Demarcation Diaries
31 August 2001
Bom dia, todos! Hello, everyone!
I awoke this morning to silence at about four. At first I was
concerned, but it was so calm and serene that I decided just to
let myself wake up slowly, but by 5:00 a.m. I was too curious.
We had stopped in the very early morning, around three at the
mouth of the Jurua river, and the crew decided to tie up the boat
and wait for daylight before continuing up river. They were concerned
about the depth of the waters, since the river is dropping, and
were not sure what we would encounter here at the mouth.
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I also found Manuel walking the deck unaware that we had
stopped. But, this is a good indication of why we put our
trust in the Amazonian crew. This morning, the captain told
me that he is relieved to be in the Jurua now, because its
underwater banks are predictable, and the middle is always
deep. On the Solimoes, we had to stop many times, backtrack,
and try another route when we saw we only had two meters
underneath the keel.
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Typically at the places where the smaller rivers dump into the
bigger ones, we see many dolphins, and this morning was no exception.
Many pink dolphins, or boto, greeted us as we started our new
route that is much more southern now. I have begun following the
custom of the southern Brazilians by drinking Chimarrao, or Mate
each morning, and now I have Kon Tau from China and Petros from
Greece joining me in the morning ritual.
We all have different rates of waking up, and this morning we
were all up and watching the new river go by at seven.
Ribamar, Agnaldo, and Sebastiao tried a quick fishing trip and
we watched as they caught only small fish with a circular net
called a 'tarrafa'. Eventually, we will be very happy to see fresh
bacu, sardia, and aracu for lunch.
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This afternoon, Ribamar, our local all purpose 'ribeiro'
(people of the river) is going to give a small demonstration
on fishing for Piranhas. We all have a survival kit that
contains fishing line and steel hooks. Our special Piranha
kit has a short section of steel line that doesn't allow
the Piranha to chew through the line. I just hope they taste
good!
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Ribamar
showing the volunteers how to fish for Pirhanas |
Yesterday, the doctors gave us an orientation of our first-aid
survival kits. The talk eventually revolved around snakes and
spiders. Now, we all have had our fill of what to do if we get
bitten by a snake. We have medicine mostly to alleviate discomfort
in the field, aspirins, anti-allergy medicine, pain medicine that
we can use ourselves.
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Our doctors are Paula from Spain, Marcio from Rio de Janeiro,
and Ian from the United Kingdom. We are expecting another
from the UK in a few days, to make a total of four. All
of them have worked in the area of tropical diseases, so
we all feel like we have enough experience to recognise
and act on any problem we might have fairly quickly.
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Marcio
explaining the dangers of the area. |
Last evening, we were introduced to an Amazonian electrical storm.
We were sure it would rain, but instead there was only lightning
racing across the sky for half an hour. Long, complicated bolts
of lightning as well as bright clouds of heat lightning escorted
us into the early evening. At this second, I am sitting next to
our radio operator, Tim, from Holland, who just showed me our
first electrical casualty from the storm. We burnt one of our
transformers that runs our computers. During the storm, all our
readings were erratic and unpredictable. It is best at those times
to turn everything off and wait for the storm to finish.
This was our first lesson that the dangers in the Amazon are
not only in the water or on the land. We are relying on our ability
to use GPS, high frequency radios, solar panels, batteries, as
well as satellite telephones to spread the news of our journeys.
At the same time, we are trying to respect the fact that we are
in the wildest of the wild, and this electrical storm was an innocent
reminder, I think.
This morning, we also took a short cooking course from Mara,
one of our cooks. She showed us the basics of cooking beans, rice,
and pasta out in the forest.
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Each one of our teams will have 15 people on it, we will
be cooking, setting up camp, cutting the trail, and watching
out for each other.
This afternoon, we have a short compass-reading course
to attend as well. Basically, what we will be saying if
you get lost is DON'T MOVE! Although we would all love to
wander 10 miles through the jungle alone, we are hoping
to stay together, and make this a team effort. And, it is
easier to identify a snake if one person is holding it and
the other can take its picture. We have been told this morning
who is on which team, so now we are thinking of all these
logistical things, so a sense of humour and flexibility
come into play now.
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Bryan
teaches everyone how to use a compass. |
As I sit here, I see Ian from the UK and Steve from Sweden leaning
against the railing, one with a camera, the other gulping down
watermelon. Jan from Germany just walked by and told me not to
look so serious. The characters out here are a lot of fun to watch,
as well as watching myself.
Steve is determined to snap a photo of a jumping pink dolphin,
so he stands ready all the time. Tim will be working to replace
our transformer with a string of batteries. Others are writing
updates, studying the GPS manual, or trying to memorise the short
dictionary we received this morning with words in
English, Portuguese, Spanish and native Deni.
Next to me is a pile of pans destined for the project, and above
my head is a sign that says, "Piranha Internet Cafe",
our location for writing these updates.
The steady purr of the engine still is not enough to drown out
the loud sounds of the jungle on both sides of us. Chirping birds,
snapping branches are the sounds that come from the green blanket
around us. I think we all have a different idea of what is inside
there...and the amazing thing is that we will soon find out.
I will leave you now with the quote I heard this morning from
the captain Flavio. He said, "Quem viver vivera" and,
"Nos vamos consequir".
He was looking at our German lookout, who appeared a bit worried
staring out at the water ahead of the boat this morning. I think
all of us "estrangeiros", or foreigners, have this look
a few times per day. Often, it is just that we are thinking of
the 10 new things that were just introduced to us, or considering
our families, or reflecting on the pile of beans we just had for
lunch. But, for Flavio, we just look worried, and he does not
speak English. His words meant "He who lives, will live"
and "We will succeed."
Bryan
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