Any comments or questions about this site, please contact Bob Zolnerzak at

bobzolnerzak @verizon.net

 

 

 

BOLIVIA/UPPER AMAZON TRIP 1 of 2

November 17 - December 3, 2006

FRIDAY, 11/17/06: 10:25PM: At 10:15 I FINALLY found my VCR manual where it SHOULD have been all along, except I couldn't see it curled around the bottom of the miscellaneous bag which I took even when I didn't take the camcorder. And then I found, in duplicating a file to make this consistent with CHICAGO6, I found that I'd dated that OCTOBER 8-16. TOTAL MADNESS, but at least I've managed to stay up to 10:30 before going to bed, exhausted, prepared for tomorrow. Bed 10:35PM, completely worn out.

SATURDAY, 11/18/06: Pee at 1:41AM. Type dream and pee at 3:25. 3:45 take sleeping pill. Wake woozy at 7:09 and pee. Up VERY tired at 7:47AM. Have breakfast, wash dishes, go through the Saturday packet of Timeses, search desperately for a raincoat which I still can't find, then phone for the car at 11:30 and start looking for my plastic shoes: they're NOT on the packing table, though I thought I put them there; they're NOT with the bedroom slippers, though I know they WERE there, look into the linen closet where the snorkel stuff is: not there. In desperation I get out the chair to look on top AGAIN and spot the plastic bag with the plastic shoes on top of the filing cabinet where I'd put them to get them out of the way when I was looking for the raincoat! DAMN, DAMN, DAMN---but I found them. Now 9:50 and I've yet to shower and finish packing, feeling SO weary ALREADY! Put everything on packing table, put dishes away, and shower by 10:35AM, only 55 minutes to pack and leave. 11:17AM: Last panic was finding the COMB: searched on-plane, no; searched dop kit, no; searched on-plane maybe THIRD time and found it, switching to bigger bag for on-plane and smaller for ticket/passport/airline itinerary bag "Smiles." Weigh bags at 18 pounds for green and 13 pounds for carryon, 31 pounds in all, heavier than many. Now 11:21! Call at 11:25 and say "I'm going down." Into car, waiting for me, at PRECISELY 11:30. Arrive 11:55, $40 exact. Bag checked in 12:07, to gate 38, in terminal 9, past 12:16. CREW has PRIORITY, they finally open SECOND line for passengers at 12:27. Through, pissed, by 12:28, and alarm did NOT buzz on my belt or my coins. Escalators, moving walkways, escalators---cover a DISTANCE! Sit at 12:39, over half an hour, close eyes, do Actualism INTENTLY to 1:13, pausing for kids' screams. Think about food. Buy Brooklyn Deli tuna salad sandwich for $6.50 at 1:30. Eat half. Board 2:06, seat RIGHT over wing. But facing east it'll probably be over ocean anyway. 2:33 flight. Off at 2:40, sharp turns through clouds, bumps, ocean below. See part of the easternmost cape with waterways and even farmlands and some beaches through clouds. Then over ocean again as I do two sudoku in AmericaWay magazine, not watching "Devil Wears Prada" because they have the nerve to sell headsets for $2 and I didn't bring mine this time. 4:47 start down, "diabolical" sudoku at a standstill. Land at 5:06. 5:15 start out of plane, sun still a diameter above horizon. Off plane 5:20, shit 5:22, on taxi 5:35 after finding an exit only on the bus level and being told by a doll of a Spaniard to go down one level, getting a van who assures me his meter is the same as regular taxis and that he knows where Sans Souci is. To Paul's over many roads, going very fast, the way Paul directed, but with a $1 SunPass automatically taken off, adding to the $40.50 toll, and I offer him $45 and he essentially says I can give what I want. To Paul's 6PM and rap on door to someone getting mail who kindly opens door for me and I get to 805 to a lavish living room, little terrace looking over fireworks in South Beach, and I brazenly take out my half tuna-salad sandwich and finish it while he opens a bottle of Gewurtztraminer and we leave at 7PM to Casa Mia, just around the corner, and he has great pork in a sweet sauce with perfectly-cooked green beans, and I have tortoloni with porcini and lots of parmesan in a lovely rich cream sauce. Leave at 7:54 with the number of a cab company which he calls and they won't serve us, but they give him another number which he calls at 8:15, and we go downstairs to find the Super Yellow cab there at 8:22! To airport at 8:46, with fare of $39.30 for which Paul gives "a generous tip" as he says, for a total of $45, which is what I gave. Paul is sent to first class to check in at 8:50, and we pee and I drink water at 9:10. Type 9:17-9:58, chatting with Paul about family and Alzheimer's and dementia, which his mother had until she died at 97, and we board within an hour, and I hope I last. They announced times consistently a minute and a half fast, since I set my watch accurately in NYC. Paul's cold in a coat, drinking a strong rum and coke "with his meds" while I'm warm in only a long-sleeved shirt. We comment about the passing crowd at 10PM. Paul DEMANDS I price drugs in Wal-Mart, but I don't know where they are. Board 10:40, AGAIN on wing. Back out 11:20 and off at 11:30. Take Ambien 11:44, as plane starts rocking with the lights of South Miami below. 5:33 flight; they're one hour ahead, so I change my watch from 11:56PM to 12:56AM, somehow staying in the same day so I have to change the day and date manually the next day.

SUNDAY, 11/19/06. We're to land about 6:30AM. Land outside, Cuba? at 2:45. Look at clock at 3:10, 4:15, 4:45, 5:05, but seem to doze off each time, plane dark, everyone quiet, and at 5:53AM there's light outside on bright pink dawn clouds. Pee when everyone gets out of my aisle to go forward, and drink juice which they seemed to give everyone but me, and wash face at 6:12, said again to land at 6:30. #33 Andes in sun at 6:17AM. #34 mountains and clouds 6:24. #35 passed peaks at 6:36. #36 highland desert 6:28. #37 back-look at 6:28. Roll 3: #1 La Paz 6:35. Land 6:36, smooth, sunny and cloudy. Off at 6:57. Past immigration and get bag at 6:54, breathless. Pee 7:02. Meet guide and sit and rest 7:14 when Paul finally gets his second bag, first of 10 out to meet Pedro/William and his helper/driver Carlos. On bus 7:30, start at 7:35, La Paz alto at 13,300 feet, 750,000 people, Bolivia has 9 million. Aymara handsome square-faced natives, Quechua more Indian with slanted eyes, triangular faces, and big nose. 64% of Bolivia is Amazon, 36% cloud forest, no coast, stolen by Chile. They have 30% more red cells and their metabolism races when they go down to sea level, sometimes vomiting for 3 days, feeling oppressed in the chest as in a humid sauna. Tourists react in many ways, some OK, some tired and dizzy, but most improve by the second day By the third day, all are usually OK. #2 La Paz at 10,100 central at 7:49 from 13,300 alto. Lunch announced in ground floor, later changed all meals to penthouse on 11 when other restaurants are being renovated, at 12:30, Wake at 2:30 for about two hours, walking slowly, most places closed on Sunday, 7PM dinner. Breakfast buffet is $8, used to be on plane. #3 downtown at 7:54. To Plaza Hotel, which Paul told me to put on two government forms, one of which we keep half of in our passport for exit, keep them in hotel safe with other credit cards and most of cash, he recommends. Get Hotel room 811 and sit in lounge for a cup of coca tea and orientation, people introducing themselves, I wishing I had my people list. Take it to breakfast but we're the only ones there, charged 98 Bolivanos for both. Breakfast to 9:05 and to room where Paul closes drapes and insists on nap, which is OK with me, but I mainly just lie and think how happy I am to be here, beyond flights for a few days, feeling slightly dizzy when I turn from side to side, hearing the church-tower nearby toll off the hours. Up at 11:36 and start to type in john, awkward, but Paul's up so I come to desk, hear the noon bells while he packs and gives me "the right-hand towels since I'm such a conservative," and I catch up to date at 12:02PM. Unpack to 12:28, lunch 12:30 at ONE table, rather crowded, me seating with my BACK to the view. Fun travel talk, good food and lots of it. Up at 1:45, Paul lies down, I wash face and, with head aching, take two acetaminophen with codeine (which might have contributed to my later constipation). Try to shit, can't. Lie down at 2:04. Leave at 2:40, the logy couple not coming, but Pedro has to PHONE them to find out, not very courteous of them. #4 Paseo del Prado, which means plain, "spine (best part) of La Paz, which was forbidden to Indians till 1903 when there was a bloody revolution and the Spanish plutocrats had to give up their private gardens and lagoons to the public street." No voting rights for natives until 1953, and the current mayor is a native noted for his "transparency in office," and might be elected for a third term. #5 busses and buildings 3:25. #6 Congressional Palace and slums on hill 3:45. #8 guards at Presidential Palace 3:56. We're tired walking uphill, I compliment Pedro on his clear answers and broad knowledge. I take video around square of indigenes, tourists, and beggars. #9 Plaza Murillo (he was a revolutionary who was HANGED there). #10 Plaza 4PM. Confirmation ceremonies in church videotaped. #11 Congress and Bolivian flag: red for blood, yellow for mineral resources, green for the Amazon. #12 Sunday market. #14 faces, wires being removed to underground, and mountains at 4:24. Back at 4:47 winded. #16 Ilimani and town at 5:05 from room. #17 SPECTACULAR Ilimani; I watch and video mountain till 6PM, Paul in bed with fever and the chills, I feel pretty bad, too, even when he says my shoes stink. Go up alone to dinner 7-7:54 without Paul, drinking enormous quantities of rum and Coke that Pedro helped him buy for $4 for the rum. Eat chewy llama, not enough fat for flavor and juice, and feel stuffed throughout my entire torso. Bed at 8:10 but CAN'T sleep, feeling VERY stuffed. Pee at 10:02, take (reluctantly) Ambien, but it hardly works: try at 11:42 to shit by "excrementectomy:" Vicksing finger and sticking it way up to try to loosen blocking hard turd, manage to get SOME of it out after five or six tries, including with middle finger and the handle of my toothpick-holder, but I'm afraid I might rip some intestinal lining. The toilet swallows anything put into it WAY down, so I can't really judge how much I've passed. Try ineffectually to wash off Vicks, debate throwing soap away that I also tried to lubricate passages with, but keep it, keeping drinking water in hopes of starting a helpful peristalsis, but nothing works.

