Road to Aracuai

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We drove to Aracuai, a very arid rural town with about 30,000 people, where CPCD has an education and water purification project (remember the water theme - it will arise again - we might take for granted that we have water...let alone that we can actually drink our water), about 500 KM from another slightly larger much less arid and pleasant town, Curvelo (70,000 people), which is where CPCD has another office/project (the parents of our project host Flavia have a home there. You already viewed a partial outcome of the trip to Aracuai (Stan was quite ill for about 24 hours, no hospital though, more like violent food/water poisoning we think, but we're not doctors). Here's a few pics on the road to Aracuai (pronounced in English as Ahr-a-su-I).

What's Didier doing in the middle of the road? Of course he's taking a picture, don't we all do this in the middle of a highway? Not many cars, mostly trucks - don't be alarmed, he's taking a pic of a boa vista. Maybe he'll post this pic for you?

Speaking of dangerous roads, we needed to stop then drive around this overturned semi-tractor trailer rig that was loaded top heavy with charcoal made from the local eucalyptus tree farms (anyone for an investment opportunity? Millions of hectares are planted here). This happens more often than not - we saw an overturned car a few days ago. Thankfully, the driver was fine and standing behind the rig out of the pic.

We needed to slow again to avoid the horse drawn carts, and of course stare at the fire burning on the left side of the road. There's little garbage collection in the rural areas so we understand that most people burn the waste, and the grass, and the trees...but it does tend to prevent massive forest fires as ground fuel is consumed in small burns.

Then the road turned to dirt - over 100 KM of narrow dirt, gravel, holes and choking dust.

Did we mention dust? This is the view from the car after that blue truck passed us at 60KM per hour...

We made it - this is the welcoming sign outside of the town Aracuai - notice the lack of any green grass or even green weeds. The area is very dry in winter. Most plants are desert like w/spines, waxy leaves, or cacti. More to come....

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Special for Daniela .... Stan in a very bad way !

.... the guy in this picture is in fact Stan, your Partner. After spending 3 days in Araçuai, Stan became deathly sick (in fact, he was almost dead) after drinking bad water ... and the funny story behind that is that he was fully informed "never drink bad water" ... but you know, PwC Partners are always impulsive, and I know what I am taking about !

Poor Stan ... it was even worse for him because he "decided" to be sick during our trip - 4 hours drive and then 1 our flight - could you imagine ... ?

But don't worry, now he gets better, the proof is that yesterday, he rode his bike !

Take care.

Didier

Ulysses

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So, you might ask, what is Ithaca - the geography or Greek history buffs will know that Ithaca is a Greek island and the home of Ulysses. As you can imagine, this journey by the Greek hero is a metaphore for our experience in this project in Brazil, although we didn't fight wars, enlist the help of Greek gods, or deceive our fellow man. Here's a little more history.....

Ulysses, by Leif Ellingson
Ulysses, the Latin equivalent of the Greek Odysseus, was the king of Ithaca, a Greek island. He was married to Penelope and they had a son named Telemachus. He was one of the Greek leaders in the Trojan War. The Greeks fought the Trojans for ten years, but Ulysses came up with a plan to burn down Troy and save Helen, the wife of Melanos, the Spartan king. He had the Greek army build a wooden horse that he and nineteen other soldiers could fit in. All of the Greek warships left the shores of Troy and left the horse behind. The Trojans thought that it was a gift from the Greeks, so the people of Troy brought it through the gates of the city. Late that night, Ulysses and the nineteen soldiers snuck out of the wooden horse and let the newly arrived Greek army through the gates. The Greeks burned down Troy and saved Helen, but Ulysses still had a long journey ahead of him.

Ulysses and his men set sail for Ithaca. After a few weeks of sailing, Ulysses and his men ran out of food. They landed on an island, to look for food and water. They found a whole cave full of food, but they soon found out that the food belonged to a one-eyed giant called a cyclops. Ulysses and his men tricked the cyclops and escaped with the food. Unfortunately for Ulysses, the cyclops was a son of Neptune, the God of the Sea.
Once again, Ulysses' men ran out of food, so they landed on another island. The sailors divided into two groups, Ulysses and some of the crew stayed with the ship, while the others went to look for food. The next morning, one of the "food-searchers" came running bck to the boat. The sailor told Ulysses of a sorceress named Circe who had turned the other crew members into hogs. At once, Ulysses ran with the sailor to Circe's palace, but on the way, Mercury came with a gift from one of the gods. It was a magical flower that would act a shield on Ulysses from Circe's magic. Ulysses met with Circe. Circe tried to use her magic on him, but it didn't work, so she gave in and turned the back into humans. Plus, she warned Ulysses of the dangers to come. With lots of food, Ulysses and his men left the island.

