Right, years have passed since my very first sporadic jump from my homeland, Port Elgin Ontario, to live in another place, and the journey over the years has certainly not been properly documented, with a lovely twist of fate, I have some time tonight to begin sharing my story...
So hold onto your seat because you, whoever is reading this, are going to be jumping in midway through and the waters where I´m swimming right now are rushing along at a pace that is unstoppable!
And also there are pirhanas in the water...
...because I´m at the head of the amazon in a very LARGE landlocked town called Iquitos, home to 700 000 very very dark people.
Everything here seems heavy, humid, and filled with humanity at every corner. As soon as I stepped off the plane coming from Lima to Iquitos, a flight that took about a total of 12 hours, my nostrils filled with the hot humid jungle air that was thick with the smell of vegetation. Or maybe that was sweat. I hope it was vegetation.
The terminal was dusty, people lined the small baggage rollers awaiting their bags while about 15 men holding signs of names and signs of their jungle expedition tours screamed out their deals, their hotels, the names of people they were picking up. Being such a small airport (with one toilet that had no seat on it, very dirty windows, and built of boards that looked old and reminded me of a barn I used to sneak into as a kid that was up at the top of a hill by our house).
Knowing people helps out in a place like this
Luckily I knew who the manager of one of the tour companies was, a lady named Pam...or Pa-MAY-lah as the man I was talking to knew her as. So he sent me off with a friend of his, a taxi driver named Tyson who I was very lucky to meet because not only can I trust this guy, but he took me out dancing with his buddies at the bar at the end of that first night to celebrate my Graduation (a very warm welcome to the town).
Got to a hostel, $10 a night, not bad, called La Casona, and after tossing my bags on my bed, I tossed myself right next to them and was zonked for the next 4 hours...bringing me to about 5pm.
Good thing beers are cheap because $30 total for 11 BIG beers shared between the two..three...four...five of us by the end of the night turned out to be the best bar money i´ve ever spent. Brazillian salsa music and being SO close to brazil, as well as SO close to so many really good spanish dancers was a HOOOOT!
A night certainly to remember
3am hit and I was back in my hostel sleeping like a baby.
Next morning was my day to investigate. Heres a quick sum up.
Found a place to stay down the street for $3 a night called "Mad Micks Gear shop and Accomodations" (the guy also sells all the jungle gear you would ever need...with a small shop upstairs with plenty of wellington boots and trousers that are sold, returned for a refund of half what you paid, then given out to the people ont he streets as well as old fishing tackle that he rents out. The walls were lined with pictures of the amazon. It looked like the front room in someones cottage.
Went on a bike ride with one of Tysons friends named Leon so that I could see the outskirts of the town while he explained to me the situation of tourism and development from his perspective.
Met a guy from canada who offered to make me lunch the next day...more on this later
and then it happened...the thing I thought could never happen to a tank like me. Montezuma found me and he had a HELL of a lot of revenge to throw at me. Travellers sickness was hell that night and for hours I was praying to the porcelin gods at a toilet with no lid, not exactly the most sanitary of altars.
I laid down after the lady who helped run this gear shop fanned me, and asked me about my condition. She was very very friendly and I¨ve never appreciated the care as much as I did at that moment. As my eyes were closing she took some vicks vapor rub and gently rubbed it on my stomach and forehead while humming and breathing at me...
and...it...was...gone.
In about 10 minutes of napping, I felt better. I got up when Leon came back to go swimming, told him I couldnt go because I was sick (a lie!) then I spent the rest of the afternoon talking with Aora, the lady, who let me in on a secret...
that she know how to heal people with energy.
Believe it?
...I have to cut this short here because right now I have to be back at my place to join her in a very special night...ooooooooh...more on this later...
