Ospika Blues...

So I am writing during a necessary day-off taken to arrange for prescriptions to be picked up in PG. It's friday on the second shift of brushing activities in Ospika camp and we still have a long way to go. We'll probably be in this camp until early September.

The cutting so far has been fairly average Ospika terrain with one exception. We did have to do work on a ridiculously vertical, devil's club-infested hell block on some very hot days. Some of the managers were noting that they'd rarely been beaten so badly by a block before. I've had worse, but definatly not this year. Brushing is made increasingly difficult when there's absolutely no sure-footing. Add to this the fact that all around you are gardens filled with poisonous-spined hell-plants and the cutting becomes some sort of Sysiphusian trial. There comes a point where you actually get tired of cursing and resign yourself to a continual and extreme level of pain.

That being said, we've since moved on from that block onto something a lot more manageable. It's been a while since we've had rain and those days without clouds ("blue laser") make the cutting a lot more difficult. However, this is Ospika and it's my third season so it isn't anything I haven't come to expect from the camp. The cutting here is difficult and it makes you really earn your pay. Apex has added another form of payment onto our checks if we stay past August 31st, so that's a perk.

Soon it will be august and I'll be in the position of getting all my stuff for Africa ready. I keep mulling that over in my head and it keeps me positive.

I'll try to keep posting if anything of interest happens but chances are it'll just be groundhog day for the next 6 or so weeks.

Signing off.

Ospika bound...

Well, word has finally come down the Apex totem pole and it looks like the fire rating has gone down and we'll be shipping off for Ospika camp on monday. I can't really describe how good this is right now, I was starting to wonder just how long I'd be holed up in this university residence. Ospika is our camp deep in the woods (10 hours out of PG) and word is that we have a long contract there - maybe 6 weeks of solid, non-fire hours work. If weather continues to be decent, we can move smoothly from there to other solid contracts and start to do some damage control on the financial end of this season so far.

In the time I've been here I completed the first section of Ghost Wars, my book on the American involvement in Afghanistan. It's quite wide ranging and very informative and so far has painted a very good picture of how the Americans sowed the seeds of radical (reactionary would be a better word) Islam by supporting the hard-line Islamic fighters, through the auspices of Pakistani intelligence, because the Pakistanis assured them the hard-liners were the best at fighting the soviets. It was during this time that Osama landed in town and with others, began debating the true nature of the jihad and who was their real enemies - the soviet communists or the Americans and their Israeli allies. It all has the feeling of a grand Shakespearean play gone horribly wrong.

I stopped over on the VOC website and saw pictures of the beautiful scrambles taking place that I am missing when I'm up here. Next year, when I have some time off, I'm go ing to have to dedicate a great deal of my time to learning the ins and outs of mountaineering and getting some good climbs in. Until then I will have to satisfy myself by looking wistfully at the beautiful peaks that surround Ospika camp.

Yeehaw! I'm going working....

Brushing thoughts...

Still no real rain in PG. There was a thunderstorm last night, but the precipitation isn't sticking around and I'm still out of work. I watched Superman last night to fight the boredom that is quickly setting over me. Don't have much to say about the film, the last batman blew it out of the water in terms of interest and direction. It was grand to see Parker Posey though - even if her talents were grossly misused - not to mention Kevin Spacey. To save money I've relocated from the Downtown Motel (where I was languishing if front of the tv for hours) to UNBC and its dorms. I plan to get lots of reading done on my book about the CIA's involvement in Afghanistan and the subsequent rise of radical islam and the Taliban. I thought I'd try to list some thoughts and songs that god through my head when I brush. Given the nature of the work it's very hard to have a connected train of thoughts, one finds that one simply finds one thought or idea and sucks it the way Molloy sucked those stones he kept in his pocket.

Thoughts:

- The memory of the first time I met my niece Emily and her smile when she saw me at the door.
- The first moments of September 11th as I remember them from when I lived in Parkdale. The sheer magnitude of the event can be contemplated as if one is witnessing an astronomical event.
- The second season of Carnivale and the wish that more tv and film would be that good.
-[rare because it's too early in the season to contemplate such things] the thought that soon enough I'll be back in Africa and I won't mind brushing away flies and mosquitos then.

