A Day in The Life of a Nomad: Amazon Jungle

This is a continuous series of posts about random, nonspecific but typical days in the life of my nomadic lifestyle method. –view all days

*AMAZON JUNGLE, UNDISCLOSED

9:34 AM As my consciousness increases, so does the extreme pain in the back of my skull. I open my eyes but it’s dark, it’s not the lack of light. I’m blindfolded.

9:35 AM My hands react to reach my head to remove the blindfold but then I realize they’re tied up. I can feel the onset of panic developing in my core. I take a deep breath and it dissipates. I’ve regained composure but my awareness is slipping, it must be a concussion.

9:36 AM Zzzzzzzzz….

9:58 AM I must have passed out on top of a washing machine last night and now it’s on a cycle. No, I must be in the back of a truck driving slowly off-road.

9:59 AM Fully awake, I realize I wasn’t dreaming. I am indeed blindfolded and handcuffed. Stay calm.

10:01 AM Time to focus. I don’t know how I got here or where I am, what’s important is escape and evasion.

10:02 AM Damn, they took my SERE bracelet that could have opened these handcuffs. Time for secondary measures. I still have my Dynamis Belt with some tools hidden in it, I get the modded handcuff key and presto, my hands are free. Small victory.

10:03 AM The rag they blindfolded me with is half soaked in my blood. The back of my head has 2 large bumps and 1 still bleeding. I’ll deal with the pain later.

10:04 AM No other visible injuries on my body, good. I look for any equipment or weapons I can use in the back of this pickup truck. A quarter filled bottle of tequila, a stale piece of pita bread and a ripped up seat cushion. Then good fortune strikes, inside a black trash bag is my FAST Pack backpack with my gear.

10:07 AM Starved, I eat half the pita bread which tastes like salted cardboard and save the other for later. Tempted to just down the tequila but I resist, instead I pour some on my head wound – now my skull is on fire. I save the rest for later or as a water container if needed. I’m too dehydrated.

10:11 AM Backpack packed. I’m prepared to jump off this moving truck.

10:13 AM Slow moving truck, good. Erratic and rocky road, bad. I grab that seat cushion and put it over my forearms with my fists under my chin. I lay down on my side on the edge of the truck. I roll off…

10:14 AM My backpack breaks my fall but the force jerks me into a spin in the air, must be 540 degrees. I land hard on my forearms but the cushion takes most of the shock and it’s over. Adrenaline kicks in but ironically has an effect like morphine as all my pain is gone, in fact I feel great. I roll to the side of the road behind a bush.

10:15 AM My feet want to run as fast as possible but my training reminds me to sit tight and observe. I must confirm if they notice my escape. I must confirm if they stop. I must confirm if they have dogs that can track me. This will tell me how to pace and maneuver my evasion… The beat up truck goes so slow against the faux road along the jungle… Going, going, gone.

10:17 AM Adrenaline mode over. Vicious pain floods over me with a vengeance. My captors must of hit me twice, every time my heart beats it’s like 2 rusty nails are jabbing the back of my skull. I have to get up.

10:18 AM According to my compass, the truck is headed North. With no identifiable markings or idea of locale, my best option is to head South, via the jungle.

12:24 PM Even through this dense vegetation, each beam of light of the high noon sun feels life draining. The pain has reduced from a drilling pulse to a dulling resonance but my thirst is rapidly increasing. All I have is an emergency Lexer flask of 2.5 ounces of water and that tequila is tempting.

2:46 PM This is the third growth of water vine I’ve come across. The first was dry and the second was contaminated – I didn’t drink it but I felt a moment of heaven washing it over my face… With hope I cut this vine with my Hell Fire Knife. Clear water trickles out and it tastes sweet. Jackpot. Life is good.

2:51 PM I put the water of the Lexer flask in my mouth and hold it there so I can transfer the tequila into it. Then I transfer the water from my mouth to the tequila bottle as well as what I can get from the water vine. I take a well deserved nap…

4:20 PM If my head trauma wasn’t bad enough, I wake from my slumber with excessive itching of the face, king sized mosquitoes went to town on it. Time to get get up and get moving.

5:47 PM Exhausted, delirious and starved, I sit on the edge of a small but beautiful water fall without a care in the world. I finally have that tequila, finally I feel the good kind of pain as it glazes my throat going down. That pita bread now tastes like pure wonder.

6:01 PM Buzzed and almost content, I see what appears to be a cell tower. What the hell, I’ll take a selfie and maybe I’ll get some service on my iPhone to call my people for an EVAC.