I was intrigued about the canoe race from the moment I saw it on the schedule. I wanted to test my skills against those of fisherman who do this on a daily basis. Someone from the island let me borrow a canoe and paddle. The event organizers found me a partner.
I am the ball of hair sitting in front of the first-place canoe. Anderson is the guy standing at the back of the boat.
We are opposites.
Before we got into the canoe, Anderson said he had to fill up before the race. He went to the liquor tent and downed a healthy glass of cachaça (something similar to rum) and smoked a cigarette. I drank some water and ate a banana.
His body is covered in tattoos. Instead of a cross neckland, he has one tattooed around his neck and chest. He also has a giant marijuana leave on his forearm, in addition to many other examples of body art. The only lasting impressions I have on my body are from an encounter with a mohel when I was a baby and a horseshoe-shaped scar on the back of my head.
He drank until 4:00 a.m. at the Shrimp Festival dance party and was still pretty hungover by the time the 10:00 a.m. race got underway at 11:30. I decided to go to bed early to try to get rid of a gripe that had been bothering me for a few days and then went for a 10 km run on the beach when I woke up.
He makes a living fishing for shrimp. I have never tasted it.
We even contrast in our canoeing styles. I am used to sitting down while paddling. I tried to do it standing up and nearly flipped our canoe over. Anderson refused to sit down.
I was told he was one of the better oarsmen on the island. That´s pretty much all I cared about.
When I signed up for the race, there were only three other canoes entered in the competition. If one of them flipped over, we would easily win the third-place prize of two life jackets (hopefully we wouldn´t need them during the race). Maybe we could somehow finish second and win a basket of essential goods that the Brazilian government gives to poor families every month. I was convinced the first-place prize of a new fishing net was out of our reach.
By the time the race was starting, three other canoes had registered. Even if Anderson was the best oarsmen in the village, he probably didn´t have the endurance to complete the mile-long course. All hope of winning was out the window at that point. My personal goal was not to finish and not flip the canoe.
As you can tell from the photo, we had a great start. We were neck and neck with the other canoes for the first minute. Then, they started to pull away. I kept paddling as hard as I could, but the other canoes weren´t getting any closer.
One by one, the other canoes realized they would not have the endurance to stand up the entire race. They still managed to stay ahead of us, though. By the end, the only person left standing was Anderson. Unfortunately, our canoe was also the last one to cross the finish line.
When working in community development, the unspoken goal of all work is to entertain the local population. Mission accomplished in the canoe race.
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