April 24, 2006
Update 13: Emerging from the Wilderness
| Yesterday, was a long, hard day of paddling
in the hot sun. Plus, we had no real way of knowing where we were, how long
it would take us to reach the mouth of the river, or where the ranger station
was where we could find shelter. We spent the whole day following a quiet
fisherman through a maze of lakes, flooded forest, and rivers that were
often clogged with floating plants. When we tried to ask how much further
we had, he would smile and say two hours more.
By two in the afternoon our fisherman friend had been telling us two more hours for 4 hours, and it appeared that we still had a long way to go. We floated patiently for about 15 minutes while he poked along the shore, looking for some sort a path through the forest that we hoped would lead us closer to our final goal. I was starting to wonder if there really was a path when a canoe came out of the forest about 100 feet up stream. Then another canoe came out, and another, and another. We had found the path leading into the forest, but what were all of these people doing out here in the middle of the rainforest? It turns out they were fisherman heading into the park to catch fish to feed their families, and to later sell in their communities. During the first 10 days of our journey down the Pacaya River, we encountered very few people. But now that we are getting close to Bretana, a small village, we are encountering fishermen heading into the park to set their nets. Fishermen from Bretana and other communities along the edge of the park paddle into the park for up to a week at a time to fish. When the forests are flooded, the fish are harder to find, and the fishermen are forced to travel further in search of fish. It felt strange to paddle along, feeling like we were in the middle of nowhere, only to come around a corner and find a line of four canoes heading into the park. It was like rush-hour on the river after so many days of solitude. Well, two hours turned into nine hours, but eventually we made it to the ranger station at the end of the river. Tomorrow we will continue our journey down-river to Monco Capac to start our journey down the Yanayacu River. Keep Exploring! Dave Join us in the chatroom from 2 PM to 3 PM Central Standard Time on Friday, April 28th. Please remember to log your class in using a single computer. We recommend using an LCD projector to project the chatroom onto a wall in your classroom so that everyone can see Thanks for all of the Students Explorers who responded to Friday's Daily Dilemma. There were some great suggestions about how best to avoid mosquitos. We are going to try to use mosquito repellent as much as possible. Some students got very creative in designing their local remedies, such as building a smokey fire or covering ourselves in mud.
|
|
||
