Demarcation Diaries
28 September 2001
I am on watch in the radio tent. A while ago when the helicopter was
dropping off a journalist, a plastic bag got loose on the heli-pad. This
is one of those things that just happens through a long series of unrelated
events. The plastic got caught in the rotor. The pilot then had to
do a fast shutdown of the engine and unfortunately this caused some damage
to the helicopter. A part now has to be ordered from the US. The chopper is
still flying but it's not entirely well. This will affect our lives a bit
until the part arrives. Anyway, since then we have to have the radio on
standby, so here I am, listening to white noise.
The demarcation itself is proceeding well. The team is in good spirit
and everybody is pulling their weight. We had a few small conflicts last
week, mainly due to the fact that we were all exhausted from moving to
Camp 2 entirely on foot. We actually have very little free time as doing the
trivial everyday stuff takes longer than you'd think. Well, doing the
non-trivial everyday stuff takes a while too. We are in our third camp now
and we are getting further into the jungle and further away from the
Savio. The Deni seem happy.
The jungle is becoming familiar to us. I note this every time we have
visitors from the Savio or the world beyond. The psychological adaptation to
a new environment and the adjustment of comfort standard is remarkable. If
you are a regular reader of our updates I am sure that you have noticed
how our initial fearful fascination with the forest has changed into
something else. Reality is every little bit as fascinating as the myth,
but not nearly as frightening.
Yesterday we celebrated Ian's birthday, unfortunately one day to early but
some margin has to be allowed for in a place like this. We asked the
people on the Savio to arrange some kind of surprise for him and they
choppered in a large cake. We had a little party that night, coffee and
cake, much to the delight of the Deni who love anything that includes
food and happy people.
Steve
(Team B)
Find out about the different
volunteers on the demarcation project.
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