Flood 3: in the forest

(or: ‘nobody will say he has done a stupid thing without me!’)

Opo decided to go play with the ‘boat’, which is an inner tube and two plastic paddles (visible in this rare photographic document of the event). We go. The excuse is a big tree that the last flood left across our bridge, obstructing the way. We hope we can take it out. Clearly, we cannot, it doesn’t even flinch with three people jumping on its tip. We then try to follow it in the current, and take 2 hrs to paddle our way back upriver. It is amazing the amount of spiders, insects, centipedes, lizards and snakes that are stranded on logs, half-submerged plants and ourselves. It is epic, perfectly recalls many Amazonian novels. It is also an excellent chance for an entomologist (better than those bastards that smoke entire trees killing everything that lives on it).

We go further upriver, with the idea of then running down the fast current to camp. Then we see a heavy log coming down. We decide to let it to go first (safer). Then, instead, we end up catching up with it (less safe). Then, I decide to jump on it and “surf” (rather not safe – but a lot of fun). I fall three times (the bloody thing keeps rolling) and manage to climb back up, I am all happy and excited when Opo, suddenly quite far, makes me notice that I am past camp, so I must dive and struggle to get ashore (quite downriver from camp). Excellent. Tired.