That Dreamed of World

Post date: Dec 4, 2010 9:08:25 PM

Sunday 11-28

Here I am. Alone again. I lie naked on the bed in a dim Amazonian cheap hotel room, cooled from the blistering heat by a wall fan. I lie here, surrounded by countless miles of uninterrupted jungle, with only a dream ahead of me. No books are telling me what to do or how to do it. I know the fish are in the river, and I know that I can catch them, but how do I get to them with the right equipment and safely pull them into the boat? I know Ushuaia is over 2000 miles south of me, but between me and there are rivers, jungles, mountains, and two nations with very individual sets of laws and taxes. This isn’t to mention the fact that my primary possession and means of transportation is illegal in this country, and the powers that be have stated it may not leave. But it is exactly this “NO” that I intend to disobey. I must cross the river to the next nation, but I do not know how to do that yet without aggravating the gun-toting border sentinels.

Behind me is a world, a life many would content themselves to live until the end of days. Love, friends, reputation, women, money, stability, opportunities. What drives one forward from one life to the next? What isn’t readily available is usually the most valuable. Such is economics, the principle of supply and demand. The energies derived from such imbalances apply entirely to the human mind. I have had many things, but it is exactly that which is impossible that lures me on, and my courage grows with every mountain I pass. Thus it is I know I’ll make it out of Colombia in one piece.

Loneliness and drastic life changes cultivate the danger in oneself. Cynicism and existential preponderances step right in front of you as you are walking along into your future, and without proper conditioning, they will drag you into the corner of circular thinking (philosophy) wherein many find refuge only in drugs or religion. Get outside of such temptations. Remind yourself of your principles, whatever they may be, and set a steady course. “By going neither too fast nor too slow was I able to cross the river.” The vision is a flame, and all flame requires the fuel of courage and protection from the rain and wind of negativity. Steady, steady, steady.

I sit now in a dreamed of world. The flight from Bogota carried me through the most heavenly sea of towering, brilliant white clouds. By far the prettiest clouds of my life. Each cloud hovers on an invisible slab of force 2000 feet thick. They hold almost unwaveringly to this altitude. The forest beneath is one of the few things in my life that I’ve experienced that is no exaggeration. It is an ocean, a true wilderness. Miles and miles and miles we flew over nothing but jungle and convoluted rivers. Not a house, not a curl of smoke. This is how earth once looked everywhere- untamed. I had a sense of this openness in the Yukon of Canada, but this is even greater. And, I know from the maps that this terrain continues as such, unmolested, for another thousand miles to the south and east. How many species await discovery? What magic lies within? I am reminded of Avatar.

The heat and humidity of a jungle burst into the plane as its door unsealed. The haze adds to the dreamy effect. It is quite obvious that I am not in the mountain city of Bogota any longer.

After chatting with some genuine airport cargo workers, I visit my motorcycle, safely plastic wrapped and relaxed, and learn that I may not retrieve it until tomorrow. Then I pay a tourist tax to leave the airport, and chat again with some friendly gentlemen outside the exit. They referred me to a nearby hotel, which sounds better than my intended hostel since it is nearer to where I must be tomorrow morning. It is a relief that the motorcycle shipment was a piece of cake. The whole process in Bogota lasted 30 minutes. I wonder if tomorrow will be as painless.

Shortly after my arrival (while writing this), my friend Paola’s cousin, Enith, and her friend of unknown relation, Camilo, came to visit me and inquire about my plans and needs. After a quick review of my false registration and insurance (the originals are on the moto), they agreed that there should be very little trouble leaving the country without hassle. In fact, Camilo has offered to join me in my registration tasks tomorrow.

Meanwhile I remember last night. Edilsa came at 4pm. She mistakenly thought it was a lunch, not a dinner, to begin at 3pm. It was lovely to have her company while I cooked. Vicky and her have become quite good friends. Edilsa brought Lebanese food- tahini and French bread (incredible), some meat bread I was too stuffed to try, and some healthy salad-like stuff. I baked 10 chicken breasts on the bone in a soy/rosemary/garlic/salt and pepper/chili sauce seasoning, and everyone raved about it. Salt and soy make anyone look like a chef. I’d bought my ingredients at a farmer’s market the day before. Such health and honest energy there was. Workers bustled about, unloading. It’s the fastest, hardest working, and most alert I’d seen anyone in Colombia. Country folk are a different breed. I bought all the chicken for $12, 4 lbs of taters for $2, 3 lbs of strawberries for $1.50, a decent bag of raspberries for 50 cents. I bought some shortcakes for dessert with the sugar-soaked berries. I inteneded the taters to be fried but when I briefly boiled the taters, as is my custom to shed the dirt, they fell apart. Dismayed, I adapted. I added some milk, rosemary, garlic, salt, pepper, and butter, planning to make mashed potatoes. Well, the milk didn’t quite boil down enough. I added two shredded chicken breasts and their fat, and surprisingly enough, the soupy stuff came out alright. Everyone said, “What is that?” But they all liked it. I introduced my Colombian guests to the wonders of celery with peanut butter, and not one complained, actually. I had many guests. Jenn brought a diet chocolate cake. Yes. Vicky and Mr. and Mrs. Caldas brought “nattila,” a sweet dessert similar to flan or a baked pudding. Yum. Arieta boiled platanos and covered them in shredded cheese. Yessirree. She brought her friend Edison, another nice couchsurfer. Gael and her friend Fabien brought some chicken that we none of us had room enough to eat. Maria Lucia and her friend arrived later and I told her not to bring anything as we were all stuffed as is. I also made some lemon-green tea that Edison said was his favorite thing of all. I hated it. We listened to music all the while, and Jenn, Fabien, Gael, and Edison were salsa dancing for awhile, and little Salomay, the house poodle, went nuts jumping on them. It was such a warm, laughter filled gathering. Later we went dancing, and I met up with my friends Consuelo and Paola there. We had a good time. By the night’s end, there were teary goodbyes and sweet well wishes.

Now, here I am, alone-ish in the jungle border town of Leticia, hungry and with only chocolate to eat. Eh, could be worse.

And the chocolate appears to have been a bad idea. Being exhausted from the last few sleepless nights, I used the bed sheets to wipe my fingers of the chocolate melted by the local climate. Returning from dinner and a walk with my new Leticia acquaintances, I find lots of ants roaming about the bed, attracted by the sugar. I brush them off the best I can and lay down on the mattress, which smells like stale macaroni and sweat.