BOLIVIA/UPPER AMAZON TRIP 2 of 2
WEDNESDAY, 11/29/06: 2:31AM: Think I hear an alarm and it's 6:15, but look at my watch and it's 2:31AM. Pee and Paul's up looking for what landed on his hand, and takes two of my Comtrex for his supposed coming cold. 5:14 wake and pee and shit, adequately enough, with some relief of my stuffed feeling, and type dream from before to 5:32, Paul saying he's up, so I'm out of the john to hear him say through my earplugs that the Comtrex seems to have helped, and the cough drop helped too. I'm glad. Already a pearly-blue light out, but at 5:35 there's still 40 minutes before our 6:15AM wakeup knock. As I scrape my chair back from the desk, I'm reminded of the rhythmic back-and-forth of footfalls as we went to bed last night. Is Johnny's cabin above us, or was there dancing in the bar? Eight leave, including Chrissey, Tex, and Shirley, all the loud ones. Vicki said there was NOTHING more seen on the night-walk. Pat and I focus on dolphins right at the boat (and cute guys in pirogues), and then put blue jeans and the green shirt in laundry and finish this at breakfast bell at 6:46AM. Breakfast ALONE, in HEAVEN, explaining to Vicki and Dave, and hearing of Wiley's art careers, and back to put on socks for shoes downstairs, brush teeth, and wash face and leave 7:32 for boat. 10:57AM: Boat and breakfast mercifully quiet with the loud ones gone, and then eight go off on the long ground route while Leon, Paul, and I go off with another guide to the catamarans, where I capture the right-front seat, no one's beside me, Paul behind me and Leon beside him, with the two guide-rowers in back. Blissful quiet row across lake, otter in the distance, no botos visible, no capybaras, only a white-necked blue heron, or whatever had the long plumes behind the head was, flying from tree to tree. I photo, Leon talks, and we end up at the trail that goes up to the canopy walk eventually. Eight or nine, or maybe even more, sections swing out over, sadly, rather nondescript trees, except for one enormous fern spread out below. But Paul sped ahead, even Hulber caught up with me and passed ahead, and only Leon and his guide finally caught up with my solitary enjoyment of the silence and the green of the selva. Butterflies galore on the lake, but few in the forest itself. Oh, we did pass the small zoo where first time around, one anaconda, which is a TYPE of boa, so they say, lay in the air-conditioned cool of a stream, but later he was splayed across a hot hill, while a second slithered sinuously along the far-wire fence, where Wilmer pointed to the jutting walkway where I could get a better view, after pointing out one lone caiman head in algae-covered water. The other made SURE I saw some of the leaf-nosed bats which flew from the banged-on tree, other than the banged-on ficus buttress which made an incredible noise that I hope comes across on the recording. We ran into the first group and I distanced myself from them, and then they moved off, and then we went in our own direction, finally getting back down to the catamarans, after wheedling $1 from Leon, finding that Paul has soles, and I get 10 from him, knowing it's too much for 14-year-old Wilmer but his enthusiasm just demands to be repaid. When we got off the catamarans at the lodge, someone trotted down the hill (probably Lucas) with cold lemonade, which was good until they naively asked us if we wanted ice cream, and I had a Magnum whose stick broke, but I caught it, ate it, threw the stick and wrapper away, and then after peeing into their porcelain toilet and washing my hands from the water cooler above the non-functional sink, I just had to take a picture of it, and of the water lily when Pat went down to it. We got to the dock about 10AM, the second group got in about 15 minutes later, and finally the initial group joined and we all went up the hill and down the hill to the skiff, and made a wide circle onto the river which panicked Paul, who doesn't want by any means to go to the home-hosted lunch, who almost went up to accost Hulber before the boat turned back toward the Esmeralda. Back about 10:50, left the shoes in what is now known to be a mud-room outside the kitchen, and came back up to type while Paul complains, looking forward to a day of doing nothing while we're tortured with cuy and a marketplace. Finish typing this at 11:15, Paul finishing up what appears to be the last of his rum and Coke, but maybe he has a stash of more rum elsewhere. Astounding how dependent he and Fred are on their extra-dining drinking. Take my shirt off to dry, feeling comfortable in the air conditioning now permanently on 23, and glanced back at my bed, which had displayed a rippled towel for the River, a folded towel in the shape of a boat, supporting the wall plaque of a pink dolphin arcing in front of it. Should be getting near the end of file 3, he wrote, thinking of nothing much more to say, except that now the days left can be counted on one hand: today with home-hosted lunch, with a night boat-ride, Thursday the last full day here, Friday returning to Iquitos, Saturday to Lima, Sunday to NYC. Spend to 11:27 reviewing itinerary and lie down. Lie, shit, dress in cold wet shirt, out at 11:59. 