Hear we are again encircled with games and toys in the Amazon, putting the finishing touches on an unfinishable task.  Our first stop this time around was in a community in Pará that first got its name for its famous cachaça -- distilled sugarcane: Abaetetuba.  There, we met the artisans who construct the most traditional toys in the region so that they can sell them at the Cirio de Nazaré in Belém: the miriti toys.

Sr. Amadeu received us with a smile that communicated true gratitude for the fact that we had come to visit him from so far away. His workshop is made of wood and is covered by a straw roof, and he wanders around in flip-flops, bermudas, and a thread-bare, button-down shirt. Sr. Amadeu is a true manifestation of what could be Tropical Santa Claus.

His workshop is spectacular.  Chickens trying to roost on unfinished toys are the biggest threat to production.  The fine white dust that comes from sanding miriti covers the floor and also the kids who are doing the sanding. Brilliant paints lie around waiting to be used and images of the Virgin Mary supervise the situation from their crooked places on the walls. And Tropical Santa cuts miriti branches while coordinating the work of eight people who help transform those branches into brightly colored toys.  The only way to get a real dimension of what this toy’s all about is by playing with one, and we haven’t had any lack of that.
   
At the moment we are in Macapá after spending almost 20 days in Vila Macedonia in the Archipelago of Bailique.

The heat there this time around was so much that we heard of a girl that was happy to have had a fever because it is apparently the only way to feel a little bit chilled.

Our rhythm in places like this slow to a near halt. So much so, that I’ll have to promise more news the next time around.

Until then,
Renata