Juana Judith Apaza Huampo is 32 years old and has lived for six years in Serra do Amolar, a set of hills located in the Pantanal, on the borders of the states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, on the border with Bolivia. There are 276 thousand hectares of a Private Natural Heritage Reserve (RPPN), which in September 2020 was invaded by fire for almost 100 days. The flames were advancing incessantly over a landscape previously known for the floods, but which was dry, due to the lack of rain.
Hundreds of firefighters went to try to contain the flames and stayed at the base of the Instituto do Homem Pantaneiro (IHP), a non-governmental organization for the protection of the environment that manages five areas in the region. Juana played the same role as Filó, a character played by Dira Paes in the soap opera Pantanal, aired on TV Globo, and cooked for firefighters, brigadistas and journalists. She stayed from September to December 2020 cooking for all of them. In the first 40 days she worked alone, until she got reinforcements.
The fire came to surround the house and she was afraid of the flames entering. In this scenario of destruction, a jaguar was found in the forest with its paws burned. Juana was instrumental in the rescue – as she insisted the animal needed help. So much effort was recognized and the feline earned the name “Jhou Jhou”, the same nickname as Juana. “I was the first one that entered the fire and the last one that left”, she says, who is always calm, never “turns a jaguar”, like Juma, Alanis Guillen’s character in the global soap opera.
The animal received a monitoring collar and, after a period of care, at the Wild Animal Rehabilitation Center (CRAS), in Campo Grande, it was released again in Serra do Amolar. The jaguar Jhou Jhou became a symbol of the strong fires that hit the region. Even today it is possible to see dry and burnt trees by fire. There is still a silence that hangs over the Pantanal, which still hasn’t heard the same noises from the animals as they were before the fire. All in a kind of mourning for the 17 million vertebrates that died.
History
Today, Juana’s dream is to finish her studies. She stopped in the 2nd year of high school and, for that, she would need to go to Corumbá, 200 kilometers or five hours downriver to complete the objective. With Aymara ancestry, the same as the former Bolivian president Evo Morales, Juana was born in La Paz, from where she fled to Corumbá (MS) 17 years ago, due to the mistreatment of a stepmother. “I was raised as a daughter of my boss,” she says. There she met her ex-husband who was invited to be a caretaker at the IHP base. She took her three children with her and needed to do something: first she was a cleaning lady, then she learned to cook and started to perform this function with dexterity.
A year and a half ago Juana separated and her ex-husband returned to Corumbá. It continues as a kind of guardian of Serra do Amolar, one of the most beautiful and untouched places in the Pantanal. “Here I can work and take care of the children. I want to spend the rest of my life in this place, where nature is the most beautiful”.
Since moving to Brazil, he has only returned to La Paz once – and dreams of having his children graduate in Agronomy to work on the lands of the Serra. The food that Juana prepares is delicious. She makes breads, chips and all meals with a unique seasoning. Her favorite dishes are Bolivian rice, tabbouleh and fried noodles with jerky, typical of the region. Today, she cooks for five other people who live in the Institute’s lodging base and also for tourists who arrive through the Amolar Experience, an IHP program that promotes visits to the region.
Every three months, Juana has ten days off. That’s when she stays at home or goes to Corumbá to see her daughter, who is now studying as a boarding school. A woman of few words and a shy smile, the cook is five feet four inches tall, chubby and has her hair tied in a braid that has been turned into a bun on top of her head. She talks to us while she cooks and wears lycra, green IHP t-shirt and pink sneakers. At the end of the year, he plans to travel and reach Cuiabá. “I’ll come and go,” he guarantees. Serra do Amolar really needs your golden hands and your quiet way to remain this unique place.
PS: characters like Juana are still anonymous and far from the attention of the main media – which, during the 2020 fires, only highlighted the rescued jaguar. This story was even offered to other media outlets, but was rejected for lack of factuality. Little do they know that stories like hers attract people to these places, especially tourists, in the case of the Pantanal. May everyone who arrives at Serra do Amolar be able to take their picture with this new pantaneira!