2:06PM: I tell Paul "You missed it: second-day shot fresh deer from the local forest; catfish caught in a net that morning, wrapped in palm leaves with a salsa and manioc (crunchy, too crunchy) topping; breadfruit seeds, naturally peppery tasting; "monkey brains," a kind of bean, roasted on a chain; manioc slices, a combination of cardboard and plastic; some kind of vegetable ball; a roasted tree-nut of some kind; wonderful hot roasted bananas; four kinds of drinks: yellow tomato, denser in texture than the Esmeralda served; plantain juice, with lees left at the bottom for taste, rather like sweet water; beer, lightly alcoholic, fermented from ?????; and juice from some fruit I'd never had before. Tin plates and cups, no utensils except serving spoons, palm leaves for the table around which the family of 10 ate: mother of wife, 8 children, 3 died, 57 years old; father, 47; mother 29, seven children: 13, 12, 10, 8, 4, 2, which was supposed to be the last, and 1 month 21 days, "an accident." House expanded for expanding family. Lots of gifts given: shirts, calendars, rice, photos, jewelry. Lots of vendors on the hill selling the usual stuff except for one, say, 7-year-old girl who smilingly pulled up an Indian figure to reveal a red-tipped erection. I couldn't resist for 10 soles. Lots bought lots. My poncho, stored under my seat, was returned to the Esmeralda while I ate; thank goodness it didn't rain on the way back. Adobe brick-red mud on the bottoms of shoes IMPOSSIBLE to completely dislodge, and Johnny promised to look for my missing odor-eater "in the kitchen," which implies, to me at least, that he was saying someone took it. But I left the other in the shoe, so I may find BOTH gone. Paul had seen the same souvenir in Haiti, so he wasn't impressed---but he didn't buy one. I did. Back to boat precisely 2PM, nothing scheduled until the deforestation talk at 5PM, which reminds me of my asked question: "What has most affected you in the past 10 or 20 years?" and he answered "Deforestation, because it changed the land and the pattern of rainfall and the timing and depth of flooding and dry seasons." Grandmother lost 3 children, mother lost none, keeping all her seven so far. They met when he went to a soccer match in another village, the only way close-knit communities can meet someone outside their own family, and she was a cheerleader. Kids all introduced themselves, the 50-day-old slept most of the time, the skiff driver rocking him in a hammock much of the time, but he cried when I was taking one of my videos of the family, which reminds me that I TAPED the descriptions of ALL the ingredients for future transcription! Look outside at 2:22PM and the river edge is skimming by, not able to change from black pants because jeans aren't back from laundry yet. Sit on prow until 4PM, watching canoes and motorized boats pass, high bluffs about to fall in and shallows that appear to be stable; many off-shoot rivers, some enormous; many villages, some with people waving, some not. Rain clouds all around, but not enough sun to cause even a windburn, and it even felt somewhat cooler than, say, 73 degrees. Came up with something to do before 5PM: ask everyone two questions: 1) If you could be ANYWHERE, right now, where would you want to be? 2) If you had been THERE, for a month, where would you want to be? Asked myself first and got 1) Home, 2) the nearest inhabitable planet. Second was Paul: 1) Miami, 2) DC. Type this to 4:12 and go upstairs with the passenger list. 6:14: Manage to get 13 answers before the talk at 5 on deforestation, which goes ON and ON and ON, and then ask two more, leaving only Vicki's husband, the Schmidts, and the Ruiters. Put on clean shorts and the returned blue jeans, which actually feel WARM compared with the wetness of the black pants, which will go into the laundry tomorrow with shorts, blue from the black pants, and socks. Decide to put socks on because my feet are COLD outside. Finish this at 6:17 and will try to find the missing 5 upstairs. 6:44: tabulate answers, having gotten last disinterested 5, and the results ARE: Question 1: 13 here, 5 other places, 2 home. Question 2: 8 other places, 7 home, 5 here. Adding together, here=18, other=13, home=9. No real big surprise; no big deal. Music hammers down from above at 6:48 as I finish this. Paul said everyone was DANCING, a sight I'm glad I missed, and dinner includes a COLD filet mignon, mashed potatoes, and David's 60th birthday with his wife's a few days later on 12/16. Good cake and ice cream, and even good wine, slightly stoned as I type this at 8:23, getting Paul's boat-given poncho and my binox into bag, and having to put on the cold wet white shirt again to protect from mosquitoes. But only 45 minutes, though wakeup for picnic breakfast is 5:30 tomorrow! Board 8:31, last, and we take off in high hilarity, women shouting, men sighing, me wincing with displeasure. Few spectacular flying bats, some with fish in their mouths. A great iguana right above us. Supposedly two hoatzin so far away I can see only the red spots from Johnny's laser pointer. They ask for silence, and people still talk, so I speak out "So much for silence," and people actually quiet down when Johnny tells them to. Sounds, calls, frogs, katydids, cicadas, and then we're back to disturb night fishermen in their boats, and get into a rain squall which gets my poncho out to find a large rip that would let in buckets of rain. Off at 9:21, knowing there's no chance of 8 hours sleep before the 5:30 wakeup call, almost debating canceling because the jabberers will destroy any viewing. VERY depressing group. Finish this at 9:36, hoping against hope to shit a bit, my face towel as only floor mat for the eternal leak. Bed maybe 9:45, and to sleep fast.
