A dawn of a new era. A group of farm hands puts together a satellite antenna for a new TV set that Jair Rosa, (third from left) ordered months ago to watch Brazilian World Cup games. From left are also: Elias Barbosa do Santos, Joal Ivis Rosario and finally Jair Rosa's 4 year old daughter Jayyne. The World Cut is already underway but only now the fazenda owner found room in his plane to bring the cargo from Campo Grande, the province capital. The electric power in the station and the entire Fazenda São Lourenço comes from diesel generators. The power is only turned on in the evening for an hour a day and the TV will surely become the focal point of the cowboy quarters during that evening hour.
June 24th., 2014.
Cowboys rode their horses across the wetlands of Pantanal in Brazil for 200 years, ever since the "elimination" of the Iast significant Indian tribes from the area. An entire culture, economic system, art forms and lifestyle developed around the work of cowboys on the Pantanal cattle ranches. The work in the largest wetlands of the world is hard and dangerous, the marshes are full of snakes, deadly spiders, alligators and jaguars. The cows are semi wild and sometimes unpredictable, especially when defending their calves.
This generation of cowboys may well be the last one to roam the endless wetlands of what once was an inland sea.
It has become increasingly difficult for ranch owners to find qualified cowboys to work and live on the ranches for months at a time. Many families have moved away from the farms and into nearby cities. The natural passage of the cowboy skills from one rural generation to another has been severely strained if not broken. Soon, the Pantanal cowboys will take their last ride into the sunset.
