Almost off the grid
By Landon Wright
26 May 2008
I spent a week exploring a small village, Nova Viçosa, in the state of Bahia, Brazil. My first observation was that it's ok to leave your shoes at home. For the first time in my adult life I spent a week sans shoes. Electricity is a fickle creature that comes and goes in this region with no rhyme or reason. Having a few days with no lights or refrigeration is not uncommon. This actually is not a huge inconvenience since local vendors of crab and fish walk past to offer you a first look before making their way to the market.
The people that make a living on the water, are hardly ever seen. They live with the tide and time everything accordingly. If they aren't on the water they are sleeping or eating. Nova Viçosa is situated on a river delta that empties out into the atlantic. There are many river channels and the "mangue" or mangrove swamp stretches for hundreds of miles. Oysters grow right off of the mangrove roots and at low tide, boat and a large machete you can have a great lunch.
Walking through the streets near the market was a strange class in candid photography. Most were very suspicious of me but after a while they all warmed up and in typical Brazilian fashion offered up a friendly conversation.
Photos were taken with 35mm fuji velvia slide film.
More Photo Essays
More stories by Landon Wright
Carnivorous travels in the land of the lost.
Photo Essay — 23 Jun 2008
How to not offend while traveling in rural Brazil or how I met Dona Lea.
