Those who adhere to the famous phrase by the writer Guimarães Rosa and, as he calls it, respond to life with courage can enroll, until April 13th, in the 8th edition of Caminho do Sertão, a project that positions itself as “partner-eco- literary”, in which participants travel through territories where the Minas Gerais author has been. The path, to be covered from the 8th to the 16th of July, has a 192-kilometre walk and includes possibilities to discover the Cerrado. The group departs from the municipality of Arinos, in the northwest of Minas Gerais, walking in the footsteps of the jagunço Riobaldo, a character in the novel Grande Sertão: Veredas. On the route, which covers the north and northwest regions of Minas Gerais, there are four conservation units: the Sagarana State Park, the Veredas do Acari Sustainable Development Reserve, the Serra das Araras State Park and the Grande Sertão Veredas National Park. project creator, Almir Paraca, it is observed that both areas preserved by traditional communities, such as Fazenda Menino, Serra das Araras, Morro do Fogo and Vá dos Buracos, as well as others explored by agribusiness or with the presence of squatters, are part of the itinerary. Therefore, the walk also calls into question, in addition to the work of Guimarães Rosa, the devastation of the biome, which could lose up to 34% of river water by 2050, and alternatives that ensure sustainability to the territory, such as community-based tourism and agroecology . “One of the purposes, in fact, is to sensitize the public authorities, to give visibility to the tensions and contradictions that exist in this territory, mainly those of a socio-environmental nature, and also to attract the attention of possible collaborators, whether from individual organizations, to the various fronts of community action that exist and survive, with great difficulty, in the territory”, says Paraca. The theme of this year’s edition is Terra em Transe, inspired by the homonymous film, by Glauber Rocha, one of the exponents of Cinema Novo. The invitation that the theme suggests is to break with individualism and maintain permeability to new ideas and to nature’s time. For Vitor Galvani, who has already made the walk and is now in charge of project communication, Caminho do Sertão provided in-depth contacts, with himself and with the outside world. “It’s not just the act of walking, but it’s all the contours that the organization promotes, dialogues, contacts with people who have lived through many cycles”, he says. Galvani says that the first work by Guimarães Rosa he read was the short story collection Primeiras Estórias. More specifically, the tale A Terceira Margem do Rio, one of the most famous, tells the story of a man who leaves his family and isolates himself from everyone else to live in a canoe. He classifies the work of the writer from Minas Gerais as literature that touches on very universal and very current themes. “If I could sum it up in one word, I felt a big hug from the Cerrado. On the one hand, it’s very dry, the people with a very difficult life history, but, at the same time, super welcoming, open. There are several metaphors along the way. One of them is that, in the Cerrado, day to day is the sun, the drier climate. When the rain comes, everyone is very happy and open to it. We, as visitors, are like the rain for that hinterland, those people. So, everyone is open”, says Galvani about the experience of the walk. How to participate To participate in the walk, you must first register using a form. At this stage, candidates can contribute with an amount of up to R$50. Then, they must send a letter of intent, explaining why they want to take the walk. The average cost is BRL 2,000 per candidate, but the project offers full and partial scholarships to people who cannot afford the amount, a condition that they must already indicate in the registration form. The amount can also reach R$ 3 thousand, because, according to the organizers, requests were answered from participants who were willing to contribute with amounts greater than those previously stipulated. With this, some participants end up guaranteeing the registration of others, with the amount they pay. Mosaico do Sertão Veredas-Peruaçu, cultural and socio-environmental activists, artists, among others. The notice can be consulted online. The project team also maintains an Instagram profile and the official website.
Agência Brasil
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