#treble clef as god intended | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

killem-all-if-they-wont-eat-cake · 4 years

Photo

Image: Freja och Svipdag (1911) by John Bauer

My text "Freyja en Svipdag" published in Covidnine-zine, a magazine edited by the wonderful Winnie Sluis, idealized by Winnie and Lisa @oppergod, with collaboration of several amazing artists.

“With her eyes closed and very sleepy, she could feel the sea breeze on her face and hear the sound of the tide breaking in nine waves, one after the other, until she finally managed to open her eyelids.

At first, she discerned arches and pillars through the blurred image, which she later identified as the ruins of an old cathedral. The stone foundations of this structure immediately reminded her of Glastonbury Abbey. The sound of the violin came to her, as well as the seagulls’ song and the gallop of a gray horse mounted by a masked young man, who headed in her direction. On the beach, an old lady recited the stanzas of ancient poems. Coffins swept across the sand, such as fragments of a shipwreck. The corpse of the violinist, who once was Yorick, the court jester, suddenly stopped the music, marveling at the horizon and contemplating his next song, as follows:

'Oh Páter if I only knew who she was... I swear I would have sought her earlier! Oh Páter, here comes Gwena, who traces This plot, full of diminished chords...

Tis fire, aye, ‘tis pipe’s ember, Burning slow and steady, steaming And if I inhale, choke and clear my throat Bitter-sweet is her surrender, such a delight This woman...

Yet I think she keeps Something restrained For the One of the strings...

She dares not look but only glimpse

Her bearing ever so high, Still entrapped in a gilded cage From which one tries to break With a treble clef... Egnis! Egnis!

Aye, see as it burns strong,

It is painful for Gaius, Her way of walking and fluttering Always a promise of the foreign

Though beware not to cut yourself; For she is like As-Sirāt, Even if broken, she remains sharp.

More so she is intricate and complex, Full of ardor and nothing else, And seems entirely anti-flustered Ah! ... but if there is a breach...

“Tis for sure the apple-tree” I answer myself. Since when I wandered haphazardly, Wandering, wondering, though not seeing If there was indeed an olive tree...

Thus, if the fire she already brought; And I always have some cider; Only the gold is wrought...

What fire is that? Mighty and aristocratic, Convoluted and anti-pragmatic.

Alas, we get to the story’s end,

If you expected me to be light-hearted

To speak of her beauty or noble

character,

You don’t see me for who I really am

For only the sublime pain of a burn

Compares to shall be required

To conquer her troublesome

Spirit.

Nevertheless, if I allow myself

A final indulgence, I think it goes

Without saying.. that she’s beautiful,

Dignified, and a relief to the eyes,

(Though quite difficult to contain)

That’s why I have fallen...O Páter!”

The rider dismounted and removed his mask, revealing a quite familiar face.

Then he burst into tears, moans, and screams, calling out the name “Sophie! Sophie!” A cacophony of chimes and carillon began at an Episcopal belfry, the imposing figure of a castle appeared behind the mist. Brísingamen, the fiery torque, sparkled around her neck as she rose, entirely dressed in white. The young man, who wore black garments, offered her his hand, and spoke:

“Dear Sophie, your father awaits us.”

The strangest thing happened; she felt her lips moving without having ordered so. “My darling Joris, at last you have come for me.”

Although she did not know exactly how, she remembered the young man in front of her was her betrothed, and that they referred to each other by the names of the saints which the ephemeris fell on their respective birthdays. His on the feast day of Sint-Joris van Cappadocië, and hers on that of St. Sophie van Rome.

“Sophie, the owl told me the baker shall hold a banquet in our honour!”

“O, here, have a daisy” she said, taking a flower from the garland adorning her long blonde hair. “I would give you give you some violets, but they all withered when the fishmonger sailed to Crete.”

“Indeed, Aerope told me that Catreus’ ashes are still warm.”

They walked side by side, with hands intertwined, wearing wicked smiles as they climbed the hill where the castle's Tor stood. Upon arriving, they were received by the King of Guilder and the rest of his progeny.

