July 18, 2007
We have a friend, Alfredo, who loves to sail. He loves everything about sailing: he waxes poetic about famous boats and races held decades ago; gives detailed lectures on sailing's technical aspects; and in fact teaches a one week course on sailing in southern Italy every summer. All of which makes me wonder what he would have thought about our 12 km pirogue trip to the coastal fishing village of Evatra, through palm lined canals and lakes.
One of the aspects of life in poorer countries that will always amaze me is peoples' ingenuity; not having ready-made goods requires that you create them yourself. The pirogue we used is a hollowed-out trunk of a Eucalyptus tree, large enough to hold five people. The left side bulges out in a greater curve, which Ernesto, the captain, counterbalances by carefully seating everyone, staggering us so I'm the only one sitting in the center of my wooden plank of a seat, in the center of the priogue. Which leaks slightly, so I periodically hear Ernesto using a cut-up plastic water bottle to scoop out the excess water, dumping it over the side. And then there's the sail.
Instead of a custom made sail, the sail hoisted on the pirogue is made of two empty 50 kg bags of Pakistan Long Grain White Rice Reap No: 2-1-91-1022. The bags are each cut lengthwise down both sides and then sewn together on one long edge to create a square. A square of untrimmed raveling edges, hoisted up by blue twine onto a two meter branch cut from a tree, curving slightly towards to top with a convenient 'Y' over which the twine runs. The twine is tied around the front plank, the first paddler's seat, to keep it secure. And it works beautifully, other than the fact that Jean, the first paddler, has to use his paddle to hammer the mast into its hole every twenty minutes or so. But when the wind picks up we plough through the water, sliding past palms, birds and at one point, a small crocodile. I wish Alfredo had been there to enjoy it with us.
