Aracuai buildings and landscape

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Below are a few pictures of the landscape, the river, the houses, and a few backyard scenes from Aracuai. The terrain is rolling hills cut by 2 rivers. The area is semi-arid w/little rain in the winter and very hot, 40 deg C plus summers. When we visited, the temperature was around 30 deg C and very dry. Even though this pic shows clouds, not a drop of rain fell from the sky.

Here you can see the dry vegetation.

Below is one of the rivers, the Aracuai, used for everything from drinking water to washing clothes on the rocks.

So, you might ask how does this wonderful permaculture garden partly sponsored by CPCD remain so green?

Because this outhouse looking building is actually a electric pump house that protects the water pump from the weather. The light blue pipes carry the water up from the river to the green garden. The pump house is about 20 feet above the level of the river, as the water rises in flash floods during the summer.

Below is a very old house made from a wood pole frame and mud.

Here is another house w/a tarp for a window and a tin roof, plus crosses painted in white on the sides.

This is a more modern building using concrete, rebar and brick with wood pole supports.

We caught this pic of a geodesic type dome structure made of bamboo, behind the cactus. Not sure what this is doing here though...
A typical scene from the street. Below are seeds from a tree drying in the sun on a blue tarp.

This pic shows the seeds with flexible thorns upclose when dried (we forget the name). The red seeds are used as a dye, and at the coop in the mix of paint, which stained Stan's finger.

Stan feeds the calf fried manjiorca in the garden behind one of the houses in the community. Behind are banana trees.

A pic of another back yard, this one w/a chicken coop under the roof.
Here's another backyard scene. These chickens are penned up behind the chicken wire.


One of the various dogs laying in the shade.

Didier looks around the street scene.

Didier and some of our group walking down the road. We're passing thru a gate and barbed wire fence used to keep the livestock from wandering too far from the community.
Hanging out in the tree - time to go.


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