Demarcation Diaries
27 September 2001
A long time since I have written but I've been busy and time is very
vague and mysterious out here anyway. We are now at our 3rd camp, near
to point 25. The Deni are working, Bryan is cooking, Merel reading and I'm
grabbing a few cozy moments with the laptop.
The day before yesterday I had my first encounter with our more
venomous Amazonian neighbours. I was walking along the
demarcation trail towards the camp when I suddenly noticed a
flicker of colour in the leaves at my feet. Kicking away the fallen
branches revealed a red and blue banded snake, just less than
metre long and about the width of two fingers. It was motionless for an
instant then slipped quickly away ahead of me leaving me shaking with the
shock and undecided on what to do next. I had recognized it's picture as
one of the 'highly poisonous' varieties from my Tropical Medicine book. Eventually I cautiously continued. When I arrived
at the camp the Deni asked me if I had caught it and eaten it! Perhaps if
Kontau had not left I might have tried to catch it. Kontau has cooked
snake in China. Only a month ago I would not have spoken so lightly of
killing the snake but that's the reality of how we have to live out here.
At home I am vegetarian, try to move spiders safely from the bath to
outside and don't step on bugs. Here I lie in my hammock each night
squashing all the little critters sharing it with me because I know
otherwise I'll be bitten. To complete my confession... I have also
chopped down trees and eaten canned meat. I actually enjoyed the meat I
was so hungry. (My vegan friends will probably lynch me when I get back!)
I mentioned Kontau had left. He had to go back to China to finish
his studies and also to save his computer from the
hundreds of e-mails he receives (only joking Kontau). I think his
friends were missing him. We will too. Not least of all for his
cooking abilities.
The lap top and satellite connection have been great for us. It's nice
not to feel isolated from friends and family at home and to let the world
know what we are doing out here. I'm especially grateful to the people
who have sent me the international news. It's incredibly peaceful here,
hard to believe the chaos that everyone is describing. I'm glad to have
the chance to be doing something productive. Hopefully, whatever happens,
this part of the Amazon will be safe. I only wish someone would
communicate to the mosquitoes that we're here to protect their
habitat... one particularly hungry sod has sucked blood from my face,
ears and shoulder last night.
Janine
(Team B)
Find out about the different
volunteers on the demarcation project.
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