THURSDAY, 11/30/06: 1:05AM: 4 days left, 10 meals left. Wake, hoping it's later, and pee and type dream to 1:09 and try to shit, but only squeeze out the tiniest turd by 1:14AM. Wake again 4:40AM and have a HUGE well-formed shit, a great relief. Maybe doze before guy knocks on door at 5:30AM and Paul puts his light on. Take his poncho, and as we board I put it on in a light shower, which soon stops. The women chatter interminably, so I put in my earplugs and can STILL hear them, though I have to get the name of the monkey we saw: Monk Saki, from both Johnny and Hulber, the former of which said we traveled 22 miles upstream, the latter said he'd ask the driver and came back with THIRTY-two miles, but if that were meant to be kilometers, as it very well might, the twenty might be close to 22. Video a long stretch going upstream, idyllic since it was AFTER my blowup: For about the 15th time, Cheri ejaculated "How did you SEE that?" and I exploded, "With his EYES; can't you all just be QUIET!?" She stares at me as if she'd been slapped, saying something like "Well, you never said anything about it before," and I said "I'd hoped NEVER to say anything, but (at least I INTENDED to say) that was the straw that broke the camel's back. I'm sorry I took it out on you, because you're NOT the worst offender: I had to put up with Chrissey and became fed up to HERE with her in just two days, and then we had Shirley with her endless comments. I even asked Johnny and Hulber to please say to the boatloads "You have to be quiet, or you'll scare everything away," but they never did." Paul asks if either of them heard, and they probably did, because as I remember Johnny was in the middle of pointing out the bats on the tree just above water-line, so he was near, as probably was Hulber. Susan, sitting next to me, later said that she understood my point, but it was inexcusable to attack Cheri, whose first visit outside the US this was, and who'd never been on a trip like this before. Becky later came up and said "You said out loud what ALL of us have been wanting to say since the beginning of the trip; and we know you even had them on your pre-trip," but there was still the implication that I was somehow wrong in saying it. But to the positive, we saw a couple of sloths curled up motionless and one memorable set of footage I hope I have of one crawling, high-speed, down a tree when the guide's imitation cry of a Harpy eagle, big enough to eat a sloth, sent him "hurrying" down into the foliage for protection. LOTS of birds, another Capped Heron flew gracefully by, lots of brown hawks, a few black hawks, fast kingfishers, herons, sparrows and wrens galore, and at the end a hawk dove for a marsupial duck which the noise of our approaching boat had driven to dive underwater just as the hawk swooped down on it, so I saw the swoop and the splash, but obviously nothing was gained by the hawk, though someone else said it swooped BACK immediately to try for the duck, which keeps its young in its pouch, again. Lots of trees marking the tree line, breakfast on trays at 8AM of a shredded chicken sandwich and a ham and cheese sandwich, with additional tomato slices, a box of pear juice, a juicy tangerine, a granola bar which was too sweet, and Vicki convulsed with laughter when her squeezed mayonnaise came out the back in a cum-shaped streak up from her wrist to her elbow on her blue poncho. Greg went for a pee, and big David pulled the boat close to shore to help ME pee, which was nice of him, AS was Cheri's handing me the ketchup passed from Pat to Leon, who COULD have reached it to me, but Cheri took it from him and handed to me, for which I thanked her. I told Susan that Cheri didn't seem to accept my apology, and she tartly replied that she was right not to do so. Johnny described the canoeing, either with a villager or alone, to "get to know them," and you "can wear shorts or a tee-shirt and sandals, don't bring a camera or binoculars, but a hat and sunscreen if needed." I thought it looked like rain when I got off the skiff at 9:30, but now at 10:33 it seems somewhat lighter as Paul goes out, with his drink, to "supervise the departure: they can't do it without me." Clear now, where it was slightly foggy and cloudy in places earlier, and Paul HAS a cold, and I've coughed a few times, but no more than usually, and I don't feel particularly cold-near, though maybe I should take the Vitamin C that Paul refused. Glance out at 10:35 to see 7 on one side, including Crissey, so I can hear her voice looming over all others. Boat leaves with about 15 people, and I buttonhole Susan and tell her the whole story, and she's wonderfully sympathetic, so I come down at 10:53 to my New Yorker, since there don't seem to be mosquitoes around. Take 3 grams (very old) Vitamin C, just in case, at 10:58AM. Sit and watch and video the brown mud stirred up in the black river, watch dogs swimming across, and video a vulture eating a dead chicken. Then lunch with Leon and Pat and a sick Paul, avocado salad again, and stuffed green pepper with a wonderful passion fruit sauce on catfish. Cake and ice cream for dessert, then up to watch the river pass as we dock at a village for their visit to us, meeting at 3PM, then going to "their place" which I leave just before the shopping goods arrive. Put Hydrocortisone on my ankles, which Johnny says are bitten with no see'ems. Then watch the 6PM cooking class for Juane, prepared for June 4 St. John's saint's day. Back to room to chat with Paul about future trips, not soon, and he goes and gets wine while I have 3 more grams of Vitamin C and type this to 7:02 while the band still plays above, pants rolled up to protect my healing ankles. Paul gets cold and decongestant medication from Becky, but still sounds awful: Hope I don't pick up his bug! Check tomorrow, much on-land, and farewell dinner on ship. Four days, only two complete days, only 8 meals left. OH, will I be happy when this is all over! Bell rings for dinner now at 7:03 while people are obviously dancing above, since the floor's shaking. Meet Paul coming downstairs with the wine and he says they are NOT dancing, though Pat said she and Leon WERE dancing. Oh, well. Sit at the end table and somehow they get the idea they're not welcome, and Sasha joins us for a wonderful set of conversations about American writers, opera, books, history, Serbia and Jugoslavia, and food and addresses, and Paul likes her and as I leave she says "I'm so glad to eat with you, thank you" and I say I agree, and thank YOU! Easy day tomorrow in Nauta and with last boat ride, and lots of tipping, unfortunately. Good fish with almonds, asparagus soup, salad-filled tomato, a lentil cake that could double as a hockey puck, and fruit and ice cream and chocolate sauce for dessert. Everyone still gathered on the shore of Las Palmas, so Paul locks our door. Brush teeth with brush, rubber tip, and small brush, feeling good about that, and then Paul goes into the bathroom to brush HIS teeth before I try for a last shit (maybe the excess Vitamin C will help with that) and will certainly get a lot of sleep before tomorrow's 7AM knock-up call for breakfast at 7:30. Paul's out at 8:33 and then in again. Oh, well. Essentially THREE days left with 7 meals only. Pee. More hydrocortisone on ankles. Bed 8:45. Sleep almost instantly. Pee 10:35.