MONDAY, 11/20/06: Stop at 12:30AM, exhausted and desperate. Maybe I doze a TINY bit to 3:05, but Paul said he never heard my snore and HE got very little sleep. Up and pee and try to shit, feel awful: headachy, chills, to 3:15. Shit SOME at 5:45-6AM. 7:01 to shower, feeling like I've run a marathon, breathless and tired. Rest to 7:40, Paul showers, and to breakfast with the ugly-Americans Chrissy (because Chris, thought to be a man, gets more driving demerits) and Greg, never Gregory because that's what his mother called him when he was bad. HE's an alcholic, SHE's asthmatic, can't take wheat products, gets sick on non-decaffeinated coffee, which she then proceeds to have a cup of when Greg confirms Paul's observation that two cups of coffee will be a great laxative. Two women come down alone, two tables for the other eight already taken, and I wish we'd sat with THEM. I go back to room at 8:05, fantasizing I'll shit definitively, but I don't, stand up and have to sit back down again for nothing to happen AGAIN. Brush my teeth with bottled water, which Paul and Chrissy think they have NOT been doing, silly, and I brush my teeth, get out the odor eaters and cut them to size and put them on, deciding to wear jeans and the white shirt for the day, taking my jacket and umbrella "in case." This all goes to 8:45, militaristic blather followed by a horrid band from the schoolyard below, and I tell Paul I'd go out of my mind if we had to stay here a week, but tomorrow's the last day here and we ascend another 3000 feet to Lake Titicaca at Puno, Peru. Type from 8:45-9:15, feeling caught up at last, and will roust Paul from his sleep and look out to see sky still highly overcast, no far mountains visible, on this day when we're supposed to see the Valley of the Moon. Paul INSISTS on brushing his teeth with TAP water, and I hear it running NOW even though I filled his drinking glass with water from the last bottle. How silly people can be! Now 9:22 and everyone should be going downstairs. Video and take #18-21 from Killi-Killi (one Killi is hawk, adding a second makes it "hawk's nest") at 9:54. Our hotel is black cement to left of quadrifoil on building. Down from viewpoint 10:10. #22 dancing costumes for Carnival 10:45, #23 shoes 10:51. On bus at 11AM, TIRED. #25 shop 11:20. Arrive Overland Restaurant 12:05. Shit VERY yellow 12:52, after potato/fish/corn/bean salad and "everything" soup. #27 Overland back yard 1:45. 1:53 off bus in Valley of the Moon. #28 Valley of the Moon at 1:56. Shit again 2:22 and leave 2:25. 2:58 off bus to Witches Market. #33 Witches street shop 3:33. #34 close old, far new 3:38. #36 treks and tours posters 3:41. On bus 3:55. Tomorrow bags out 7:30, leave 8AM. To room at 4:07, lie down, awful breathlessness. Pee 5:23. To dinner at Marbella 6:37, thinking women won't arrive, but they do at 7:17, not bothered by our already ordering his lamb steak and my Wienerschnitzel good with pork, poor french fries, rice, and a Mineraqua lemon that's tasty. Paul has a poor Bolivian red, and then a glass of Bolivian white with Donna and Margaret. Donna has lasagna, Margaret veggie-burger, and all eat between 1/3 and 1/2 what's on their plate. Cute confused mustached and bearded waiter, not wanting to add a tip so we leave cash and leave at 8:42PM, almost staggering with fatigue, getting credit cards out of the safe, and type 8:58-9:15 while Paul thumbs through TV. I DO hope I can keep him awake tonight with my snoring! Bed at 9:25PM. Lay for a long time, but I THINK I woke to pee at 11:53, hoping to have slept over 2 hours. Breathlessnss all through the night. Take Ambien in desperation, patterns of sudoku coursing through my head, Actualism and mympths not working, but fall asleep, breathing heavily, in about half an hour.

