miss cayce

I, Nomad

It seemed fitting that I was reading Stanley Stewart’s “In the Empire of Genghis Khan: A journey among nomads” in the field, for I was experiencing the nomadic life myself, although briefly. Instead of stout Mongolian horses, we had our trusty longboat (with plenty of battle scars) and… our legs. The first site was easy – get on the boat and ride, ride. The second site, we had to hike to for about three hours, which doesn’t sound too bad but we had to carry food and camping equipment on our backs on hilly terrain and slippery streams. Of course, me being weak townie female, I just carried my own stuff.

On the second night of the last site, it poured like crazy and I awoke suddenly at around 4 a.m., confused and very damp. There was a leak just above my hammock that must have carried on for hours for I woke up in a little pool around my head. My upper body was soaked, needless to say.

I yowled and woke up the entire camp.

I spent the last couple of hours till dawn, sitting at the dry edge of my hammock, and shivering in a borrowed blanket (my sleeping bag was partially soaked too). I think there must have been some mumbling and rocking involved, for the crew had a discussion and decided that they would finish up the last transect by themselves, and that when I was feeling better, I along with a couple of guides would walk back to the ranger station. They predicted more heavy rain throughout the day and night, and was worried about more leakage, more yowling at 4 a.m., and the stream getting flooded, which meant more wet difficulties later on, and possibly more yowling.

So here I am, a day early.

posted by Cayce @ 7:37 AM