Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Just watched the guys trying to get the Land Rover started. This Land Rover is a Frankenveehicle made of three different ones, all various ages and colors. Two vaqueros on horseback in the lead, pulling the truck by ropes, Royal in the cab trying to get the engine to turn over, several guys from age thirty to an eager but not very helpful three, all pushing, and pursued by three dogs who are Helping. The truck made a half-circle of the compound and then out into the bush whereupon it finally started.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
hot
Apparently this is a drought year; it is hot here in karanambu and hasn't rained since Ive been here, and the river is already as low as it usually in a month's time or more. Not a morning person, I'm having to become one in order to get some things done in the coolest part of the day. Miss Diane is back now and we are all glad to see her! I did my laundry in the river (the staff girls would do it but I dont feel right making them do that for me, besides my undies are shameful so I prefer to keep them private) and Buddy the otter helped, grabbing the clothes and helping drag them down as I dunked them, thats what we call the Rupununi Rinse Cycle. I am bitten all over (by bugs) and have a horrific looking patch of sunburn on the back of my shoulder; I think it actually blistered but I can't see it very well. Buddy likes to be rolled and wrassled in the water, especially if you splash a lot and put your head in the water and blow bubbles. No discreet sitting on the bank stuff. When he is hunting fish underwater sometimes you can hear him start squalling in excitement under water as he catches something; it sounds like when you are a kid and you blow bubbles in your milk while humming.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
am typing this while stretched in a hammock, putting my feet up to give them a few minutes to heal. been a busy day; Devin the water-dog boy (water dog being what they call the otters) showed me how to clean the otter and raccoon pens. Devin is an Amerind, like most of the staff here, they are shy and quiet and English is a second language so sometimes communication is a bit tough. also Devin is a 16 year old (it ws his birthday that was the party last night, also someones anniversary) so he mostly communicates in mumbles anyway. Buddy (the otter) rambled around and over us while we worked, commenting on everything and letting it be know that HE hadn' had any BREAKFAST yet. He is the most amazing animal; I would guess he weighs 20 lbs fvdkd sorry, spider jst dropped out of the thatch onto me, dunno what kind it was, guss I will find out .... anyway, Buddy is just like a big, slow, surprisingly gentle and very stubborn ferret. He crawled into my lap, overflowing, and nuzzled, and he likes to have you pat him and play with his paws, and his jaws (which I have seen crush a pleco (armored fish) with ease ) are very gentle, he mouths you sometimes but doesnt bite hard. unless you do something he doesnt approve of, like try to take his fish or pick him up. I will try and get a picture later. I am totally in love and terrified something will happen to him; if a caiman or wild otters go after him I am afraid I will go splashing out into midstream with a knife in my teeth.
The thatch is full of bats and wasps, the wasps are 3 times the size of our regulr wasps, angry red-orange. One of them stung me on the head already. The bats are smaller than mice and very busy, at night especially, but all the time, there is a gentle shower of bat doots (like mice doots) and the occasional pee. Sometimes an entire bat.
buddy is fussin, i gotta go check on him, more later
... hes fine, he was curled up, sound asleep, squealing to himself in a dream. Heartmelt.
i guess its a good thing he doesn't like to be picked up, I would haul him around with me all the time.
The thatch is full of bats and wasps, the wasps are 3 times the size of our regulr wasps, angry red-orange. One of them stung me on the head already. The bats are smaller than mice and very busy, at night especially, but all the time, there is a gentle shower of bat doots (like mice doots) and the occasional pee. Sometimes an entire bat.
buddy is fussin, i gotta go check on him, more later
... hes fine, he was curled up, sound asleep, squealing to himself in a dream. Heartmelt.
i guess its a good thing he doesn't like to be picked up, I would haul him around with me all the time.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Waja deposited me at the Sleepin guest house, a wonderful structure with a lovely room WITH AC and a faint smell of cedar which puzzled me until I realized the odd pellet in the sink was a urinal cake. I encountered the local currency as I gave the lady $100US and got back over $10,000 in Guyana dollars, then compounded my foreignness by giving Waja a tip which, I later discovered when I went to buy a popsicle, to have been not enough to buy a popsicle. Found the internet worked in my room and spent some time basking in the AC, guilty pleasure. Popsicle was soursop flavor, a local fruit. Id describe as faint creamy pear.
