Anaconda Island

Jan 6

I am deterred from swimming in the rio by the realization that the massive camalote which, in the strong current of the Rio Paraguay, has firmly planted itself to our anchor chain -- a dense green island of shiny leaves and grasses and tubers and prickly red flowers, spanning the full width of the catamaran -- is also habitat for poisonous snakes.

Yes our own ‘Anaconda Island’ has put down roots, in a rootless way, beneath DOMINO: draping half the length of her hulls, and precariously close to the swim ladder astern. There’s no way in hell I’m getting in the water, just 15 feet from Club Med for snakes and lizards, no matter how hot it gets …

I know we don’t get to choose how, or when, or where we kick the bucket …. But this is just too unglamorous for me: the thought of being crushed by a giant anaconda that went undetected in the muddy mire; my last startled breath gasping in the polluted water of the Rio Paraguay. If they ever found my remains in this opacity it would be a miracle: twisted in the trash along the river’s edge.

(Still, I cannot count the immeasurable number of camalotes that have drifted by on the endless current of the Rio to the ocean 1300k beyond … and wish to be one of these floating islands of foliage and snakes; instead of anchored abreast the dump and astillero!)

Later a storm blows in briskly. We barely have time to close the hatches when the first blast hits – the remains of our lunch, tools, garbage – all strewn everywhere. DOMINO spins and tugs against the massive bow anchor until the storm dims enough for us to put out a stern anchor too. In the process Anaconda Island has dislodged and is on its merry way down the rio. Swimming is once again hopeful.

… until today (Jan 8) when I go for a dip, and something hidden in the muddy water nibbles and scratches at my left arm. A cool shower will do!

DOMINO HAS LEFT THE BUILDING!

Jan 9 - UPDATE

Seriously! We have left the astillero (this is Spanish for ‘shipyard’, if you are wondering) and headed south for good, leaving amidst a small rain storm and gunning the engines to give the John Deeres a workout, back to the YC from whence we will leave Friday Jan 15. God willing!

It’s cool and the mosquitoes seem to be at bay (even so I’m slicked up with OFF) … our little croc seems quite vociferous tonight so I go on deck to listen and see if I can spot him; I’m in a sarong, eating a peach Marie got from a street vendor, looking at the rare starry sky. There are several dogs barking idiotically in the dark and I half wish our resident caiman would quiet them once and for all …