DAY 10. THE WATER EATS MY FEET

In the morning, while packing, I found a spider in my jumper. Apparently, it decided that this would be an ideal place for an ambush, but it had miscalculated the size of its prey. Well, I once took a scorpion out of my boot in Armenia, so I am used to this kind of thing. I should not forget that it is I who is a guest in this place.

It is raining a little. Hopefully, the sky will clear out soon, and I will be able to finish the preparations and be off to my journey. Jonas’s family is very hospitable, but I would not want to overstay my welcome. In the meantime, while it rains, I will gather some materials to improve the bed.

My foot is still sore. Walking with water in my boots, I acquired some blisters, I guess. There are bare patches of flesh without skin on my feet. They look like circles, approximately 1 centimeter in diameter. The skin between my toes has peeled off in some places. This rain makes it worse. When these wounds come in contact with water, the skin hurts. I am worried.

In my desperation, I decided to ask Jonas for advice. Maybe he knows how to deal with this problem. Fortunately, he took one look at my foot without much surprise and then said: “Aqua comes piernas.” Translated from Spanish, this means ‘water eats feet.’ Then he brought me some boat engine oil and assured me that this was what I needed. Apparently, the oil is supposed to protect my feet from the water and dry them out. I first got some more reeds so that I could stay in the boat for a while and treat my foot without having to walk. Then I put some oil on my feet and started to work on my bed construction project.

I added a reed grate to the bottom of the boat. It should help me keep things out of the water and wash out sand and insects more easily. While I could not walk very far as my feet were covered in oil, I spent time observing things around me.

I saw a huge island of greenery, planks and logs that was carried along the river – it was no less than 30 square metres large! It was so big that a bird was walking on it, catching its prey. I wonder how far the island could get. Will the island get bigger, or will it crumble under the power of the current? I think it will just hit the land at some point and become part of the newly formed bank when the rainy season is over.

It took me a bit more time to work on the tent, and I tried to unfold the whole structure to cover the boat from rain. It is a start.

Jonas went fishing every now and then. During these times, I stayed with his family. Living in their camp taught me as much as learning to fish with him. All the time I was observing the way the local residents went about their everyday lives. It turns out that for protection against mosquitoes, they use exactly the same spirals as we do in Siberia. They work even after sunset! For daily ablutions, everyone washes in the boat, just splashing a bucket of water on themselves before going to bed. They boil the water from the river. The food is varied; I particularly liked the porridge-like drink with a finely chopped banana in it. To my surprise, they did not have farinha, so we often cooked mine, and the child asked some dry farinha to chew on sometimes. In his free time, he watched cartoons on his smartphone! In the middle of the great jungle on the Amazon River – can you believe it?! In a couple of rainy days without sun, he almost depleted my power bank, but I did not mind.

Another day came to an end. I laid down in the hammock with engine oil on my feet. Yes, it leaves dirty stains on everything, but my health is more important. Hopefully, I will feel better in the morning. There are no starry skies to see today because of the drizzling rain. Too bad, I am getting used to sleeping under the stars now.