TUESDAY, 11/21/06: Paul scurries around unpleasantly at 5:45, almost sun-up, and get dressed quickly and up to breakfast at 6:01 for fruit and yogurt, then eggs and ham and roll and cheese, and barely hold my head up before coming upstairs at 6:28, type this until 6:33, Paul still bustling disconcertingly around. Tear a Plaza envelope in half for tips: Down 6:35-6:42, paying 98B bill and getting only 4 tens for 2 twenties, one refused because of a tiny corner tear. Paul running tap water like crazy while brushing teeth. #37 out hotel window 6:51. JAMMED bag out at 7:05, no time to organize it, then think of tips. Give a $20 and take Paul's ten, so driver gets $10 from each, on the generous side. Paul gives $10 "in addition to the $8 I already gave him," and I give a $20, 4 days at a generous $5/day, into envelopes at 7:14, my bags out, Paul's bags not out yet. Then the phone rings and I wasn't supposed to take various forms of the hotel bill, so I dash downstairs, cursing them for not making it clear in the first place, and thank goodness what they want is on the TOP of my bag which is on the TOP of the stack of OAT bags. Give it in and back upstairs at 7:30, Paul reading, and phone rings AGAIN but stops when I pick it up. Finish this at 7:35, prepared to go down. To lobby at 7:40, first, with other, younger, group checking out. To bus 7:57, single seats for lots of people. Off at 7:59. 11,900 feet at hotel, 13,100 at lookout point AND later Lake Titicaca. Ilimani is 21,000 feet, Potosi is the most climbed mountain at 19,000 feet. Roll 4: #1 Potosi at 8:45. #2 Royal Andes at 19,000 feet altiplano with potatoes. #3 Tiwanaku 9:23. #4 star door and man-cat and Paul head at 9:27. 1200AD Tiwanaku divided into 2: 1) to Cuzco Valley to start Incan civilization, 2) to Easter Island. Bufotomine from frogs is a potent hallucinogen. No photos in museum. Spanish books. 60,000 persons lived in Taypicala, the Center of the Center, center of Tiwanako "The Place of God". MAIN god is Wiracocha, above ALL, enormous. Pacha=time and space at same time. Incas were the ONLY civilization appearing instantly formed in 1200AD, from Tiwanaku. #5 boat 10:32, leaving museum 1, everyone else taking photos so I do too. 6/2006 National Geographic has big article about it, get from Arnold. They KNEW about terramycin and penicillin. CHINESE came to Tiwanaku earlier than 1200AD. Museum 2 to 11:15, mostly ethnographic with a few impressive relics. $10 for souvenirs. Sit in bus 11:23, exhausted! Eat and drink and listen to jabber to 11:16. Start into ruins 11:43. #7 Tiwanaku and area around 11:44. #10 2 new-found tunnels 11:59. #12 side wall 12:13, restored 1965. #17 two of 175 head in subterranean water temple---in which they cemented up the water source. They opened site as a QUARRY, so the public took many stones. #18 side wall 12:19. #19 gate 12:20. Gate moved and broken in 1888. Video lots, and departing helicopter of Brazilian ambassador at 12:35. To #24, leave grounds 12:42. Buy gate and condor for $1 each. On bus, going back to museum to pee. Sky SO clear! #26 border 1:43. Back to bus 1:49 after signing border forms. #27 last view of Bolivia 1:53. Fill forms for Peru to 2:11. Into immigration 2:19, out 2:29, one person serving all of us. #30 Signor Bolognesi 2:40. 3.21 soles/$1, exchanged under Charo's watchful eyes. Bus goes 2:41. 300 types of potatoes in Puno, 7000 in Peru. 3000 types of quinoa. #31 brick-firing oven being built, one of many photo-stops on road that made day so long, at 3:17. #32 Titicaca colors 3:34, after 1/2 sole pee. #33 church 3:41, in Pomato. Out of church 4:37, exhausted! Titicaca 38 miles wide and 102 miles long, partly salt-water from long-ago part of Pacific Ocean, in from lake-view 4:42. #34 Andean flicker 4:49, builds nests on houses, since there are no trees. #35 reed carrier 4:54. #36 alpacas (which always have fat tails DOWN) at 5:28. #37 Quechua and Aymara profiles 6:25. Quechua thick lips, big nose; Aymara round face, small eyes, thin lips, 6:28 to Roll 5: #1-2, prior single profiles 6:31. Arrive at Charo-named "Flintstone Hotel" really Taypikala Hotel, told to dine at table labeled AMP Charo at 6:30, given schedule for Thursday: leave 9AM, lunch free; 25 minute Juliaca-Arequipa flight, 30 minute wait on plane on ground, 1:05 flight Arequipa-Lima. Tomorrow: bring raincoat, sunscreen, hat. 8:15AM leave, change clock one hour backward. To room 334 at 5:55 and lay EXHAUSTED to 6:18. Dinner 6:30-8:15 with $20 Argentinean white wine with trout. To john at 8:26, do teeth completely, using Paul's fluoride rinse for raw feeling and a few sore spots, search at LEAST 15 minutes for Vicks, and bed 9PM. NO sleep. Take Ambien 10:50.

WEDNESDAY, 11/22/06: Sleep to 4:40, over five hours. Sleep a LITTLE more, maybe, but Paul WAKES me at 6:15, having eaten breakfast. I dress to 7AM and to breakfast, omelet and fruit, and up at 7:30 and REST to 7:50, throw blanket over unpacked stuff, and down at 8:12. To temple at 8:20. #3 Phallus in temple 8:28. Out 8:36. Uros on Lake 3000 years, on floating reed-islands. Last Uro died in 1948. Island-Aymara only 8% Uro blood. Off bus 9:03. #4 fountains 9:08. #5 Puno point 9:11. Cast off 9:14. #9 to landing on island at 9:40. 9:52 we leave island 1, after fixing screw on boat. #16 map on island 2, 10:05. Our hotel is in Chucuito. Talk to 11:05, great stuff: the teen-age girls have been married 20, 11, and 11 years and have 5, 2, and 2 children. They drink salt-water from the lake that reduces their life expectancy to 42 years, but now that they spend some time ashore with regular water, the expectancy has been increased to 48 years. Great stake-down-hole to show that the reed mat is about 8 feet thick and rock-on-rope shows that they're in about 60 feet of water. They're so gentle and sweet that we can see they could never possibly win a war. Buy star-sky and condor and reed-boat hanging from the charming husband of the left-most woman for 10 soles, about $3, not wanting to negotiate him down at all, though I hope it survives the rest of the trip. Leave at 11:47 on a reed boat that I photo and video, particularly kid helping his father row, past many islands, past criss-crossing mooring ropes, take another picture of another island, and board our motorboat for the return to the mainland, starting on the upper deck with a bunch of Russians, whom Chrissy said lived in California, including a very fair Paris Hilton lookalike, until it got too warm and I went below to take a pee at 12:06, tired STILL. Off boat 12:20 and onto tricycles 12:20, passing and being passed, taking videos, paying a 3S tip which I give Paul 1S for, taking photos to #30, going much too fast through photos, to restaurant 12:55 for beef-vegetable soup, good beef with onions when I really wanted the dish WITHOUT the rice and french fries, almost good chocolate cake, lots of water, and leave at 2PM. #31 Puno Police canine crew from across the road 2:09. #32 coca museum 2:16, getting a poster and a free candy and a phony $100 bill as souvenirs after an entertaining 12-minute video about various local dances that used the costumes on display, and leave 3:09. To Puma-view 3:25 and to #37 from top, and lots of video, too tired to worry about quality, just wanting to be done with it all, and cold to boot. Cold and exhausted to bus 3:37, to Cathedral 3:50, endless talk in cold concrete interior, local riot of colors outside. #5 4:10 condor atop Lanier Mountain. #6 4:13 "painting" in ruins and condor. Then Chrissy gets involved with local watercolorist and our bus driver gets a citation and his license taken away and Charo doesn't handle it well, just inviting artist on bus, where he sells a lot, but damnable Chrissy seems to get away scott free, adding to her liabilities by keeping us ALL on bus talking with Charo about carting her 17-pound asthma machine on the flights tomorrow! Dinner's at 6:30. To hotel 4:34. Tomorrow; Luggage out 8:50, down at 9, cemetery, historic site, family visit, and airport 2PM for 4:30 flight. Tax about $7. To room 4:45, exhausted. Lay down 4:49, cut behind left ear at 5:05 that Paul helps stop. Type 5:10-6:02, at least getting to the current page. Paul comes in and showers, and I shower to 6:18, dress, and get down to dinner 6:29, aghast that Paul leaves the seat next to me for Chrissy. I TOTALLY ignore her, leaving before appetizer to get 5 Lake Titicaca cards and 5 stamps for 32.5 soles, prepared for trip from Lima. Potato appetizer OK, Paul doesn't have the sense to turn away a second Pisco Sour Chrissy ordered, it seems, for us, the alpaca was actually good, better than a lot of venison with a good pepper sauce, and his chicken wasn't bad. I had most of the $18 Chilean wine improved with lots of ice, and get upstairs before anyone else leaves the table at 8:08. Type 8:12-8:41, Paul back to bitch about Leon, and I start putting SOME things in order. Brush teeth totally, do some packing, talk with Paul and bed at 9:25PM, hoping to SLEEP!

