One Mistake Too Many

On march 27, 2007 i began my six month trip into the wild and had no cares in the world. This was the most exciting time of my entire life and being alone for the first time was a great accomplishment for me. 16 hours had not even passed before i started to encounter minor problems that would ultimately lead to the biggest mistake of my life. First i had to sit in between a fighting couple, then when i got off the plane all the locals looked at me as if i did not belong there, as if i were a threat but i did not worry about these things and just went on my way. Before heading into the forest though i recall stopping at a food stand and buying a bundle of bananas from this old man who was a big help to me. I asked him the simplest question ever "what should i look out for when i'm in the forest alone" and he replied "malaria is your biggest worry" and proceeded to hand me a needle labeled "Malaria Vaccine" without asking for any payment at all. After i said my thanks and gathered my bananas i was on my way into the Amazon alone.

Skipping three months forward into my trip to when i was familiar with the land and living only off of what i gathered that day for food there is one little mistake that changed my life forever. Because i  became very lonely in this lush, green, peaceful, and dangerous environment and no other humans were around to keep  me company i became good friends with a howler monkey who was very timid of me at first but began to warm up to me after a month. Every day i climbed a tree i slept next to and had a conversation with him as if he were human. This was a normal conversation for us, "How are you today BoBo? Are you hungry? Lets go find some bananas shall we." and he always replied with"who" which now that i think about it was pretty weird. One day when i woke up i found that my camp had been ransacked, but by who, you guessed it, BoBo, but he wasn't alone, he had three little monkeys with him who apparently had an interest in my fishing pole and brought it high up into the trees. Before i knew it they had wasted all the line and snapped it in half with no worries about what i needed it for.

Since fish are the only thing i thought you could hunt that didn't hunt you back the fishing pole was my lifeline and without it i would have to improvise my fishing methods. When i was younger my uncle taught me how to fish just by using my shoe laces and i quickly put it to use. For days i was successful at catching the most delicious, flavorful, and exotic fished i had ever tasted but this was only the beginning. I had forgotten that there are always bigger fish in a river, bigger than me and i realized this too late. While i was fishing a fish (a big one apparently) had grabbed my make shift line with my finger knotted in it and in a quick second beyond all disbelief, my finger was gone. Because of my medical experience and quick thinking i was able to close and sterilize my wound when i got back to camp but i was not deterred from my prior goal, to survive six months alone in the Amazon Rain Forest.

Ever since that day i have learned to not put my self at such extreme risk as to lose a finger. lucky enough now that i think about it i was luck the fish did not drag me under. A fish got away with my finger that day but i will never forget that i was able to keep my life and come home after the six months to see my family waiting with terror and happiness on their faces. I kept my life only to almost have it screamed away by my mom though for missing a finger.