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In Amazonas - 1998
In Amazonas - 1998
Jacek Pałkiewicz2006-06-18 22:36:03
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origin in this whole vast region. Seeing me approach, he muttered "Cinco minutos o mas". I was in no hurry to set off; I was more interested in discovering what had prompted him to live in this God-forsaken spot. "Amigo", I called him. He turned round slowly to face me. " Yo soy el tigre" he said rather sharply and then turned back to his work, ending the conversation.
He called a pair of Indians over to help him with a curiuos high-pitched cry. Then with a feline leap he sprang, barefoot, onto the Fokker's wing and ordered them to pass up the jerry cans one at a time, while he poured the petrol into the vehicle's tanks. A light breeze was blowing, causing him to spill some of the fluid , which ran over the surface of the wing, forming a pinkish rivulet which dripped off into the ground.
At last the aeroplane was ready to depart, its heavy load carefully stowed away, the engines roaring. I sat down behind the pilot, to facilitate taking photographs and relaxed, awating take-off. I stayed calm until I noticed that sweat was running down El Tigre's neck in an alarming fashion. I wondered if it was due to a combination of the heat, the sun and the beer he had drunk. We began bouncing down the runway. The noise of the engine seemed to fill the whole fuselage. We were rushing towards the end of the strip, dangerously quickly, or so it appeared to me. I could make out the branches in the trees in front of us when, at the last possible moment, El Tigre lifted the plane off the ground, clearing the green sea below by a matter of inches.
El Tigre gave a low whistle, shook his head, turned round and said, with a satisfied expression, " I was really curious to know whether we'd do it, seeing that we're hauling twice as much cargo as the plane is permitted to carry".
That explained why he had been sweating.
We arrived at Puerto Ayacucho, where all my carefully laid plans were wrecked by the guerrilla was against
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See photographs from:
Brazil Gallery