THURSDAY, 11/23/06: 12:09AM: Dream of Ken and me driving south from Columbia University, or north of that, he's drunk, and I think not to get off at 116th Street but at 96th where I can get an express, and other details that proved that I SLEPT for the first time in days with an Ambien, maybe 90 minutes. 5:10AM shit, and had another dream that involved watching some comedian performing far below me, and on exiting he "jokingly?" trips over the edge of a floormat and lies motionless underneath, making the audience think he might have had a serious accident, and in straining to see, I lean over the edge and almost fall off, and wake at the edge of the bed. Paul: "You were QUIET all night!" Up at 7:17 to find him gone, pee and wash my face and get my stuff out of the bathroom as he comes back and I mention a possible higher tip for the main guide, and finish this at 7:35AM. Pack, mostly in check-in bag, dress, and put bag out by 8AM, ready to take carryon bag down for breakfast, going down stairs for last time at altitude. Breakfast with Mr. and Mrs. Chrissey, who actually weren't THAT unpleasant. Good fruit and omelet, and hot chocolate right on the table. Probably last to finish at 8:25, and out to the lobby where Paul is already down and reading, and finish this at 8:31, registering his wish that I keep all records in dollars so we can square at the end of the trip, rather than at Visa-card-rate time. What a pain! [As I type Friday's dream, he shows me the account that HE'S keeping, and I tell him I'm perfectly willing for HIM to keep the accounts, since both Fred and Ken prefer ME to do it I've just gotten used to it.] Leave 9:01, big bus leaves at 9:05. Ouachuma cactus has mescaline used by shamans, called St. Peter's cactus because it opens the door to heaven to them. #7 and 8, Chuchuito topiary in Town Square 9:15. #10 church 9:20. #11 and 12 Hotel Taypikala 9:28, where Mr. Chrissey left his HEARING aid in room, but though Charo and Chrissey go back to room they can't find it, so decide it must be somewhere in their bags. Is there no END to their difficulties, both for themselves and for the group? #13 Aymara cemetery 9:35. Icaca was goddess from Lemuria who left when it sank as part of the continent of Mu in the Pacific; she fell in love with a local handsome man named Tito; when he died, she cried so many salty tears she formed salty Lake Titicaca. #14 drying reeds, short ones used for mattresses that sell for 4 soles 9:43. #15 hill houses, not the best shot, but the last available. #16 boat 9:50. Umaji Lake HIGHER than Titicaca, but it's navigable only by smaller boats. Sillustani (fingernail) peninsula is place where the Pukaras (400BC-600AD) offered the HEADS of the dead to Pachacama so that the person could be reborn as an immortal. [Paul wants both his Visa slips back.] Tiwanaku took over from Pukaros. In 1100AD Aymaras destroyed the empire. Lupakas controlled Puno. North were the Kollas. Kollas knew the secrets of CURING and HEALING. Hatun Kolla was the capital of the Kollas 1100-1400, conquered by Incas. Panchavina, mother god from 1600BC. #17 Sillustani and water cows 10:30. Off bus at Sillustani 10:44. #18 burial tower 10:54. If you harmonize physical, mental, and spiritual bodies, you're on the way to becoming a god. A hummingbird flies near gods. Gods can't be underground, so they put their bodies in towers. Sachshuaman was built by the Kollas, not Incas. Families and servants killed to be put in the towers with the leading man (37 in one remaining tower not destroyed by the Spaniards, who, of course, as with everything else, regarded them as pagan and had to be destroyed). #19 with people for scale 11:10. We went VERY slowly, but still Paul and Shirley and husband stayed below, Shirley bragging about another sweater she bought. 30,000 people lived here! 12 million people in Inca valleys. Alpaca gestation period is 345-347 days! That didn't give enough meat for the growing population so they turned to agriculture. #20 towers and wall below, for human sacrifice 11:15, of MOST beautiful girl, who was taken to a "convent" and trained by "nuns" called "mamakunas" for the glory of her coming sacrifice. She was killed between the ages of 9 and 16, reborn perfect. She fasts for 3 days, is given chicha after walking a long way to further exhaust and weaken her, then lots of chopped up coca leaves so the girl is drunk and numb. Shaman strikes her temple from behind with a star-shaped stone, killing her instantly "and painlessly, so the blood doesn't clot," and the blood is drained into Mother Earth. #21 11:20. #22 Two alpaca (who are very clean) latrines 11:21. #23 temple to tie sun to, as in Machu Picchu. Whole area was volcanic (all building blocks from volcanic stone), and some of the time smoke OBSCURED the sun. Family killed by mouth stuffed with coca, then nose closed, coca inhaled into lungs, and they suffocate. ONLY two mummies had expressions of HORROR on their faces. Spaniards destroyed all the towers and stole all the gold. Modern people, finding gold but still superstitious, would leave HALF the treasure, in one case thousands of gold idols found in a MODERN chest. Video of kestrels on tower. #26 island mid-lake as vicuna reserve 12:10. We're "only" 13,100 feet high, highest point of trip was 13,500 feet at La Paz airport in Alto La Paz. Silk is 10-12 microns thick, vicuna hair 12-14 microns thick. #30 vicuna 12:32. #31 view back 12:42. To bus, tired, 12:44. THANKSGIVING today! Bus leaves 12:49, to house 12:58. #32 house. #33 llama right, alpaca left (thinner). Night-video of bedroom 1:18. #36 nephew 1:23. Bus goes 1:26. ALPACA gloves (adult, not baby which would cost maybe $20): wash in tepid water and shampoo, for 5S. Add conditioner to last rinse, making them FINER. FORGOT to take AIRLINE tickets out! Write an evaluation of two lines for Charo to 1:46. Airport 2PM, GET ticket, and seat at last window (over wing) and pee to 2:24. Lunch of a triple of ham, cheese, and egg, with too much bread, and beer for just over $5. To lounge 3:07, plane not in yet. Board 3:46. 30 minutes to Arequipa. Paul comes back to say that the Bates were KEPT off flight (and their luggage was taken off so it could be checked) because they didn't trust Chris's oxygen supply, thinking the battery was some kind of bomb, isolating her from Greg, who fumed, and asking her the same questions time after time until (either) she started crying (or) she, who has a black-belt in karate, put up an arm of force and he backed away. Paul feels sorry that they'll probably have to stay overnight in some awful Juliaca hotel. Change to over engine at 4:07, as plane is MOVING and two people have to move to let me AT window. Off at 4:09. Roll 7 #1 Juliaca 4:10, mainly to clear camera. #2 cloud tunnel 4:21, mostly cloudy, some little bumps, desert below. #3 peaks 4:28, #5 back 4:30. #6 alluvial fan 4:35. Land 4:43 (34-minute flight). Girl accepts my 12L seat. 1:10 flight to Lima. Off 5:16. #7 snow 5:29. #8 sunset clouds 6:04, when we start down. Over ocean, clouds bright and land dark, some lights on, and land 6:24 (1:08). Off plane 6:31, Johnny Balanis, our guide, is on his way at 6:44. To bus 6:56 and bus goes at 7:02. Friday 10AM lobby meeting, which I now (9:52AM) go to. 8:15PM in lobby for dinner. Johnny, who prefers Juanito, not Juanita, is picked up at gas station: his morning flight from Iquitos was cancelled, and they stop flights between 8:30AM-4:30M because of flying VULTURES at nearby garbage dump! Caused accident last year, and "they say they're going to move the dump and exterminate the vultures." He's in room 408 if we need him (where I can strangle him if he insists on rolling EVERY R, rather than the DOUBLE Rs that his teacher taught him to roll, and calling us always amigos. To hotel 7:50, where he says he has to check if I can get on the now-full Nazca lines tour! I say "Two people from OAT will be fired if I don't get on!" Toilet seats fall down and have to be held up with ashtray weighting down plastic dish atop the rolled-up tablecloth. It's very humid, with lots of street noise outside on main street, so we have to close both sliding doors to balcony. Sitting room with two sofas, four-chair dining table at which I type, a KITCHEN, a nice bath, and bedroom with two beds and TV, and balcony that has sliding doors in BOTH rooms to tree and lounge outside. Ask for extra room key and she says it'll be available tomorrow morning. Down to lobby at 8:15 or a little later, worried about being late, but Johnny's down only at 8:22. Margaret suggests strongly that a chocolate-lover will go mad over Schaffenberg chocolate, up to 97% chocolate, intense, available at Trader Joe's, expensive. Sweet yellow-gray pumpkin soup, GOOD turkey cutlets in good sauce with rice and a brussel sprout floret in some kind of coating, most of which I eat half of, and Paul orders a Tempranillo for 53S that's pretty poor until half-drunk. Then we hear news that the Bates have arrived on next flight and I fear one of them sitting in the blank chair to my right, but they come in only at dessert. They talk about it, I insist on check for wine and leave with Paul and Margaret at 10 to go to shop and ATM machine to 10:15, "unpack" on sofa to 10:33 and bed 10:46, hoping for the longest possible sleep.

