western and indigenous education is combined. She spoke at the beginning of our visit, and then we had time to wander throughout the community as they were preparing the luncheon meal for us.

I found myself at the Boteci do Vovi “Grandpa’s Bar” where there was a pool table. I watched and was invited to play. I continued to play for over an hour and a half with a variety of locals. It was a lot of fun. I think they enjoyed my participation. I have to thank Renan, who decided to document the whole time.

By 1pm, lunch was ready, and what an incredible spread it was. It included alligator.

Lilian reminded me that I should ask permission if I was going to photograph residents, so I did ask permission, explaining that I would not sell the pictures, but wanted to use them to communicate about the progress and leadership that Ugulina had demonstrated there—so she understood through Ana our interpreter. I don’t think I’ve mentioned, but throughout our residency, language was both English and Portuguese – going back and forth all the time.

I’d like to say a special thank you to Siodhi, who worked with me that afternoon to record audio for my project in the Tukanu language.

There was another swim, of course. And some opportunities to photograph. We also had the chance to purchase beautiful crafted jewelry, which was one major source of income for the community. I wandered more and started taking some great photographs of ants. As I was doing that, a community member named Marcos Sawapa approached me and we started a conversation. He told me the name of the ants I was photographing, and we had a wonderful dialogue for about 45 minutes. He is from Manaus, and an English teacher who taught at this school and another community as well, contracted for a year of service. He wanted to see my artwork and so we wandered over to the school where he had his computer. He spoke Italian and German as well.

While we were talking, a family from New Zealand wandered by. They had disembarked from a tourist boat downriver. He showed them the school and had a wonderful conversation with them. By that time it was close to 6 and I realized I should be getting back to my own group. Rulan Tangen was presenting with the community when I arrived.  Rulan is an incredible dancer and spiritual leader who inspired us throughout the residency. She lives in Santa Fe, NM, and I look forward to continuing our friendship.