The porters were placing a metal trunk on a wooden dugout canoe, for crossing a river during flood season. The trunk was so wide that it could not be placed in the bottom of the canoe. It had to be balanced on top of the wooden sides, along with the bamboo carrying pole, and ferried across by two expert paddlers. The woven fiber basket carried a couple of chickens that were taken along, for dinners.One of the difficulties of doing extended field work was the need to carry large sums of cash to pay the locals. I learned to take along my own insurance: a snake. For the pictured trunk, for instance, I had opened it in front of the village chief, telling him that it was the trip's bank, and then placed a snake inside, thus insuring complete compliance to the "Do not Open" request. The chief had sucked in his breath, gravely thanking me for telling him, so as to avoid any accidental accidents by the villagers.
Photo by D. Messinger
1 comment:
Interesting… I keep coming back here for the easy-to-read accounts of mission, struggle, joy, determination, drama, danger, humor, unusual daily activities, odd acquaintances… I’ve noticed that no one post comments. You must have a thousand friends as you are apparently so intelligent, articulate, active, determined, caring. I think I know what I find so compelling: the stories of your life are so full of action and compassion-- like from a novel. If it weren’t for the pictures I’d imagine you to be a plain-looking literature teacher from a small quiet northern town, all alone with her cats and dreams, spinning these fantastic anecdotes of her “alter-life” from an over-stuffed sofa in a dreary apartment… “And, then we all jumped in a canoe as I held the injured monkey in one arm and a paddle in the other. If only I had taken the time to eat that day, I might have been able to better help navigate the rapids…” Guillaume
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