Met Diane! (its pronounced DeeAnn) the Madonna of the Otters looks just like her pix except she was on dry ground and she does look a bit more thin and frail, travel to london will do that. We ran errands, going to the bank, then to the OTHER bank when it turned out the check she had was for a different bank, then went to go visit some fellow named Ben who lived in one of those big houses with the wonderful front rooms which ARE just as neat inside, all hardwood and breeze and comfy, and his darling wife and baby, baby was down for her nap in her own baby-sized snowywhite hammock but woke up to entertain us with adorableness. Despite the fact that there is jungle everywhere, a lot of people have hanging plants up as well and I saw "plants for sale" at a couple places. After having some wine and blether with Ben, Diane and I went to the Cara Lodge to check Diane in and have a sammich. Sammich was tasty and served with fries and ketchup and something that turned out to be delicious fiery death, as I discovered when I spooned a dollop on my plate and Diane added one single drop of it to her ketchup. I fangirled helplessly at Diane, I think I offered to kill people for her but it might have been my lack of sleep, but she was full of stories to tell too so I listened, she has a wry sense of humor too. Back to my hotel to find the internet not working again, but I was waiting on a call from Margaret who is supposed to help me get to Karanambu (I will take the bus so I can escprt my luggage and Dianes) but fell asleep waiting for her call, despite the honking horns outside. At 7pm woke, it was much more quiet, only the occasional horn, and the chorus of insects or frogs or whatever outside sounds like jingle bells. thought about going out for nightlife or some food but didnt want to miss the call so went back to bed. at 1am dead quiet except for the jinglebugs. listened to them and fell asleep again. Up this Am as someones car alarm went off, bugs gone, horns back, fnally got internet again and a call from Margaret, bus was going to leave at 3 now is leaving at 5 so we will work out what im gonna do when she calls back again soon!
Met Diane! (its pronounced DeeAnn) the Madonna of the Otters looks just like her pix except she was on dry ground and she does look a bit more thin and frail, travel to london will do that. We ran errands, going to the bank, then to the OTHER bank when it turned out the check she had was for a different bank, then went to go visit some fellow named Ben who lived in one of those big houses with the wonderful front rooms which ARE just as neat inside, all hardwood and breeze and comfy, and his darling wife and baby, baby was down for her nap in her own baby-sized snowywhite hammock but woke up to entertain us with adorableness. Despite the fact that there is jungle everywhere, a lot of people have hanging plants up as well and I saw "plants for sale" at a couple places. After having some wine and blether with Ben, Diane and I went to the Cara Lodge to check Diane in and have a sammich. Sammich was tasty and served with fries and ketchup and something that turned out to be delicious fiery death, as I discovered when I spooned a dollop on my plate and Diane added one single drop of it to her ketchup. I fangirled helplessly at Diane, I think I offered to kill people for her but it might have been my lack of sleep, but she was full of stories to tell too so I listened, she has a wry sense of humor too. Back to my hotel to find the internet not working again, but I was waiting on a call from Margaret who is supposed to help me get to Karanambu (I will take the bus so I can escprt my luggage and Dianes) but fell asleep waiting for her call, despite the honking horns outside. At 7pm woke, it was much more quiet, only the occasional horn, and the chorus of insects or frogs or whatever outside sounds like jingle bells. thought about going out for nightlife or some food but didnt want to miss the call so went back to bed. at 1am dead quiet except for the jinglebugs. listened to them and fell asleep again. Up this Am as someones car alarm went off, bugs gone, horns back, fnally got internet again and a call from Margaret, bus was going to leave at 3 now is leaving at 5 so we will work out what im gonna do when she calls back again soon!
Ok, doesn't look like too big a deal from my POV, my passport is stamped with "3 months" and I have a return ticket for that time so I should be good to go. Anyway, on to Guyana! The flight into Gtown was quite sparsely filled so I had the luxury of a whole row to sprawl out on in a tight fetal position. Dawn broke with a display of brilliant oranges and as we came in we flew over a packed blanket of trees; but what fascinated me was that even from a couple thousand feet up you could see there were many individual species of trees; one kind was more yellow-green and tended to be larger and taller than the others, and I saw a couple examples of one i would swear was purple, etc. A vast unbroken blanket; you could see wrinkles in the blanket which I guess were rivers, but no roads, no towns, etc. A Guyanese lady asked me to help fill in her immigration forms on the plane, and between my lack of sleep, her accent and the shaking descent of the plane, I only hope they don't drag her off to prison with the Mormons..
