Demarcation Diaries
6 September 2001
The wake up call was reactivated this morning and we all have to
get out of our hammocks before 7am from now on. Nothing
is more cruel than this when I am beginning to get used to sleeping
in the hammock, and sometimes with good dreams. Alas!
We had a quick breakfast and then morning meeting. Manuel gave
the latest updates: Nilo from Greenpeace Amazon, Janine, our fourth
medic, and others will join us tomorrow. The Cuniua
Team will leave us for another ship. We are all going to miss Paula,
Petros and Samuel. After the meeting, the Cuniua Team were busy taking
their final communication class and organizing their equipment.
As for our team, we had a relaxing afternoon while everyone was
occupied with packing, because we had all our stuff
ready a couple of days ago. Bryan and Merel took a good Brazilian-style siesta, while I chatted to Paula about her work in MSF and
my work as union educator in Hong Kong. Paula has worked in the
southern part of Amazon for several months, and it is both
interesting and useful to hear her experiences, such as how local
people were badly injured by the jacares (alligators). When we are sailing in
the river, we only see the jungle from outside, and could easily
forget the dangers in the river and forest. This is especially true when the
natural environment here seems so peaceful and beautiful. I remember the
first day I was on board, I got quite scared after being briefed with all
the dangers in the forest: the snakes, spiders, malaria, dehydration to name a few.
But as time went by, my paranoia is gone as I begin to enjoy the natural
beauty. Too much paranoia is bad, but a little bit paranoia, plus extreme
caution is necessary for people who have little experience with the forest.
I had my afternoon Portuguese and Spanish class by learning
how to say "people united, we will never be defeated" in both
languages. As my Portuguese tutor Agnaldo said, Portuguese is
easier to learn than Spanish.
The ship stopped at a muddy beach again at the evening. Tonight
we had our first movie night on board. Tim showed us many of his
wonderful works, about the Arctic Sunrise, Kosovo and East Timor.
Then Manuel showed us some video clips about their previous
actions in the national forest of the Para state.
-Kontau
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
|
|
2
|
|
3
|
|
4
|
|
5
|
|
6
|
|
7
|
|
8
|
|
|
9
|
|
10
|
|
11
|
|
12
|
|
13
|
|
14
|
|
15
|
|
|
16
|
|
17
|
|
18
|
|
19
|
|
20
|
|
21
|
|
22
|
|
|
23
|
|
24
|
|
25
|
|
26
|
|
27
|
|
28
|
|
29
|
|
|
30
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
