Mantaaaaaaaaaab

Just when I was getting use to gringo I start becoming unanimous with Buleh. Walking down the street uniformed school children run up chanting “Buleh! Buleh!” and women grab my nose and touch their pregnant belly. All this to remind me that I am the funny looking white boy, which after a while you learn to laugh and as a brilliant man once said, simply “brush your shouldas off.” The village of Nehas Liah Bing is populated by the Wehea Dayak, with about 900 families. The village is unbelievably wonderful, the people invite you into their homes and greet you with a “Salamat Pagi” or “Ciang”. We are going to be living among the Wehea Dayak for three weeks, conducting our ethnoeocological research, as well as research pertaining to the resilience against outside influences as well as help Ethical Expeditions figure out how to best utilize their resources and energy into conserving the cultural heritage of the Wehea Dayak and the Wehea Forest. We will be meeting with BP Wehea which is one of the largest deciding factors in Wehea conservation, as well as something no one in Wehea has been able to do yet, which is speak to the Governor of East Kutai.

We were welcomed into the village yesterday with traditional Dayak ceremony protecting us from evil spirits. It had to be one of the most amazing experiences of my life. We were lined up in front of a bamboo alter while a dozen women in blue woven robes and the tribal chief, a shaman and two elders prepared the ceremony. The chief strode past us, having us all pat the head of a baby chick (which may sound redundant, but it was so soft and young underneath our fingers), and continue to slice its throat coating a tin plate with is ruby red blood. They dipped sixteen bracelets into the blood, and then made a small cross on our foreheads with the blood before tying them to our wrists and concluding with everyone dancing in a circle to the beat of a drum. It was absolutely phenomenal.

The Dayak culture moves at a pace that forces you to relax and take your time unlike anywhere I have ever been. Breakfast and lunches are spent sitting at a table in the kitchen watching the river flow by as women use the sediment rich water to wash their clothing. Even now I sit on a second floor deck that overlooks a dirt road. Cats meander by periodically with their misshapen tails, lightning cracks off behind some mountains off in the scenery illuminating for a moment the outline of trees decorating the far off hillside, I love that I can count eight geckos crawling the walls around me making the oddest cackling call I have ever heard, and families sit on their decks smoking cigarettes and socializing with their neighbors, cicadas and other unnamable insects chirp to fulfill the chorus of passerby sandals dragging on the dirt and people singing in houses nearby. I hate to say this, but you are all really missing out.

We were able to meet with two of the three heads of the village, talking about how the village is run and the current problems within the village and conservation of their 30,000 hectare forest. Tomorrow the biodiversity team leaves for the forest, while we conduct our research for another three weeks and meet them there. We spent the day learning about the history of landownership inside Wehea. The idea of ownership is such a weighted ideal, that it is almost impossible to define. Because of the western influence of paper wielding ownership, the lack of such here in Wehea has resulted in a multitude of problems with deforestation and palm oil plantations being fervently sought for economic means. So I am planning my ethnoecology project will focus on either the Wehea cultural relationship to land and the governance of landownership, or the relationship between traditional medical practices and medicines, and its resilience to deforestation and western influence. Ugh… I am so excited! Internet is worse than sparse, so I hope I will be able to update my blog often. I miss y’all.

Your Pa(u)l

Sun Bears, Orangutans and Ants... Oh my!

I wish you all could see Borneo, it is a place like no other. Arriving in Balikpapan was very stimulating for a jet-lagged, confused and excited Paul. A got through immigration quickly, and was helped outside by a kind individual as I looked for my ride to the hotel. Little did I know that this little Indonesian man was not carting my precious belongings by the goodness of his heart, but requesting payment after I loaded my bag into the van.

- Hint for fellow travelers, triple check the currency exchange rate before you land because he kept asking for 2,000 rupias, which numerically sounds ridiculous. Having not visited a exchange place, I had to ask a fellow student of mine for two american dollars.

So great, here I am, fifteen minutes into Borneo, already into debt, and not having slept for almost two days. The day was great and early. Got to the hotel and met the team we will be working with which includes some amazing students (primarily from Canada), three professors and several translators. Everyone is so passionate and intelligent, I cannot wait to work with them.

