The 2023 Brazil Journals, Chapter Fourteen

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Chapter Fourteen

Adventures of the Last Luddite*

 

 

 

When something goes wrong in your life,

just yell ’plot twist’ and move on.

—Author unkown.

 

 

The girls continue to drag me into 21^st century tech whether I want to go there or not.  Now they have me making my notes on my cell phone instead of the little notebooks I’ve always used.

 

This might be a good thing, I think.   Writing notes while in a moving vehicle or boat results in lousy handwriting and indecipherable notes.  Dictating into a phone might be a whole lot better.

 

Vermillion flycatcher

So, I try it.  I select Notes, tap the microphone icon, and dictate.   This is what happens over the first few days, with translations in bold face:

 

         Cuckoo juice (no idea)

         Dads Carson (no idea)

         Magus I stork (maguari stork)

Roof is still jackhammer roof is still jackhammer roof is still jackhammer.  (rufous-tailed jacamar)

         Hi Jason f**k Karen entr injury (?)

         Took a good time took a good time (toucan)

         

For the first time I used a piece of the reindeer I brought on the strip, but I used the rain jacket for the camera and lens to keep the pencil off and keep overheating. (about using a camera raincoat to keep the sun off the camera and lens)

 

And so on.   Once it got used to my voice, things improved.   And then came the day when it all went to heck.

 

Crab-eating fox.   Photo taken at night under artificial light.  Crab-eating foxes really do search for and eat crabs during the flood seasons.   They are not related to  foxes.

 

We’re on our first boat drive on the Rio Negro at Fazenda Barranco Alto lodge.  Virginia and I are in one small boat with Octavio as the driver.   Or rather, he would be the driver if the outboard would start.

First boat ride on the Rio Negro, early morning.

 

He yanks the recoil starter cord again and again and finally it sputters and starts.

We back off the shore, Octavio turns the rudder, and we follow the other boat with Shelly and Laura.  They have a fair head start and that remains so for the whole of our upstream voyage.

Shelly and Laura in Fernando's boat.

 

I have my cell and am dictating notes as necessary.

 

This is a pleasant river to float with lots of bird life.  It is quite isolated and almost impossible for others to reach it, so we have the river to ourselves.  We stop to photograph the birds but every time Octavio kills the outboard so we can get a shot without the vibration of the outboard,  he has to fuss with the outboard.   

This becomes such a drag and we lose so much time.   eventually, it refuses to start at all.  They call for another boat to replace ours.

I notice that when it does start, it seems to consume what little gasoline is primed by pulling the cord and figure that it isn't getting a regular supply of gas.   This proves to be true when the mechanic finds a dirt fuel filter.

Rufous-tailed jacamar, or the infamous "roof is still jackhammer" if you were paying attention to my notes on the cell phone.

Ringed Kingfisher

Green Kingfisher

Ringed Kingfisher, female

Ringed Kingfisher, male

 

In the meantime, Shelly's and Laura’s boat goes around a corner and in the  far distance they see a jaguar swim across the river and exit onto the shore.   They are so far away from it that there are no photos, but Shelly and Laura thereby lose the refund Octavio promised us if we didn’t see any jaguars!   Virginia and I are still in the running.

 

The substitute boat arrives and the bow of our boat is dragged onto the shore so we can exit safely and not fall into the piranha and caiman-infested water.

Octavio now has a boat with an outboard that starts.   He is happy.  Note that he is wearing a neck gaiter like the ones he gave us, the ones we aren't wearing--yet.   It is still hot!

 

The seats in this boat are different.   They are loosely attached  with a bracket that has a lip that fits over the front edge on a wide crossbar.  That bracket holds the seat frame an inch or so above the crossbar.

 

So, off we go upstream.   

Cocoi heron.   They resemble the African gray heron but have slightly different markings.

Pied Lapwing

Black skimmer with fish.   Note how the upper bill is shorter than the lower.

Skimmers feed by skimming low over the water and scooping up fish.

Still hasn't decided what to do with the fish.

 

We stop to photograph a bird and when I reach for my phone to record its name, I can’t find it.  It should be lying on my vest that is draped on the crossbar beside me.  I search my pockets several times and my camera bag also.   I take everything out, unzip all the pockets.   Look on the floor of the boat.

No luck.

 

I’ve lost my cell.   

 

Before I say anything, I consider what important data I won’t have if I don’t find it.   Surprisingly, it’s all the notes I’ve been making the last few days that I will miss the most.  

Not my airline reservations, hotel reservations, etc.   I have paper backups for those.

 

But my dictated notes!   So much for being a Luddite.

 

Virginia on the Rio Negro.

 

Parakeets build their nests under the nests of larger birds.

Two nests in this tree--one high on the right and one lower on the left.

Hyacinth macaw, the largest parrot in the world, in flight.   I learned something from this photo.   I knew it was going to fly so I had my lens on it.   I sure didn't expect it to plummet so close to the ground, though.

Hyacinth macaw looking into its nest.

Vermillion flycatcher.

 

 

 

 *Luddite:  A person opposed to new technology or ways of working.  

With me, it's just the cell.  I don't want to have to rely on it all the time.