DAY 38. A CAREFREE DAY

The dawn turned out to be even more spectacular than the sunset. I managed to find a large floating island to pull me forward, so for a few hours I forgot my daily routine.

I found a new passenger on my boat – it is a small lizard. I do not know if it appreciated my harmlessness or if it was just a very brave lizard, but in just a few hours it lost all fear and began to crawl boldly on my hands. That is the kind of companion I needed!

One would think our friendship could not get any better than this, but it could. I noticed this lizard hunting insects in my tented cabin. It even ate that nasty cockroach that I have been trying to get rid of for a long time, but it was too good of a swimmer.

It is a beautiful day. Even the rain that has started is not that depressing. I found a floating log to pull the boat forward and spread out my rescue blanket to collect some rainwater. In the meantime, I sharpened my machete – it is always rusting a little and it needs constant maintenance. How capricious my Will is! Yes, that is the name that I gave to my machete back in Pucallpa. I think I had yet to mention its name in this diary.

The day somehow came to an end quickly. I noticed an abundance of birds along the bank and decided to check that spot out. It turned out to be the mouth of a small clear stream, but it was still deep enough to host abundance of fish – potentially.

My first attempts at fishing were successful right away. I caught a previously unseen, albeit small, fish. That is a great start!

I tied the boat to a tree on the bank securely, cut the fish into pieces and put them on bigger hooks. This immediately brought me a few palm-sized badres. I was well on the way to improvising some soup! I got the fishing fever and cut one of the big badres into pieces as well to catch the bigger fish, which was splashing around.

Four times it bit into the bait and four times I was very close to pulling it out of the water. It was a large fish a little under 30 centimeters long, and it behaved like a pike, predatorily rushing to the prey, but it was also very quick to react and release the bait as it realized something was off. What a shame.

When it got dark, the fish began to play even more actively near the surface. Then I untied the canoe from the tree, collected my spinning tackle and began to drag it on the boundary of clear and murky water, where predators should normally stand watch. I was successful again. After my seventh or eighth move I managed to get a strong bite. I hauled the fish. Erm, what is it? I thought there was a monster there, but here was a small fish about 15 centimetres long and slim like a needle. I was very pleased, though. It was the first time in a long while when my spinning tackle worked.

I filled my belly with soup before I went to bed. It was a great day! Yes, I did not get my desired trophy, but now it is only a matter of time! The most interesting things are waiting for me ahead.

22 May, ~69 (1409) km covered.