FRIDAY, 12/1/06: 1:33AM: Pee, leaving tomorrow the LAST FULL DAY LEFT! 59 hours! 4:30AM: Wake with dream, pee, type dream to 4:34AM, now in bed just under 8 hours, and still 2.5 hours to wakeup knock. Feel a strange urge to shit while Paul is peeing, and go in 4:50-4:57 and dislodge a large turd (so I won't really HAVE to go until NYC!) and he asks if I'm OK, and I say, "Just uncoordinated." Will Actualism put me back to sleep for this next-to-last time on the Esmeralda? Do a session, but get up at 6:14 to look outside just as we're pulling away from a CUTE 17-18 year old with a definite six-pack and VERY low-slung blue jeans that I was about to roust Paul out to see as we pulled away, Hulber shouting last words of farewell down at the three or four older children and younger males remaining ashore. He tells Becky that the "marsupial duck" is a Sungrebe, which is in her book with no mention of its marsupial characteristics. Type now at 6:58, about to get the 7AM wakeup knock before 7:30 breakfast, cruising down to Nauta for our 8:30 tour. Well enough slept, but tomorrow supposedly we're up at 4:30, and then comes the Sunday morning double-flight marathon from Lima to Miami to NYC, Sasha flying almost the same schedule, but into Newark, which is convenient to her in Queens. I come down from the upper deck JUST as Cheri comes up, so we still haven't exchanged any words and I assume she's still terminally pissed at me. Hulber himself knocks on our door and I call out "Thank you." Today will involve the knotty problem of tipping. Reapply hydrocortisone to my improving ankles. I make the point to Paul about giving SEPARATE tips (he's not going to dilute his cheapness in tipping with MY cheapness in tipping!) and how he owes something like $15 more than me for the ship's bar bill, which we pay in the waiting room at Iquitos airport. The upper deck's railings and even floor were wet, it rained HARD last night and I didn't even hear it. Now 7:11, having told Paul about Jean-Pierre and how I at times fantasize his appearance on my doorstep, and he tells me of a couple of his encounters with sexy Frenchmen who never got back to him. Breakfast, Nauta, lunch, cruising to Iquitos, boat ride, dinner, early bed for early rise. Easy day and Paul and I agree it was about the perfect length for the trip, both feeling sorry for those who have to continue for a week in Machu Picchu. But they'll love it. Four pill compartments left filled in my plastic organizer, no apparent damage to my right eye from the DEET sting yesterday morning, pants rolled up to relieve chafing of my mosquito-no-see'um bites. Up on deck at 7:16 to see who joins us for breakfast, 7th-last meal of trip. Chat with Wiley and Susan about trip, breakfast alone with Paul, Sasha joining the Texas threesome, good omelet and more tangerine, and then Leon joins us at the end to tell us about his cryotherapy for prostate cancer when his PSA reached 17, involving freezing the prostate to -40 degrees IN SITU, twice, reducing his PSA to .2 and leaving his sexuality much reduced. Back to type this at 8:18, getting ready for trip to Nauta by shitting again, rather loose and rather yellow: another reason to be glad to be toward the end of the trip. Paul comes back, ear still being bent by Leon, and goes into john, me reminding him that I forgot to light a match. Now 8:26 and shoes and socks on and pants rolled back down, trusting to a short-sleeved shirt and an umbrella to get me through the morning in Nauta. Paul is the WAY last one on at 8:39, all of us looking up impatiently at him as he comes to talk to Johnny, then has to go BACK for his stuff via the FRONT of the boat, as if he doesn't even know how to get to his cabin! #30 Nauta 8:31. #31 waterfront 8:44, get talk in center of town, and we walk other way from group, all around town to hospital and far bridge, where I take video, and then back toward town square when he just wants to sit, so I climb hill and take #32 down to Maranon from town 9:26. #33 lake 9:58 in pedicab waiting for tour. Out onto the Iquitos highway and #34 stop in cars 10:08. Back around the end of town #35 10:12, and back to dock at 10:25. Look at stuff in shops, not interesting, though others are buying, Greg a miniature Esmeralda for 40 soles in a big box, detour away from main tourist market to take #36 local dock 10:27, sit and buy a 4S beer for 5S and share it, getting change from Pat and feeling quite high from it, laughing with everyone, feeling good in general, and #37 pier at 10:55 just before returning to ship at 11:05. Paul showers, I change film to roll 11 and type this to 11:21, ship on the way to Iquitos. Puzzles till 12:02, big lunch of chicken leg, steak, mashed potatoes, passion fruit cheesecake, fruit, purple-corn drink and another yellow fruit drink. Back at 1:10 to THREE envelopes for tips. Puzzle to 1:30, solving the top of Sunday's Times. Lay down, but just think and think: three more days, 5 more meals, just about 46 hours; then the things to do at home: get the $11,000 from Shelley, send in the films, proof the journal, catch up with website activity, hope I have an index at last, jerk off, catch up with the papers and the mail and the phone calls. Get groceries, eat out, catch up with trip lists, watch more videos, edit more files for Tristan. And all the Amazon is passing by: we'd passed the confluence of the Ucayali with the Maranon about 11:30 when they were doing the origami with table napkins upstairs. So I go up top 2:05-3:20, trying to remember what I SHOULD remember (though maybe I don't have to remember, if my fantasy of being a "transmitter" to some interplanetary intelligence transfers my sensual input to some sort of universal storage system---or, indeed, if I'm not PART of some universal storage system, allowing others to see through my eyes, either in real time or in "recorded" time, just as when I die I'll be able to choose OTHER lives to "live in real time" or "in recorded time."): the endless array of clouds over the flat floodplains; the ludicrous DIMINUTION of figures on the river, dwarfed by the SHEER SCALE of the river. The erosion patterns, the weaving back and forth of the ship among islands making the river look smaller or larger. Type 3:28-3:35 and Paul wants to do tips to 4. Up to map and birds, map to 4:18, birds to 4:34, and "15 minutes to boat ride." Now 4:39. Plastic shoes on, Paul returned his poncho, camera stuff back in bag, and ready to leave at 4:45, after 11 minutes. Slow to load, leave 4:55, up the creek and try to fish. Many SAY they get nibbles, until I get a couple, though it may have been the end of the pole knocking against a water-growing treelet. Chrissey actually CATCHES a 7-8 inch catfish, everyone photos it, and she throws it back. Other small fish, too fast to identify, pop out and pop right back in. I put new bait on mine, but a few minutes later half the bait is gone. More nibbles, and Paul pays 2 soles to Chrissey since he stupidly volunteers to do so. He gives me $20 to make up his difference in the bar bill. We move, fish again, spot three more birds that THEY say raises the total to 91, though the real end-of-afternoon total was 84, not 88. Get wet with lopsided boat until Paul changes sides, then we both get wet. Back at 6, no-see'ums biting neck, ankles itching like crazy in the pearlies, so now at 6:08 I move to put on more hydrocortisone. 6:14 decide to shower. Finish at 6:35, even using conditioner, boat rocking on way to Iquitos dock. Pack til bell for dinner rings at 6:59, and in to find Paul has paired up with David and Vicki, which is nice since we talk about who we are for the first time, enjoy a decent meal, and then the combo plays and I video lots of it, including "Yellow Bird" and did not go on to the presentation of certificates, and shaking hands all around, and go to the safe and get out the envelopes and give them to the crew, naturalist, and Johnny, and Paul stands behind me at this moment and complains about it before going in to brush his teeth, which is what I'd like to do, but can't now at 8:38, ready for 4:30 wakeup call. Brush teeth and pee to 8:42, ready to undress and crawl into bed at 8:45PM. Pee 10:35PM, and put on hydrocortisone.
