My first night on one of the Amazon's tributaries was the first time I saw the southern cross. CSN's song (one of my favorite songs) came immediately to mind. Here are the lyrics, a lot of them I feel apply and I'll let you decide which ones you think do:
Got out of town on a boat
Goin' to Southern islands. Sailing a reach
Before a followin' sea.
She was makin' for the trades On the outside,
And the downhill run
To Papeete.
Off the wind on this heading
Lie the Marquesas.
We got eighty feet of the waterline.
Nicely making way.
In a noisy bar in Avalon
I tried to call you.
But on a midnight watch I realized
Why twice you ran away.
Think about how many times I have fallen
Spirits are using me larger voices callin'.
What heaven brought you and me
Cannot be forgotten.
I have been around the world,
Lookin' for that woman/girl,
Who knows love can endure.
And you know it will.
And you know it will.
When you see the Southern Cross
For the first time
You understand now
Why you came this way
Cause the truth you might be runnin' from
Is so small.
But it's as big as the promise
The promise of a comin' day.
So I'm sailing for tomorrow
My dreams are a dyin'.
And my love is an anchor tied to you
Tied with a silver chain.
I have my ship
And all her flags are a flyin'
She is all that I have left
And music is her name.
Think about how many times I have fallen
Spirits are using me larger voices callin'.
What heaven brought you and me
Cannot be forgotten.
I have been around the world,
Lookin' for that woman/girl,
Who knows love can endure.
And you know it will.
And you know it will.
So we cheated and we lied
And we tested
And we never failed to fail
It was the easiest thing to do.
You will survive being bested. Somebody fine Will come along
Make me forget about loving you.
At the Southern Cross.
Hey everyone. It's been awhile. Sorry, I was in the Amazon for 5 days and then a boat for 4. Not too mention that a lot of places out here don't have wifi or charge for it.
I don't really know what my last post covered and the wifi here cut out for the moment, so I'll just covet the basics and only go into detail when I thinking it's really something neat.
I took the night bus from Medellin to Bogota. Taxis wouldn't take me to the center where my hostel was. In fact one played dumb and kicked me out. That was cool, so I walked about 3 hours with my gear and a couple of metro stops. The next day I caught a flight to Leticia. Don't tell them your a tourist after exiting the plane. Tourists go into a different door where they make you pay a fee. I snuck back out that side into the non-tourist door to avoid paying. That night one of the guys at the travel agency (Selva
veturas) took us to Peru (Santa Rosa) where there is a restaurant that has some animals. I'm not sure if they are rehabilitating or if this is something more sinister. I say this only because the baby jaguar that you could play with had something wrong with its back legs. It was sad, but incredible to hold one and it loved to suckle on our fingers. Then, the guy (Daniel) took us to Brazil (Tabatinga). I'm not entirely sure why, but I suspect it was to get a photo of the gringo with the Brazilian chicks that were dancing. The next day my tour started on the river.
The highlights from the river portion were seeing dolphins, especially the pink ones, up close (humanely this time), swimming in the river, fishing piranha (caught 3 and ate one later), holding a Cayman (sp?), and being visited by the assistant cook who was a parrot.
The next day there was no more fancy resorts (just kidding, look at the photos on FB, far from fancy), it was off to the jungle. I was under the impression that we'd be hiking trails through the jungle, but in fact 75% of the trip was our guide, Tatella (sp?) hacking his way with a machete. For brevity, here are the highlights.
First day: attacked by some crazy bug. They hurt bad and we had to run for safety. Our guide says that if there's enough they can kill because they have a small amount of poison. Plus, they try to go in your ear and fuck up your equilibrium. We came across a dude named Marco living in the jungle by himself. He was brewing up some sort of native concoction that involved coca. The Aussie that was with us didn't want to camp in hammocks in a cleared out spot and Marco told us of "campground". It was in a clearing and had a tiny roofed place. Our guide explained that this was the last night we'd have such a place. That night, went for a walk that turned AP a giant rat and a tarantula.