“Welcome, my children, to Kasteel Groninger! Our earthly paradise. Pray, remember the road ahead is still long. Fredegund anxiously awaits Siegbert's return, in deep sleep at the Mountain of Obstacles. Do not forget that: Fafnir must yet perish and Sigrdrífa still needs to be stripped of her armour” King Aegir affectionately warned, embracing both Sophie, whom he recognized as his youngest daughter, and Joris, his future son-in-law.

"Your majesty, I assure you I shall be worthy enough to wed Lady Menglöð" replied Joris, referring to Sophie, the princess of Guilder, by her true name.

“Heer Valentijn,” asked King Aegir, also calling Joris by his birth name “I believe the sacrifice of Galswintha will not have been in vain: Faith, Hope and Charity shall be glorified, but do not forget to greet your new sisters.”

With their faces veiled and sitting on the stairs of an old church, the nine daughters of Aegir, presented themselves one by one. The oldest was called Schnecke, “Bloody-hair”, thus called in virtue of her red hair; the second went by the name of Mimi, the “Billow”, therefore known due to her being prone to fits of nervousness; the third was called Caroline, the “Comber”, because of her explosive temper; the fourth answered by Lily, “Pearl-transparent”, on the account of her translucent complexion; the fifth was named Henriette, the “Small-Wave”, due to her short height; the sixth answered by Olga, the “Lifting”, on account of her extraordinary intelligence; the seventh was called Hannah, the “Great-Wave”, thus known for her bulkiness; the eighth daughter was Jeannette, called the “Well of Origin” for having the habit of reciting prophetic riddles every time somebody asked her something; the last of them, Friederike, the “Cool-Wave”, was therefore called on account of her cold manners.

Each of them, as Joris approached, answered him with witty sentences related to each of their epithets. At the end of these parables, King Aegir once again addressed him:

“Valentijn van Florin, I give you my word as sovereign of Guilder that the most beautiful flower in my garden is your dear Sophie, who at this very hour tomorrow you shall take as your wife. Such a marriage will unite our two rival kingdoms under a single crown, as intended your kinsman, Prince Humperdinck, though in far less auspicious circumstances.”

The bride and the groom waltzed through the castle, covering the walls of each room with snow. Whenever Joris asked if she wanted to be his wife, Sophie burst into hysterical laughing, which echoed throughout the stairs. Sometimes she replied she first owed vassalage to another lord, who was certainly sterner and bonier. This ‘danse macabre’ continued until they faced the stained windows of the cathedral, when the black priest signaled them to stop. For this reason, the nine waves blew out the candles on the candelabrum, one by one, forming a fairy-ring around the two of them and joining their dance wildly.

Joris mused for a moment and said:

“Three times nine girls, but one girl rode ahead,

white-skinned under her helmet;

the horses were trembling, from their manes

dew fell into the deep valleys,

hail in the high woods;

good fortune comes to men from there;

all that I saw was hateful to me.”

For the celebrations to continue Sophie was taken to the hall of Suttungr, while Joris was given the task of finding the severed head of Mimir. Locked up in the chamber of Invitation to Battle, Sophie was punished for exercising her prerogative in choosing differently from what the All-father had commanded. There, Huginn and Muninn, her liege's crows, whispered bad omens at her ears as she repeatedly painted a Byzantine icon of the Virgin of Mercy.

“Torture me all you want,” she said to her tormentors “a tearing joy overwhelms my soul. Plato's aesthetic dictates the beauty of forms is equivalent to the greater good and that which is purer. I merely follow the example of Paris in his preference for the ‘kallistei’; the beloved is always chosen for blind love, and only love. I admit I may be wrong, but I still believe that his heart is as good and generous as I sensed on our first meeting. The world is sustained by hope, we believe in what we want to believe and how we want to believe; it does not matter if nature and experience tell us otherwise. My dreams have never betrayed me, my heart has never lied to me: it is necessary to follow one’s deepest desires, for they are ordained by the Norns.”

In retaliation, the crows of the one-eyed king pecked at her ears until her neck was covered in blood. Ignoring the pangs of pain, Sophie continued to draw the icon that depicted a beautiful sleeping maiden, whose closed eyes showed an expression of tenderness and parted lips outlined a tenuous, albeit provocative smile, as though she was caught in a sensuous dream.

Hence, Sophie chanted in low voice:

“What sort of dream is that, Odin?

