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The sun
finally came up. We untied the ropes, pushed off, and
continued our adventure down the river. It took a while
to get away from the cloud of mosquitoes. They followed
us for most of the early morning. As the day warmed
other bugs came to enjoy the foreign food that was floating
down their river. A small, black bug, about the size
of a head of a pin, was prevalent. It would not puncture
the skin to suck your blood like a mosquito, it would
chew at the skin to create a bleeding wound. These bites
were 10 times more irritating than a mosquito bite.
Another pest was a green, metallic fly like bug that
would land on my back and take big bites of my skin.
I did not mind the heat, or the fruitless paddling,
but the bugs drove me crazy.
Pali
reading inside the raft
As we floated
down the river we saw small villages along the rivershore.
Villages were not as common as I hoped. My expectation
was we would easily find villages for supplies and maybe
lodging. We would see maybe 2 or 3 a day.
The river
did not flow along one straight channel. It constantly
curved and split into networks of smaller channels.
We did not have maps so we had no idea which channel
to take. At midday we took one of the smaller channels
and the water current slowed to a frustrating pace.
Abruptly, I heard a whoosh of air and turned to see
where it came from but saw nothing. I heard it again
and out of the corner of my eye I saw a pinkish, white
hump arch out of the water and than disappear. It was
large and my first thought was that I had witnessed
some type of strange, Amazon River creature. Two more
of the creatures breached the water and I got a better
look. They were pink, freshwater dolphins. Their size
was impressive and the sound they made when they let
out air was very distinct from the typical buzzing and
chirping I usually heard. The dolphins did not follow
us for long, only a few minutes. I would later see a
stuffed, pink dolphin at a museum. They are the strangest
looking animals that I have ever seen, an apparent remnant
of the dinosaur ages.
That evening
we found a low shore along the river where we decided
to camp. We tied the raft and I entered the forest to
look for firewood. I was surprised that the forest was
so open. There was little undergrowth and the trees
were far apart. I’m sure that the tree canopy allowed
only the hardiest plants to survive. I saw trees with
spines, red trees and a tree with dark black bark. I
wanted to spend more time exploring the forest. But,
the mosquitoes began swarming around my head and forced
me back to the raft.
I tried to
make my bed more mosquito proof. I hung a sheet on lines
over my bed in hopes that it would serve as a mosquito
net. The thick sheet was hot, I felt like I was suffocating.
I made the mistake of trying to let some fresh air in
and the mosquitoes took advantage of the opportunity.
They zoomed in underneath the sheet and found their
victim. My homemade mosquito net was useless.
To escape
the mosquitoes, I once again got into my sleeping bag.
I also put on a sweater, pants and covered my face with
clothes. Only my mouth was exposed. I was hot and sweaty
but I slept a little better that night, probably because
I was so tired.
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