My own private Amazonia
August 21st, 2023
The beauty of having a day off on Monday and going kayaking on a deserved free time on a deserted reservoir — watching a freshwater tern hunt for food. The tern circled over me and then dived into the water for a catch, but without success at first. Then the tern would go back to flying and circling empty-handed (empty-taloned?). Circles were wide and up high but then, the tern would narrow the radius and start a rapid descent to hit the water again. After at least ten tries — finally, the tern got the fish! A small slivery shiny fish was wiggling in its talons as the tern flew away. The fish was tiny but the bird wasn't that big itself, so I guess it was enough for a feast or a meal for young terns in the nest somewhere.
I have never traveled to Brazil and was never in the Amazon. I doubt it will ever happen, although — who knows? What is left for me is what I started doing as a child — going through the maps with my finger then and a cursor now, creating a journey and an adventure in my head. And if that was enough for me when I was a child, it will be enough for me now. And my dreams of discovering new places — places where no human ever was before, are still a pleasant way to occupy my time. Today, though — I felt like I was there, with summer vegetation and algae, and the searing heat when I kayaked, my local reservoir made me feel like an explorer finding the way through the suffocating and expansive nature back to civilization. I let my mind wander and felt very happy.
A female duck, still quite a duckling, followed my kayak for a while. The duck wasn't afraid at all, swimming and paddling right by my kayak. It looked like it was curious and definitely had no concept of humans and our ways. Or maybe it was lost, had no companion, and left her family nest already and was looking for another duck or something moving on the water and I guess my kayak had to do. I hope this duck will be fine in this huge and wide-open world, even if that world is based on a small reservoir for now.
