Travelling by canoe has given light to a new vein of exploration. Without doubt, it is a more practical and pleasurable mode of travel than slogging it out on foot with a 30kg bergen on your back.
It is at once tranquil and progressive as a form of transport. In contrast to the cruel trials of humping one’s equipment on land, the water moves naturally and carries our load with its own force. With this enlightened approach, one is able to fully witness the environment through which he is passing. One layer of the rainforest’s hostility dissolves as she drops her guard for us to pass on her waterways – the very life veins of the forest, and we are afforded a view with fresh eyes. We see the jungle’s beauty in the myriad of greens which lighten the trees, the hawks which fly high into the canopy, and kingfishers who dart swiftly along the rivers like ushers guiding us through each of their own territories.
From the mouth of the narrow Yanoyaquillo, two pink river dolphins shepherded us up the narrow winding waterway to within a kilometre of our camp. They look like large grey/pink marlin with long pointed noses, more prominent than a bottle nose dolphin. Each time they breached the surface our group would gasp in awe at the proximity of these intelligent mammals, who seemed happy to guide us along their waterways.
The jungle is still a hostile place, but after three weeks in the thick of it, The Eels have learnt to understand her ways a little more. The drone of the mosquito plague is now as familiar as the background chatter of a television set. Sleeping on a rolled out tarp or swinging from two trees in a hammock is as normal as in a soft quilted bed, and the constant humidity and bites of unseen insects are no longer a source of complaint, but a matter of fact. I feel that if we were to be cast into this foreign land again the Fire would be adept in camp craft, aware of danger, motivated by their support and compassion for one another, and able to continue as explorers in this wild and dangerous place.
Canoes have been utilised in the Americas for millennia. A simple tree hollowed out is as poetic a form of transport as can be. With effort applied in a regular rhythm the canoe cuts swiftly across the water’s surface. With correct placement of the paddle, the canoe can be easily maneuvered and angled in a given direction by shifting one’s body weight. I am a convert. This will be my form of transport on future trips when water is present. For it is foolish to not make use of the way’s of the indigenous.