We have been going over the information as to what we will be doing over the next forty five days, and how. Man, I cannot come close to describing how mindblowing all of this is. I have only given people minute descriptions as to what this trip is about, so let me go into more detail. The trip is organized by a nonprofit by the name of Ethical Expeditions which advocates for the conservation of our natural world through education and community empowerment. They have worked extensively with the population of people we will be spending time with here, helping them advocate and work on protecting their environment and culture. Ethical Expeditions describes the Wehea Dayak as:

Surrounded by forest, the Wehea Dayak communities live in five small villages in the East Kutai regency of East Kalimantan. The community is so small that some studies of Dayak ethnic groups leave them out entirely and little has been documented about their unique cultural identity. The Wehea Dayak used their traditional practices for conservation in 2004, by declaring a 38,000 ha abandoned timber concession “protected land” under traditional law. This forest is protected by fifty local young people, called the Petkuq Mehuey, or forest guardians. Bolstered by the success of this conservation project, including receiving Indonesia’s highest environmental honor, Wehea tribal leaders are committed to leading their community in efforts to preserve their cultural and ecological traditions. At the same time, community members are seeking initiatives to bring income to the community, balancing traditions with “modern” development.

And what we are doing here is helping the community preserve both their cultural and ecological heritage. We are doing this by splitting into two groups, one being the biodiversity group and one being the ethnoecological group. The biodiversity group is traveling out to the Wehea forest and documenting what is in their for the Dayak people. The ethnoecological group is studying the culture and people of the Nehas Liah Bing village and researching their relationship to the environment and documenting our cultural and anthropological research for the communities benefit. We are aiming to be able to research the resilience of the Wehea Dayak community, because while it is rarely studied, the resilience of a community and environment is extremely important.

We drove from the hotel in Balikpapan to an area called Samboja Lestari, which is a rehabilitated rainforest in outside of East Kalimantan. It was rehabilitated by a man named Willie Smits, who started an NGO by the name of Balikpapan Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOS), in order to provide the orangutans a place to live as they are slowly becoming more and more extinct. They as well as thousands of other species are facing this reality as a result of massive deforestation all over Borneo, depriving the soil and land of their nutrients leaving the land virtually unusable except for for grassland. It is truly a site to stand in our lodge, five stories up and see the vast forest that fifteen years ago was all grassland. Each tree had to be planted by hand, and each orangutan giving care for. You can walk by their little islands separated by a minute moat, as they jump from branch to branch and tree to tree. They are such beautiful animals, as they jump and somersault and eat their damn yummy bananas. Watching them makes you feel jiped some how by getting only two thumbs instead of four. In Samboja, there also is a Sun Bear survival foundation that has forty nine Sun Bears, which have become like Borneo's forgotten step children. They two have been severely killed off as a result of Borneo deforestation. I had never seen or heard of these fantastic bears before coming here. They are much smaller in stature compared to most other bears, but what makes them truly unique is their pattern of fur on their chest. Each one is perplexingly different, acting as each Sun Bear's fingerprint. We were able to feed them by scattering fruit and food all around their living area, and hiding the fruit in suspended barrels and rope ladders and branches, in order to keep them stimulated as they search for the food. It was hilarious running around and hiding the fruit, as if we were preparing a massive easter egg hunt for them. I of course got a bloody nose, only to get another one in my other nostril several moments later, thus was jogging around hiding chunks of pineapple and guava with both nostrils stuffed with tissue. I really have made that look look damn good. It is so crazy beautiful here. There are ants the size of my thumb, spiders literally the size of my entire head, and even praying mantis' come climbing on you. The biodiversity found here is astounding, and you cannot help but smile and love every second of it, and wonder why so many people are willingly destroying forests and threating the world's biodiversity every single day. I cannot wait to share more as we enter the village late tomorrow evening (of course after a seventeen hour van ride... whoot whoot).

View of Samboja Forest

Orangutan having a good time

The moat between island and mainland for the Orangutans

A lil' family of Orangutans

The Sun Bear Sanctuary

Fruit and Soy milk, dang good diet

He's saying "Salamat Ciang"

Female Sun Bears gossiping

"I'm a get that pineapple."

