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In Amazonas - 1998
In Amazonas - 1998
Jacek Pałkiewicz2006-06-18 22:36:03
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his father, standing silently and still by the rudder, would tap him with his hand and the child would jump to his feet alertly to hear his father tell him all the secrets of the river: a rock with an unusual shape or colour, a tributary pouring reddish, tannin-impregnated water into the main stream, a thicket of palms on a low ridge. These numerous little details were things which would help the boy find his way about and which he needed to learn as quickly as possible.
The boy's attentive, intelligent eyes flicked around, imprinting every possible detail in his memory. To my surprise, however, his eyes were not plain black, but had tints of a gloden, caramel-like colour. I found myself thinking once more of the incredible mixture of races and people in this part of the world, and wondering how far back down the generations one would have to go to trace the gene which had caused the fluke of this boy's black and gold eys.
All of a sudden we were hit by a storm of biblical proportions. In front of us there was a cloudless blue sky, behind us there was an angry hard of huge, black clouds and pelting rain that obscured the forest from sight. Flashes of lightening tore through the clouds like shining knives through canvas. We had nowhere to take shelter. The river was dark and froathing, and its gloomy and menacing banks offered no prospects of refuge. The rain was coming down in buckets full, not drops. Resignedly, we continued on our course, weaving our way through a maze of almost invisible black rocks, shivering from the cold, untropical air brought by the storm.
Before nightfall, which was preceded by some disturbing howling by the wild dogs which hunt the forest in packs, we arrived at a sandbank in the river upon which were scattered several large, round huts. The smell of wood-smoke wafted to us across the water.
We got out of our boat one by one, sliding helplessly in the sticky clay. Everybody laughed until it was their turn
...
See photographs from:
Brazil Gallery
