DAY 52. THE BOSOM OF NATURE

I had a good night’s sleep and I feel much better. The gnats are bothering me again, but that is a minor problem.

I am literally filled with hope to the brim at the thought of the lake ahead, as the river itself does not offer many opportunities now – the abundance of rain ruins all my plans. This high water level should have started dropping two weeks ago, but climate change is making the nature unpredictable too. It will take me three days to reach the lake.

I tried using some sunscreen to protect me from gnats: it has aloe in it, and it seems to work against them. However, I need to apply a lot of it on my skin for it to have an effect. Thankfully, I have not used sunscreen in a long time, my skin seems to be used to the sun now.

Some little monkeys are leaping from tree to tree along the bank and dolphins accompany me on the river. The nature is marvellous. Now I feel like I am in the middle of the Amazon indeed. There is no one around. All signs of civilisation have been left behind.

At times I talk to the dolphins and birds – but not because of loneliness as it may seem. I just enjoy their company. They are closer to me than some of the locals, to whom I am only a gringo, an outsider, a white bigwig. Nature is different. It seems cruel, but it is always honest with a traveller.

I had lunch. It is a hot day today, so I put on my hat. After about 10 minutes, I felt my hair move strangely under it. I took the hat off and there was a huge spider sitting there, right in the hat! I have seen this spider before, as it has been living in the boat for a few days.

This morning the spider even had offspring – hundreds of tiniest baby spiders crowded its web under my bed. It looked creepy, but they cannot hurt me, unlike the ants. However, such close proximity to my head was a little unpleasant.

I finished the last pieces of my salted fish. Then I spent a few hours enjoying the vegetation on the riverbank. There is a great diversity of wildlife. The current is slow, but it goes right along the forest, so I was able to get a proper look at everything.

Now there was an amazing moment: a pink dolphin jumped out of the water right next to the side of my canoe, but it was not a usual jump – it was sharp, sudden, and somehow slowed down, as if the dolphin wanted to get a closer look at me. This allowed me to look into its small but intelligent eyes. I am a guest here on the river, after all.

It is so strange – I look at the jungle, but I think of green fields. I wish I could stretch out on the grass! I have seen small meadows in the distance here, but they are all fenced pastures that belong to someone. Nobody’s fields are either flooded or they do not exist. In the forest, on the other hand, the ground is alive with various critters, mostly ants, so even sitting down there is quite an undertaking. Of course I love the jungle, it is amazing, but it takes too much energy to enjoy. The only place where I can really relax is on the water, but there are nuances to this sort of rest, too.

Just as I was about to write down a note about my leisure time, the wind picked up, and I had to fight it for a couple of hours. In the end it was a draw, but I found a beautiful, flooded forest with trees covered with vines, where I decided to stop for the night. To my delight, I even managed to stretch a net on one of the water paths of this forest. The spot looks very promising, there are lots of splashes around, and the water is seething with underwater creatures.

No sooner had I spread the net, than a huge fish threw itself into it! It was a pity that it did not stay there for a second. In the next instant, it made a dash, broke the net and rushed away like a lightning bolt, leaving behind a 50-centimetre hole in the net. Oh, the Amazon! The spot is obviously good indeed. Perhaps, it is too good.

This sight energised me. I set out to catch bait with a fishing rod. After a couple of hours there were three large badres that I could salt and two small ones in the bucket. I set up some traps with live bait for the night.

While I was having a snack, I heard some noise nearby, exactly where one of my baits was hanging. Something was beating desperately in the water! I thought it was at least a crocodile – judging by the sound it made. I gave up what I was doing and rushed to the spot, but by the time I got there, the prey had escaped. The bait was still intact, but it looked like it had already seen the inside of someone’s stomach. Oh wow.

I heard more splashes during the night. I checked them out. Unfortunately, it turned out to be large candiru that had eaten all my bait. I hooked some big badre fish instead. Maybe I will be lucky. I am not starving. It is more important now for me to try to catch something bigger than to pickle a few extra fish. Now I can fall asleep.

5 June, ~60 (2238) km covered.