Borneo Bound Baby

Man, all the B's. I returned from Brazil to fly to Balikpapan which is in Borneo blah blah blah, might as well have flown from Beattle with a layovers in Bokyo and Bingapore. It has been a long long thirty or so hours thus far, with more to wait and one more flight. I flew on Singapore Airlines, which is an extremely nice airline. It is quite similar to virgin america, but without the whole soulplane ambiance. The food was without doubt the best plane food I am yet to try. They give you an international or japanese option for meals, and had really good tea and coffee. I ate eel and rice for the first meal, and pork for the next (Ma, ain't you proud?!). The only real regret I have is not having worn my hat that I have become infamous for, which you will understand after you visit http://www.singaporeair.com/ and appreciate the stewartess' outfits (as well as the stewartess' themselves)... okay do it... go... wait for it... look familiar? I now sit in the Singapore airport named Changi, well squat rather at a terminal with free internet near my gate that took me nearly thirty minutes to walk to because this place is so damn large. It is a fantastic, decked out with shopping malls, art everywhere, all the great american fastfood one dreams of when abroad, including several lovely starbucks' and even a coffee bean. At least as a result of globalization you can get a decent cappuchinio no matter where you are. So a book and four movies later I am ready for Borneo and ready for class. I am very excited to meet the students I will be working with, and of course the professors whom will be teaching us. I keep falling more and more in love with traveling, rather than being a bug, its like an itch. If you ignore it, it will receed to the back of your mind until that moment you consciously scrath it, and hot damn does it itch like hell, making you want to travel and travel and travel. Well I have been up for nearly forty someodd hours, ready for a nap or ten, but first I gotta go catch my last plane. I think they'll give me some sashimi or something good. Is it too early for an asanti or tiger?

Um Sesta in Seattle

Well hey there gang! It is a lovely day of rain here in Salvador, but instead of Seattle decked out northface coats and timberland waterproof shoes, we got havianas and short sleeves integrated with umbrellas and dodged projectile raindrops. Whilst the rain dots the streets and clothing alike, the temperature remains a lovely constant warm and enjoyable temperature. It is a beautiful city, we have gotten to explore more and more of it in our last fews days in Brazil, and learn but a bit more about culture and what it means to be Brazilian. While we do live in hotel/apartment rooms four stories high with views of the beach, we are on an anthropology trip! Margaret and Melanie (our professors leading our trip here in Salvador) have made as much of a possibility to realize that the Barra neighborhood is not what Brazilians know Salvador to be. We have taken trips around the residential areas where over 80% of the population of Salvador live, and got to see life in these neighborhoods which definitely reflect better the more impoverished areas of the city. It is a beautiful city no matter where you choose to live, and is lively and has such strong cultural ties, despite being a more dangerous Brazilian city during night time. We spent the evening last night at a festival inside of the plaza infront of the church of Sao Francisco, which is Salvadors most famous and more adorned church. It is a beautiful piece of architecture and home to such passionate individuals. The festa involved a lot of dancing and Forro music, as well as the streets decorated with acaraje vendors and kabob grillers, providing individuals a taste of Bahian food and Capirinas, which are made from the ever so popular Cachaça (a hard liquor closing resembling tequila, it is made similarly to rum, but instead of distilling and fermenting molasses which is boiled and refined, where Cachaça is made from fresh sugar cane). This as well as Nova Schin and Skol, which are the two most popular beers in Brazil (both being pilsners, I am yet to find anyother kind of beer here in Brazil). Everything here is delicious, and most of the time made with dende oil, which is a rich oil that is extracted from the fruit of the palm, which gives their food extravagent and rich flavors unrivaled by coconut or other lower beta-carotene oils. Though of course, often dende-newbies have stomache irritation, but I have seemed to power through to enjoy my plates of carne e frango and follow it with an icy Skol. Life is good here, we are all tired from our experience in SAJ, but so sad that it came to an end, just as our time in Salvador is. The individuals here, both Brazilians and Americans are great people. I feel so lucky to have spent time getting to know everyone.
Tomorrow is our last full day, which we will continue to learn about Salvador and the culture and people that turn the city from simple clusters of buildings to a live breathing organism, one that breeds Cadomble and soccer, that will host a great deal of the world cup, that has Bahian pride and Brazilian life all throughout it. Friday morning we find ourselves flying back to ]the States where we will spend a night in Miami (hopefully Mr. Nice Guy will Smith will hang out for a bit), and then finishind our journey to Seattle Saturday. I cannot wait to be able to share stories and see the faces of my Seattlite friends and family, and hate that I cannot see and hug the ones down in the Yay, or in the Bahamas. Though short lived, it will be great to have a night to celebrate before embarked just 36ish hours later to Indonesia. I will have to share more, hence back in the arms of Obama and the orignial 13 colonies.

Whas up Plaia!?