I dreamed I rose up before dawn

to clear up Valhöll for slain people.

I aroused the Einheriar,

bade them get up to strew the benches,

clean the beer-cups,

the valkyries to serve wine

for the arrival of a prince.”

At the same time, Joris rode up to the Mountain of Obstacles, where the earth shook and a pit of flames reaching the sky surrounded the red gold of the gods. In this desolate place, the guardian at the gate, who was also the chieftain of the dwarves, gave Joris the sword of anger and the shield of wisdom with which he was able to defeat the horrible serpent, Jörmungandr.

After licking a drop of the creature’s blood on his finger, Joris was given the gift of understanding the crows’ language, which then instigated him to come to the chamber of Invitation to Battle. As soon as he entered the room, he blew on the horn he carried on his neck by a chain. The Virgin awoke from her feverish dream.

Sitting on a golden throne, the queen-like Sophie gladly received him in her father's hall:

“For nine lives I have awaited you, and for nine days you have hanged on the Sefirotic Tree. To you I give my gray horse, so you can ride to Gamla Uppsala; for Memory can only be restored when Gjallahorn descends to the well of origin. There, Heidr will offer you one of her full tits. Drink patiently, but steadily.”

“Frigga, my dear wife, all I ask is for you to grant me knowledge of the nine worlds.”

Before proceeding with her husband’s request, Sophie prayed for eloquence and intelligence, taking her lute in her hand, singing the most beautiful song of shadow and dawn. She praised the day, the night, the gods and goddesses, and the Holy Land where the Nazarene was crucified. After prayer, she harvested liquid from three of her father’s most precious cauldrons and prepared the elixir of life and death, stating it contained enchantments, blessings, songs and runes of power, manliness and pleasure of the flesh and soul.

Sophie told Joris that in the beginning there was nothing, and this nothing was called Njörun. When Njörun became aware of herself, she begot Njöðr. From the union between these two, Mardöll was born. The latter was self-suficient, loving herself and being therefore happy. However, curiosity caused the goddess to create a mirror from her own breath, and when she contemplated her own reflection, she fell madly in love with it. Since then, she divided herself in two: Mardöll of Fire, who saw the image, and Mardöll of Ice, the image seen. After tracing a runic symbol on her body and whispering over it, her reflection became Yngve, her twin brother. The two of them began a frantic dance that culminated in intercourse, from where emerged the rest of the runic spirits.

Sophie then told him how Mardöll first taught the runes to the All-father, how he held the head of Mimir and uttered wise words; and that from them flowed the worlds of the Æsir, Vanir, giants, elves, and humanity. She went on to count all the kinds of runes that Joris needed to know and how to use them. At last asking him if he would like speech or silence from her. To which Joris replied he was not afraid of knowing his fate, even if that meant death.

Shortly after, she took his horn, in which she poured the Mead of Poetry, while rambling: “The beautiful should not perish; the fair should not perish. Eternal love of immortal soul, glittering through my skin like fins. Drop by drop, your spirit will return to me, the first drop will be heavenly!”

The moment Joris took the last sip of this precious drink, the walls opened, and the drums played. King Aegir and the nine waves were finally welcomed to the wedding feast. Circling an oath-ring on a trunk, the sovereign of Guilder joined the hands of his daughter and son-in-law, making a cut on each of their palms so that their blood could mix. Joris and Sophie intertwined their fingers and together declared:

“Ubi tu Askr

Ego Embla;

Ubi tu Embla,

Ego Askr.”

“When thou art the Ash

I shall be the Elm;

When thou art the Elm

I shall be the Ash.”

“Grímnir, the greatest of all gods, is here, he proclaims you to be one flesh, consecrated to him” decreed King Aegir as the newlyweds resumed their bridal dance, accompanied by the nine waves, who happily sang:

“Stampa hårt i marken,

Låt säden flyta runt,

Ta emot den unga flickan,

Frej i älskog,

Freja i älskog.”

“Step hard on the ground,

Let the seed fly,

Welcome the Young Maiden,

Freyr in lovemaking,

Freyja in lovemaking.”