SATURDAY, 12/2/06: Pee at 12:55AM. Pee at 2:15AM. Take 1.5g Vitamin C and two Fisherman's Friends to stop coughing, while Paul turns on light and reads because he can't sleep. I put on eyemask and start Actualism and actually fall asleep because I dream. 3:09AM: Finish typing dream, Paul finally having shut his light off and lying quietly in bed, so I go into the bathroom to type. Pee for the fourth time as a tiny red ant crawls down my right little finger. 3:18AM: Perversely, as I lay down, an increasing urge to shit takes over my lower bowel, and to obey, I get up, type this, and sit, expecting. 3:21AM: And, in fact, DO manage a fairly normal quantity and consistency of a shit. Astound myself by starting Actualism AGAIN and going to sleep AGAIN, and hear a gentle tap on the door, and ask Paul "Was that it?" And he looks at his watch and says "It's 4:30," and it is. Wash my face and pee AGAIN, and type this at 4:36, bed full of stuff to finish packing in my check-in bag. Manage to close my green bag and put it out by 4:45AM. Not much in my carryon, but have LOTS of volume to pick up again in Lima and a MAJOR repacking job to do. Now 4:49AM and ready to dress. Retrieve bag from outside to get out SOCKS, slather ankles with hydrocortisone again, put on socks and shoes and put slippers into Paul's carryon for the hotel. Put bag out AGAIN 4:55, after Paul leaves for breakfast. I'd squeezed both my Deet and Paul's Off into my check-in bag, but then remember I'd not taken out my READING and PUZZLE material for the flight, so I go the to bag AGAIN, glad it's not gone at 5:03. Then in to breakfast and Johnny says the bags are only to Lima, so I can LOCK mine, so I go BACK at 5:05 and bag's STILL there, Jorge asking for crisp singles for a wilted $5, but I say I have few singles. Breakfast to 5:24 with constantly-talking Shirley, feeling not AWAKE yet, and have some eggs and sausage and orange juice, and plead I MUST go back to room to lie down. No bell at 5:31, so I'm out to see Pat looking down, and she says they're boarding the bus already. I tell Paul, who's still in the bathroom, and go down and everyone's saying goodbye, so I just get on in the back, which is noisy, but it has the only clear window at the start, where I try to get a good photo of sparsely-populated, densely-built Iquitos, but #7 has a flash at 5:44, and #8 no flash at 5:45, not that interesting a shot. Pass Hiro-Hito Hospital. Lots of single women on the streets: prostitutes looking for last-minute clients? Lots of tuk-tuks buzzing around, two city parks, way out into suburbs that I remember NONE of, though we must have come IN this way? Johnny takes over the microphone and I hear very little of what he says. To airport at 6:05, into VIP lounge so Paul can pay the $144 bill for which he gives me $20 to clear his part of it, and I guess I shared about $100 worth of wine for 5 or 6 dinners. To check-in counter (unmanned) at 6:15, and one guy BUYS his ticket, which takes ten minutes, to 6:25, and then a couple jumps IN in front of everyone, and I see my bag at the end of the line and collect it and move in first, asking (thinking VERY hard about it, since I'm not really functioning; hope I'm not coming down with something), for a front seat on the RIGHT, knowing that we're going SOUTH, so right will be to the WEST, where the sun is NOT, and it suddenly gets sunny in the airport, so we might have SOME clear skies on the way back. Johnny says we've already paid our airport tax, so I still have 50S to get rid of. Back to lounge at 6:42, told we're boarding at 7AM, and type the notes with infinite mistakes to 6:50AM. Leave lounge at 7:10. Floor was WET, bag is WET on bottom. Check bag to 7:26, nothing wet inside. Get out New Yorker. Board plane 7:42, lovely seat, bag put on SIDE to dry better. 8AM: 1:25 flight. Take off at 8:07, much blue sky! #9 village. #10 probably Amazon 8:16. #13 ox-bow-to-be 8:28. #14 TOWN in upper left 8:37. #15 black and brown waters 8:40. Clouds overall by 8:46, but then clear for Andes. #16 snow-peaked Andes 8:55. #17 zoom 8:58. #19 zoom 9:03. #22 snow 9:07. Leaving Andes. #24 desert-hills 9:09. #25 town 9:10 [passenger: THERE for Josephson's "Touching the Void"?] Land 9:29, from ocean, last 15 minutes totally clouded, 68 F! Off plane 9:35, onto bus 9:56 with luggage and Ayul for Cuzco. Bus leaves airport 10:01. 