Demarcation Diaries
5 September 2001
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"Chuva!"
I was on watch when it rained. I shouted in Portuguese
to captain Flavio that it was raining. Flavio was amazed
that this "Chines" could speak some Portuguese
at last. He asked me something in Portuguese, and I could
only understand "chuva" and "Chines,"
but I guessed he was asking me "how to say
'rain' in Chinese?"
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I told him and Flavio pronounced the words very well. He was
happy and told Merel who happened to be with us that I was intelligent
and picked up Portuguese very quick. I wish it is true, but the
fact is that I speak least Portuguese among the crew, and I am
learning it slowly.
Chuva in the Amazon comes suddenly, and sometimes with strong
wind as well. We are getting more and more rain these couple days.
The rain will raise the water level, which is good for sailing,
but it will create more difficulties for us when we work in the
field, which is bad.
Because of the shallow water, the ship is moving very slow, and
we are constantly delaying our arrival time to the mouth of the
Rio Xerua. The latest news is we will arrive there on September
7th, two days later than what we originally planned.
Despite the delay, we are all very excited about meeting the
Deni and other people, and to get the demarcation process started.
Yesterday we had our final training on how to use the HF radio,
satellite phone, solar panel etc, so we will be able to run this
equipment in the forest and keep in touch with the people on the
Commandante
Savio. We will need to rehearse setting up the tent and all these
equipment once we get to the mouth of the Rio Xerua. But we feel
like we are ready to move on to the next stage.
And while we are getting ready for the hard work, sailing in
the river continues to be a delightful experience for us. I finally
saw two "tracajas" (river turtles in the Amazon) yesterday.
They were sitting on fallen branches of wood, enjoying the warm
sunshine. They are not very big, compared to the sea turtles,
about half meter in length.
I also saw a dozen cows strolling along the riverbank, with the
sun setting in the background. The cows were feeding on the grass,
and there were some white birds walking with the cows or just
sitting on their back. It is one of the most peaceful scenes I
have ever seen in my life.
As time goes by, we also feel closer to each other, and have
a stronger sense of working as a team. Last evening, me, Steve
and Ian had a good conversation about the work that Greenpeace
is doing in our countries (China, UK, and Nordic countries), and
what are the challenges and opportunities as Greenpeace becomes
really global.
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Then after dinner, we (me, Bryan, Merel, Paula, Jan and
Petros) started discussing Bush and his anti-environmental
policies, and moved on to discuss topics like what is really
happening in Palestine, racial problems and stereotypes in
our countries, human cloning, the arms race etc. It is pretty
heavy conversation and sometimes we feel quite pessimistic
about the way things are heading in the world. |
But we share the worries and we might as well do something together
about it. This time we will try our best to help the Deni people
keep out logging companies, and I am sure there will be other
times we will work together.
Kontau
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