Day 2: Marco came by with his coca mixture. It was a green powder Thanh you are supposed to put in your cheek. I'm not sure how that was supposed to happen, cause it was too fine and dry. It immediately made my mouth water and stuck to everything in my mouth. I ended up swallowing most of it. That was one of the 2 most important native concoctions, according to Tetella, and he later let us try the other, which was a tobacco paste (very spicy). We hiked for about 4 hours before clearing out a place near a stream to camp. I swam in red water (due to the sediment). We were supposed to do a night walk, but everyone was asleep by 7:30 except me. I did notice something pretty amazing though. At night, the jungle floor glows. It is a faint version of the phosphorusence in the ocean, which is a sky bluish color if you haven't seen it. If I had to guess it has something to do with the decomposing forsest floor or some sort of fungi. Wish we could've done the night walk. At 4 in the morning Tetella was making a ruckus cause he killed a frog for Chris (cool Polish guy) and I to eat for breakfast.
Day 3: Ate the frog. Tasted like a grilled chicken wing. More of the same hacking our way through the jungle. What amazes me is how Tetella can orient himself just by the sun and the types of animals that are or aren't making noise. The bugs are particularly bad tonight and I can't decide which I hate more, the mosquitoes or theJ ants. La selva has an array of weird bugs. Some are giant versions of the ones we have at home while some are crazy unique. There was the giant blue butterflies whose wings are the size of my hand and are stunning. There was also a lightning bug about the size of my thumb that was orange and constantly lit instead of flickering like others. It landed on Chris and turned around. It had a daistinct pair of green eyes that never went out. Tetella told us we'd be ninth fishing, then walked down to the streams and grabbed a fish for baiting out of the water with his bare hands. Caught 2 fish after a hour which would serve as breakfast. Oh, and at some point Tetella had us cross the Brazilian border and come back.
The next day I burned my socks in the fire cause they were so nasty. Then we slowly made our way out of the jungle. One observation that was particularly interesting was that there were no rocks. I'm not exaggerating, there was zero rocks; just an endless floor of centuries of leaves upon leaves that have decomposed. Also, the forest is almost all the same. Sure, there are really amazing things, but they are rare. For the most part it all looks the same. In the outskirts of the jungle are the most amazing pineapples ever. I used to hate pineapple, but am now a convert. The best ones are little and reddish. They have a hint of coconut in them. One great thing is that the forest supplies all the tools for your needs (assuming you have a machete). Bowls, plates, seats, rope, hammock ties, bridges, food (like palm, which is the same color and eats like string cheese), etc. However, you are constantly aware that the jungle wants to destroy you. You becomes hyper aware of everything, "was that itch due to some crazy bug?" "What the fuck was that noise?"
All in all, an amazing but taxing experience. 4 days in the jungle will equal several years before I'd even contemplating going in again.
After that I caught a boat down the Amazon to Manaus, where I am till tomorrow (I leave for Santarem by boat). The are several things about the boat I want to point out. 1, Even though the cities are essentially one, Tabatinga is 1 hour ahead. B, Even though Lonely Planet says you can pay in Colombian Pesos, it's unlikely; we had to pay in Reals. 11 (binary), no matter what anyone says, get there four hours ahead to secure a "good" spot.
The boat is awful. It is crammed with people to the point where some are sleeping above others in hammocks, most of the people are super rude to the point that they go out of their way to be so - for example cutting in line, purposely tuning into you in the hammock cause you're sleeping, taking seconds because they noticed you just sat down for firsts and you need to wait, etc - the shower toilet combo is vomit inducing, the water comes from the Amazon so you can't drink it cause it's the same water that your toilet goes to, the lights are constantly on even on the sleeping porch, the beetles at night are a nuisance, the top deck has music that's way too loud that is constantly on with a movie playing on the TV even though you can't here it - don't dare turn down the music even if you and your friends are the only ones there; you'll get told "no, Jesse wanted this to play" - the food is terrible, and the people will throe their garbage in the river even if the garbage is right next to them (it's so frustrating to watch them destroy it). However, I think I might love the boat. It might be a hell hole, and maybe it's because I grew up around boats, but there is something alluring about it. Something in the monotony - the forest on the shores never changes and you don't have much you can do - combined with something about the isolation - I don't speak Portuguese and I didn't have 1 Real on me - and the shitty conditions really gives you time for some serious reflection. Something about that combo dulls your senses till they stop distracting you. I don't want to compare it to jail, but that is somewhat like I imagined it as. Nothing to do but have all that time to think. Even though I wasn't exactly alone cause I made some English speaking friends and a girl named Vanessa I met in Leticia has taken me under her wing, I did spend most of my time isolating myself. This is exactly what I wanted though.