Joris enveloped Sophie in a lustful embrace, with each whirl more ardent than before, ‘til they both lost their balance and fell backwards in the hay. At this moment, Thanatos, the black priest showed up uninvited:

“I am a polar bear who has floated here from Greenland on an iceberg. May the gods bless your matrimony with such perennial beauty as that from the coupling of Zeus and Leda. As a wedding gift, I bring you a veil made for an Arabian princess. Please, accept it. O Vanadís, daughter of the king of kings.”

Upon hearing this, Sophie let out a long shriek. She understood what those words meant. For three nights, she and Joris made love at moonlight, in the presence of the court of Guilder and all the creatures of the universe. On the morning of the fourth day, he had to leave her side to wander the nine worlds, bringing the sacred knowledge he acquired to whichever mortals he found. Weeping, Sophie bade adieu to her husband with the following greeting:

“My will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom as great. My sisters receive the heroes at Fólkvangr, serving mead to those slain in battle. When the ash commune with the elm, you shall return to me. Not a second after, not a second before.”

The black priest then proceeded to lead them to the calvary, placing two wreaths of thorns on their heads. “I crown thee, Freyja and Óðr.”

For nine days and nights, Sophie bitterly mourned her lost husband, crying tears of gold for his sake. Once again trapped in the Mountain of Obstacles, she cried out for mercy to the one who was older than time itself:

“That man hon fólkvig fyrst í heimi,

er Gullveig geiru studdu

ok i hǫll Hárs hana brendu;

thrysvar brendu thrysvar borna,

opt, ósjaldan, tho hon enn lifir!

Heidi hana hétu, hvars til húsa kom,

vǫlu velspá, vitti hon ganda

seid hon hvars hon kunni,

seid hon hugleikin,

æ var hon angan illrar brudar.”

“She remembers the first war in the world,

when Gullveig was hoist on the spears

in the High-One’s hall they burned her;

three times they burned the three times born

often, not seldom; yet she lives!

She was called Heidr at the village,

the wise völva knew how to cast spells

she practiced seiðr whenever she could

with ravished soul, she performed seiðr,

She was always sought by wicked women.”

As she asked for divine intervention, Sophie devoted herself to the hard work required by the spinning wheel. As though passing in a trance through Psyche's trials, she was accompanied by her sisters, who danced around her, hand in hand. The first branches of the elm emerged from her heart, which enwrapped her in just a few minutes. From her withered body, the most majestic tree of Fensalir was formed. Three times she was struck by lightning, three times she burned; only to be three times reborn the next dawn.

When Joris at last returned from his travels around the world, finding her in such a state he declared:

“Nu em ec aptr kominn,

fát gat ec thegiandi thar;

margom orthom melta ec i minn frama i Suttungs sǫlom.

Gunnlad mer um gaf gunom stóli á

drycc ins dyra miathar; ill ithgiold

let ec hana eptir hafa

sins ins heila hugar

sins ins svara seva.”

“Now I have come again,

I’d have hardly made it so far;

without speaking great words to my advantage in the hall of Suttungr.

Gunnlöð gave me, from her golden throne

The precious drink of mead; a poor payment

I gave her in return

for her whole soul

for her burdened spirit.”

With these sorrowful words he also became an ash tree, his roots becoming entangled with hers. From their union emerged a magnificent swan egg which cracked in two beautiful girls. The Æsir called them Hnoss and Gersemi, the Twin Treasures.’

53 notes · View notes

abewoodhullturncoat · 7 years

Text

100 Asks Answered:

The meaning behind my url: abewoodhullturncoat... Abraham Woodhull was a turncoat so I mean, it did not take much to come up with that one.

A picture of me: will post one soon.

How many tattoos i have and what they are: One! A large treble clef in honor of my love for music.

Last time i cried and why: I do not cry often, as I was raised to believe a guy has no right to cry and it makes him weak, but I cried just last night... When I realized I’ve forgotten the sound of my uncles voice. He passed around 7 years ago.

Favorite band: I have an eclectic taste in music, so I couldn’t tell you for certain.

Biggest turn offs: Pretentiousness, number one by far. Also people who drop hints instead of asking for something, game-playing instead of being direct, and braggarts. -I don’t want to remove this because I share much the same sentiment. But I do wish to add that another turn off is the automatic judgment that a person put on someone before truly getting to know someone.

