Field Notes from a Sporty Outdoorswoman in South America

AKA: Activity Log

AKA: Can She Keep Up?

Place: Marañón River by the village of Nauta, Peru

Activity: jump off a boat and swim in the Amazon River

Hypothesis: I won’t be able to get back into the boat.

Actual outcome: My son front-flips off the boat; my nephew jumps in and out nine times; my daughter and niece swim to the other boat; my step-niece dives in head-first; hundreds of little sardines spring out of the water around the swimmers. I jump in, sardines fling themselves out of my way, I swim quickly to the back of the boat, and climb the little ladder back in. The boat does not tip over with my weight; my muscles get me up the ladder.

Place: Marañón River by the village of Nauta, Peru

Activity: row a long wooden canoe on the Amazon River

Hypothesis: The tiny Peruvian boy who is rowing five us will need help, and it should be me as the one adult on the canoe. But I fear the boat will not move when I take over the oars.

Actual outcome: I row for about ten minutes. We move at a relaxing glacial pace that the children do not appreciate. I decide that the tiny Peruvian boy is really Hercules in disguise. I let him row. My niece and daughter help.

Place: Fundo Casual trail along the Marañón River, Peru

Activity: hike in the Amazon jungle

Hypothesis: I will suffocate in the humidity.

Actual outcome: The sauna atmosphere is quite bearable as we walk slowly and stop to examine frogs that could kill you if boiled and used on darts; bullet ants whose bites feel like being shot; vines that cure rheumatism, toothaches, and ulcers; leaves that get you drunk; plants that fight viruses and bacteria; fruits that become insect repellent or sunscreen; tree and plant parts that produce an endless natural market full of hallucinogens, aphrodisiacs, birth control, dye, tea, antiseptic, muscle rub, cough medicine, disinfectants, numbing ointment, and on and on. If I started to suffocate, surely one of these plants can save me.

snake photo (upper left) and frog photo (lower right) by Adji Teoduoussia

Place: Iquitos, Peru; Quito, Guayaquil, and Galápagos Islands, Ecuador

Activity: carry a 30-pound duffle bag from the Amazon River in Peru to the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador

Hypothesis: Somewhere along the route, which goes like this—boat, bus, flight from Iquitos to Quito, flight from Quito to Guayaquil, flight from Guayaquil to Balta, boat, bus—my arm muscle will rip; my arm bone will detach and dangle in its skin sack ever more.

Actual outcome: I gratefully and graciously accept help, and the bag is carried for me many times by porters and my son. When I do carry it, my arm muscle and bone hold up fine, like the arm of a tiny Peruvian canoe rower.

Place: in the Pacific Ocean, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador

Activity: balance, stay standing, and take a shower on a boat that throws passengers around as it rocks up and down, left and right on a perpetual tumultuous ocean

Hypothesis: I will lose my balance and be thrown overboard.

Actual outcome: I conjure the power of all the fitness classes I’ve been taking. I plant my legs like tree trunks while at the same time I sway with the motion. I balance well enough, but when I do teeter over, it is into lounge chairs, cushioned couches, or my cabin’s soft blanketed bed.

Place: in the Pacific Ocean near Baltra, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador

Activity: snorkeling

Hypothesis: They will not have a wetsuit to fit me.

Actual outcome: A wetsuit my size exists. It requires someone else to zip it while I press my thigh skin down, but I am not the only one who needs such assistance. The wetsuit helps keep me afloat and warm while I marvel at a circus of fish colored like cotton candy and laser lights swimming among coral cliffs, turquoise mist, and sea stars glistening in sunlight.

videos by Dylan Cline

Place: Bartolomé Island, Galápagos, Ecuador

Activity: climb a volcano

Hypothesis: I will fall and impale my knees on sharp volcanic rock, my lungs will burn out, I will pass out, or at the very least, hold up the line of tourists behind me.

Actual outcome: Due to the boardwalk steps with railings going up the volcano, impalement is impossible. I do need to pause a couple times to breathe but Soto, our guide hardly lets me notice as he pauses with me acting like he needs a breather in order to continue his steady stream of fascinating facts about plate tectonics. I do not pass out or even hold anyone up. My lungs remain uncharred.