We landed, and the windows immediately fogged up, just like your glasses do when you walk into the Rainforest Exhibit at WPZ. departing the plane (the airport at Gtown is bigger than the Annai one, but it's about the size of the old Oxnard post office) you are smacked with the heat and humidity like walking into a warm wet washcloth. Went through customs no problem (and saw my friend from the plane, who gave me a cheerful pat in thanks, so I guess we fooled em this time) then walked out and met (after dodging the hopeful cab drivers) Waja, the driver I was instructd to meet.
We tore off down the divided road; everything is green and lush and soggy, and the people walk and wander and amble up and down both sides of the road, which is scary when Waja is passing a truck who is passing another car who is swerving around a bike and in the oncoming lane the exact same thing is happening; I stared out my side window (driver sits on the right and you drive on the left, like in the UK) and admired the scenery as we whirred past inches from messy death for someone, maybe us.
The houses enchanted me; not so much the stone and stucco ones you see in downtown Gtown, but the structures further out; The dutch started the area and put houses on stilts (about like having your house over your garage) but the practice has been kept up, and so it gives what really I guess are shacks, the freewheeling, comfy air of treehouses. Combined with that the fact that everything is overgrown with jungle it really looks like something out of another world. The houses are all patchwork and piecemeal of different materials and styles but the front upper room has windows with lattice or something on all three sides and you can see how cool and breezy and languid it is up in those rooms. People sit arond on these or on porchs, and if you have a fruit tree in your yard, you pick the fruit and set up a table in your front yard and sell fruit to passers by. I arrived in the AM around 7 so all the kids were going to school, or waiting for the bus with their parents, and each school has their own uniform, as Waja pointed out.
Gtown itself has more stone buildings but also some wonderful yet decrepit examples of old colonial work. There are piles of snow white fine sand everywhere, people use these to make into blocks for house construction. several men were carrying small cages holding small birds; these are used for 'racing', where you put your bird next to the opposing bird (in their own cages) and whichever bird chirps the most times in the shortest time wins. There are open air markets everywhere with all kinds of strange fruits and veggies, and there are open ditches and piles of trash, but there is no smell; certainly no bad smell. a faint smell kind of like a greenhouse, and when you pass a distillery or some food, a smell of that, but no everpresent reek like you get with, say, Tacoma, or LA. Birds everywhere, too fast to see details excep I did spot a cattle egret and heard a macaw this morning. saw a mongoose! horses and cows around. The lumber carts are all horse pulled and many of the horses are beautiful and well-groomed and clearly looked after. did not see any cats. The Gtown dog is about the size midway between a JRT and a beagle, a khaki color, with floppy pointed ears and a general air of casual boredom. going to post before my connection dies and i lose my saved work...
We landed, and the windows immediately fogged up, just like your glasses do when you walk into the Rainforest Exhibit at WPZ. departing the plane (the airport at Gtown is bigger than the Annai one, but it's about the size of the old Oxnard post office) you are smacked with the heat and humidity like walking into a warm wet washcloth. Went through customs no problem (and saw my friend from the plane, who gave me a cheerful pat in thanks, so I guess we fooled em this time) then walked out and met (after dodging the hopeful cab drivers) Waja, the driver I was instructd to meet.
We tore off down the divided road; everything is green and lush and soggy, and the people walk and wander and amble up and down both sides of the road, which is scary when Waja is passing a truck who is passing another car who is swerving around a bike and in the oncoming lane the exact same thing is happening; I stared out my side window (driver sits on the right and you drive on the left, like in the UK) and admired the scenery as we whirred past inches from messy death for someone, maybe us.
The houses enchanted me; not so much the stone and stucco ones you see in downtown Gtown, but the structures further out; The dutch started the area and put houses on stilts (about like having your house over your garage) but the practice has been kept up, and so it gives what really I guess are shacks, the freewheeling, comfy air of treehouses. Combined with that the fact that everything is overgrown with jungle it really looks like something out of another world. The houses are all patchwork and piecemeal of different materials and styles but the front upper room has windows with lattice or something on all three sides and you can see how cool and breezy and languid it is up in those rooms. People sit arond on these or on porchs, and if you have a fruit tree in your yard, you pick the fruit and set up a table in your front yard and sell fruit to passers by. I arrived in the AM around 7 so all the kids were going to school, or waiting for the bus with their parents, and each school has their own uniform, as Waja pointed out.
