Despite the will of the powers that be and Brazilian air travel, I am finally in Marabá. Just a quick update tonight, since I’ve been on the road for ages and will have to get up super early tomorrow. We found out yesterday when I got to the airport that the travel agency did not, in fact, book any of my flights for the second half of this trip, so I ended up spending another night and most of today in Cuiabá. And then on my way here today, my first flight was so delayed that I missed my connection in Brasilia, so I had to book yet another flight to get here. It’s only midnight but feels way later than that. I think I’ve handled it pretty well all things considered, but if I had to spend another night on the road to my final destination I might have felt differently. I can’t complain too much though, because I was able to sleep in a bit this morning and get some of my actual work done for a change.

Not much to say about Marabá right now, given that I just got here and am leaving in six hours. It was so humid on the flight in that the windows were too fogged for me to see anything when we landed. There are bugs in the hallway of the hotel though so there you go. Tomorrow we leave bright and early to go check out some agroforestry projects, which I have never seen in person before. We are also meeting with a cocoa growers association, which I am really excited to learn more about. I know that there are lots of farmer cooperatives and associations in Brazil that are really important to understanding the power dynamics in the food system, but I haven’t had any face time with them. All in all, should be a really educational day and I’m excited! I also found out that we won’t actually be visiting an Indigenous community this weekend, which is a bummer. It did seem a bit brief to head all the way into indigenous territory, and turns out I was right. Instead, we are visiting a group that works with Indigenous peoples to collect and save native seeds, which also sounds dope, so I can’t complain. I know I was on the fence about meeting an Indigenous group, but now that I know it’s not happening I’m kind of disappointed. Now that I’ve gotten to know my colleagues, I’m more comfortable trusting the folks I’m with here not to steer me wrong and place me or others in situations that aren’t great for us. So hopefully I can visit next time!

Off to bed, since we leave at 6am despite the fact that half our team is not getting here until 2am. I’d feel bad, but it’s at their insistence. Do I detect a bit of machismo guiding that decision? No, it couldn’t possibly be!