Place: Mosquera Island, Galápagos, Ecuador

Activity: play with sea lion pups on a sun-drenched sand bank

Hypothesis: Walking up a sand bank will tire me out and distract me from the best day of the whole trip.

Actual outcome: Walking up a sand bank to find sea lions like wet puppies napping in the sun with my children invigorates me and makes this the best day of the whole trip. Walking up the sand bank feels good. I could walk up twenty sand banks.

Conclusion: We were very active but also very pampered. I was starting to wonder if I’d really get to test out my new fitness on this trip. I was doing everything and keeping up with everyone, but it was pretty easy. Meals were served to me, I had a massage floating down the Amazon, my room was cleaned for me. Even when I got sick, I wasn’t the only one. Half our group got sick. I spent two feverish nights and had a few stomach cramps when I ate, but others had it even worse. It wasn’t because I was unfit.

The biggest challenge was an impromptu walk in Galápagos with four family members. I struggled to keep up. It seemed effortless to them. I breathed hard and had to stop several times going up the hill. I was dripping sweat. And I felt a little dizzy. It took a lot of effort. But I did it just the same as them. My hike was just as valid and real as theirs.

Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos, Ecuador

 

Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos, Ecuador

I was beginning to realize that most of my physical weaknesses and inabilities were in my mind—which is exactly why the body journey path needed to merge with a mind journey path. The more I explore and adapt my mindset, outlook, and awareness, the better my body feels. I now feel stronger, healthier, safer, more cared for, more beautiful, more resilient, and more alive and awake.

Because of my new mindset, I eat healthier foods, but when I eat a donut or ice cream, I don’t spiral into shame. I exercise regularly, but when I skip a workout, I respect that my body is telling me a truth—it needs rest at that moment. If I binge (which happens infrequently because when you love your body, you don’t want to hurt it), I say nice things to myself like, “Hmmm, what’s going on? What triggered that binge? You must be upset about something.” If I fall asleep on the couch while reading on a Sunday afternoon, instead of calling myself a lazy time waster, I luxuriate in the lounging moments, trusting and respecting my body’s message that I need rest at the moment.

I’ve heard it said that if you believe you are something, you become it. Say it and it is so. Of course, it’s not like I could wave my wand and say, “I am now a sporty outdoorswoman,” and poof, it’s done. My body had to do sporty and outdoorsy things. And my mind had to repeat sporty and outdoorsy affirmations every day. My mind had to stop saying self-deprecating things about my sportiness and outdoorsiness. My mind had to deconstruct the perception of myself as lazy and broken. My mind had to accept that I have my own version of sporty and outdoorsy.

photo by Adji Teoudoussia

It’s in our nature to move the way our bodies need to. We adapt. Like the animals in the Galápagos—the saddleback tortoise with its long neck that needs to stretch to reach food. The marine iguana with its ridged back like a cheap plastic comb and the land iguana with its skin like rocky lava.

upper left photo: Charles Darwin Center, Santa Cruz, Galápagos, Ecuador

upper right photo: Giant Tortoise Reserve, Santa Cruz, Galápagos, Ecuador

lower left photo: Tortuga Bay, Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos, Ecuador

lower left photo: Charles Darwin Center, Santa Cruz, Galápagos, Ecuador

The frigate birds who can’t go in salt water learn to be the best flyers and steal food from the boobies by sneaking up on them from behind in flight, shaking the food out of their mouths and swooping under to grab it as it falls. The sea lions move awkwardly and look vulnerable on land yet in the water, they dart around like ninjas.

upper left and right photos: North Seymour Island, Galápagos, Ecuador

lower left and right photos: Mosquera Island, Galápagos, Ecuador

We all have our own version of living and being active. Homo sapiens unfortunately have the added burden of perceptions, guilt, shame, … minds that can spew self-loathing, negative ideas like hot lava. Of course, those same minds can bubble up self-love too.

photo by Adji Teoudoussia