13 of us (AA and Delta) leave 9:15PM, bags out 9PM. To second El Condado 10:40, room 1003, in BACK, with toilet seat that stays UP. Paul tells desk clerk to send Jose over here if he shows up. Start typing 10:50, neither check-in bags nor left-bags up yet, my bag dry enough for now, and I put on fan to circulate humid air. Paul's determined we lunch at Haiti and dine at some other place. I said I'd rest now that I'm caught up at 11:02AM. Lay for a SECOND and he's back with bags, which I unpack, and then with left-items, which I also unpack, finding I'm on roll 10 of film. Lots of stuff to pile up by 11:28. Sort stuff, drink wine and have blue cheese with Paul, to nap at 12:10. But after about ten minutes the phone rings and it's Jose! Paul says I can just stay with my head turned, so I figure it might be half an hour, an hour, so I lay there, not sleeping, but it feels good to rest. Until it doesn't. I start moving around, after their voices have stopped, and maybe Jose left and Paul is napping? Raise my eyemask and they're both lying there! I get up, pee, dress, they wake and say they'll join me downstairs shortly. I read, Pat and Leon chat with me and I dearly hope they leave before they come down, and to my relief they do. I read, they come down, we walk to Kennedy Park for a late lunch at Haiti, very good flounder, breaded, with a side of mushrooms, but I have to ask for the tartar sauce on the menu. Look at not very interesting people pass, but Paul says it gets cruisier in the evening. Conversation somewhat awkward, but Jose asks how to say various things, we ask him about various buildings, then take a walk through the art around the park, the book fair along one side, and walk down various streets until we come to the hotel at 3:53. Paul walks off with him while I go to the room and pee. Paul enters quickly, talking about walking to the Pacific to a restaurant he likes for a snack before I leave. I put sandwiches into fridge, writing myself a note to take them. Room is too warm, I'm not sleepy, but don't know what else to do. Paul gets back into bed at 4:06! Sudoku to 5:20, when I suggest a walk to a section Paul likes, and we leave 5:30 to walk. Get a map which shows where we are in relation to Larco, and the "supermodern," as Paul calls it, shopping and drinking and dining area called Larco Mar on the map. We walk top to bottom and finally end up at Mango, which he'd been to before, and I have a maracuja (later find it's passion fruit) sour and he TWO pisco sours, and we move to a corner table looking over Rosa Nautica, where Paul and Shirley and others had a $50 lunch while the rest of us went to Nazca, and up the coast where he and a friend once hired a taxi to a nude beach on the Pacific south of Lima. No fuss by the waiter when we moved tables, Paul paid the bill with the last of HIS soles, and we get back to the hotel down a different street, encouraged by the fact we have a map, and get back at 8:05, where I catch up with this at 8:14 and prepare to check the final bill with Paul and do my final packing. 8:23: Realize I haven't taken out my HOUSE keys, and while I debated searching the "to do" bag for the Valium, now I MUST search for my HOUSE KEYS (and US change, if it's there). 8:31: reclose the green bag, keys out, and it looks like the carryon will be QUITE light. 8:45: Carryon heavy enough that I'll have to find a real bargain before I buy a duty-free bottle of booze to add to it. Put green bag out, stuffed to repletion when I added my sweater and beret, realizing I wouldn't need them until NYC, when I'll HAVE my checked-in bag [though, as it turned out, I DIDN'T, but didn't need them]. Paul gets a phone call from someone in TOKYO when he's in PERU, modern technology is truly incredible! 8;53: Give Paul $80 cash to clear our accounts: "Everything's fine," per him. Bag in hall, last face-wash, keys in "smile" bag, reading material and puzzles and passport and tickets handy, I'm ready to go: with Wiley and Susan, Lynn and Shirley, and Susan for AA, with others two hours later for Delta. Sit in lobby at 9:05, ignoring most conversations. Board bus 9:18, front right. Bus leaves 9:23. To airport 10:05. Onto LONG AA line 10:14. "Plane is an hour late." I finish 11/6 New Yorker at 11:05 and start 11/13 New Yorker. Get boarding pass at 11:40, almost an hour and a half! They say I won't make 8AM Miami departure, but when I hear the alternative leaves at 4PM, I say I'll try for the 8AM, figuring it, too, might be late. If I miss it, I can try for standby on earlier NYC flights. Onto immigration control line at 11:48, through that relatively quickly by 12:11AM.
