Madagascar, October 2000 My face was pressed against a steamy taxi window, staring at moving images while I tried to spirit my mind halfway around the globe. This place was, by map miles, the farthest location on the planet away from my home. My time in Madagascar had been difficult. I was physically exhausted from…
Continued from https://shawnsmallstories.com/an-amazon-adventure-part-i/ A few days downriver, we stayed in the small village of Oran. The village mayor greeted us as special guests and allowed us to set up our tents on his elevated porch. The deck, like the rest of the houses in Oran, sat on stilts ten feet off the ground, leaving a…
As I disembarked from the airplane into the jungle-walled town of Iquitos, Peru, I wrote in my journal: This is insanity. I’ve finally tipped over the edge. I’m about to vanish into the Amazon jungle for two weeks, be exposed to God knows what, and be out of range of any modern communication. If I…
All eyes were on me, willing me to jump. The perception of danger was palpable enough that several people took out their cell phones, ready to record if the blue waters turned crimson. My pulse raced as I looked down to the dark shadows rocketing through the waters below me. As I stood on the…