Top 5 (insert subject): Top five Ice Cream Flavors: Superman, Mint Chocolate Chip, Cookie Dough, Vanilla, and Birthday Cake.

Tattoos i want: Something really cool that would be really... Me. Historical, I’d reckon. As my love for history is a big part of me.

Biggest turn ons: A mind of their own and a voice to speak it. Quick wit and a voice to impart it. A taste for romance. Easy conversation. A taste for fine literature doesn’t hurt.

Age: Over 21. (My birthday is October 3rd if you actually read this.)

Ideas of a perfect date: Sitting in front of a fire, on the couch. Whoever the date may be with beside me, reading books together or maybe watching a film? I’d cook her dinner. Dessert. And maybe if she permitted, I’d take her to her home and give her a romantic kiss on the doorstep.

Life goal: Travel to all of the American Historical sights

Piercings i want: None

Relationship status: Single

Favorite movie: The Labyrinth or FBAWTFT

A fact about my life: I’m a huge history geek.

Phobia: Of being disliked.

.Height: 5'11"

Are you a virgin? Um... Yes. Much to awkward to get a date. Let alone a proper good shag.

What is your shoe size? 11

What’s your sexual orientation? Straight.

Do you smoke, drink, or take any drugs? I have drank in the past, but I refrain lately because it would mess with my anti-depressants

Someone you miss: My Uncle.

What’s one thing you regret? My not working harder to accomplish necessary things.

First celebrity you think of when someone says attractive: Heather Lind, my goddess.

Favorite ice cream? Mint Chocolate

One insecurity: Myself as a whole.

What my last text message says: I actually haven’t texted anyone since I got the phone really, but it was a text to my mum. Asking how she was. She spends a lot of time in the hospital due to her diabetes.

Have you ever kissed a member of the same sex? No.

Have you ever slept naked? Yes

Have you ever stole money from a friend? No

Have you ever gotten in a car with people you just met? Yes

Have you ever been in a fist fight? Yes. Protecting my youngest brother from a group of people who loured him out of the house. I had an uneasy feeling when a friend of mine had refused to allow me to follow. Turns out that I made the right decision. They intended to beat the hell out of my brother, who has epilepsy and he’s too afraid to fight back. And the reason was because he was gay. They had no right to go after him, so I stepped in.

Have you ever had feelings for someone who didn’t have them back? Yeah

Have you ever been arrested? No

Have you ever made out with a stranger? Yes

Have you ever laid on your back and watched cloud shapes go by? Yes

Have you ever been lonely? Yes

Have you ever been to a club? Once, and I was so very awkward. I went out on the dance floor and sort of just stood there while my friends just sat there... Grinding against me. I guess that’s part of being the only guy friend willing to hang out with the ladies.

Have you ever felt an earthquake? Nope. But I was in a hurricane and a tornado before.

Have you ever touched a snake? Aye.

Have you ever ran a red light? Yes

Have you ever been in a car accident? No

Have you ever cried yourself to sleep? The night my uncle died.

Have you ever sang karaoke? Oh yes.

Have you ever done something you told yourself you wouldn’t? Mhmm. I call it, “Living.”

Have you ever laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose? It was at a fancy dinner. Root-beer out the nose.

Have you ever slept with someone at least 5 years older or younger? No

Have you ever dreamed that you married someone? No

Have you ever got your tongue stuck to a flag pole? Ah, yes. Actually. To be young and stupid and willing to do anything for money.

Have you ever ever gone to school partially naked? Ah... No.

Have you ever brushed your teeth? Dude... Yes.

Have you ever been too scared to watch scary movies alone? Nope.

Have you ever been pushed into a pool with all your clothes on? Yes

Have you ever been told you’re hot by a complete stranger? Nope

Have you ever broken a bone? In my right leg, yeah.

Have you ever been easily amused? Due to my own immaturity.

Have you ever laughed so hard you cried? Many times

Have you ever mooned/flashed someone? No

Have you ever forgotten someone’s name? Yes

Give us one thing about you that no one knows: I am so overly romantic that it is slightly ridiculous.

What was your last dream? I haven’t the faintest idea. I’ve forgotten.

Would you be up for interplanetary travel if it was a thing? Heck yeah.

