Demarcation Diaries
2 September 2001
I woke up at five in the morning because nature called and since
I am up I might as well start on today's update.
Yesterday, I took a shower in the rain since the Amazon version
of rain is the equivalent of having a bucket of water emptied
over your head. Last night Ribamar caught a small crocodile with
his bare hands. I am convinced that all my travel mates will write
about that so I won't go into details.
The animal population density seems to increase as the human
population decreases. We see more dolphins and Jacares now. I
spotted an interesting bird today, I can't remember its name but
it has a long lower beak and it fishes by flying just over the
water surface, dipping the open beak into the water. Sooner or
later it gets a fish.
It feels slightly unreal to be surrounded by animals I only know
from the nature-networks on TV. Makes me wish I had been crazy
enough to take my 'big glass' lenses into the jungle. Anyone who
wants to send me a 600mm Nikon and a tripod should feel free to
do so. Speaking of cameras, I use a silica gel to dry them out
at night and I am using it up at an alarming rate. Today I convinced
one of the cooks to dry some of it for me. She must have wondered
about the insane gringo who wanted her to cook blue gravel in
the oven for an hour. Worked like a charm though.
We have moved on to the next phase, from training to preparation.
With only three days to go, everybody is getting their gear in
order.
Team
B preparing for the jungle |
We were divided us into teams yesterday and it is interesting
to see how the mind works. Humans are pack animals. Slap
a label on somebody or a patch on their shoulder and instantly
they identify with the appointed group, be it a soccer team
or a demarcation team. We bond with team-mates and distance
from the others, we can't help it, it is hardwired into
us.
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Friendly but semi-serious competition takes place. Everybody
tries to convince themselves they have the toughest route. 'We
have the tough stretch, you guys will be on a boat half the time',
'Yeah but we have all the piuns'. It's an interesting psychological
phenomena.
Me, I am not just a Greenpeacer anymore, I am Team Bravo now,
and WE have the toughest route.
Steve
Steve is also known as Polecat on the Greenpeace Cyberactivist
community at http://act.greenpeace.org.
He is now making his way to the remote reaches of the Amazon because
he responded to a call for volunteers which was posted at the
site.
You can help Greenpeace win campaigns by joining
the Cyberactivist community, taking the actions posted there,
and watching for your own opportunities to volunteer.
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