Here we looked how the city of Paragominas has created a form of registry (CAR) to monitor land use and create pressure for landowners to conserve 50% of the land for reforestation. We walked around a cattle ranch to see the grass fields and conserved rainforest. 
This is a picture of the Valle Iron Mine. It is one of the world’s largest open pit iron mine. The iron is sold at a 60% concentration, which is almost twice the concentration of other companies. It was strange to go from the MST community that has worked for over 15 years to create sustainable agricultural land use, to this huge mine that has opened up a large area of the land. 
For four days I lived with a MST family in Palmares. There I spent most of my time playing and drawing with kids, visiting a nearby farm, watching American films in Portuguese with my family, fishing with a bamboo rod, swimming in the river, and learning how to cook Pao do Queso (delicious rolls). 
The photo above is a picture from the Electronas Dam in Tucurui, one of the world’s largest dams in the world. Brazil consumes over 80% hydroelectric energy. 
The last week and a half we visited the South of Para (state where I am studying) for our second large excursion. There we visited the Tucurui Dam, small-scale Colonos cattle ranch, met English students at one of the federal universities, had a second rural homestay with a MST (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra) community, then Carajas mine (huge iron mine) and lastly the city of Paragominas to study forest conservation and large-scale cattle ranching. 
The last day of the boat trip we spent the day hiking and looking at the geology and ancient cave paintings in Monte Legre. Above is one of the hundreds of paintings- there were many different themes, mostly cosmology and birth. 
Above is a photo of Brazil nuts, we visited many Quilombola (rural) communities who rely on them for their diet and income- however many communities are facing challenges with government conservation laws that are limiting their access to their traditional way of life. 
This is a picture from above the canopy, I climbed up a 60 meter ladder to look observe the different layers and see just how large the surrounding area is. It was much much hotter and dryer above the canopy- there no humidity and coolness is retained. It was so beautiful above the canopy, probably one of the most beautiful and overwhelming sights I have seen. 
For two and a half weeks we traveled down the Amazon River from Manaus to Santarem. Most of the time was spent traveling in the boat, sleeping at night in hammock, and stopping to study different communities in the Amazon. We traveled and saw many different aspects of the Amazon including: meeting NGOs working on conservation, hiking and exploring ecology, visiting a mine, speaking with Cargill (huge soy company), living with a rural homestay, and speaking with other Quilombola communities. 
When I returned to Belem I went to my host family for the weekend. Yesterday, we went shopping at the mall where I bought some nice sandals for dancing. Today I went shopping at two nearby markets and bought lots of tropical fruits. My host mom and sister taught me how to cook soup and flan- both really (or as my host sister would say- very very very) delicious. I ended the weekend, on Sunday evening my host sister, brother, and some friends went dancing downtown. It was a nice and restful weekend before I go to Manaus (a city further inland the Amazon and down the river) and boat back for the next two weeks. 
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