Vol. 9 No. 19 (2022): Essays of Geography

COVER

Bunharém river, Arraial d'Ajuda, Porto Seguro, Bahia, January 2018.

Arriving in Arraial d'Ajuda, Bahia, I came across this gentleman crossing the Bunharém River on a busy day. The waters were risky contrasting with the calmness of this man. I was on the ferry, crossing the river with my family, feeling the initial traces of peace that Bahia provides.

Watching that man for a while, I noticed that he was enjoying himself. He didn't want the waters to be calm. He wanted them to be exactly as they were, challenging, making the known mysterious. Without telling me anything and without even knowing his name, I felt him at home, experiencing the nuances of his backyard on a different day. He wasn't looking to cross from one shore to the other, he was just surrendered to that momentary current.

To navigate requires humility and he reminded me of this just by watching him. As a geographer I understand the world with people in their spaces, making them their places or not. I understand the passage of time as the passage of a river, without direction, with different perceptions of what is real, but moving forward.

Canon 5D Mark IIl, 50mm lens

Maria Carolina Castro
Photographer and Geographer
Contact: mariaicarolinac@gmail.com