Ethnographic fragment 01/20/2020 - Arrival to Barra Velha indigenous land
- Marcio Maia Malta
- 14 de out. de 2022
- 2 min de leitura
We followed the dirt road after leaving the BR-101 behind. We passed through pasture areas of the farms, eventually appearing pepper plantations. The forest areas increased as we went along, always interspersed with eucalyptus plantations. We stopped once to go to the restroom. It was almost two hours on the road when Tanara announced that we were in the Barra Velha village. An unmistakable sign of our arrival was when we passed over a large river whose color I found strange (after I discovered it was the grayish waters of the Caraiva river degraded by the Veracel eucalyptus company). From then on, the landscape changed, on the road we were passing there was sand that sometimes made the car skid smoothly. To the left, there were areas of sandbanks, and to the right, an open field area lower than the road, some parts of which looked like dried-up wetlands. There were some coconut trees here and there (signs of the Pataxó presence), and other isolated clusters of trees. Some people riding motorcycles had already passed by our car, but there, the frequency had increased. And not only motorcycles were visible, but also buggies and quad bikes, easily driven by young men and women between 15 and 20 years old. As the human flux increased, I became euphoric, waiting to see the first signs of the São Sebastião party (ritual with a Catholic aesthetic). After isolated dwellings, on the left, we passed a few houses that were at the bottom of the sandbanks and separated by fences at regular intervals. One of them had a sign - PATAXÓ RESTAURANT. We continued, the buildings now were squeezing the road,
the environment became dustier, and we entered the village with roads between the houses to the west, northwest, and east. Tanara indicated the way to the right, and we passed a bridge that held under its planks an extensive wetland area, also parched but with some spaces with standing water. Following the path between the houses, Tanara commented that this was the center of Barra Velha and told us to turn left. I didn't see any sign of the famous party. We went up the dirt road, arriving at the top of this elevation the road continued to the right but at the curve was Tanara's grandmother's house.