SUNDAY, 12/4/06: Through security by 12:17AM. Buy bottle of Pisco Quebranta for $15 at 12:26. To gate 19, saying 1:15 departure, at 12:29. Read, eat a chopped chicken on croissant and drink rather awful flavored water, read, and board at 1:15 for announced 5:10 flight, off at 1:52. Take two Ambien at 2:08AM, start Actualism, and actually fall asleep, to wake at 6:17AM, happy to have slept over 4 hours. 6:56AM land in Miami, into terminal 6:59, and at 7AM sun JUST up. Through immigration at 7:13, no help at luggage, wait for bag until 7:37. Put it through to "Correspondence" at 7:41 to be told plane is loading, luggage has stopped being loaded, and there's no way for me to get on: go to AA ticketing for next flight. Then at 7:47 get called back to be told 8AM flight is DELAYED! Dash to gate D34, 7:51 on long line for D34, hot, staggering, yet hopeful. Gate SAYS D31-D51, I think I'm going to gate 53, she says OK. I push carryon through security, with shoes, videocamera and computer out, to 8:04. 8:08 to D34, and ON at 8:16 as they're calling my name: "We delayed 20 minutes---for you!" 2:10 flight, 35F in NYC. Move back from dock at 8:21. 8:29 sit, drink two orange juices with GREAT relief! Off at 8:32, #26 Miami island at 8:34. #27 clouded beach 8:36. #28 North Beach maxi-zoom 8:38. Drop pen; guy sitting behind me gives it back. #29 New Jersey 10:23. #30 New Jersey towns 10:26. #31 Atlantic City(?) 10:28. #32 Sandy Hook with zoom 10:30. #33 Manhattan as "unidentifiable brown" 10:36. #34 Breezy Point 10:38. #35 NOT Manhattan(?) 10:40. Land at 10:45. Baggage announced as being at C2. NO Manhattan in view as plane taxis forever, finally stopping at 10:55. Off plane 11AM. Pee and shit to Bing Crosby's "Merry Little Christmas Song" and others to 11:08. To baggage at 11:20, slow in coming out. Finally it's clear mine isn't there, so to baggage CLAIM at 11:45: bag coming in on 4PM Miami flight and will be delivered to my APARTMENT, and TONIGHT! Out at 11:55 and to Airtrain at noon, going from terminal 8/9 to terminal 4 before I decide I'd better transfer to train 1 at 12:11, which goes back from terminals 4 through 9 to Howard Beach station at 12:26. Down to wrong side, and cross over to Manhattan side at 12:35. Cost $5 for airtrain and $1 for a metro transfer for my senior card. Onto A train at 12:43 and off at 1:12 and home at 1:23. Lunch to 2:05, do puzzles, and so tired and exhausted that I go to bed at 3:08 and lay and think and up at 5:08, maybe having dozed off a bit. Get e-mail 5:23-5:50. Ken has forwarded Jean Clotte's African tour $5670 land, $850 flight from Paris to Agades, needing a yellow fever vaccine. Call Ken and he's NOT interested, but he tells me that El Bulli takes reservations ON ONE DAY, and is booked for 2007, but he still wants to go after I say I WON'T go, since El Bulli was the PURPOSE of my trip! He's pissed. Pick up today's Times from Beverly, leave word with Shelley and Bill Petersen, who later comes up with the Timeses. Call Spartacus 6:25-6:38PM, Bob Lambiase in pain, and Ken cries about El Bulli to 7:50, and talk to Fred to 8:30. Clean out shit-smelling Vicks-tube with much hand-washing. Bed exhausted 10:45PM.
MONDAY, 12/4/06: THOUGHT clock said 4:25 when I woke with a jolt to a "phantom phone" ring, but when I looked at clock AGAIN, it was 2:46 when I woke to pee, coughing, made a Chin-list, and drank good-tasting cold water, glad I could throw nose-blow toilet paper into the toilet rather than into a can NEXT to the toilet. Nose running lots, lots of mucus. Cold in bedroom even with living room heat on. Type to 2:55AM. Pee a bit AGAIN and drink ice-water AGAIN in sheer luxury of being HOME! 6:15AM: Wake with a slight urge to piss and shit, but lay anyway until the clock flips from 6:32 to 6:33, when I debate lying until 6:45 to make my bed-time (ignoring the interposed wake-times) exactly 8 hours, but then the phone rings, and I get out of bed to hear the message, a short blurt of what I take to be Spanish, something about "airport," and I figure it's about my luggage. While I'm listening a SECOND time, to try to make sense of the message, the phone rings AGAIN, and after about four "Hello's" from me, someone answers in what I take to be Spanish, and says something like "101," and I respond, "Yes, 101 Clark Street." He responds with what I take to be "Can I leave it with the doorman?" and I say "Yes, yes, OK with doorman," and quickly dress and go down and the short-dredded black says it's there, the guy was "Bangladeshi," or "Ben Ladenish," so some kind of Arab, and THERE'S the bag. I take it upstairs and feel the top to feel NO bottle, just an empty space, and I think "DAMN, he took the PISCO!" But when I open the case, there's the Pisco container, flattened on one side, with a suspicious emptiness on top that I allay with checking that my dop kit was put into my carryon and thus HERE, and I guess things just SETTLED, but I haven't yet unpacked to see if everything is there, finishing this at 6:58AM, still feeling somewhat stuporous from lack of sleep. Look at magazines, do puzzles, get call from Shelley who'll loan me $8000 tomorrow morning, do more phoning, generally waste time, just DELIGHTED to be home. Don't even feel like jerking off. Watch "The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines" until 11PM and bed 11:35PM after taking three grams of Vitamin C and a salt gargle because my throat is QUITE sore.
TUESDAY, 12/5/06: 1:08AM put heavy blanket on and pee. Pee at 4:43. Do Actualism to gain energy. Pee at 6:20, seeing mympths, and up at 7:07AM. More time doing puzzles and Sudoku and Spider, not feeling like accomplishing anything. Bill told me about Village Playwright's free Wings repeat of their play-evening, and Charles agrees to join me, so we dine at The Spotted Pig, great hamburg even Charles admits, and see fairly decent plays. Bed 11:08PM.
WEDNESDAY, 12/6/06: Pee at 6AM, write dream. Do Actualism, see mympths, up at 6:40AM to jerk off rather nicely. Shelley calls about 9:10AM, banking takes a long time, I borrow $12,000, get stuff for her at Rite-Aid and Key, stopped off to see Chin, who says my throat is OK, but gives me an ENT appointment for February 1. I decide I MUST go to the gym, between watching tapes of "The Cider House Rules" that I taped last night, and "The Other Side of the Bed" and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" on Ken's tape so I can return it to him at the Beard tonight, good food for $100, after seeing Sharon, who phoned earlier to make sure I was coming in. I seem to have a NEW bite higher on left ankle! Put on hydrocortisone and get to bed 11PM, still exhausted from trip.
THURSDAY, 12/7/06: Up at 7:01AM, jerk off again, go through most of the mail, much of the Times, puzzles, Spider, watch "The End of Days" that I taped last night that I SAW before in 2000 but remembered NONE of it! Called for more bounced-check protection, called Sherryl, Steve, Anita, Stephanie, Piri, Judy, John and Billy, Tris and Tori, Arnold, and Anthony and Cookie Gray before I found the LIST I'd made before, with Piri and Anita COMING, and Judy and Piri both call to say they're coming, I finish Saturday's puzzle compulsively to 11:55PM bed, still exhausted.
