FishNet Explore 97 - Daily Diary - August 1, 1997

[William Vannerson <William_Vannerson@ama-assn.org>]

Daily Diary - August 1, 1997
 
 This morning I awoke to the calls of the roosters and
chickens as well as the noises of the farm family.  Apparently
at daybreak, everything gets in order, with the first thing being
to milk the cow which they have for the small baby in the
family. I was offered a small glass of warm cow's milk on a
plate and thought that this was hospitality of a high degree
from this small, in our eyes, poor, family.
 
 Later, the head of the family, a boy of approximate 19 years
of age, brought me some fresh lemons and made me some
lemonade.  He and I went later down to John's Jacuzzi and
had some fun in this area I had renamed.  The water was
wonderfully cool to me and very refreshing, but to him it was
cold.
 
 I spent the rest of the morning working with my generator
which gave me other problems to add to the ones I had
already encountered.  After about 5-10 minutes of operation,
the generator would go into some sort of power surge after
which the generator would shut itself off.  I would get a
graphic part of the way sent and then the generator would go
into overdrive and shut down, cutting off my power.
 
 Later that afternoon the boy and I went back to John's
Jacuzzi for some snorkeling.  I got out my video camera and
shot some video of the area.  While snorkeling, I lost my
snorkel and in an effort to catch it in the fast-running stream, I
managed to gash my foot on an underwater limb.  I know I
lost about a pint of blood as we struggled to apply a pressure
bandage to stop the bleeding.  With the boy's help I managed
to hobble back to my tent and spent the rest of the evening
putting antibiotic cream on the wound and keeping it elevated.
 
 The night brought more of the monsoon-like rains which my
tent weathered quite well.  However, the clothes I had hung
outside on a barbed-wire fence were drenched.
 
 I think tomorrow I will try to get back to Eirunepe to get the
rest of my gear, some clean clothing and medical attention
for my foot.  It will be a personal challenge to hike back all
the way with my injury.
 
 ==John==
 Reporting from the Amazon