Gtown itself has more stone buildings but also some wonderful yet decrepit examples of old colonial work. There are piles of snow white fine sand everywhere, people use these to make into blocks for house construction. several men were carrying small cages holding small birds; these are used for 'racing', where you put your bird next to the opposing bird (in their own cages) and whichever bird chirps the most times in the shortest time wins. There are open air markets everywhere with all kinds of strange fruits and veggies, and there are open ditches and piles of trash, but there is no smell; certainly no bad smell. a faint smell kind of like a greenhouse, and when you pass a distillery or some food, a smell of that, but no everpresent reek like you get with, say, Tacoma, or LA. Birds everywhere, too fast to see details excep I did spot a cattle egret and heard a macaw this morning. saw a mongoose! horses and cows around. The lumber carts are all horse pulled and many of the horses are beautiful and well-groomed and clearly looked after. did not see any cats. The Gtown dog is about the size midway between a JRT and a beagle, a khaki color, with floppy pointed ears and a general air of casual boredom. going to post before my connection dies and i lose my saved work...
Guyana!
here I am, hampered by some spotty internet and this new netbook keyboard which is almost, but not quite, the midpoint between my Blackberry and my regular keyboard so none of my typing skills work.
So, Seatac to Ne York was uneventful but crowded. New York, I was expecting it to be more like Heathrow and in fact it was quite small and cozy, even dull, if you're too terrified to leave the terminal as I was. I slept a bit on the floor at the gate where the Georgetown flight was to leave, I quietly passed out as the only but one or two people there and came to a couple hours later to find it full of Guyanaese whom, i would not put it past them, had been quiet so as not to wake me. They really are nice and friendly people, so far anyway... reminds me, Margaret was asking if I'd seen the days headlines about kicking all the Mormons out, I better check that...
So, Seatac to Ne York was uneventful but crowded. New York, I was expecting it to be more like Heathrow and in fact it was quite small and cozy, even dull, if you're too terrified to leave the terminal as I was. I slept a bit on the floor at the gate where the Georgetown flight was to leave, I quietly passed out as the only but one or two people there and came to a couple hours later to find it full of Guyanaese whom, i would not put it past them, had been quiet so as not to wake me. They really are nice and friendly people, so far anyway... reminds me, Margaret was asking if I'd seen the days headlines about kicking all the Mormons out, I better check that...
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Here I am in New York. Its crowded and humid and the internet isn't working; partly its just Gmail is down, but also the local boingo wifi seems to be dead, and so I'm typing this from an internet cafe which is charging me six bucks for the honor of watching the pages fail to load, over and over again. The flight was OK, although this is my first experience with them CHARGING to check a bag, AND charging for their nasty airline food, which I did not buy any of. I have my cash in one of those pickpocket pouches that sits across my tummy and so when I reluctantly pay for something I need to pull down my waistband and rummage around in there like a possum. I have experienced New York's cuisine and can confirm that they do a pretty good Big Mac. The food court in terminal one (Im actually leaving from terminal 2, but 2 looks less like a place you'd spend any time and more like a slaughterhouse designed by Temple Grandin in one of her less charitable moods, and has nowhere to sit, nothing to eat, and not even a whisper of failed wifi. WTF new york?) Anyway... the food court in T1 has a lovely view of the massed legions of the damned winding their way through Security, and you can look right down on them while sipping your overpriced beer. There are no actual signs saying "No Spitting". This is New York, after all.