Bom Dia! from Salvador. We left our home stays inside of Santo Antonio de Jesus yesterday afternoon, which was definitely sad. It was an afternoon wrought with tears (Allisson and I didn~t of course, we talked about hearing rumors about that thing when you perspire from your eyes). It has truly been an amazing experience, getting to know another culture and experiencing how people in different a completely different society live their daily lives. We had our presentations on friday, all twenty of us gringos and our project partners got to prent the different anthropological project we had conducted over our time in SAJ. Allisson and I did really well, it was a lot of fun. Our project basically consisted of research I conducted in Amargosa which was to learn about the public health system with in the state of Bahia. I spoke with some really high up people which was a pleasure. Than made an interview with individuals accessing the regional public hospital with in SAJ, which was a lot of fun. I will try to post my findings so for all you interested out there in how a free public health system work inside of a middle developed country like brazil, you can read about my research. I miss my family already though. I woke up saturday morning, (the day we left for Salvador) and went into my mothers room where she and my sister were chatting. We all just lounged and talked for hours and it is such an amazing feeling to have a family open their home and their family to you, especially this weird light skinned person who speaks less portuguese than a todler. I had to giggle and smile the day she said ´´bye son´´ to me haha. It is great to experience how deeply engrained soccer is into everyday life here in Brazil. While i have not been able to play yet (which I dont want to talk about), my brother bought me a jersey of one of his teams, but that team has a giant rivalry with another state team. So while I wear my Bahia team jersey proudly, there are Vitoria fans all wanting to tear it apart. It is great, I walk do the street and have people honk their horns and give me the thumbs up, where simultaneously I have little kids grab their hair and ask what the hell i am doing. 
Salvador is beautiful, it is a city about three times the size of Seattle, and the dispparity between the rich and the impoverished is much more noticeable than both SAJ and here. We have cute apartment like rooms here, with a mini stove and a fridge, so I just finished doing a little grocery shopping so we could make some stuff inside our rooms. This involved going through themarket and getting excited at every little fruit and boxed chocolate. But forty rais later, we hiked back to the hotel, and went traversing a bit through the city and beach, while the town pour rain upon us. Soaked, I sit hear drinking an espresso and letting you all know that I miss you all and hope you are well.

Some of my reasearch (rough rough draft):

Santo Antonio de Jesus-
The research we conducted in SAJ was to conduct a simple questionnaire
to best understand the situation and thoughts of people accessing the
public hospitals, to best formulate an opinion of the efficiency of
the public health system. We designed the questionnaire to be simple
as to not bore the interviewees, but with questions to best ascertain
information about accessing the public hospital. We asked name, age,
gender, if they used the public hospital, frequency of use, distance
and transportation, opinion on the efficiency, possi-ble problems, and
possible changes. We were able to obtain 36 subjects, each answering
one of our ques-tionnaires. Our research subjects ranged from
individuals we knew and random individuals accessing the HRSAJ
(Hospital Regional Santo Antonio de Jesus). We walked around the
outside of the hospital, as I learned about how the hospital operates.
We kept our questions for the individuals accessing the both the
administration and appointment wings of the hospital as to not disrupt
or disturb patients of the emergency rooms, all operating on an
ethical basis not to obstruct people. Brazilians are all extremely
kind and helpful individuals, we only had one or two individuals
decline taking the survey. Some of the statistics I felt most apparent
and interesting are as follows:
10/36=27% of people believe SUS is efficient
27/36=75% specifically mentioned issue with reception
9/36=25% of people believe SUS needs to change everything
28/36=78% of people believe SUS needs more and better quality of doctors
7/36=19% of individuals interviewed did not use SUS
18/36=50% live far away and need transportation
While the population of individuals interviewed was not well enough to
be a proper distribution of the SAJ population, it definitely echoes
some concerns and thoughts involving the SUS. A massive majority of
indi-viduals felt the system is inefficient. What becomes next
apparent is that most of the people who feel that SUS is inefficient
wish to change most are respectively the reception and amount of
doctors. This was not surprising whatsoever. There had to be at last
twenty people waiting on both occasions to the hospital to obtain
assistance. While the patients seemed quite patient, it must be so
frustrating to have to wait so long. On hot days there is just a fan
to cool patients down inside, and a black and white TV playing Soap
Opera reruns (at least there should be a color TV). On average there
were only two doctors working at the ap-pointment wing of the
hospital, which is hard to imagine when there are over twenty people
wait to be treat-ed, not to mention the many that must be inside the
waiting rooms inside. Both days we visited, there was only one doctor
working. At least a third of the subjects voiced that they felt
dehumanized and received rude treatment from the health professionals
at the public hospital. One mentioned that they even witnessed someone
reusing materials, which echoes patients concern on the quality of
available medical professionals. A majority of the subjects concluded
saying they would hire more doctors, and quarter mentioned that there
was a need for an overall change to the system, including the
structure it operates under. It also seems that people are in need of
more means of transportation to obtain treatment at the hospitals, as
half needed one, two or even three means of private transportation to
simply get there.

