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8/20/1967 - Amazônia: The Pace of Life by Francis Foland

INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS Man Amazonas AmazSnia The Pace Life Brazil August Mr Richard H Nolte Institute Current Affairs Madison Avenue New York New York 10017 Dear Mr Nolte RondSnia Tolerance boredom I New York where boredom something imposed oneself If there alive world there always something often anything Lincoln Center party gallery dinner If strikes about anything evening unless possibly tickets es8ary In AmazSnia different I written daytime mining Santa Barbara Now I commen nightlife existence along fords cross reach Santa Barbara Porto Yelho about Mangus early century still Amazonian metropol nearly I0 population At Santa Barbara ABOVE View Man The breakfast building foreground begins The green typical builds through morning architectural style break comes quick built hammock lunch Men arrive table heavy lidded Always there black beans ladled generously Pork fried mandioca macaroni plate Eight surround table covered oilcloth benches They jokes complain repeat stories Then sweet dessert usually syrupy canned fruit canned cream another siesta At dinner rings No liquor allowed everyone ready Dusk short lived equator There electricity hatch dining sides kerosene lamps their The oilcloth beans The butchered Its carcass hangs exposed under eaves kitchen refectory It eaten before there meals Likewise fruits opened whatever content prunes guava pineapple dessmrt until supply exhausted Conversation neither lengthy pofound table every Except radio communication afternoon there contact Porto Velho There newspapers By saccharine downed disperse It No electricity there battery operated radio which monopolized carioca Rio geologist finds station samba bossa turns blast He falls asleep hammock blaring After months Santa Barbara leaving return Copacabana government Minis Mines Having escaped plague settles luncheon table groggy holds predicts malria A couple technicians among elite house kerosene Brazi double solitaire There women There There light The other eighty around I imagine The superb could regal glory black encircled clearing Amazon jungle But suspects presence interest inhabitants By silent The comes early After miles through virgin forest grass centered rutted Santa Barbar reaches BR gravel highway which miraculously through Brazil interior Porto Velho Cuiab Mato Grosso connects highway Belo Horizonte coast As oilcloth highway number which bears relation anything taken street address chief engineer mistress Porto Velho It Porto Velho Rio depending But trick ferries weather Now daytime hours In whole length there RondSnia Between Santa Barbara Porto Velho about eighty miles there The rivers Jamar Candeis narrow If lunch siesta after there alternativei relax thatch restaurante In after before survive night When operate balsas shuttle forth between banks nudged along bolclO native wooden Johnson outboard One vehicle carried crossing Bar restaurante Yamar RiiVer Our mainstream balsa Caboc locomotion balsa FMF It really doesn matter arrival still alleviate As people scattering shacks They They interested They serve watch espscially gringo Then thrill wears settle themselves elbows heavy table stare through doorless doors nothing The thing every alongside people every No place nothing We leave presses another truck passes again Man Rear window In Man restaurant hotel Amazonas second floor pleasant breeze Rio Negro Across street apartment building finished I first Man years building progressed The upper floors brick mortar supports roosting place vultures circling overhead On ground floor bakery which opens above three floors apartments Each reached through shutter doors which seldom closed Since building narrow apartments small upper floor large family always other A mother father After hours oldest perhaps always pressing shirt ironing board permanent position alongside refrigerator A sister comes often cigarettes which keeps refrigerator along clutter other containers She almost always garbed curlers stretch Slacks tight bright The younger members their early teens appear disappear behind portiere which seems cloak bedroom short shorts bathing trunks A reclines twists among crowded vinyl furnishings One floor below young couple years The husband comes about after early supper closely balcony During often friend balustrade chatting sometimes placing dangling outer stories above street On lower occupied floor three young women perambulate throughout combing their gossiping among themselves peering street Among other attractions favorite publicity Man loudspeaker moving New Yo message would ignored drowned Man people scurry window balcony listen ABOVE Unloading sugar bakery across street Hotel Amazonas An ocean going freighter brought Recife Brazil northeast coast miles Amazon River By evening girls their piled elegant fures They linger balcony laughing promenading attentive Amazonas restaurant directly across street where tables intently discussing business Ignored girls resort special Latin It night false blonde brunette retire behind shutters third persists while longer It reciprocal floor They watch watch After there television Man movie houses little frequented during Even hotel closes Doldrums prevail The stores begin close morning O0 reopen sometime between The pungent smell roasting coffee permeates wholesale processor around corner Those people walking street search shady those witing bUses sunny stand though military straight dictated shadow electric light Hree Man View center Man domed opera house horizon All AmazSnia there sameness imposed nature which gradually takes The length night equal throughout Daybreak equator Kipling comes thunder At dense black Then burgeons rapidly easily ceive change light Within minutes shade which spreads horizon horizon In streets shadow evaporates before broad daylight human activity builds stirrings tumult The similar rapidity Biologists psychologists related scientists studying effects rhythm significant The persistence begins human system In temperature range Belm latitude I28 registered maximum hottest month August average However humidity never abates always Even summer early mornings evenings drives shelter And every there relief front Canadian plains pressure center ocean Keeping wardrobe fresh becomes monotonous routine wisdom siesta gradmally reveals itself There doubt Amaznia nature dominates Sincerely Frances M Foland Photos FMF Received New York September