I'm not sure what exactly it was that I wanted. I did hope that the boat trip would be a voyage of self discovery, but honestly I didn't and still don't know what that meant. I wasn't hoping to get some questions answered cause I didn't have any. I don't even know if it was to discover the questions I want to ask. I do know that it definitely pushed me to my limits, and with the exception of food poisoning on the last day, I laughed at them. All these crazy things that's made the boat a hell hole were almost comical to the point that they were endearing. In some odd way I miss the boat to a very minor degree. Although, I don't haves to worry that much cause I still have a total of 4 more days by boat to Belem. Thankfully, they'll be split up a bit.
Did I figure anything out in any case? Just that I don't have anything to figure out right now. Feels pretty good.
Goodnight peeps, I got other stuff to do now. I'll write my reflections on Colombia next I think.
Oh and a special shout out to all those I have gotten questions about where to send save the dates to (thank you for thinking of me) and to those who just got engaged.
D
Got out of town on a boat
Goin' to Southern islands. Sailing a reach
Before a followin' sea.
She was makin' for the trades On the outside,
And the downhill run
To Papeete.
Off the wind on this heading
Lie the Marquesas.
We got eighty feet of the waterline.
Nicely making way.
In a noisy bar in Avalon
I tried to call you.
But on a midnight watch I realized
Why twice you ran away.
Think about how many times I have fallen
Spirits are using me larger voices callin'.
What heaven brought you and me
Cannot be forgotten.
I have been around the world,
Lookin' for that woman/girl,
Who knows love can endure.
And you know it will.
And you know it will.
When you see the Southern Cross
For the first time
You understand now
Why you came this way
Cause the truth you might be runnin' from
Is so small.
But it's as big as the promise
The promise of a comin' day.
So I'm sailing for tomorrow
My dreams are a dyin'.
And my love is an anchor tied to you
Tied with a silver chain.
I have my ship
And all her flags are a flyin'
She is all that I have left
And music is her name.
Think about how many times I have fallen
Spirits are using me larger voices callin'.
What heaven brought you and me
Cannot be forgotten.
I have been around the world,
Lookin' for that woman/girl,
Who knows love can endure.
And you know it will.
And you know it will.
So we cheated and we lied
And we tested
And we never failed to fail
It was the easiest thing to do.
You will survive being bested. Somebody fine Will come along
Make me forget about loving you.
At the Southern Cross.
Hey everyone. It's been awhile. Sorry, I was in the Amazon for 5 days and then a boat for 4. Not too mention that a lot of places out here don't have wifi or charge for it.
I don't really know what my last post covered and the wifi here cut out for the moment, so I'll just covet the basics and only go into detail when I thinking it's really something neat.
I took the night bus from Medellin to Bogota. Taxis wouldn't take me to the center where my hostel was. In fact one played dumb and kicked me out. That was cool, so I walked about 3 hours with my gear and a couple of metro stops. The next day I caught a flight to Leticia. Don't tell them your a tourist after exiting the plane. Tourists go into a different door where they make you pay a fee. I snuck back out that side into the non-tourist door to avoid paying. That night one of the guys at the travel agency (Selva
veturas) took us to Peru (Santa Rosa) where there is a restaurant that has some animals. I'm not sure if they are rehabilitating or if this is something more sinister. I say this only because the baby jaguar that you could play with had something wrong with its back legs. It was sad, but incredible to hold one and it loved to suckle on our fingers. Then, the guy (Daniel) took us to Brazil (Tabatinga). I'm not entirely sure why, but I suspect it was to get a photo of the gringo with the Brazilian chicks that were dancing. The next day my tour started on the river.