FRIDAY, 11/24/06: 2:55AM pee and type dream, delighted to have slept about four hours! SEX dreams at 6:56, when stupid Paul turns LIGHTS on. I shit loosely, but brown, and back to bed at 7:18. Can't sleep. Think. Add Sardinia and Corsica and Cyprus and Libya with Paul to travel list. Up at 7:56 and pee. To breakfast 8:05-8:52, Pat wonderfully moving to let me sit with Donna and Margaret, lots of good fruit and late-delivered delicious hot chocolate. Type 8:54-9:50, down to wait for breakfast room for talk "at 10AM" at 10:15: Johnny: CANCELLATION on Nazca flight of ONE (who turned out to be Japanese on flight of about 40), and I'm ON. THANK GOD no 4AM-11PM SINGLE tour---except CHRISSEY is going! With Donna and Margaret with whom I agree the three of us should share a small plane. Meeting starts at 10:23. Jungle 60%, highland 30%, 10% coast in Peru. We get served Pisco Sours at 11:10AM! They're made with Quebranta grapes, grown in the south, in the town of Pisco, near Ica, where I go tomorrow, adding bitters, lime, egg whites, sugar syrup, and ice in a blender. He said the water in the Maranon (the branch of the Amazon other than the Ucayali that stems south of Iquitos) will be half-way up, though why it would be halfway at the BEGINNING of the rainy season, which he says it is, is a puzzle [70% of the water comes from Andes glacier-melt!]. Talk goes to 11:32, and get to room to find no LIGHTS. Call Housekeeping, no answer; call desk, she'll send someone. Type 11:41-12, still not caught up. The MAID is outside and I say "No touch" and raise the sheet to satisfy her curiosity, and show her "no lights." Down to the noon meeting at 12:05, knowing Johnny is never on time, and people next door still aren't out when the maid knocks on their door. Johnny shows up at 12:13! To Restaurant Ricota to open my bottle of water until I realize I'd wanted "botella de gaseosa" and, with arguing, Johnny agrees they should give it to me without charging me. The "spicy creole soup made with small pieces of steak, noodles, and served with toast and a fried egg" is truly interesting, the richness of the yolk of course enhancing the soup. The stir-fried chicken in lobster sauce isn't that great, and I talk long with Sasha, just arrived after 36 hours in airports due to delays and a detour to Atlanta, from Queens, and Susan and Wiley Schmidt from Jackson, California, just west of San Francisco, and only when she stops eating do I stop eating before clearing plate. It turns out that lucuma ice cream isn't a brand name (though the menu clearly states "local fruit, highly recommended"), though there are guesses that it's a mixture of mango and melon. Chris horns in much more than necessary and I simply never look at her, except in startled amazement when she demands a sip of my fizzy water and then says she can't stand the tiny taste I reluctantly gave her. Leave at 1:10, still no key and not lights at 1:16. Paul leaves at 1:30 as the schedule demands, but I sit around because the electrician shows up and tests the fuses to find nothing wrong, goes into the hall to find some problem, and still the light above my table is off, and he takes out the bulb to find a burn on the stem that might have caused the lights to go off in the first place. He replaces it and I go down at 1:35, and follow Johnny out to the bus to get a FRONT seat at 1:38. Start off at 1:40. #9 Eiffel's 1862 Lima Expo pavilion, now the Fine Arts Museum 2:11. #10 Naked memorial 2:13 in a park for some Independence War. #11 since 1874 the most important newspaper in Peru: El Comercio, in the same family still, at 2:23. #12 Franciscan Monastery 2:25. Off bus 2:26. #13 slum hill 2:29. Guide "Cool day in early spring, so spring is late," so I hope the rainy season is late too. #14 rail station no longer used 2:49. #15 Cardinal's office (he goes home at night) 2:55. #16 Presidential Palace 2:56 and video through gate. #17 Cathedral and fountain 3:01. Last earthquake in 1940 damaged it, causing reconstruction in lighter stone. #18 stained glass removed from mall roof 3:16. Onto bus 3:21. Off bus 3:42. #19 Raimondi Stele, Chavin, 400BC, 3:57. #20 orange African tulip tree near, purple jacaranda tree far 3:54. #21 double cock. Video Telloselusk stela. Pucara (though another sign spells it Pukara) 200BC-200AD. #22 and 23 work from 300BC. Lucuma is a sour apple that gives flavor to ice cream. #24 Moche "wishful thinking" cock 4:34. Hummingbird 135 meters long; planta are hands. There are 53-54 FIGURES, but most are hundreds of trapezoids which are KILOMETERS long. Lambeyeque proves, he says, partly, that there WAS contact between north Peru and Mexico. #25 gold at 4:57, with lots of video, puzzled that he told NO one where it was, only a group of people coming OUT clued me in to the stairs going down. Buy book "Discovering Peru," which covers practically everything, for $16, for which I give him $21, he hands me a torn $5, and then shrugs and gives me 16S for the $5, being 3.2S/$, more than Johnny's friend's "good" rate of 3.18, though even changing $100 would only result in a profit of 2S, or 64 cents, so it can't be a big deal. Leave 5:15, walking through parts of Spanish-art things and art from other places to get to bus at 5:19. #26 coast 5:41. #27 two hang gliders 5:42. Johnny grabs microphone to announce meeting for dinner at the beach at 7:15, Nazca 8AM flight, so we must have breakfast at 6, leaving at 6:30! Take passport! To hotel at 5:50, Paul's in bed, I shit, put the video on to charge, talk to Paul, type 6:21-6:58, when Paul gets a call from the desk and says "Send him up," and it turns out when Paul left the group at the Plaza de Armas he couldn't find the sauna he was looking for, thinking they tore down the building, and then went to a park near a public john and gave his card to Jose, who comes up with Paul cursing that he "comes 15 minutes before we leave for dinner," and I hear him inviting him back tonight after 10PM or tomorrow morning. I don't hear the answer, he probably thinks we're BOTH going to do something, and now I hear them talking about my going to Nazca, and could he come tomorrow morning? I finally catch up at 7:01, and decide to go into the bedroom. I only have $119 cash and 29.9S!!! Kid leaves early, calling "Goodbye" to me, and Paul said he said he thought I was cute. Indeed? He'll come tomorrow when I'm in Nazca. Type this at 7:15 and leave for downstairs. Leave 7:20, last one on is Johnny, and have GREAT meal for which I've kept the menu from the Costa Verde, where I watched the waves wash onto the shore, accented by white gulls above and playing kids below. Pisco Sour to start, then two glasses of white wine, then a BOTTLE of the same white wine. Paul DEMANDS I give him all the financials tomorrow, and Johnny says HE'S left the 5:30 wakeup call for the seven of us. We left the restaurant at 9:30 and got to hotel at 9:49 and I type this at 9:57, search for a spare pen for an inordinate amount of time, getting stuff ready for tomorrow, and getting to bed at 10:10PM, so even if I sleep THROUGH, unlikely, to 5:30, I only get 7:20 sleep!

