DAY 53. IT WAS ALL WORTH IT

As soon as I woke up, barely opening my eyes, I headed for my traps. It was very interesting to see if anything got caught in them. And what did I see? One of the traps was emptied and the other two had been ripped! They were thick nylon strings – ripped apart! They are intended to hold 20-30 kg of weight, no less. What kind of monsters visited me last night? It is too bad I did not even have a chance to have a look at them.

I started to pull my fishing net out of the water then. There was nothing in it, not a single fish. And then, when there was literally just a small corner of it left, the last couple of metres… there was a fish! I carefully took it out of the water and saw a huge white piranha bigger than the palm of my hand, looking at me with blood-red eyes. What a catch! Now I am happy. My traps are destroyed, the net is torn, but I still got a nice large fish. I have never caught a piranha this big before.

As I was cutting it up, I had a chance to remember how bony these fish are. There is a good reason why the locals eat them last and if there is no other catch. Tourists are of course interested in eating something straight from myths and fairy tales, because it is commonly believed that piranhas are bloodthirsty killers. In fact, they are just scavengers who travel in schools of fish. It is not easy to cut one of these up. The thick skin and cartilage that girdles the belly is a characteristic feature of all piranhas. Apparently, this is the way they defend themselves against predators. It is a well-armoured little monster.

I thought about boiling it at first, but I decided to pickle it for the future. If all goes well, I will be in the big settlement of Fonte Boa by nightfall, where I can have a hot meal, and tomorrow I will reach the lake. If all goes well, I remind you.

I continued to play hide and seek with ants and termites. They are so annoying! I found another colony under an old bottle I had not moved for a while. They do not live here anymore. In fact, they do not live anymore, period. It is nothing personal, sorry.

Despite the heat, I had to paddle a lot. I got into big, slow channels a couple of times, but I was determined to get to Fronte Boa that day, so I did not spare myself.

I saw a gold mining boat on the way. I have seen the same kind of boats go upstream into the mouths of small rivers. It is an interesting process. I did not realise what they were doing when I saw them for the first time.

Much to my disappointment, I could not get to Fonte Boa itself. The map indicated a bay in front of it, but everything was overgrown, and the town moved deep into the jungle. There was no hot food available in the harbour. It was quite a disappointment. Fortunately, I found a wholesale supermarket where I could buy some bread, some caramel, my favourite farinha, sugar and biscuits. The latter are my favourite thing because of the soft strawberry and chocolate filling, and sugar is always in short supply for me. I have never eaten so much of it before.

There was a spoonful of tar in this barrel of honey, which spoilt my mood. When the shop assistants learnt that I was from Russia, I was rewarded with a portion of undisguised contempt, as if it was I who had sent troops to the frontline. Many people here do not realise that for ordinary Russians this war is just as much of a catastrophe, even though its grave consequences for the Russian people are not so obvious at first glance. When I managed to explain this, they apologised to me for their initial rudeness and misunderstanding.

Wishing to help and support me somehow, they warned me once again that not so long ago on the local TV there was a story about a murdered tourist, but not ‘somewhere out there’, but right here, not far away. That sounds comforting. Pirates, pirates, pirates again! I think we grace these guys with too much of a reputation.

I set up camp for the night quite early, as I was emotionally depleted and I found a nice tree overhanging the bank that could shelter me safely. At least there is some benefit from all the high water.

As I set camp early today, I decided to avoid wasting time and cut a clearing – about 10 metres long – so that I could hang up my fishing net to clean it and repair the torn parts. Half of it was so badly damaged that it had to be cut off completely. Still, I think, it is better to cast 10 metres of a net well than cast 20 metres of a net crookedly. Another bonus is that there will be less fuss with it now.

Oh! I had a moment when I almost said goodbye to my life. As I started to prepare the boat for the bed and unfold the tent, a small frog jumped right into my hands. Considering that I had already seen a tree frog (I think so), a subconscious conversation with myself immediately ran through my mind: “Well, that is it. Was it worth it? Now I am going to die. Yes, it was all worth it. It was a wonderful life!” Along with these thoughts, I was pouring alcohol on my hand. Who knows whether it might help. Alcohol can destroy more than just brain cells. After a few minutes I was convinced that it was just a usual frog (as its duller colour also indicated), because I was still alive. However, that thought stayed with me. It was a valuable thought. You know, every journey tests a person. One either gets disappointed, and then they want to change something about their life, or on the contrary, they may realise that they are doing everything right.

After reading a book for some time before going to bed, I went to sleep.

I woke up to the sound of a wave. A large boat passed under the bank against the current. I immediately dug my fingers into the sides of the boat, but… it passed without trouble. The waves were surprisingly weak.

***

I woke up again in the middle of the night. There was a speedboat flying by like a rocket. This is more serious! I had the phantom taste of water and sand in my mouth again. It is like that now whenever I fear a shipwreck. The noise passed and died out in the distance. Now it was time for the waves to come. The boat was high on this gentle bank, so there were no issues, but, as they say, everything is learnt in comparison. If I had not had a shipwreck yet, I would be writing about very different emotions now.

***

A couple of hours before dawn, mosquitoes became fierce again. I do not know exactly how they get in, but it has never happened before. They pestered me to the point where I got up to light an anti-mosquito coil.

After about ten minutes, all the mosquitoes under the net dropped dead on the floor, where ants immediately arrived to handle the corpses. Their activity got to the point where one of them bit me in my eyelid! Can you imagine the audacity? What a night! I am so looking forward for the dawn to break.

6 June, ~56 (2294) km covered.