The highlights from the river portion were seeing dolphins, especially the pink ones, up close (humanely this time), swimming in the river, fishing piranha (caught 3 and ate one later), holding a Cayman (sp?), and being visited by the assistant cook who was a parrot.
The next day there was no more fancy resorts (just kidding, look at the photos on FB, far from fancy), it was off to the jungle. I was under the impression that we'd be hiking trails through the jungle, but in fact 75% of the trip was our guide, Tatella (sp?) hacking his way with a machete. For brevity, here are the highlights.
First day: attacked by some crazy bug. They hurt bad and we had to run for safety. Our guide says that if there's enough they can kill because they have a small amount of poison. Plus, they try to go in your ear and fuck up your equilibrium. We came across a dude named Marco living in the jungle by himself. He was brewing up some sort of native concoction that involved coca. The Aussie that was with us didn't want to camp in hammocks in a cleared out spot and Marco told us of "campground". It was in a clearing and had a tiny roofed place. Our guide explained that this was the last night we'd have such a place. That night, went for a walk that turned AP a giant rat and a tarantula.
Day 2: Marco came by with his coca mixture. It was a green powder Thanh you are supposed to put in your cheek. I'm not sure how that was supposed to happen, cause it was too fine and dry. It immediately made my mouth water and stuck to everything in my mouth. I ended up swallowing most of it. That was one of the 2 most important native concoctions, according to Tetella, and he later let us try the other, which was a tobacco paste (very spicy). We hiked for about 4 hours before clearing out a place near a stream to camp. I swam in red water (due to the sediment). We were supposed to do a night walk, but everyone was asleep by 7:30 except me. I did notice something pretty amazing though. At night, the jungle floor glows. It is a faint version of the phosphorusence in the ocean, which is a sky bluish color if you haven't seen it. If I had to guess it has something to do with the decomposing forsest floor or some sort of fungi. Wish we could've done the night walk. At 4 in the morning Tetella was making a ruckus cause he killed a frog for Chris (cool Polish guy) and I to eat for breakfast.
Day 3: Ate the frog. Tasted like a grilled chicken wing. More of the same hacking our way through the jungle. What amazes me is how Tetella can orient himself just by the sun and the types of animals that are or aren't making noise. The bugs are particularly bad tonight and I can't decide which I hate more, the mosquitoes or theJ ants. La selva has an array of weird bugs. Some are giant versions of the ones we have at home while some are crazy unique. There was the giant blue butterflies whose wings are the size of my hand and are stunning. There was also a lightning bug about the size of my thumb that was orange and constantly lit instead of flickering like others. It landed on Chris and turned around. It had a daistinct pair of green eyes that never went out. Tetella told us we'd be ninth fishing, then walked down to the streams and grabbed a fish for baiting out of the water with his bare hands. Caught 2 fish after a hour which would serve as breakfast. Oh, and at some point Tetella had us cross the Brazilian border and come back.
The next day I burned my socks in the fire cause they were so nasty. Then we slowly made our way out of the jungle. One observation that was particularly interesting was that there were no rocks. I'm not exaggerating, there was zero rocks; just an endless floor of centuries of leaves upon leaves that have decomposed. Also, the forest is almost all the same. Sure, there are really amazing things, but they are rare. For the most part it all looks the same. In the outskirts of the jungle are the most amazing pineapples ever. I used to hate pineapple, but am now a convert. The best ones are little and reddish. They have a hint of coconut in them. One great thing is that the forest supplies all the tools for your needs (assuming you have a machete). Bowls, plates, seats, rope, hammock ties, bridges, food (like palm, which is the same color and eats like string cheese), etc. However, you are constantly aware that the jungle wants to destroy you. You becomes hyper aware of everything, "was that itch due to some crazy bug?" "What the fuck was that noise?"
