Joao Lucio:
In a far, far away place
Joao Lucio:
A place where sand, mud and salt water seems to be the only thing that exists there
Joao Lucio:
A place where the only way to get there is by boat
Joao Lucio:
A place where the sun burns your skin with the temperature of more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius)
Joao Lucio:
In this place, you find the shellfish hunters. They are very poor people that live in the Northeast of Brazil and that collect shellfishes as a way of survival
Joao Lucio:
Marcílio and Maria
Joao Lucio:
Marcílio is 22 years old and works as a shellfish hunter since he was 5, when his father died. It is a sad story. According to him, his father died and left nothing for his family
Joao Lucio:
He works day after day collecting shellfishes to sell them to restaurants and local retailers
Joao Lucio:
Pedro is younger than Marcílio and works together with him. Marcílio, Pedro and Maria all have similar life stories
Joao Lucio:
Marcílio works like a dancer, a ballet dancer…
Joao Lucio:
…it looks like they are in a Cirque du Soleil show, where the stage is the hot sand
Joao Lucio:
…and where the rewards are the small shellfishes
Joao Lucio:
They dance for hours and hours, many times more than 8h/day as he told me
Joao Lucio:
Tirelessly, changing direction, changing the body movement and the speed
Joao Lucio:
Everything to collect the precious shellfishes
Joao Lucio:
Maria has the responsibility to select the good ones and throw away the empty ones
Joao Lucio:
She has patience and is able to look carefully each one of the shells while the sun burns her skin
Joao Lucio:
Pedro told me he is not as skilled as Marcílio, but that he can do a quite good job
Joao Lucio:
And the pile of shellfishes grows up
Joao Lucio:
One by one if necessary
Joao Lucio:
It is a non-stopping show
Joao Lucio:
and the dance continues
Joao Lucio:
And the reward comes from the underground
Joao Lucio:
On this show, Maria plays the role of the musician
Joao Lucio:
Playing the music with the sound of the shellfishes hitting the plastic box
Joao Lucio:
After an entire day of work, Marcílio showed me part of the outcome
Joao Lucio:
These shellfishes will probably be served as very expensive meals on upscale restaurants in Brazil. But Marcílio earns only R$ 3,50 (US$ 2,00) by kilogram of shellfishes. Such contrast is hard to understand and to accept
Joao Lucio:
The Crab