Today started off fairly typical – we tried to follow group P. P has a terrible territory – just wretched… full of lianas and impassible areas. In fact it was so bad yesterday that we had to leave them before nightfall. This morning was not terrible once they emerged from where they spent the night. Sometime near midday they lead us across a stream – that was fine we found a nice log to cross. Then we came to a second stream. At first we tried to find a log to cross – then we spotted an area where the stream was quite narrow and shallow. The bank sloped gently upward inviting our weary feet to traipse across it. We decided to cross at this point as the other parts of the opposite bank were at much more of an incline. Scampering across the stream we thought we had made it safely to the other side. It was when I took my first couple steps onto the bank that I realized it was very soft. Not an issue, we sink into the mud all the time and it didn’t go past my boots. Margot intrepidly forged ahead of me a few steps up the bank. It was then I realized I was struggling to get my feet out, really struggling, in fact I was stuck fast. I tried wiggling and yanking – nothing. I strained upwards and only succeeded in pulling my foot out of my boot. By this point Rebekah and Carrie had crossed and stood watching us helplessly flail about. Margot had sunk in up to her thighs and had to sit to have any hope of getting leverage on her legs. The monkeys meanwhile had happily skipped across and were frolicking in the trees above us. There is really only one thing you can do in a situation like this – laugh. So we laughed until we cried and our sides hurt. Rebekah and Carrie managed to free me (sans one boot) by yanking me by my elbow. Margot was still firmly stuck several feet above me on the upward slope. I tried to free my remaining boot by digging it out only to discover the bank was clay – a thick, sticky clay. Every scoop I attempted to remove just clung to my fingers. I could feel down to the heel of the boot and still it wouldn’t budge. Margot was so firmly planted that a rescue operation was put into effect – i.e. I swarmed my way up the bank on hands and knees in socks, once to retrieve her backpack and the second time for Margot herself. With enough tugging she came free, sliding down the bank, however both of her boots were left behind. Carrie managed to get her hands around to bottom of my stuck boot and with Margot pulling her back and Rebekah digging around the sides the shoe finally came free with an enormous sucking noise. Margot’s boots unfortunately were too far to even attempt. So four researchers and 6 boots began the long trek back to camp… poor Margot tiptoeing in her socks the whole way, with Rebekah leading to keep watch for thorns and me carrying both backpacks. We were indeed a sorry sight upon our return. I now fully understand how animals get trapped in mud and die. Luckily all of us are unharmed except for the boots, which were an unfortunate casualty of today’s fieldwork. You learn something new here everyday and you never know what the forest has in store. Today’s lesson was never trust a riverbank no matter how inviting it looks.
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June 2016
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