Monday, August 31, 2009
countdown
The bags are packed, the last minute well-wishers have been heard (with the exception of Steve, whom I should meet in New York). The netbook is bought; we tried to do a Frankenbook thing with it but it didn't work out. Two sets of clothes bought, insect-treated, dried and packed... in fact here's my list of stuff in my checked bag. Not complete, since I added about a dozen more things after this list, but close enough:
2 pairs pants, for Pat
2 sports bras
leatherman juice c2
Duraguard fly spray
3 bucktails
flashabou
hooks and split shot
AA batteries, two packs of 16 ea
roll of Gorilla Tape
roll of Duct Tape
2 rolls 30wt fishline
100 cable ties
225 safety pins
3 bottles Ibuprophen
1 bottle Piperazine-17 (cat and dog de-wormer)
Maxi DEET
Repel (Sportsman)
2 tubes Household Goop
Ultrathon
4 D batteries
AAA batteries, 16 pk
mini maglite
Leatherman Kick
Leatherman Micro
Radio/Flashlight
Rain Poncho
Ballpoint pens, black and blue, 10 ea
4 boxes crayons, 24 ea
slingshot
swim goggles
swim trunks
4 "Orka" otter toys
3 boxes bandaids
3 tubes polysporin ointment
Vagisil
Tums
Immodium
Benadryl
2 tubes toothpaste
Q-tips
Sunblock
Mosquito soap
2 bras
Pepper spray
Hat
hairties
B-vitamin pills
Water purification tabs
compass
Watch
2lb dark chocolate
spices
katadyn filter bottle
notebook
2 pairs pants (mine)
2 shirts
teva sandals
hand-power flashlight
I've stained the bag with some paint so I can distinguish it on the turnstile if need be... (GW Fiery Orange, if you're wondering.) Think I might also wrap it with duct tape. Waiting now for six-ish hrs to elapse and Helki to wake and take me to the airport. My bank account was lower than I was thinking it would be; I suspect something got messed up in there somewhere, but I transferred some funds from savings to checking, and deposited a couple of checks, so it should be OK for the trip. Not much to buy out in the Rupununi and not much to buy it with, anyway. I'll take about $500 cash.
2 pairs pants, for Pat
2 sports bras
leatherman juice c2
Duraguard fly spray
3 bucktails
flashabou
hooks and split shot
AA batteries, two packs of 16 ea
roll of Gorilla Tape
roll of Duct Tape
2 rolls 30wt fishline
100 cable ties
225 safety pins
3 bottles Ibuprophen
1 bottle Piperazine-17 (cat and dog de-wormer)
Maxi DEET
Repel (Sportsman)
2 tubes Household Goop
Ultrathon
4 D batteries
AAA batteries, 16 pk
mini maglite
Leatherman Kick
Leatherman Micro
Radio/Flashlight
Rain Poncho
Ballpoint pens, black and blue, 10 ea
4 boxes crayons, 24 ea
slingshot
swim goggles
swim trunks
4 "Orka" otter toys
3 boxes bandaids
3 tubes polysporin ointment
Vagisil
Tums
Immodium
Benadryl
2 tubes toothpaste
Q-tips
Sunblock
Mosquito soap
2 bras
Pepper spray
Hat
hairties
B-vitamin pills
Water purification tabs
compass
Watch
2lb dark chocolate
spices
katadyn filter bottle
notebook
2 pairs pants (mine)
2 shirts
teva sandals
hand-power flashlight
I've stained the bag with some paint so I can distinguish it on the turnstile if need be... (GW Fiery Orange, if you're wondering.) Think I might also wrap it with duct tape. Waiting now for six-ish hrs to elapse and Helki to wake and take me to the airport. My bank account was lower than I was thinking it would be; I suspect something got messed up in there somewhere, but I transferred some funds from savings to checking, and deposited a couple of checks, so it should be OK for the trip. Not much to buy out in the Rupununi and not much to buy it with, anyway. I'll take about $500 cash.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
I'm mostly packed. At the moment I'm wondering what I'm going to do for the layover in JFK. I contacted a friend in New York but I get conflicting information on how easy (or not) it is to get in and out of JFK to Manhattan, etc. Being that I don't actually like cities all that much, I think I may just skip it, and stay in the airport and wait for my flight. My checked bag weighs a ton. OK, 35 lbs
Sunday, August 23, 2009
EveR in the Land of the Giants
Guyana is about the size of the UK, with a (human) population a little more than Seattle. The rest of the realm is full of animals. Including some record-breakers: http://www.iwokrama.org/dwsite/Giants%20of%20El%20Dorado%20.html ... More and more I feel like I've found a place I could dedicate the rest of my life to. All this time I was hoping for a mystical land through a forbidden portal, and all this time it was right here.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
The more I hear about Karanambu the more it sounds too good to be true. A place where there's snakes and toads living peacefully (when they're not eating each other) in the main office? A baby raccoon in the bedroom? Fishing MANDATORY (gotta feed the otters!). Horses a viable and practical form of transport, while cars are few and far between? No TV, no phones, but yes Internet? General "old West" feel? All the awesome exoticness of a foreign land, but they still speak (mostly) English? TWO species of otters? Butterflies, orchids, poison dart frogs, birds... Other than the heat and the bugs, there's gotta be some drawback I'm not seeing here, or why isn't everyone there!?