SATURDAY, 11/25/06: 1:40AM dream and get up and pee and shit and transcribe dream when I wake again at 3:50AM with a second dream which I transcribe and then pee, finishing typing this at 4:11AM. Doze on and off and phone rings at 5:26AM. Shower and brush teeth to 5:52AM. Paul will join me for breakfast and I take AGES to find postcards. Go down at 6:10AM for breakfast. Have to go to next building and upstairs. Have fruit and juice, no hot chocolate, everyone leaves, I leave at 6:29 but I have no passport slip! Up to get it and down 6:35 to car, leaving 6:37. To airport 7:10, CONSTANT jabber in car. PAY $348.67 for flight with Visa by 7:25 at special counter that everyone comes over to, then Johnny points us to security, through at 7:32, on bus to plane 7:45, off at 8:03, only 10 on a 40-seat Fokker F27-100 with CRUDDY windows. I start on right, with couple at best window on left, but when I figure we might fly over Pacific and best view will be on the left, they've moved and I move in. Fog due to Humboldt Current from Antarctica, cold, reacting with Peru's air, hot, to form fog. My Sprite glass walks off the tray and the bottom of my bag is wet, but seemingly not inside. #28 coast at 8:37. #29 town, fields, riverbed 8:43. Land 8:49, pee 8:56, watch video 9:02-9:43. #30 overall map, #31 southern map 9:11. $2 map bought. #32 condor 9:58. $10 for book 10:04. Board 10:08 for 1:10 flight, 12 of us, Schmidts in back seat, me right in front on left, out of view of wing-strut and never-up wheels. Off 10:14, 25 minutes TO lines. #33 and 34 at 10:17, we fly to 2500 feet. #35 sand 10:20, #36 river (dry) braiding 10:26 to empty roll before lines. #37 town 10:36 "5 minutes to lines." Roll 8 #1 lines WIDER than camera-view 10:39. Write to #19 on second map, memories of circling fleeting figures, hardly-understood tour-guide next to pilot, mesmerizing stare at hummingbird through no lens. Start back 11:09, video scattered. #20 farm and field and house in middle of NOWHERE 11:22. Land 11:31, video whole landing. To #23 condor out of cage when I take people back to see it. Sweet man for us. I video and go to pee to avoid tip---no one does! Leave airport 11:47, bus goes 11:49, no lunch till 1. To oasis 12:01, #24 dune buggies at Huacachina 12:15. Bus leaves 12:17. Into museum 12:26 and out to bus 12:48, inferior to Lima's, and their four best fabrics STOLEN 11/04! To lunch at Las Dunes 12:57, great varied buffet to 1:30, shit 1:46, wash face, summon bus, on at 2:01. Leave 2:04 to airport, pay $6 again at 2:12. 2:25 I have to tell guide to be sure Johnny knows we're coming in EARLY. I take out postcards and address and stamp them, we board 2:38, off 2:44, good views of nothing much, including bits of coast, and land at 3:33 with a BUMP, air conditioning broken and pilot pissed about having to fly directly toward sun! Off plane 3:42 and onto bus to terminal 3:47, meet our sign and go to our bus that leaves at 3:51, going a different way to hotel 4:27, phone 506, no answer, up and ring bell, no answer. Put in key and it's locked from inside. "Who is it?" "It's Bob," "Can you wait in lobby for a few minutes?" "Will you call me there?" "Yes." I finish cards, give to clerk, start puzzle, Paul calls 4:50. Jose was wonderful, in john, I tell Paul I'm crashing at 6:30 for 2:30 wakeup call, he says he'll be quiet and pack in the morning. I wash hands and put hydrocortisone on wrecked fingernail trying to open hot-bus window, and out to check pharmacy who's never heard of Halci/yon, no slide film anywhere, and look and look for a small edible and end up paying 4.96S (getting two very shiny .02S coins) for gouda which I put in fridge after withdrawing maximum of $200 and deciding on 300S just to be sure, not quite knowing why my balance should be 4.032.77. Meet them leaving the hotel, Paul says he figures to be back about 7:30, I start typing at 5:40 and end at 6:07, ready to get a package together for LEAVING here to pick up NEXT Saturday when we return here as a dayroom. 6:30: find I'm only on roll SEVEN [numbered 8 on list, with 1 and most of 2 being Chicago], in camera at #25, with SIX more to go, more than I THOUGHT, so I really DIDN'T need film. By 6:45 everything staying is in one bag ready to be taken down. Rest I can pack between 2:30 wakeup and 3AM breakfast. They give a red receipt, then remember we have to pay the bill HERE, so go down and do that and leave the last three accounting items on Paul's bed at 7:03PM, ready to get to bed myself. 7:15 Paul and JOSE enter, to my chagrin. I explain last three bills, pee, and get to bed 7:26, having taken Ambien about 7:10. Think I hear Paul talking for a bit, but fall asleep quickly and comfortably.

SUNDAY, 11/26/06: 12:54AM: Wake and pee and type brief dream. Think. 1:35 pee and shit to 1:39. [TRANSFER AAA from file 8]. Pack big bag, surprisingly full, and out at 2:55AM. Pack small carryon and find I forgot to take any sudoku, so will have to settle with New Yorkers and crosswords. Finish and down to breakfast, out of room, at 3:05AM. Largish breakfast of two slices of toast (wonderfully quickly toasted), some more of my cheese, some of their cheese and ham, and two glasses of orange juice. Finish at 3:30, bus goes 3:34. Forget PLANE tickets in my bag again and try to convince myself on the bus that I did NOT put them in the bag I left at the hotel! Flight goes at 5:45, 90 minute fight, 120-passenger plane. Hulber is our guide, I don't know if he's REALLY Hulber de la Selva, our naturalist guide on the Esmeralda, which I'm happy to hear we're on. Bag off first, I get tickets, long line WITH luggage at 4:11, ask for seat 3L, which should be perfect, and get it at 4:30. To lounge at gate 2 at 5:04. Board 5:30, but no pen in pocket! Lost it! It's in my New Yorker, of course. Read New Yorker in all the meantimes. Off at 6:19. Cloudy, picked the SUN side, not realizing we were going so much directly north, so of course the right-facing seat, east, would look into the rising sun. Breakfast at 6:40 of ham and cheese (both very thin) and lettuce and tomato on a roll with orange juice and another nutted chcolate cube. #25 coming into Iquitos 7:30. Land 7:42. 81 F. To air-conditioned lounge 7:56, bus goes at 8:32 after long introduction, with cuy empanadas and cubes of cheese and Coke. Iquitos has half a million people. Walking tour of market at 9AM, #26 fish and crocodile skin 9:21. Gang of "urchins," one of whom was 22 and had been a pickpocket, besiege the bus, "guard" us, and a kid rips off Donna's necklace and the "guards" get the necklace back but the "robber" gets away, and the "guards" get large tips, and my New York paranoid-mind thinks the whole THING might be a collusion. Back to bus 9:35 after one panoramic video, fearful of whole bag being ripped away, avoiding my "guide" who pointed out various things to me, and I went by another route when I could but he always ended up in front of me. Sad if it was all a plot, but somehow MORE sad if it WASN'T a plot and I didn't appreciate the boys' sincere intentions. Hulber says "There's no NEED to tip," but they get a lot. Some also collected for a heap of SALT as a house-gift for some future Indian dine-around. #27 Maynos Municipal building, 10AM while parade videoed, OLD concrete building was painted blue AFTER it was abandoned as a hospital 7 years ago, so I was here MORE RECENTLY than 7 years ago? #28 stilt walkers. #29 floats 10:28. 10:35 bus goes from same El Condor Hotel we stopped in on the previous trip, where I pee. Booths in square were for family abuse and disaster prevention. To boat 10:51, built in 1979 in Brazil and outfitted in Iquitos as a fishing boat, then converted into a small vacation ship upriver, and later TWO extensions were added, resulting in a roller-coaster exterior I hope to photo. To #32 leaving port to 11:19, and videos. #33 Ametista 11:20. Unpack till 11:52 after watching much dock-area slide by, and go to lunch 11:55-12:50, good buffet of chicken, catfish, spinach salad, pasta salad, and great ice-cream and fruit dessert. Rest of day: 4PM meeting, 4:30 boat trip, 6:30 Pisco Sour making on 3 (with free drinks), 7:30 dinner. Breakfast 7:30. 12:55 lie down, and jolt up to read my watch as 3:15 but go to john to find that it's only 1:15, so I'm up on deck with a varied group of couples and singles, looking at a moth, binoculating an almost continuous stream of huts along the river, mostly under the Mayor Juan Carlos de Something-Something, with the cooperation of (an insignia that I finally read as Maynos, the same name as the Municipal building). We swerve from shore to shore, often waving but seldom being waved back at, and I attempt to just sit and appreciate BEING on the upper Amazon, with rain clouds in the distance, no birds to speak of aside from two herons, a yellow-headed bird, a black-and-white wing-striped pair that tumbled together, and a flock of parakeets darkly resting on each tip of a dead tree, who descended like rain as the ship passed, flew about a bit, and alit elsewhere. Leon gave me an ENDLESS talk (pace Paul) about his structural engineer son who retired at 48, and EVERY project he worked on, in order, including a 89-story Manhattan skyscraper that I don't THINK exists. Sit till 4:03 as more and more come upstairs, and Hulber gives rules about "no drink water, free bottles daily, room cleaned 2-3 times a day (probably for the toilet paper in JAR, not in toilet), lock box under desk, Jorge is the barman: a beer is $3, cushion for hot barge seat, chaps around legs against snakes, for which he says my shoes are OK. laundry bag on hook outside door with clothes lumped together." He talks to 4:40, looks at my shoes and says plastic is better for boat rides in case it rains, I can buy Wellingtons tomorrow, but I refuse since I have two pair at home and brochure did NOT imply I HOULD need them, so when we're given 5 minutes to board the satellite ship, I have stuff in plastic bag, prepared to get pants and shirt wet, put watch in bag, and boat finally goes at 5PM with ponchos passed to those who don't have them (which are VERY short in back), Paul told NOT to use umbrella in lightning and when water starts splashing we're suddenly back to the ship at 5:05. I type 5:11-5:57 and go up for Pisco making, moved up to 6 and dinner moved up to 7PM. First two, then four, then eight, then four more, and I have about two and a half and VERIFY that the empanadas at the airport WERE cuy, though those this evening were chicken. I video some and feel so good that I listen to Johnny's group's music without retching, getting down to dinner at 7:05 with Margaret and Donna, almost certain that, without Wiley, Susan may have asked us to join her, but Sasha joins her and THEN the table is graced by Johnny and the captain, who says he follows the CHANNEL even though it's deeper now, that it can increase by more than ten feet though it's very uncertain, since 70% of the water comes from the ANDES and the glaciers there, as everywhere, are shrinking. Good hearts of palm and avocado to start, with a cornstarchy corn soup, and then a bit of beef and vegetables, along with some raw onions that make me sneeze and cough. I ask what time they might start in the morning, and he says 6AM, then Johnny says 7:30 breakfast, 8:30 talk about river people, 9:30 village visit, noon lunch, then a visit to "the Amazon Wal-Mart" where we'll have a chance to shop and support the local economy. Great. Captain gets off a couple good jokes, Margaret talks about sharing the same bedroom a number of years ago with a woman, glancing at Donna as she "outs" herself, and dinner is over about 8:20 and I type until 8:36. Brush teeth, fill laundry bag, wash face, Paul's in bed already, take night pill, and bed 9PM.

