Sunday, March 18, 2012

Sunday Salon: Spring Break...in the Amazon?



I was sick over spring break.

(Thank you for that lovely "Awww!" I needed to hear that.)

Coughing. Aching. Chills.

So I was forced to do nothing this spring break but...read.

(Which is how I would have spent spring break anyway, right?
Albeit without the coughing, aching, and chills.)

For reasons that I cannot possibly ascertain, I spent my favorite reading hours this spring break 
in South America. First I traveled with Mark Adams as he retraced the steps of
Machu Picchu discoverer Hiram Bingham. Then I went off with City of Z explorer Percy Fawcett
across the Amazon jungle.

Hiram and Percy led us through "insatiable thirst, skull-splitting headaches, and uncontrollable shivering," as we were "spitting up mouthfuls of blood." We tramped through lands with tribes of natives who "captured prisoners...they either kept...forever or roasted them to devour in their banquets." Swimming in the waters of the Amazon were not only the feared piranhas, the so-called "vampire fish of Brazil," but the horrifying candiru, a creature that is known for lodging in human orifices. Some of us contracted espundia, which "destroys the flesh around the mouth, nose, and limbs, as if the person were slowly dissolving" and others  found maggots growing inside our open wounds.

Delightful, right?

Somehow I have survived all these horrors and,
though we never found the golden City of Z,
I am, happily, able to complete a sentence or two without incessant coughing.
Just in time to return to work tomorrow....



22 comments:

  1. I love traveling via books and movies. It's much less hectic; there is no lost luggage; and we can get home a lot faster.

    Thanks for sharing your Spring "travels" with us; and we didn't even catch your virus! lol

    Hope you're feeling better...seriously.

    Here's MY SUNDAY SALON POST

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  2. And while you were sick, you read those? Wow. I don't think I could have done that, although they both sound fascinating.

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    1. I don't know if my first comment made it on here. But your reading adventures sound like several episodes of I Shouldn't Be Alive.

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  3. This trip to the Amazon was quite an adventure. I cannot imagine someone who would stop there!

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  4. It sounds like several episodes of I Shouldn't Be Alive. Yikes! Those were some rough reads.

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    1. Blacklin is my old book reviewing name.

      Regards,

      Jen Dublin

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  5. Im pretty sure that South America must contain some of the scariest spots to visit on earth.

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  6. Read Ann Patchett's State of Wonder, if you like the Amazon. Well written and a great story set in a fabulous place.

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  7. Those two books I really would like to read! Have fun reading this week.

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  8. Thank you for the recommendation. I should probably go ahead and read it next as it seems that I am on a roll.

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  9. I'm sorry you were sick, but glad that you had some excellent reading companions. And what a great way to feel grateful that you only had the flu, when reading about espundia! I've never heard of that before, it sounds and looks awful.

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  10. You are wise, Louise. Yes. I am happy I only suffered from 24-hour-a-day coughing, chills, and aches. It could have been much worse.

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  11. I've come to suspect that those of us who work in education are prone to getting sick during vacation times. I think we suppress illness while working because we know how difficult it can be to take a sick day and how behind our students will get if we do. Then, when breaks come around, we relax so much that our bodies relax our immune systems as well, and we get sick.

    I'm not a science person, by the way. Just another teacher who tends to get sick during spring break.

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  12. I have heard really good things about The Lost CIty of Z. I am sorry you felt icky during spring break, that is a major drag. Hope you are doing better!

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  13. Oh no! I'm sorry to hear that you were sick during your spring break. It always surprises me how Texas has spring break so early. Reading while in bed for a week straight sounds like heaven though. :-)

    I received Some Assembly Required. Thank you so much! It made my week.Have a good week.

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  14. Sorry to hear you were sick over your break, but at least you were able to get a lot of reading done.

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  15. Hope you feel better. The books should help you along!

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  16. Our Spring Break doesn't hit until April 2nd. I am counting the days.

    I sure hope you feel better now. I read Lost City of Z and didn't care for it so much while I was reading it. But afterward, I gained an appreciation for how much research went into it. I ended up liking it much more than I thought.

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  17. That's really weird to read about nasty health problems when you're sick!!! Did you have moments where you felt like your flesh was being dissolved away or you were getting nibbled on by piranhas?!?!

    Thx for stopping by my Sunday!!!!!!!!!

    http://lovesbooksreviews.blogspot.ca/2012/03/in-my-mailbox-36.html

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  18. oh my gosh! Your experience read like a novel...like that only happens in imaginative minds ;) Wow!! So glad you are okay, you made it back to the States, and I think for now, I will only visit South Amazon in my books!

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