Monday, August 17, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
I find myself doing a lot of things, mostly eating things, with the air of "I won't be able to do this when I'm in Guyana." Eating sushi, and pizza, and Chinese food, and blueberries, and local beer... ok, I'm sure Georgetown has at least some of these things (and maybe even sushi but I don't think I'd risk it) but out on the river? Doubt it. But each of these things is still somewhat disappointing; I gorge and yet feel unfulfilled and often throw up later. Because it's not really food I'm wanting, not even the tastes of home, it's just a desperate attempt to grab hold of my past that is slipping away every day, and now is finally being yanked away entirely for three months. There's some panic. I've never been to a place this 'foreign', never been somewhere on my own, for this long. And I'm doing it all on a hope and a promise and a couple of emails from some people I've never met.
I wish I could more cleanly separate myself from him, but as I get ready to do this I keep thinking about what he would say or think, or how the way I'm living my life compares with the way he's living his or the way we used to live ours together. It's not productive, I know. Its like the whole mess left me with a wound, a big wound that is sorta scabbed over and so forth, now, but it makes me travel with a limp, no matter what I do.
I wish I could more cleanly separate myself from him, but as I get ready to do this I keep thinking about what he would say or think, or how the way I'm living my life compares with the way he's living his or the way we used to live ours together. It's not productive, I know. Its like the whole mess left me with a wound, a big wound that is sorta scabbed over and so forth, now, but it makes me travel with a limp, no matter what I do.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
A day of painting, trying to get things done before I go. It's an odd feeling; I still can't believe I'm doing this. Night brings strange dreams, as usual. I almost feel like I'm going off to die. Not in a bad way, per se, but just that everything else I was going to do with my life didn't quite pan out, so this is where the story ends.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Was a weird day, full of portents. Helki was sick. The bank was showing that horrible scene in the nature documentary about the polar bear swimming into death. The guys at the Ed's Surplus were talking about killing otters. Lost my ebay auction for a netbook. I bought mochi ice cream and painted orcs. Ok, the last bit isn't very portentious. But overall, geeze, I feel bad that I am waiting this long to go to Karanambu. I'm not sure if the 'feeling like I'm going to be too late' is worse than the "feeling like I'm not needed, or wanted" which I've lived with the past two years.
No, on typing, it's definitely not worse.
No, on typing, it's definitely not worse.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
"You will learn, "Buy" is an important word, and you will need to know how to pronounce it correctly, many times, as you prepare for your travels".
There's a couple of things I probably should send back. But I guess I do need a camera, so I got a small durable (durable is my watchword, more so than ever) Canon Elph (used, with an additional memory card) and a spare battery for it. Trying to get a netbook; the ASUS series with the solid-state drives seem to be what I'm looking for in terms of "durable" but there's a bewildering array of models, now, and the one I -want- is discontinued so I'm hunting on Ebay. Well, again, I'd rather get something Used, anyway.
The solar array recharger thing, maybe I shouldn't have got that... But it was half-price (from $600!) and it folds up small... D&P want me to bring batteries, and I will, but if I can bring them something that'll help alleviate a battery shortage, maybe that'll be nice.
I took back the insect-repellent clothes because they felt weird. I will get some permethrin wash and treat clothes of my own, so they'll be more comfy AND kill bugs. And I'll slather myself in DEET, and generally I will be a walking cyclone of DEATH to any invertebrates. And I will get a water filter bottle and some aqua pure tablets. Yes, I am indeed the Reaper of small lives, but better to get them before they get me.
I dreamed about him again, basically just trying to explain to him why his actions meant I could not only not trust him, but I couldn't trust anyone, ever. And I was sad, but I was still going to Guyana, dammit, and him showing up wasn't going to change that. Also dreamed about trying to catch a baby rattlesnake while trying to keep cats and dogs from 'helping'.
