Sight
- Giant river otters crunching fish on their backs.
- Capybara snoozing on the river bank.
- An 8 foot anaconda curled up in a tree.
- A tarantula in my boot.
- A vista of unbroken, verdant green stretching to infinity and beyond.
- A night sky full of stars everywhere you look, with incredible clarity and contrast.
- A roaring wood fire (that you made yourself).
- Kaieteur waterfall.
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Sound
- The eerie whoops of Howler Monkeys at 5am.
- Evening heralded by tree frogs croaking and cicadas chirping.
- The discordant squawks of Macaws and Parakeets.
- The unnerving snuffling and rustling sounds under your hammock at night.
- The silence of the forest before the rain.
- The pitter patter of rain on your basha, whilst you're snug & warm in your hammock.
- Amanda's wicked witch of the west cackling.
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Smell
- The warm, damp, earthy, almost foetid aroma of the rainforest.
- Tramping through wild garlic and green mint smells.
- 100% DEET.
- Wood smoke, sometimes acrid, sometimes comforting.
- The musky odours of peccary and anteater.
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Taste
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Touch
- The persistent itchyness of mosquito bites.
- Washing away a day's sweat.
- The clamminess of putting on your wet set of clothes in the morning.
- The welcome coolness of rain on your face.
- The incredibly sharp, lingering sting of iodine on cuts.
- Dry feet & your dry set of clothes.
- The tug of a fish on your yari yari rod.
- Being pummelled in a waterfall.
- Swinging a machete.
- A bench to sit on, and a table to lean on.
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Feeling
- Claustrophobic due to the jungle gloom and closeness.
- Of never being clean.
- Excited and worried at the same time each new day.
- Afraid of slipping, looking foolish, breaking something.
- Gradually less inhibited when clad in very little or after a rum and ginger.
- Quietly satisfied after a day's hard work or trek.
- The comfort and embarrassment of hugs & kisses aka Roo attack (God I'm going soft!).
- The camaraderie of the group.
- The sweet sorrow of parting.
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Highs
- The masochistic endurance of the bone-shaking road trip from Georgetown to Surama.
- Making fire.
- Building a survival shelter.
- Climbing the mountain.
- The stunning landscape, the wildlife and just the experience of being in the jungle.
- The last night with Harold, Lionel and the other villagers of Surama.
- Snoozing in a big hammock at Surama or Rockview Lodge.
- Flying low over Kaieteur.
- Being part of the group.
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Lows
- LIAT losing my luggage for two days.
- Quagmires of mud.
- The itchy & scratchy misery of new mosquito/midge/sand fly bites every day.
- Soya gunk for dinner.
- A wet hammock.
- (Mild) trench foot.
- Not being able to land for the promised 2 hour walk at Kaieteur waterfall.
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Appreciation
Has this holiday, sorry, expedition changed me? Maybe a little, though sitting here at my computer, surrounded by all the mod cons and gadgets of the western world, my nine-to-five life seems to me to be going on as usual. A touch of post-holiday blues perhaps. What I've come to appreciate is the simple pleasure of a bench and a table, or a chair with a back after days in the jungle with nothing but logs, rocks and the ground to rest on. I now realize the sheer amount of physical slog it requires to do just about anything in the jungle at a subsistence level. For instance, to boil a big pan of water can easily take an hour or so, as you have to find and gather wood, chop up the big pieces, make shavings, get and keep the fire going by constantly fanning and feeding it (a major job in itself when it's been raining), whilst waiting for the water to get to the boil, then it has to boil for 10 minutes to make sure any bugs are dead. Compare that with just switching on the kettle for a few minutes. Even simply walking can be difficult, as there is always some hazard to look out for, whether it be slipping on wet rocks; sliding on mud; roots and vine that trip you up; branches and vines that strangle you or bash you in the face; grabbing hold of spiky bastard trees; saplings that always seem to whiplash back at groin level; snakes to look out for; and holes or rivers to fall into.
Finally, the whole experience wouldn't have been half as good without Ian, Sarah, Harold, Lionel and the best group ever.
Thanks for a truly memorable and fantastic holiday expedition. (I said I wouldn't do it again, but now? Maybe. )
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(Not so) Fresh from the Jungle
Harold, Amanda, Fran, Ally (Chomoto), Dave (Shane), (Jungle) Dan, Andrew (Roo), Nick(y Boy), Jon, Lionel.
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"Best group ever!"
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The Sayings of Obi Wan (aka Ian Craddock)
"It'll end in a cluster-fuck."
Hapless individual: "Where are we going tomorrow?"
Obi Wan: "Dunno, never been there before."
Young Jedi: "How far is it? How long will it take to get there?"
Obi Wan: "Time and distance mean nothing (in the jungle)."
"Don't bomb-burst all over the place."
"Gaffe, gaffe, gaffing."
"Iodine it."
"Always time for a brew."
Guess Who?
"Quality!"
"Jamean." (Elision of "Do you know what I mean")
"The river took it."
"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" (in a squeakingly high pitch)
"It's an expedition not a holiday"
"The first, the second and the last."
"Yo Bitch! Is that OK?"
"Spikey bastard tree on the right ... hole on the left ... slippery rocks ... trip hazard ... poison sap ... (back of the line) what? where?"
"Is it freshly squeezed?"
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