All in all, an amazing but taxing experience. 4 days in the jungle will equal several years before I'd even contemplating going in again.
After that I caught a boat down the Amazon to Manaus, where I am till tomorrow (I leave for Santarem by boat). The are several things about the boat I want to point out. 1, Even though the cities are essentially one, Tabatinga is 1 hour ahead. B, Even though Lonely Planet says you can pay in Colombian Pesos, it's unlikely; we had to pay in Reals. 11 (binary), no matter what anyone says, get there four hours ahead to secure a "good" spot.
The boat is awful. It is crammed with people to the point where some are sleeping above others in hammocks, most of the people are super rude to the point that they go out of their way to be so - for example cutting in line, purposely tuning into you in the hammock cause you're sleeping, taking seconds because they noticed you just sat down for firsts and you need to wait, etc - the shower toilet combo is vomit inducing, the water comes from the Amazon so you can't drink it cause it's the same water that your toilet goes to, the lights are constantly on even on the sleeping porch, the beetles at night are a nuisance, the top deck has music that's way too loud that is constantly on with a movie playing on the TV even though you can't here it - don't dare turn down the music even if you and your friends are the only ones there; you'll get told "no, Jesse wanted this to play" - the food is terrible, and the people will throe their garbage in the river even if the garbage is right next to them (it's so frustrating to watch them destroy it). However, I think I might love the boat. It might be a hell hole, and maybe it's because I grew up around boats, but there is something alluring about it. Something in the monotony - the forest on the shores never changes and you don't have much you can do - combined with something about the isolation - I don't speak Portuguese and I didn't have 1 Real on me - and the shitty conditions really gives you time for some serious reflection. Something about that combo dulls your senses till they stop distracting you. I don't want to compare it to jail, but that is somewhat like I imagined it as. Nothing to do but have all that time to think. Even though I wasn't exactly alone cause I made some English speaking friends and a girl named Vanessa I met in Leticia has taken me under her wing, I did spend most of my time isolating myself. This is exactly what I wanted though.
I'm not sure what exactly it was that I wanted. I did hope that the boat trip would be a voyage of self discovery, but honestly I didn't and still don't know what that meant. I wasn't hoping to get some questions answered cause I didn't have any. I don't even know if it was to discover the questions I want to ask. I do know that it definitely pushed me to my limits, and with the exception of food poisoning on the last day, I laughed at them. All these crazy things that's made the boat a hell hole were almost comical to the point that they were endearing. In some odd way I miss the boat to a very minor degree. Although, I don't haves to worry that much cause I still have a total of 4 more days by boat to Belem. Thankfully, they'll be split up a bit.
Did I figure anything out in any case? Just that I don't have anything to figure out right now. Feels pretty good.
Goodnight peeps, I got other stuff to do now. I'll write my reflections on Colombia next I think.
Oh and a special shout out to all those I have gotten questions about where to send save the dates to (thank you for thinking of me) and to those who just got engaged.
D
hey dyl, good 2 hear from u again! thought u might have dropped off the face. seems your adventures are getting a bit more adventurous. esp. eating pinapples and frogs, pirrana and those 2 important forrest things. sounds like your boat ride has given awhole new meaning to crusing! im surprised u didnt run into any of my nemesis....(snakes) ___ deffently u missed the tourest destinations i read about in the pampered planet____musta picked up the wrong book. whatever. will miss u 4 christmas,and i hope yours is unusual and cool Yo pops
ReplyDeleteThanks dad,
ReplyDeleteI haven't dropped off yet. The Amamzon is amazing. The interent opportunities aren't exactly abundant around here, so my blogging has to infrequent.
I was hoping to see some snakes, but alas, they avoided us. I actually hate the lonely planet guides now, they are correct about things 1 time out of 10.
I'll try to skype you (via one of the girl's computer), my mom, and Ivy on or around Christmas if it's possible. Right now, if everything comes together like I hope, I will be at Iguazu falls for christmas.
D