MONDAY, 11/27/06: 12:48AM: Awakened by a bump and rocking of boat which SOUNDS to me like we're moving out, and to Paul that "something hit us." He goes to john, then gets nose spray, and I go in and type dream. Pee, twice actually, and finish typing dream at 1AM, I THINK not moving in boat. Wake again 4:10 and shit, and find TWO turds obstructing the flush that have to be agitated manually to go down. I don't THINK I shat two, but Paul said he hadn't shat at ALL on the boat. Up at 5:35 and sun is already risen. Borrow a poncho for the slight rain in the boat at 6:35, seeing orioles and flycatchers and two iguanas in trees, and flocks of parakeets, good sighting of tamarin monkeys, maybe four or five of them, frolicking, posing, eating, staring at us, great sight. Terns, hawks, some right at river edge, and I take a #35(?) photo of a flock of yellow-headed orioles after a video of them, just to show why it's useless for me to take pictures at all, except for visits to villages this morning. Back at 7:35 in time for a big breakfast: scrambled eggs, toast and butter, 2 glasses of orange juice, an awful tamale with too much cornmeal and too little chicken, a breadstick, and vanilla cake, good with butter, like a fine cornbread. Eat to 8 and chat with Cheri till about 8:20, one of the last to leave the dining room. To room to put camera stuff in bathroom, then up for lecture by Hulber about riverenos which I take no notes from, but about a million live along the river, about 18% illiterate, and it takes a week (or 2 or 3) to get upriver from Iquitos to Pucallpa. Now at 9:23AM we're pausing, maybe to dock at a village, and I change from pearlies to socks-into-which-pants are stuffed, keeping on the long-sleeved white shirt which I'll never be able to clean, and Deet and sunscreen and money, in case. Down at 9:30, among the last on, and go quite a distance, videoing some of it and taking #37 of something and starting roll 9, #1 in the village of Something of the Amazon, talking to the mayor, surrounded by kids, videoing a lot, then I wander down a side path to find the central ball court and the BOAT drawn up for our return. Back to village to find they'd dug for some tapioca, and to center to be introduced to green-eyed PTA chairman that I get up the nerve to photo, and though even the mayor said he was touched that "No boat every stopped before," it seemed possible to have been done before: the singing was a bit too rehearsed, the shaking of hands and giving of names too simple, the children too well-behaved, and then two or three more dynamite-looking guys came in to represent the 60 inhabitants, 23 children, 6 families, and I videoed more of the schoolroom and the singing, but missed the kids patting Paul's bald head. Back on the boat with some relief at 11:18, and back across by 11:23, Esmerelda waiting for us with guys to clean the bottoms of our shoes for clean hallways and rooms, and Fruitarello of lime ice, wonderful. Sit in shorts and chat with Paul about lots of things, then he goes upstairs for lunch about 11:45 and I type to 11:56, needing to get dressed and wishing I had shorts to wear. Pee and wash face and put on black pants and leave for lunch at 12:03. Much like dinner, but with more salads and a strange potato in a yellowish cream sauce, and we sat with the dour big David and his antic wife, and he showed some response, as he seldom does on the boat. Finish about 1PM and almost everyone goes for their siesta, but I'd gotten little sleep last night and wanted to be tired tonight to sleep well, so I took my earplugs and a warm bottle of water and my binoculars and video camera up on deck, figuring we're never near anything close enough to get a reasonable photo. Two objectionable women sit behind me smoking cigarettes, the mother and the probably-gay Texan, as I recall, and I put in earplugs to quiet their inane chatter (maybe that's what gave me the dream the next morning about the Pythons chattering as old ladies knitting on a sofa). Just enjoy watching the banks pass, still wide apart as we approach the convergence of the Ucayali and the Maranon [11/28/06, 5:20AM: at this point I searched my papers for the "brown map" we were told to bring to the site orientation this morning, and not finding it turned to the brown book on the desk under the two Jungle Expeditions fans, one of which I took, and find the interesting COVERED data that recommended tip for the guide is $40 and for the crew $120! AND find two VERY detailed maps, which verifies that my impression that the Ucayali was north and the Maranon south WAS wrong, and Johnny, of course, was right when we turned left briefly for the "Wal-Mart" visit.] It starts raining a bit, then much, and the deck boys put down more shades to keep the tables and chairs dry. More people have come up, and I video water puddling on the deck and show it to Pat, who thanks me and enjoys it. Sit blissfully until 2:50, when I rush to get things together for the boat that leaves at 3:05, one of the last onboard, and go a long distance to a newly-cut path at the top of which wait two guides, and we divide into two groups, ours of 10 under Hulber and Ricardo doesn't include the Bates but does include slow Leon and very loud Susan, who teams up with Pat to take pictures and gets lost in the meantime. Leaf-cutter ants line the trail, Ricardo cuts into a ficus buttress to show the sap which is used for various curative effects, and Hulber scrapes away a small section of termite nest and his hand is INSTANTLY covered densely with what look like tiny red ants! He's asked for volunteers, and I'd fleetingly considered it, but was sure glad I didn't. Photos and videos all along here not kept track of. We go around a circle in two directions, seeing not-so-big Victoria Regia, hear and see flying a Flying Screamer of enormous size and voice. Then to the Wal-Mart, a double row of perhaps a dozen women and a few men with their handicrafts spread out on cloths to appeal to us by showing carvings on gourd-shells, bean-bead jewelry, grass-shaped dolls, carved canoes, paintings of Esmerelda in watercolor and carved on wood, and I go first and fast down the line and don't even touch anything, though I was vaguely intrigued with what looked like wire-bound insects and bugs, and then sit facing the water while Leon braced Hulbert for his lengthy explanations (at one point Paul shouted impatiently "Vamanos!") and I felt depressed and sad, hoping for the trip to be over without more of these, and felt a bit better when over half the tourists came back loaded with tchotchkes they'd bought. Leave at 5:04 and back to the ship by 5:22, and I simply retrieve the bottle of formerly-cold water I'd left on the end table and put a chair at the bow and sit facing out, taking pictures of clouds and the sunset until the music ended and Paul and Leon and Sasha and Chrissey commented on my viewpoint, and got to dinner at 7:10, not that great with chicken salad whose lettuce I avoided, chicken in a pea-colored sauce, and a long wait before Wiley's birthday cake comes in, and down about 8:45 to take a long shower and brush my teeth and get to bed at 9:20PM.

