DAY 36. THE NATIVE PEOPLE

In the morning, I scooped a couple of buckets of water out of the boat. During the night something very big passed too close to me along the river and I woke up to the boat rocking madly. I have not experienced that in a long time. And then a storm broke out! It always does – at the least convenient moment.

I will have to be more careful today. As Albert said yesterday, there are not only a lot of bandits here, but also the navigation is going to pick up – it is Monday. If I look at the silver lining through – there will be more boats on the river and it lowers the risk of attack. Theoretically speaking.

I am clueless as to what has changed since Iquitos, but there are too many gnats on the river now. The ointments I have are effective for a short time only, and they are easily washed off with water and sweat. My legs and arms are now covered in red dots – they are tiny bruises caused by numerous bites. My shirt protects my upper body to some effect, but I must tuck my bare feet under me. It was never such a nightmare before. The river is changing.

I tried my new tarafa, the local fishing net, out. This is not an easy undertaking, especially when I am in the boat. I was warned that it is extremely difficult to make a good throw off the boat due to its instability, but I am still confident that I can do it if I use some large floating log for support. The net weighs about 5-8 kilos, so it is not an easy thing to throw it in the river even if I just take the physical effort into account.

Back in Iquitos I had time to take a couple of lessons from local fishermen and downloaded some video lessons from the internet. There are three ways to make the net open into an even circle and cover a large area, but so far, I have only been able to make a simple triangle cast. However, I had been afraid that it would be even more difficult. I will learn as I have plenty of time at my disposal.

It is very hot today. I do not know what it will be like in June; they say there is no drop of rain at all during the dry season. I cut open my lifejacket to use for cushioning the bed a little, so it is a little softer. If I had some more fat on me, sleeping on bare planks would be easier, but I will work with what nature gave me. I decided to use the fasteners with the straps from my lifejacket instead of a rope when I need to hook onto a floating log or a tree on the bank. It is safer that way.

The heat has died down a bit, and the sun is setting. It is time to look for a place to stay and fish. I still have not found a village where I could buy farinha at a good price (it was very expensive in Iquitos), so I have only one portion left. There is no more food. I still have some rice that I am planning to use for bait, but it will not be enough.

The banks along this part of the river are impressively high. In some places, the steep cliffs are 10 metres high. I cannot even imagine what the bank will look like when the river drops 6-8 metres lower. This is the expected water level that the locals told me about. Back home in Siberia, a 2-3 metre change in the level of the Yenisei River already leads to massive floods, but here it is just part of everyday life. A family has a house on stilts in the middle of a field, and a month later they are fishing right from their porch. There is something to it.

I found a promising spot for fishing; it is a small winding bay that looks more like the mouth of a rivulet. There is fish splashing around. Maybe one of them will be mine tonight. The banana trees nearby make me uneasy though. There is no way they do not belong to someone.

I travelled deeper up this stream, landed on dry land and found a tree with some strange fruit. Remembering of the manchineel tree with its deadly fruit, I decided against touching it with my bare hands. Wearing gloves, I examined some fallen fruit that had already rotten. It smelled very much like apple jam. I did not dare to try it, of course.

I tried to dig up some worms again. No luck. I decided to use bread and berries as bait today and set anchor at a good spot. There were some nibbles, but no luck so far.

There was a scary moment now. When it was almost dark, I heard voices of people and the noise of a motor faraway. Someone was heading into my little rivulet from the Big River. I turned the boat sideways so that I could be clearly seen – there was nowhere to hide anyway – and started to fish ardently, showing that I was indeed fishing with all my posture. It was a sight to behold!

A 7-metre-long canoe entered the bay and slowed down. The men in it took to the oars. They looked around and there I was, fishing. They were probably very surprised at the sight of a stranger in a fancy hat and a white shirt in the middle of the Amazon! They shouted something at me, which I did not understand, but chose to take as a greeting. With all diligence and sincerity, I replied in Spanish, ‘Buenas noches!’ (‘Good evening!’) They approached me to take a closer look.

There were three men. They were naked from the waist up – that is quite a strange fashion choice at this time of day, as there are too many mosquitoes and other biting critters. Their bodies were richly decorated with numerous tattoos. They started talking, and I realised I did not understand any single thing. I tried to show them that I was fishing, pointing to my mouth and explaining that I was hungry and fishing for food, not for sport. When they realised that I was speaking Spanish, they also started to formulate phrases in it, but it was more difficult for them, so I supported all my explanations with gestures. I tried to convey that I had been on the river for many days, that I was exploring and writing about everything around me, that I had next to no food and nothing of value with me. The latter idea was especially important to convey, given that I was alone with a group of grown men in a dark and quiet backwater bay.

The dialogue dragged on, and I tried to find out who they were. When asked, they said that they lived nearby and called themselves ‘nghari jawa’ (I am writing it down as best as I can) and that this bay belonged to them. I gestured that I could leave if they had a problem with me staying here, that I just needed some food. They became noticeably friendlier. They started joking among themselves and smiling. Maybe they were talking about how stupid the gringo was, I will never know. They ended up offering me a small fish they had in their canoe. It was smaller than the palm of my hand, some kind of sardine, I would reckon. It would not be of any use to me, but I did not refuse because that would have been disrespectful. Had I refused, they would question my need.

At last, they asked me if I had any money for them. I said that I had only a little farinha. I was very surprised when they asked me to give it to them. Ahem. I showed to them that I only had one portion left. They understood me and did not want to take the last food I had. It got dark. They left and wished me to have no worries.

That is easy for them to say. I do not know whether I should stay here or not. However, I do not see the point of travelling down the river in the dark, as it is much more dangerous. If they had wanted to hurt me, they would have already done it. And it would not be hard for them to catch up with me down the river as they have a motorboat. I will just keep fishing.

Not even five minutes later, I pulled out my first big badre, a type of catfish. And after another half an hour my courage (or madness) was fully rewarded. I caught three big badre fish and one exotic catfish that looks like something prehistoric. There were spikes all along its back and its body was covered with a hard shell. It looked like a dinosaur. I do not know if it is even edible. On the other hand, one can eat dinosaurs, right? I saw plenty of their legs at KFC!

I decided against taking chances, so I tried to resuscitate and release it. I led it back and forth in the water for about seven minutes. No luck. It turns over and dies. I decided to clean it, so that its death would not be in vain. When I opened its belly with a knife, I found a ball of worms inside. That was the reason why his belly was so bloated. I had to throw it out. I had enough fish for today.

Nevertheless, this sight did not ruin my appetite. I cooked some rice and fish, or rather fish and rice! I will have a hearty meal tonight. I am completely satisfied. I made the right decision to spend so much time on fishing.

There are bats flying around, but for some reason they react more acutely to the red light of my flashlight than to the white light. That is strange, I had not expected the preference. Tonight, I will go to sleep with some anxiety at the back of my mind. Hopefully these guys will not come back to break their word. It is an unusual sensation to realise that representatives of a tribe that clearly speaks next to no Spanish have given me permission to fish in their territory and even treated me to a small fish. That makes a good story.

I am also concerned that my ear has been aching for two days in a row. Apparently, I am developing a case of otitis. My immune system already failed a couple of weeks ago when I got sick, and I still have not fully recovered. First it was my throat, then my eye, now my ear. I will figure something out. Maybe I will just ask the locals for advice again.

I hope though that the afore-mentioned locals will not visit me at night, and by morning I will feel better – at least a little bit. Just in case, I left the fishing spot and went as far up the bay as possible. Good night to me!

20 May, ~73 (1276) km covered.