Ok, so I have to be honest; the following events took place over the coarse of two days but they may just as well have happened all in the same day.
So I woke up early in the morning with all the noise up stairs on the first deck of the small wooden boat we were to be traveling in. I, was in the cargo haul with the chief and his family doing our best to make ourselves at home stringing our hammocks tauntly above the cargo. They were quick to wake up as well and make ready for the day.
Shortly after we were strolling along the river front street making our way to the market. When we got there the market was already hustling and bustling with buyers and venders. We made our way to a small booth next to a lady selling bananas, peppers, papaia and such where we sat down for a traditional “hardy” breakfast: a fried smashed sandwich with one slice of cheese and one slice of ham with half a cup of coffee and milk to make for one wholesome breakfast.
Once back at the boat we watched the pink freshwater dolphins surface as they chased schools of fish just off shore. The chief asked me to go to the post office and run and errand while he was off to another section of town. Little did I know that I would be sitting in a line at least 40 people long for nearly an hour and a half just to get to the front desk. Back at the shore I sat and talked with the chief’s grandson as he asked about the drunk crazy men that stagered back and forth at the water front. The boat was being loaded with bricks, cement, gas, food, chickens, bananas, 50 bags of yuca flour and all sorts of goods. It was hot in the cargo haul by that hour of the day so we decided to run to the pension and see the chiefs other grandson who was in town doing a computer coarse of all things and besides we would just be in the way if we tried to rest in our hammocks
At the pension I almost stepped on a tiny black monkey that was scampering around. We checked out the mango tree in the back yard as we waited for the chief’s grandson to get his things ready to travel with us. Back at the boat we decided to take a bath since it was already after noon and we were dripping with sweat. But where to take a bath? You guessed it! We just jumped off the back of the boat and sat on a nearby canoe as we soaped up. It wasn’t the cleanest water being the city front and all so we weren’t long.
After grabbing some lunch we headed off to pick up the chiefs rifle at a local fix it shop. When we got there the owner was gone and it was locked up in the small room off to the side so we waited a while till he showed up. Back at the water front we were surprised by a lady screaming scripture at any passer-byes. She seemed to take a liking to the group of indians waiting for their boat to leave so we made sure to avoid her.
It was time to load my motorcycle since we heard the boat would be leaving at 5:00 p.m. and it was near 4:00 p.m. already. There was one slight problem. The boat was way below the the level of the loading dock as it was dry season so I had to buzz on down to the last port entrance and come across the white sand beach until I reached the boat. I’ve never done that before and I can’t say that I didn’t get it stuck once or twice.
Once loaded we just sat around waiting for the boat to leave. Some youngsters passed the time fishing. One even pulled in a tiny blow fish. It seems you have to tickle this little guy by blowing on his face to make him puff up, but once puffed up they rolled him around like a little soccer ball before returning him to the water.
We watched as massive ships sailed by only half full of mining ore since the river was so low. Time rolled by and I watched as a nursing mother untied her hammock and unloaded all her things by herself. Seems there was some miscommunication and she would be staying behind. It was nearly 7:00 o’clock by now and I made my way over to another boat were I could get some peace and quiet and take a few notes. I heard the owner of that boat tell anyone who would listen about the death of a man that day at the mining town up river and then I decided had better get a bite to eat.
Back and forth people went from the shore to the boat, from the boat to the shore as they waited for the boat to leave. Finally a little after 10:00 we pushed off to the floating gas station to fuel up. A little more than five hours past our scheduled departure we were all tucked away in our hammocks in the cargo haul and on our way up river.
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