Thanks to Circe, Ulysses overcame the next dangers. He overcame the dooming song of the Sirens by plugging the ears of he and his crew. The sailors came upon the six-headed monster called Scylla. Though all of his crew were eaten by Scylla, Ulysses escaped, only to be washed ashore by a storm where a princess found him and took him to her father. The king gave Ulysses his fastest ship to use to sail home with. When, Ulysses reached Ithaca, he deceived the men that wanted to marry his wife, and killed them. Ulysses finally reclaimed his throne.

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The Ulysses Journey to Ithaca

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We've been out of the CPCD office for a while in Curvelo, then much more rural Aracuai. We have many pics and stories to post, but haven't been able to either access the internet, have not had time, or have forgot our cameras with friends (Stan forgot his with the mother of Marco, the husband of Flavia our CPCD host...long story).

Read this wonderful poem named Ithaca from a Greek author (Constantine P. Cavafy) that we shared together back in Mexico. We were thinking of the journey when out in the field here in Brazil. Happy reading.


Ithaca

When you set out on your journey to Ithaca,pray that the road is long,full of adventure, full of knowledge. The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,the angry Poseidon -- do not fear them: You will never find such as these on your path, if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine emotion touches your spirit and your body. The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops, the fierce Poseidon you will never encounter, if you do not carry them within your soul, if your soul does not set them up before you. Pray that the road is long. That the summer mornings are many, when, with such pleasure, with such joy you will enter ports seen for the first time; stop at Phoenician markets, and purchase fine merchandise, mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony, and sensual perfumes of all kinds, as many sensual perfumes as you can; visit many Egyptian cities, to learn and learn from scholars. Always keep Ithaca in your mind. To arrive there is your ultimate goal. But do not hurry the voyage at all. It is better to let it last for many years; and to anchor at the island when you are old, rich with all you have gained on the way, not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches. Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage. Without her you would have never set out on the road. She has nothing more to give you. And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you. Wise as you have become, with so much experience, you must already have understood what Ithaca mean.

From Constantine P. Cavafy (1911)

It's all about diversity !

Thusday 16 July, we went to the CPCD cooperative (refer below) to spend couple of hours working not as "PwC consultant" but as real workers, it was quite different from our usual life !

Here, Stan (my US peer partner) is currently cutting out a piece of metal in order to build something ... in fact, we did not know what exactly it was, but he did it. Special note for Stan wife and family => do be worried aboud Stan ... he is very well, no accident !

I decided to go to the "kitchen workshop" and to be honest, a had a lot of fun to learn how to peel off limes. The cookers were very patient and nice ... because, I should admit, I was not as efficient as they are. Anyway, I contibuted ... !!

History of Brazil

Ouro Preto was the Portugese capital of Brazil in Minas Gerais (means something like general mine) before the 1800's mainly due to the gold and other minerals. So what do you do on the weekend if you are hanging out in Belo Horizonte, which is about a 2 hour drive away? Of course, you drive to Ouro Preto. What do you do in Ouro Preto?

Not specifically in the order of these pics - you meet new people at the local music festival, like this French guy (in the middle with the Brazilian flag as a scarf, but we can't recall his name) who is studying in Brazil.

You also tour the city - here Didier and I are standing on the terrace at the old council chambers above the square where the body of one of the first revolutionaries (a dentist nicknamed the "teethpuller") was hanged and drawn/quartered by the Portugese ruling elite for plotting a rebellion. Someone snitched... Perhaps if the Portugese had taken the Ulysses journey, they might still rule (or should we say lead) Brazil. There's something to say about leading by tyranny versus leading with an open mind and open heart, doing the right thing, and inspiring others (like the locals as well as the former slaves).

This is another vista of the hilly Ouro Preto. You might notice a few other churches in the pic.

One of the 12 or so baroque (mis-spelled?) style churches built by the slaves of wealthy families in Ouro Preto, who competed with one another for the "best" church. Each wealthy family used their own church within the town, had their own priest, and buried their dead within the church.

Who are these guys and what are they doing at a Brazilian restaurant in Ouro Preto?

The music festival, playing some Brazilian music.

Bye...

MEN AT WORK ...

After to much work for a too long time .... Stan really diserved a nice nap in Flavia's mummy sofa. I strongly believe that Stan was "reconciling", "drawing" in dreams and practicing "diversity". Now, he fully understands and assimilates what diversity means .... and I can confirm for those who doubt that he became an expert ... who will see in Poland !

Please enjoy and see you soon.