All Roads Lead To Vila Rica

Saturday – 16/1/2016

Leaving Horácio’s house on Arana, we try, for the last time, and not for long, to follow the road that will take us to Santana do Deserto. We soon give up – the road is flooded, and with great difficulty we make our way back to Sem Peixe, going through the small towns of Dom Silvério and Rio Doce, where it originates from the junction of Piranga (intact) and the Carmo stream (completely destroyed). We are on the bridge over the river and the amount of mud coming down is frightening, now it has been raining for seven days in the region and the river is mighty. Its margins bear the mark of destruction, a fact unheard-of for us until now. On this journey, we see dozens of Doce Rivers and their grief. As we have experienced from Ipatinga up to now, there are few roads along the riverside. The sea of hills is already persistent and even vertiginous, a fact that prevents the proper occupation of the river and its banks, allowing them to be woodlands, still dense (making everything humid and cold, despite the hot and dry summer seen downstream). However, as it has been raining for days and everyone tells us to avoid dirt roads, we give up following the river along its small paths. From now on, it has more vegetation and steeper banks. We will avoid, as far as possible, what happened yesterday. The mud has hit us from several sides.

From Rio Doce onwards, only Barra Longa and Mariana remain on our radar with their districts. Definitely the most affected communities and the most torn forests − there are reports that at certain points there has been up to ten metres of hills uprooted by the avalanche and new omnipresent mud plains. This same mud that prevented us from getting to know Candonga marks our way all along the river, so we have decided to go straight to Ouro Preto32, where we will stay at the house belonging to friends from other roads and can dry off.

Saturday – 16/1/2016

Just before the city of Ponte Nova, the fork in the river is visible. We skirt the Piranga and see the orange of the Carmo go into the hills, which we will finish circling only the following day. Its waters used to flow between preserved hills and historic cities such as Barra Longa and countless districts. Almost all of them are affected by the mud. Many have lost their homes, some... family members, but all, their history... their lives. The challenging access made us go through the escarpments of this mountain range to the once-called Vila Rica. On a path that has always been marked by mining and its consequences.

We know that from now on, the riverbanks will have their veins open, and the cities will be overwhelmed by mud. Even with the previous background along the entire river, nothing has prepared us for the days to come. We will do our best to reach some of the communities, but the heavy rain restricts us to Camargos, close to the extinct Bento Rodrigues33, and to – also wiped off the map – Paracatu de Baixo34 ...