Brazil Nut

Email comes in flavors.

My inbox is as ecclectic as anyone else’s, I suppose, but some weeks there will be a flurry of notes all of a certain flavor to savor. This week it has a Brazilian flair... with under tones of wood smoke, finely shredded collard greens sauteéing with sesame oil, yucca flour, garlic and onion, and piquant coffee extending its steamy fingers to pull me closer to its source. 

This may be the year of my return to the mountains outside Belo Horizonte. Some of my buddies, from previous trips there, are making noises about returning soon. It’s time to renew my visa. I’m ready to immerse myself for a fourth time in the poetry of Portuguese, the simplicity of breaking bread by the wood-fire cook stove, dipping it in a rich stew, and telling stories and singing into the night. Etched in my cells is the thrill of the all night rhythms of the congas as backdrop for my shaman’s deep baritone - singing us through colorful ceremony until the cock’s crow signals sunrise. 

My first trip, which lasted a short 14 days in 2004, was a glimpse into a tight-knit spiritual group making the biggest pot of stone soup imaginable. As the mines in Minas Gerais close down, the people need to find work. Gathering together to share the gifts that each person offers, has tremendous power to grow hope instead of despair; empowerment intsead of  helplessness. Each person in this community is bound by the common thread of spiritual belief and practice.

Someone in the group knows how to grow firewood to sell, another how to make candles. Organic gardening and cultlivation of the land are the domain of others in the group, while some folks farm fresh water fish in a hand-dug triangular lake fed by mountain streams. The community members feed each other.

My second visit, for a month in 2005, included a trip to Salvador, Bahia - bookended by stays at the spiritual community in Belo. The climate, culture and food of the eastern coastal town are completely different from the mountains. The tropical vegetation includes many varieties of palms. Coconut palms yield fresh, young nuts - filled with sweet coco-nut water and custard-like flesh. Another palm drops nuts not much bigger than grapes that are bright red on the outside and full of oil called dendé - which colors the food bright yellow and imparts a rich distinctive flavor to rice, fish, vegetables... what ever you cook in it. Mangoes, papayas, guavas, cashew fruits and finger bananas are grown in the tropical climes, but find their way to the mountains to augment the apples, pears and zapote that grow at higher altitudes.

That second trip, I prepared in advance to give back to the community which was so nurturing to me the previous year. I studied up with Rosetta Stone and acquired enough fluency in Portuguese that I could teach them my brand of yoga and help them hone a daily routine to keep themselves in relaxed-back mode.

My last trip in 2009 was a very focused healing trip - blending Eastern and Western techniques, we worked on one another under the guidance of our shaman. That group was comprised of three separate groups smushed together. Miraculous healing happened. It was a very intense time.

Next trip, I’ll relax more, hopefully absorb more by osmosis, and clutch less by learning to soften my grasp.

So many images, scents, sounds conjured by the memories...

The flavor of this week clearly is Brazil Nut.... and, clearly, I AM one!

Who knows? Maybe I'll see Rio!