If you could travel back in time, where would you go? I would go back and fight with Washington and his men. Win the war. Make history.

Do you dread doctor visits or do they not bother you? I don’t dread them at all.

Favorite fashion decade of the twentieth century? Fashion is not my strong suit. I’d just as soon bring back the breeches and waistcoats, and the courtships of the 1700′s

Are you wearing nail polish and if so, what color? Now I’m confident in my sexuality but myself in nail polish is not going to happen.

Are you into working out or no? Yep.

Do you have a temper? No

Do you have one item you treat yourself with, if so, what is it? Rolllllleeeeplay.

Do you eat meat? Yes

If yes, how do you like it cooked? enough

Ever had a boss or a teacher you absolutely hated? No.

Coffee, tea, or hot chocolate? Hot Chocolate.

Do you wear makeup? Nope.

If you wear perfume, what’s your scent type/favorite fragrance? I’m a basic guy. Old Spice usually. But I do like Drakkar.

Do you have a girl crush? Yes

Candles, wax melts, or incense? Incense.

Favorite season of the year? Winter.

Fanfic—do you prefer smut or fluff? Smut

Do you like taking selfies? Why or why not? I mean, I take selfies. But I do not have myself convinced that I am God’s gift to women.

Do you want children? Not sure yet.

Do you prefer lots of friends or just a few good friends? Just a few, not interested in crowds of pseudo-friends

Introvert or extrovert, or mixture of both? Mixture

Ocean/beach or mountains? Ocean, if it’s cold, cloudy, and the water is wild and gray. Otherwise mountains.

Morning person or night person? Both.

Do you initiate conversations with strangers? Yes

Milk or dark chocolate? Milk chocolate is my secret weakness.

What do you post on your blog? Role play mostly.

Is it hard for you to apologize when you’re in the wrong? I have no issue apologizing whether I am wrong or right.

Love at first sight? Sometimes.

Best/funniest Halloween memory? I was Jareth the Goblin King one year. Being recognized was great. But then the next year I was Westley from the Princess Bride and I scored myself a date at the very same halloween party.

Did your first crush work out or was it unrequited? Unrequited of course.

Do you like old movies—and by old, I mean OLD old? Yes

Do you tan or burn? Both.

Do you think people deserve second chances? Generally yes. Hard to say no considering how many times I’ve fucked up. But child molesters, that kind of thing–hell no. - Agreed sentiment, honestly.

What animal would be cutest if scaled down to the size of a cat? Me, probably.

Do you have any weird food likes/dislikes? I hate fish and seafood in general. But I was introduced to ranch on hot dogs and I sorta dig it.

.What’s the funniest real person’s name you’ve ever heard? John Jacob Jefferson Schmidt.

I was tagged by @greenofallshades

@annastrxng @nellyforrevolution @bennjamintallmadge

and anyone else who wants to do it can. You can switch out questions if you wish, as long as there ends up being one hundred. Or about that.

#ooc post #ooc #ooc tag.#me #get to know the mun

3 notes · View notes

evadventure · 5 years

Text

Welcome to the jungle, part 2

After the fun with the boat, we arrive in the lodge: Three tiny wooden houses in a cutout in the forest, on 1.5 meter tall pillars, with nets for windows. The land is rented for a ridiculously low amount by the local jurisdiction. In reality the jungle belongs to no one. Were it bit more up the stream or bit further away from the shore, no one would find it.

So we eat oh-my-god-my-first-ceviche, unpack and take an even smaller boat out. We head up and down different channels of various sizes and our heads are spinning around. There’s so much to see, and we see a lot.

The jungle around is impossible to describe. It’s alive, so green and fresh. The foliage reaches up way beyond European forests and random trees tower 20, 30 meters high. There’s a crazy amount of birds of all sizes, from hummingbirds to vultures and herons, and Chris seems to know them all. In the end we start to feel embarrassed because we are not able to remember even few repeated names while he seems to know on which page in his book each bird is. The book contains about 1800 species. Peru has more bird types than Europe. (When it comes to diversity in nature, Peru with its 30 out of 32 world climates has more than almost anything.)

