The good sleep renewed my energy
and I was more optimistic about finishing the journey. We said
our good-byes and Thank Yous to the villagers and pushed off.
The first hour or so on the water was perfect. There was no
wind, the water was smooth and the current strong. Than the
winds picked up again. We reached another bend in the river
and the winds forced us against the shore. We paddled hard and
made distance from the shore. A few minutes down river we were
forced once again to the shore. Again we broke away and reached
a very wide river bend where a smaller river converged into
the main river. The open space gave the winds more fetch and
quickly forced us to the shore and into a stock of reeds. We
were stuck among the reeds for quite a while. The winds and
swirling current kept us pinned to the shore. A few boats passed,
Pali whistled to get their attention, but no one stopped to
help. Finally nature gave us a break. The winds paused and we
paddled through the reeds and to the center of the river. The
rest of the day was a continual struggle against the whirlpools
and winds. I was tired, my hands were sore and my back hurt
from being hunched over the oar all day.
That evening we saw another village
along the shore. It was hard to reach the village since the
current was strong and it was on the opposite side of the river.
We reached the village and met only a few people at the shore.
We followed a path to a cluster of shelters. I than realized
that it was an indigenous community. They had the distinct indigenous
face of the area, even though they wore Western clothing. One
woman, however, preferred to go bare breasted. She quickly put
on a shirt when she saw the strangers. The indigenous villagers
were not as outgoing as the people we met the previous evening.
They did not speak to us much and gave us only glancing looks.
I felt like we were intruding on their daily routines, which
we were.
That night we borrowed a mosquito
net from one of the villagers and slept in the raft. The evening
was a special occasion. Pail and I had known each other for
two years. We celebrated with a shot of rum. In the middle of
the night I made the mistake of opening the mosquito net to
go to the bathroom. The mosquitoes flew inside the net and once
again the little critters had a tasty meal.
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