There's a couple of things I probably should send back. But I guess I do need a camera, so I got a small durable (durable is my watchword, more so than ever) Canon Elph (used, with an additional memory card) and a spare battery for it. Trying to get a netbook; the ASUS series with the solid-state drives seem to be what I'm looking for in terms of "durable" but there's a bewildering array of models, now, and the one I -want- is discontinued so I'm hunting on Ebay. Well, again, I'd rather get something Used, anyway.
The solar array recharger thing, maybe I shouldn't have got that... But it was half-price (from $600!) and it folds up small... D&P want me to bring batteries, and I will, but if I can bring them something that'll help alleviate a battery shortage, maybe that'll be nice.
I took back the insect-repellent clothes because they felt weird. I will get some permethrin wash and treat clothes of my own, so they'll be more comfy AND kill bugs. And I'll slather myself in DEET, and generally I will be a walking cyclone of DEATH to any invertebrates. And I will get a water filter bottle and some aqua pure tablets. Yes, I am indeed the Reaper of small lives, but better to get them before they get me.
I dreamed about him again, basically just trying to explain to him why his actions meant I could not only not trust him, but I couldn't trust anyone, ever. And I was sad, but I was still going to Guyana, dammit, and him showing up wasn't going to change that. Also dreamed about trying to catch a baby rattlesnake while trying to keep cats and dogs from 'helping'.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Prepping
I've bought my ticket. On Expedia, so I don't actually have it in-hand, to fondle and read and re-read and lose and panic about and find again and all the other little rituals that should go with it. But the money's come out of the account, the confirmation email is in my inbox, so I guess it's happened. It's real. I'm committed.
When they first said "pack your bags", I went into a state of shock. Kept expecting something to come up, some kind of "Well, let's have a phone interview" or having them contact various of my references. I kept waiting for something to come up that would mean I couldn't do it. At first I was almost hoping something would; better to be unable to try than to try and fail, right? But gradually I came back to remembering that this really was my dream, and just because it could be real, didn't make it less of a dream.
It still is hard to believe it's real, though. I'm sitting here in Edmonds, the sky is grey and our brief hot spell has gone, replaced with cool and fog. The chickadees are at the suet, and there's a hint of fall in the air. The world of chocolate rivers and huge spiders and thunder and heat and otters seems like a fantasy world; I devour all the pictures I can find but I know nothing is going to prepare me for when I actually arrive, and can smell the air, and feel the weather, when even the bugs underfoot will be species I've never seen before, and I'll hear the birdcalls and not be able to recognize them all. Far more exciting and daunting, to me, than not being able to speak the language of humans. Heck, I can barely understand a lot of humans anyway. But to see a plant or an insect or a bird or reptile and -not know what it is-... whether it is rare or common, harmless or dangerous... that's going to be amazing. I've tried to find books on the flora and fauna to prepare but all I can find are local field guides. Even "birds of North America" is going to be pretty useless.
I shopped for computers. There doesn't seem to be an option for a keyboard that bugs can't get into.
When they first said "pack your bags", I went into a state of shock. Kept expecting something to come up, some kind of "Well, let's have a phone interview" or having them contact various of my references. I kept waiting for something to come up that would mean I couldn't do it. At first I was almost hoping something would; better to be unable to try than to try and fail, right? But gradually I came back to remembering that this really was my dream, and just because it could be real, didn't make it less of a dream.
It still is hard to believe it's real, though. I'm sitting here in Edmonds, the sky is grey and our brief hot spell has gone, replaced with cool and fog. The chickadees are at the suet, and there's a hint of fall in the air. The world of chocolate rivers and huge spiders and thunder and heat and otters seems like a fantasy world; I devour all the pictures I can find but I know nothing is going to prepare me for when I actually arrive, and can smell the air, and feel the weather, when even the bugs underfoot will be species I've never seen before, and I'll hear the birdcalls and not be able to recognize them all. Far more exciting and daunting, to me, than not being able to speak the language of humans. Heck, I can barely understand a lot of humans anyway. But to see a plant or an insect or a bird or reptile and -not know what it is-... whether it is rare or common, harmless or dangerous... that's going to be amazing. I've tried to find books on the flora and fauna to prepare but all I can find are local field guides. Even "birds of North America" is going to be pretty useless.
I shopped for computers. There doesn't seem to be an option for a keyboard that bugs can't get into.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
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