FRIDAY, 12/8/06: Pee and shit at 6:15, happy to go so long without waking, and up at 7:08, just GOT to DO. Watch "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" that I taped last night, have penultimate egg-salad delicious-sandwich, followed by oatmeal about 10AM, finishing the Times and putting newspapers and magazines out at 12:05, Put more things away, play lots of Spider, phone Mildred who wants to see Nazca video, so she's coming over 3:30PM tomorrow and I phone Charles to join us. Later think I might volunteer to show them the Italy slides they can't see on Monday night. Then finish transcribing these notes and coming up to date by 4:10PM, blanket over legs and feet at cold window, 19F last night. Unpack a lot, still leaving table covered with empty plastic bags. Sorry to find gate-model broken at base, as is REAL gate. Finish proofing this at 7:45PM, having just arranged a 12/30 dinner at Le Grenouille with Ken at 7:30. Type 2 slide-pages to 8:35PM. Go for summary, finishing at 9:40PM, tired and hungry.
SUMMARY
SAT,11/18/06: Brooklyn Deli airport lunch. Fly JFK-MIA 2:40-5:06. To Paul's on Sans Souci 6PM. Dine at Casa Mia. Fly out of Miami 11:30PM.
SUN,11/19: Land 6:36AM in La Paz, Bolivia. Breakfast in Plaza Hotel. Nap. Lunch. Walking tour of La Paz 2:40-4:47. Dinner and "excrementectomy."
MON,11/20: Killi-Killi for view; shops in bus; lunch at Overland Restaurant. Valley of the Moon, Witches Market, and dinner at Marbella: Wienerschnitzel.
TUE,11/21: Bus to Tiwanaku for 2 museums and ruins. Box lunch. Cross border to Peru. Church in Pomato. Taypikala Hotel in Chucuito for dinner.
WED,11/22: Bus and boat to reed islands and Island-Aymaras in Lake Titicaca. Tricycle ride in Puno to restaurant, then Coca Museum, Puma-viewpoint, hotel
THU,11/23: Bus to Sillustani burial towers, Lake Umaji; house visit, buying alpaca gloves for 5S, about $1.50. Fly Juliaca-Arequipa 4:09-4:43, Arequipa-Lima 5:16-6:24. Pick up Johnny at gas station, El Condado Hotel II dinner.
FRI,11/24: Pisco Sours at intro talk at 11:10AM. Restaurant Ricota lunch with new group. Lima city tour by bus: Franciscan Monastery, Presidential Palace, Cathedral, Museum of Incas. Good dinner at Costa Verde, lots of alcohol.
SAT,11/25: Fly Lima-Ica 8:03-8:49. Fly 10:14-11:31, but only over Nazca lines 10:39-11:05. Condor out of cage. Lunch at deluxe Las Dunes. Fly to Lima 2:44-3:33. Shop, leave stuff, bed without dinner, I think?
SUN,11/26: Fly Lima-Iquitos 6:19-7:42. Walking tour of market, Donna's necklace snatched. Parade and stalls in main square. To Esmeralda 10:51, take off quickly, lunch on ship, boat ride cancelled, Pisco Sour making, dinner, bed.
MON,11/27: Morning boat tour 6:35-7:35, visit an Indian village, lunch, sit on deck, afternoon jungle-walk to sales area via termites and Victoria Regia. Eat.
TUE,11/28: Morning boat 6:05-7:27: hoatzin. Lunch, shaman visit 3:15-4:30, catamaran to capybaras, woolly monkeys, gay dancers, snacks, small dinner, night jungle-walk 8:36-9:22, noisy with people.
WED,11/29: Catamaran with Paul and Leon and two guides, with otter and heron, to skywalk, two anacondas in a zoo, a caiman head, then wonderful home-hosted lunch 12-2 with local food. Sit at very prow of ship. Asked 2 questions. Ate, then went for night boat-ride ("So much for silence" from me) 8:31-9:21.
THU,11/30: Morning boat-trip with my explosion at jabberers after box breakfast. Sloths. Skip canoeing with Indians. Nice group visited from village and we returned visit to village. Skip band; Sasha at dinner nice.
FRI,12/1: Walking visit to Nauta, ride down Iquitos highway in pedicab, puzzles and last sit on deck before fishing for piranha, dinner, & final "festivities."
SAT,12/2: Leave ship 5:35AM, fly Iquitos-Lima 8:07-9:29. El Condado for rest, then Paul gets Jose, we lunch at Haiti, drinks at Mango in Larco Mar, leave for airport 9:23. Plane late.
SUN,12/3: Fly Lima-Miami 1:52AM-6:56AM; fly Miami-JFK 8:32AM-10:45AM. Bag later, Airtrain to A train, home 1:23, puzzles, nap, e-mail, bed 10:45 TIRED.
MON,12/4: Bag arrives 6:35AM, magazine puzzles, arrange loan from Shelley.
TUE,12/5: Borrow $12,000 from Shelley, see Chin,Spotted Pig dinner,Wings plays.
WED,12/6: Gym first time in month, watch movies on tape, Sharon,Beard with Ken.
THU,12/7: Finish most of mail and Times, call for Monday's Italy slides. Eat.
FRI,12/8: Call Mildred, transcribe notes, proof log, finish this to 9:40PM.
SAT,12/9: Read the Times and do all puzzles, put last bags in OAT bag in closet, rest of stuff on 1 stack, show Amazon video to Mildred & Charles/pizza.
SUN,12/10: Pee once at night, get Times from door, type dream, print this page.