Songs: [rarely complete, sometimes just the chorus over and over again like a mantra until it drives me crazy]

-Jackson, Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash's both sung.
-38 years old, The Tragically hip.
-Fireworks, Bobcadgeon, The Tragically Hip.
-The Boxer, Simon and Garfunkle.
-Mrs. Robinson, Simon and Garfunkle.
-The Rose, Bette Middler (oh you should hear me sing that one)

That's all that I can think of for now, I'm sure there's plenty more that I'm forgetting having been away from the bush for so long. My Cabinda article should be coming out soon (it may be out already) in The Knoll (woohoo - the full version). I asked them to mail a copy to my Vancouver apartment. I'll put in a link from this site if they ever have it on their website. I bought myself a set of nuts for trad climbing the other day, just looking at them has me pumped for a full year of climbing next year.

Praying for some respite from the heat (PG is currently smogged in with forest-fire smoke) and signing off for now...

Up a creek without a paddle....

Well, another week or so has passed and we have been forced to shutdown because of the heat and the fire risk. After spending a couple of days in PG last time I was here, myself, Adam, Ash, Andre, and Ryan were pleased to learn that we could get in some cutting.

We piled into a truck and headed for Fort St. James, a remote outpost somewhat less of a town that the illustrious Mackenzie. In that town we picked up Pat to complete our crew. We drove into our camp for the stay, Leo Creek camp. It was composed of seperate buildings for bunking, eating, games, etc and was more rustic than we're used to.

We worked for five days, all of them on fire hours (getting up at 3 AM, working till 1 PM). The block was hilly and ridiculously thick. Huge walls of alder interspersed with gigantic aspens and cotton woods. it was like cutting into a wall. Other patches of the block were laden with slash piles of rotten wood (nothing ruins a day quicker than stepping on what you think is good footing and then promptly hearing a crack and descending six or seven feet into a hole that you have to crawl out of - with much cursing). The devil's club was bad on this block as well. If you are unfamiliar with this plant, it is aptly named. It has huge green maple leaf type leaves with a stocky stem. Every part of the plant is covered with venomous spines that burrow into your skin should you brush up against it. I expelled many an expletive battling my way through the Devil's gardens in the slash (as an append to the earlier explanation, imagine that hole you fall into off the slash is filled with devil's club - it like a trap set by Satan himself).

Ash quit one day, it was his fourth season and he kind of hit the wall. Didn't want to cut trees anymore, quite understandable but too bad. Apex is losing guys left, right and centre - rookies and vets alike.

The heat was pretty bad, high 20s most of the time, but it was the bugs that made the cake. Billions of the little bastards. My arms are again red with bites from mosquitos, noseeums, and black flies. There were times, especially at lunch where it all got a bit much. Imagine sitting down to enjoy some food and being surrounded by the constant whine of mosquitos while having to clear out blackflies from your ears every other second. It was maddening and the bug juice didn't seem to work that well.

I was able to finish the 1421 book while in camp. Quite a good read. At the end of the book, the author's post-script covered new evidence that is emerging daily. The most fascinating was evidence that the Chinese fleet built permanent settlements far up the Amazon, deep in the jungle. In 1925, and explorer disapeared searching for such lost cities. The author is currently looking for people to pick up the torch and seek out these lost settlements. I couldn't help but think what a find that would be. It warms my sense of adventure to know that there are still near-mythical sites to be discovered in this world.

I bought myself a pipe before I went into Leo Creek, but I've stayed off the cigarettes. I do enjoy a good puff on the pipe while also realizing that this too is something I must quit before I go to Africa. I'll work on it.

Right now what I need is rain. I have the option to tree-plant, but I don't want to do that, especially because I'd be a rookie. 'm tired of working partial-days and making no money. We need the rains to come before we can settle into some good long contract and start raking in the cash.

On the other hand, a few days off in town may give me a little time to work on the novel. I've been kind of stumped for a while, but sometimes just sitting down and typing a little helps.

I never did get myself that Chai latte last time I posted, so it's even more important that I get it now.

Signing off and praying for rain in PG...