LOST IN THE JUNGLE!

 

The following manuscript was found under a mattress the morning after finishing a fifth of Havana Club on the second floor of the Hotel Inglaterra in Havana Cuba, May 2018

April, 2018

Nosara, Costa Rica

LOST IN THE JUNGLE

"Not thinking straight, following monkeys.

Poor choice making.

'I'm just going for a walk'

Obstinance. Fear. Self-assuredness, stupidity. Calm acceptance and planning.

Physical weakness and genuine joy.

Four plus hours lost in the Costa Rican bush carrying a saxophone and a ukulele. I walked into the jungle following a tour group and ended following monkeys deeper and deeper into the woods. It was getting late. The signposts were en Espanol so I searched for an English shortcut. The fall out of this was a mastery of poor judgement and self assuredness. I figured I would head for the river, follow the river to the beach, walk back along the beach to the bungalows. The sun was moving and I figured the river to be straight ahead, on the other side of that tree trunk.

When I finally reached the river I found the bank was a 12 foot drop and, oddly, the current was heading backwards. I was hot and confused . Maybe a boat would come by? It was getting late. The sun told me the water was going the wrong way but soon that would be a moot point. 

It was getting later, my cell battery dangerously low. I sent an SOS text including location to my niece. I was calling my brother when the cell went dead. That feeling.

        

PANIC         -----     ACCEPTANCE

\                /

MOVING ON

Fire ants, snakes, gators, barbs and brush, rain, saxophone, ukulele. Flip flops. I was wearing flip flops.

The rain started almost on cue. I figured my only hope would be to walk/climb/crawl 'as the crow flies' to find my way back to the path before nightfall. I was completely turned around but right now the most important thing was to get moving and keep moving. My feet kept slipping in my sandals but I dare not take them off or lose them because the forrest floor was quite rough. My shorts were soon stripped away by the thickets and brush. I had my satchel torn away from me. The water was too much and I fell. 

I took cover under a tree trunk and acknowledged the reality that I may be hunkering down for the night. I was exhausted. The rain passed after an hour and gave way to the bright lit moon. It was dead silent and with that bit of light I could just make out my surroundings. I started blowing my mouthpiece. SOS! SOS! ANYBODY HELP! I yelled and I hooted. 

I stayed put. 

A man really gets to know himself alone in the jungle. Theres no fear. There's the calm acceptance of your limits and you're good with it. I'd lived through worse and came out fine. If this was the one that was gonna get me I may as well go out like a hooting squawking idiot the way I came in.

Heroic rescue came from the locals at the nearby hotel bar and I slowly made my way towards their blue rescue beacon. After what seemed an hour walk out back through the bush I was reborn into my brothers and sisters arms. I made the gig."