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In the early
morning we untied the raft from the dock and pushed
off. George and his family waved as we floated away.
We rowed between the network of houses built along the
river and out to the river’s current. As soon as we
reached the river people in outboard driven canoes came
up to us and asked what we were selling. They asked
where we were going and could not believe our intentions.
Waving goodbye to George and his family
From the
beginning I realized that navigating the raft was not
going to be easy. The raft was wide, with blunt ends
and almost impossible to steer. Pali had never paddled
with an oar before and the first half-hour was a learning
experience. We finally rowed away from the town and
caught the strong current of the river. The raft floated
along well and I was even able to use my line and hook
that I bought at the store. Within a few minutes I caught
an ugly catfish with long whiskers. I had hopes of eating
it for lunch but it slipped away while it was being
cleaned. I had to settle for rice.
My first
impression on the river came from the strange sounds
from the jungle. The variety of sounds indicated that
it was full of birds, monkeys and other creatures. But,
the thick vegetation hid everything. I could see branches
shaking and leaves rustling from the movement of animals,
but I saw parrots or monkeys only on occasion.
At midday
the weather turned bad. It began to drizzle and get
windy. As the wind picked up it blew us to shore. We
had to wait for the winds to die down until we were
able to free ourselves from the riverbanks. The raft
was at the complete mercy of the winds and river currents.
Our paddling would provide some direction to the raft,
but most of the time it was up to the river to let us
know our destination.
As it got
dark we rowed to a small indentation along the river.
The riverbanks were high and there were no beaches that
would provide an easy port for the raft. We roped the
raft to a tree that had fallen into the river. I made
sure the raft was securely fastened to ensure that we
did not float away at night.
The night
turned out to be absolutely miserable. We quickly learned
that we were not prepared for the jungle. Our biggest
mistake was we did not bring an adequate mosquito net.
I had a small mosquito net that was shaped like a miniature
dome tent. It was large enough to fit over my head but
it was not designed for two people. Mosquitoes entered
through the head opening, they entered underneath the
mosquito net, and they bit through my shirt and pants.
They were voracious and nothing would stop them from
their evening snack. I brought the cooking drum into
the A-frame hoping that the smoke would drive them away.
It did not. A cloud of mosquitoes surrounded me. They
buzzed like a squadron of Mustangs. All I could do to
get away from them was to get in my sleeping bag. It
was extremely uncomfortable because it was a warm night
and my sleeping bag was very insulated.
That night
the mosquitoes did not allow me to sleep. I was also
kept awake by the strange and eerie sounds that came
from the dark jungle. At one point I thought I heard
a jaguar. Of course, I had never heard a jaguar so I
could not recognize its roar. We also had visitors late
in the evening. Someone in a motor boat came along side
us, with spotlights, to inspect the raft. They were
probably crocodile hunters. I was scared because I had
no way of defending Pali or myself if they decided to
rob us or worse. Fortunately, the motor boat sped away
and I was back to worrying about the mosquitoes giving
me malaria.
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