As of today, more than 80% of Brazilians depend on it. Though these
were enormous steps, over decade later, 2/3 of the hospitals, 70% of
the hospital beds and 87% of the specialized hospitals are private.
With an enormous population of 189,000,000 Brazil has made some great
steps in treating its vast population, and doing so in a human and
gallant way, being free. Though it is impossible to ignore the fact
that there are multitudes of people falling through the cracks in the
system, which makes change necessary. Based on the conclusions of our
research thus far, it seems that what people feel is most needed is an
increased amount of doctors and medical professionals, as well as a
change in the reception system utilized in the current hospi-tals.
Training new doctors and medical professionals take money, and the
problem is always finding where this money will come from. This brings
back the issues that I spoke to the psychologist at the clinic in
Amargosa. People want better public healthcare, but not higher taxes. Thus, what needs further consideration is finding the best allocation of money.

Vagalumes e Maracuja

Time is quite odd. It fabricates as if it has genuine proportions, but it speeds up and slows down as if to taunt you. Time here does just that. It feels like its has been months since I last stepped on the Patriotic land of America, yet I canñot believe I have been in Brazil for three weeks. The last several days have flown by redick-ally. On thursday, a couple of students and I took a bus to a nearby town by the name of Amargosa. It is a tiny prosperous little town that a student named Jackson politely invivted us to explore. The town was gorgeous and was truly a sweet little town. He lead a fellow researcher and gringo (which is considered despite being from Ethiopia) and I to several places around town to interview people about our research projects. It was really a great experience. We talked to some pretty high up people, including the top regional distributor for all medications, including all antiretrovirals for HIV/AIDS treatment. We talked to some psychiatrists at a local public clinic, and even went into eight classes talking to around 100 students about their thoughts on the public healthcare system as well as their knowledge about HIV transmission and prejudice. It was all great. Got to attempt to save his sister in the morning from a frog that sneaked into her room as she stood shaking atop her bed holding her confused and barely awake one year old Miguel.
We spent the weekend exploring. Went to a town in Valença where we met the local Bahia Police force. They showed us around and we visited a private school they help run. It was great. The sargent/cheif felt I looked like Justin Beber, which I knodded and smiled to, but because I shook his hand and thanked he, he rewarded me with a hat. Boooh yeah! Betta believe I rep that Bahia Po-po force. We went to a paradise island of Moro de Sao Paulo, where we zip-lined into the water, and visited a massive waterfall. It was two very entertaining and beautifully spent days.
But, it is monday afternoon back here in Santo Antonio de Jesus, and we have but five more days left here before heading to Salvador. We are all excited to see Salvidor and explore another town and people, but what I have come to realize is how much I am going to miss this town. Sure it is relatively small and quite conservative, but it is home to such kind and caring people. I have come to love so many people here, and so many have become family that it is hard to imagine the difficulty of seeing them again in the future. Not only will I miss the families that figuratively and literally openned their arms to me, but so many little things. The lanky man that squats and drinks coffee every morning on a pile of brinks four feet tall outside my house, gojaba and maracuja suco, the sound of horses trotting on the cobblestone right outside after several mottos and cars, the fireflies that dance among the grass and trees near our house, and the silent agreement and understanding that comes with a simple thumbs up. It is a great town full of loving and kind people. The next few days will be spend finishing up my research, which has come along quite well. We are presenting the findings of our research to the local college, hoping we can find a median of understanding and bridging the language gap.
Being able to see my two moms, sister, brother in law, two grandmothers, two fathers, hear little umbligas voice and see my nine month old neice recharged my batteries which was greatly needed.

Sou un Morango

Itaparica I keep getting called Camaron (which means shrimp), not because of my height (being here actually boosts my ego, I may be the one white male in all of Santo Antonio de Jesus, but I am also taller then most), but rather pertaining to the color of my skin. Visited an amazing little town called Itaparica north of Saju (that is right, I am hip, I use brazilian slang/abreviations... which are okay in foreign languages!). It is a beautiful beach town, with historic and antique buildings reminiscent of Portugal. The beach was to be expected, unbelievable, uncrowded, water warm, blah blah marvelous. I did but some spf 50 on, but that did not seem to be enough to give my skin a nice sheen of burns. I just keep telling people minho pele e como um morango (my skin is like a strawberry). It hurts, but nothing like a cold shower and aloevera (luckily Brazilians take multiple quick showers a day). Brazil still loves to alternate between downpours and blistering son, but I simple just sweat through both of them and enjoy it all. All continues to go well here, I am learning more and more about the Brazilian cutlure, because of such wonderfully kind people who love to help learn. Off to go home, and get ready to survey about the public health system. Goooooooooo healthcare!