DAY 9. THE ANACONDA

I got out of the hammock very late, deciding it was a good time to take a break. Today is just fishing and maybe a little bit of construction. A little? Mm-hmm. I heard this story before.

While I slept, Jonas had time to take the night’s catch to the village for sale and return. When I got up, he had already brought the second catch from the nets. Amazingly, a real anaconda got into one of them. It was already dead, and it was a small one, only about a metre long, but it was a real anaconda. They explained to me that sometimes snakes get tangled in nets and suffocate. I thought we were going to eat it for lunch, but I was wrong. It was explained to me that Peruvians hardly ever eat snakes, unlike Brazilians. They tossed the dead anaconda carelessly into the river, saying it will be put to good use there. El rio comera. The river will eat it.

The total catch was about 10 kilos of different fish. Piranhas, paku, surubi and many other unfamiliar species. The fish they use as bait here are called sardines. I find it funny that there are ‘sardines’ all over the world. I thought I would go fishing again today, but unfortunately the canoe was occupied.

Well, the good thing is that I tried out a fishing tackle that the locals call ‘balantin’. It is a nylon string, a sinker of 20 grams and a piece of fish, most often a tail or a head. The tackle is thrown downstream and twitches, pretending to be prey. In about 15 minutes I managed to catch a small catfish – a little bigger than a palm – with the pieces of one of the sardines. They call it ‘mote’ here. There were also some fierce fish clinging to the bait now and then. I even managed to pull one out. With obvious disgust, Jonas said it was called ‘a canjeera’. He warned me that the locals did not eat it and that if I drowned, it would eat me whole. Yeah, I would not want that.

The successful fishing experience gave me energy. I started the construction work on the canoe tent. When Jonas saw me hammering nails with a hard piece of wood, he brought me a hammer, saying it was a gift. It was an old rusty hammer with a tattered handle, but it was so valuable and irreplaceable! I do not know what could have been a greater gift in my situation. It made my work much faster.

It took me a couple hours to install six struts from the stern to the middle of the boat, lay the cross beams of flexible reed and wrap the fasteners with duct tape and plumber’s tape.

The structure became truly monolithic. Okay, it will do for a couple of weeks. I tried to attach my raincoat to it, but it was too short. Then Jonas came to the rescue again. He brought a piece of thick blue polythene. I asked him if he needed it, to which he replied that I obviously needed it more. At these moments I remember a skeptical phrase that I cannot stand hearing: “Who needs you there?” You are always needed in any place where you are. I just need to find out who needs me.

I stretched the polythene over the stern of the boat, installed the solar panel on my new roof and spread wires into the cabin. Then I tried to cover the rest of the frame. Yes, most of the time the tent will be packed back so as not to interfere with movement of the boat with its sail surface – but if necessary, it can cover the boat from rain almost to the bow. Now my canoe has become a real home! Tomorrow I will finish the bed.

As I had expected, I had a good ‘rest’ today. At least now I will not have to endure the exhausting downpours, cramped under the upper tent that clings to my body. The frame for my new shelter is just over one metre high, which is enough to sit in the boat during rain without having to duck down. It seems that my life on the river is now going to change for the better.

On my daily evening inspection, I discovered some pretty nasty calluses on one of my feet. Apparently, I had spent too much time wearing boots. I put some antibacterial ointment on my feet, which should protect them from all sorts of nasty things. I hope it is just the effects of being in the water for a long time and not the beginning of an infection. It is not a pretty sight. It hurts. Hopefully, I will feel better in the morning. In the meantime, I will listen to the cicadas and look at the sky. It is my bedtime.