Post #328485 by The Gnomon on Mon, Aug 27, 2007 9:59 AM

On 2007-08-22 13:56, Jungle Trader wrote:
Hey Gnomon, anymore stories of your jungle experience? I dig 'em.
"Midnight in Ethiopa" by Rico is one of my all time fave instrumentals. Listen to it loud with herb.....or not.

Lots. The aforementioned month in the upper Amazon basin was my only truly jungle trip. Living in Bogotá, there was also the periodic weekend excursion to tierra caliente which is jungle-like. Most people would think of that as jungle from the lush foliage.

The true jungle also has its share of lush foliage, especially, close to the rivers, but a lot of it consists of huge trees that shoot up a couple hundred feet with all of their foliage up there in the canopy, where they can get sunlight. Anyway, my month in the jungle was two weeks going downstream (el Caquetá) in a giant dugout canoe with dual outboard motors; then two weeks chugging upstream (el Putumayo) in a covered cargo boat.

Being that the transportation was provided by Comerciantes (Jungle Traders), besides stopping overnight tying up to trees along the river banks in the middle of nowhere, we'd lay up for a couple of days here and there when we came to a village where the Comerciante did trading business. We'd find out how much time we had to explore (usually 1 – 2 days), then my friends and I would head out into the surrounding countryside, which was sometimes jungle farmland, otherwise, just jungle. Almost got lost a couple of times. When you get out into the tall trees sometimes all directions look the same, plus it's hard to gauge where you are by the sun, which is just a broad glow up above the canopy.

Each day was an adventure. Some days moreso than others.

As for "Midnight in Ethiopia," listen to it loud with or without herb, or listen to it with herb loud or not loud?