TUESDAY, 11/28/06: Pee at 2:20AM, charge my videocamera, sort through to find the map, and type this to 5:48, while Paul retrieved our not-cleaned shoes, and get ready for the 6AM boat ride, with the poncho I requested to keep still in my side pocket and a spare roll of film and reel of camcorder tape at the ready. Morning boat goes 6:05-7:27, taking last #25 of Esmeralda through FOGGED lens, have to CLEAN it! Women jabber ALL the time, and Paul copies down: Laughing falcon, Black-collared hawk, Paradise jacamar, Yellow-tufted woodpecker, Chacalaca, then a tree full of Hoatzin at the end of breakfast with Wiley in the first day of a new decade (which, he says, he never thinks about). It was a saddle-backed tamarin. Back from breakfast at 8:25 to type this, geographic lesson moved to 9AM, then swimming, which I thought I'd do, then decided against it---though NOW I think I'll put on my bathing suit underneath in case I WANT to. We're still moving at 8:41AM, so I guess we hadn't gotten to the park yet. Really counting the days to the end, 6 days, only four FULL days, 15 meals, not into the hours yet, but will soon. The jabber in the boats is intolerable, and MUST talk to Johnny and Hulber about it. Poor Hulber talks endlessly about not much on the map from 9:05-9:38, then gives us ten minutes to get into bathing suits for swimming. I have some water. Leave 9:43. Total asshole #1: couldn't find my floppy hat; borrowed Paul's, making me last and late on boat; under my towel bag: my floppy hat! SORRY! Total asshole #2: my little water bottle's gone. Tell Johnny. Think. Look in my OAT bag: there's the little bottle. Find him in process of starting the search. Feel like asshole #3 apologizing to him. Go up for checklist at 11:30. That goes to 60 birds (about 30 of which I remember), and Paul curses him for not giving out the list yesterday. Chrissey jumps ahead, and Paul protests "I wish she'd shut her pussy mouth!" I feel more and more out of it, looking forward to lunch ALONE, for which the bell rings as I type at 12:05. Good Chinese fried rice, good fish, OK Chinese chicken, Donna and Margaret inviting themselves over and both Paul (he sooner than I) and I conclude they're rather boring. We chat about Leon and Pat and big David and Paul's gay married cousin, and I type this at 1:23 and go upstairs until 2PM, when I wake to find we've docked. Down to AC. Up about 2:10 to try to finish 11/18 Times puzzle, shit a bit, dress, and up at 2:53 for jaunt into jungle. Few people upstairs, and it turns out we have to take the skiff about 20 feet from the edge of the boat to the front of the boat where the dock is, because there's no other way to "connect" the boat to the dock. Walk many tree-sections crossed with wire, up many stairs, to an enormous tent-shaped hut where three shamans await us about 3:15. I film the whole thing, changing to reel 60 in the middle, ending about 4:30, though I surely didn't get much out of it, except the urge to try ayahuasca again. Down another stairs to a "sample" sky walkway with everyone shouting to each other, and down more stairs to catamarans seating three on each side, with one boy-rower in the back, and we're out onto an otter-filled lake, hoping to have caught the edge of one on film, and a 8-9 member capybara family before our noise drove them away, and then somewhat aimless paddling to hear a caiman drop into the water unseen, more birds, no titi monkeys they hoped to show us, and back to the dock about 5:43, getting dark. Up another path to an enormous lodge, where we'd earlier filmed two woolly monkeys and a parrot, and get dancing boys (one or two VERY gay) and girls to Johnny's band renamed Becket and the Capybaras. Video most to 6:20, but then video dies because I somehow, for the first time, disconnect the BATTERY. Back to skiff and back to boat 6:45, Paul showers, I solve the video problem to start my shower but remember I left all my lenses on my BED. Ask Paul to bring them in, which he does, and I'm still dripping after I wipe off, so I type from 7:02-7:12 to catch up to date, having changed to roll 10, #1-6, or so, with the dancers with flash, including an outside lit-tree shot. Adhesive still holding on the Pentax. Ready for dinner though not really hungry after two empanadas, fairly hollow, three glasses of DELICIOUS yellow-tomato juice, and lots of banana chips and popcorn and yam-slices during the dances. But it's now 7:13 and bell starts ringing. I'm in a bit later and most tables are full: only two empty, with two singles already making two tables with a "capacity" of three. I sit and Margaret and Donna join me, and they ask if they can and I swallow all pride and say "On condition you don't share our wine," and then Paul makes it even worse by saying that Leon and Pat offered to treat US the next night, but they haven't. I make some outrageous joke about Margaret never talking to me again and I think she IS pissed, but doesn't dare show it after what I said. Cream of chicken soup is good, though Paul dismisses it as pure cornstarch. Good chicken salad inside a slightly under-ripe avocado half, white wine is not bad, though peach juice poured into it turns it totally into peach juice. I feel full (probably because I haven't had a full shit in a couple of days), so I just take a few raviolo of indeterminate contents, slathered with the mushroom sauce that's almost as good as the soup. More juice, more wine, and the conversation is somewhat more lively, and the chocolate-chocolate cake is sensational with vanilla ice cream. Johnny gives his talk, and thankfully the EARLY option tomorrow includes the Bates and Shirley and the Texan, so ANY remaining group would be quieter. The first group of 8 will leave at 6, have a tiny breakfast at the lodge, do the canopy walk, and return about 9 or 9:30 for a fuller breakfast. We others will get a 6:15 wakeup call, 6:45 breakfast, and leave for the canopy at 7:30, essentially going the same way we've gone already. Return at 11, which drives Paul mad: "Why on EARTH do they schedule a THREE-and-a-half hour WALK?" And he might not even do it. Talk ends at 8:23 and he says we should meet at the skiff in 15-20 minutes. I discover I don't have my shoes, so go back down and find them in the hall totally untouched, though Susan says "They don't do it now, they just do it after the night walk." Oh? Up and Paul wishes me good luck, and I of course walk off forgetting my flashlight and binoculars, having hung my camcorder outside. And, typing that, I immediately shut off the bathroom light where I'm typing this, go to the bottom drawer, spilling out plastic bags and, coincidentally since Paul might want them for what he feels might be a cold coming on, 4 capsules of Comtrex, though Donna reminds me of Coriciden which I used to like and hardly ever get, but then she says it's usually hard to find. Put everything on the desk, including spare rolls of film, of which I think I have four left, fitting Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat nicely. We're 11 in the skiff, both Sasha and Chrissy with HEADLAMPS, and when I show off my hand-shaken charger, Greg makes unmistakable jerk-off movements, saying "You'll get quite a bicep doing this all night," and I quickly retort, "Oh, I've built that up already by masturbating," at which everyone breaks up, Susan saying approvingly "Things are getting rough!" We move to the path, where I make a mistake by not picking up a proffered flashlight, since mine is EXCEEDINGLY weak, though always usable, but just. Follow the footsteps up the tree-sections until the person ahead steps off, and we pass the central area and descend into a wooded-jungled valley where Hulber immediately finds a false-leaf toad, about as big as a silver dollar, and then around the next trunk a regular night toad about three inches high, which I think I video just before it hops away. Then they look and look and look, Sasha's headlamp making convenient alleys of light to the side, my light being entirely below, so much so that I let Vicki's husband go ahead, since his ground light helps Hulber ahead, whose light is constantly playing on the undersides of leaves. When he searches the ground and crotches of trees, I ask if he's looking for tarantulas, and he says yes. But finds none. No owls, no night-eyes, I see a fish in the stream, and for about two minutes he asks us to turn our flashlights off so we can listen to the "symphony of the night." What do we hear? People gulping water, someone rustling a plastic bag, others rustling their feet on the ground, someone coughing---at least no one TALKED. We heard a descending "Hoo-hoo-hoo" that made me smile, which he said was a bird. Many were cicadas, most others frogs, males calling to females. Even the "scream" was a bird. We turn back early, I feel, and walk rapidly back, me following so closely that even Chrissey's voice fades in back. I get onto the boat first, others take a long time, and since we boarded at 8:36 and got back at 9:22, it was barely 45 minutes rather than the announced hour and a half, though since we were seeing nothing it hardly mattered. Johnny joined us in the middle and I barely realized he hadn't started with us. At the end he says "Why are you sweating?" and it didn't matter that I wore my "flannel" green shirt, I would have sweat equally anyway. More stuff for the laundry bag tomorrow. Leave my even dirtier shoes downstairs, up to Paul's sleeping, into the bathroom to pee, type, drink cool water, and put my camcorder on recharge. Started typing about 9:38, making our total out-time, with transfer-slowness, just an hour, and finish now at 10:10, calculating JUST over 8 hours' sleep before the 6:15 wakeup call if I went to sleep INSTANTLY, which, guess what?, I doubt. STILL sweating in the hot bathroom, but observed that Paul had raised the AC temperature to 23 degrees, since I'd lowered it to 23 which he STILL felt was warm after I raised it to 24, thinking that was perfectly cool enough. Tired enough to HOPE to sleep, only three days in the jungle left! Bed really more like 10:15PM. Sleep quick, but wake at 11:55PM and again quickly back to sleep.