Before we take the less beaten stream, we encounter some inhabitants:

This is Muchacho, local Spider monkey that has been previously caught, then released on bail as an American tourist with a soft heart bought it out. When we were leaving, Chris was still trying to get the local rescue centres to catch him and reunite him with his species.

Him and a pack, sorry, a shrewdness of Woolly monkeys have been conveniently placed near one of the bigger lodges, for the guides to score easy points with the tourists. When it comes to fauna, there’s not many bigger pieces than the monkeys (we’ll get to that), and these particular monkeys stick around because, obviously, they get fed. The more courageous woollies enter the boats and nibble on bananas; while me and Jasmin think that they do look cute and fluffy and secretly wish to do the same, we respect the jungle. But even here, tourism sticks out its ugly head and not every guide is as respectful as Chris.

Alas, on we go, away from the cute blasphemy. Most of the time I’m purely enjoying: The humid air (oh how I will miss ... air ... when we will land in Juliaca), the greenness, the endless bird chitchat. We see tiny Squirrel monkeys (one carries even tinier baby on the back) that are impossible to capture on camera, we see white herons and hawks and vultures. Yellow birds and red birds. It’s like catching pokemons, but better. We spot two kinds of kingfishers, both of them different from the ones we saw in India: Amazon kingfisher and Ringed kingfisher (though I kinda am fishing this out of memory).

On the boat we feel to be part of the everything even if there’s a dividing line: The close encounters will happen later. Now the sun is setting (here, on 4.5° South the day lasts 12 hours no matter what, and after it takes a perpendicular dive to the ground, it gets dark fast) and we’re watching pink dolphins play in the water.

Before we get to the lodge, it’s pitch dark. Chris uses his super bright flashlight to look for caymans (no luck), and only when I borrow it I figure out the magic trick: Tiny shining eyes that reflect the light if you stand in its axis. While him and Jasmin are occupied with scanning the trees and bushes, I stare up. There’s stars I don’t know. There’s something that looks like the Lion and it takes my clever app to show the stupid me that the two bright stars on the left belong to Centaurus (Canopus!) and the rest is nothing less than the Southern Cross. I stare and stare at the constellation I always wanted to see (in Brazil I saw it, tiny and faint at 4 in the morning because I simply had to), and it will guide our evenings throughout our stay, together with bright Jupiter in the East, Mars, Mercury and Sirius in the West, and the ecliptic in zenith (no one cares for my nerding out even when I try to show and explain).

At the lodge we get ready for another outing. This time we put on rubber boots, and Ivan, local dude who until now controlled the engine of the tiny boat, grabs a proper machete. Did I say Jasmin is super good with spotting animals? I worked on a hidden object game, but apparently I’m better with hearts, french lilies and treble clefs. But this time, I spot an animal before her: I point to a snake on a ground, as if it was the most normal thing: Look, a snake. Turns out it’s not. (She also jumps.) Chris swiftly grabs a fork-like stick that is clearly intended exactly for this and stops it from running away.

It’s a Rainbow boa, beautiful and shiny. And rare to see, as Chris tells us, shining with happiness almost like the snake itself. Also, I touched it. If you never touched a snake (nope, not a euphemism), do it, it feels cool and soft and subtle. We let it go and verge into the jungle.

Already when paddling back, we heard a fun sound and now in the darkness we stumbled upon its originator. I’d like to add something for size but this frog (not a toad!) was huge, about a size of a smaller papaya. Good 20 cm long. I tried googling, but no luck, so its name, as well as the sound, will remain a mystery. (We also saw a toad this size later.) And the leafcutter ants in a dozens of meters long line (and their anthill which could host a few tinier hobits). And a beautiful lizard. No mammals, unfortunately, and no spiders, fortunately.

We spent about two hours walking through the night, and it was magical. Knowing we are the only people in miles and miles and miles around, nothing but wild life around, completely trusting this Swiss dude we met 12 hours ago, who moved across the world to find solace in these forests so full of life. I can understand him perfectly. What civilisation? We shower in water from Ucayali, pumped to the basic plumbing system. No signal. Basic toilet. Frutis

Among the few leftover books in the lodge I discover this one. Reads so well I’m tempted to steal it, so I order it before we leave Peru.

We fall asleep with the jungle sounds all around.

0 notes