Post: #1

Welcome to reality.. This happens, when someone suffers from bambi-syndrom in end-stage.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/...red-armed/

   

Post: #2

Single middle age woman paddles solo right into the middle of a drug route and hopes for the best. Some people are so naive it gets them killed.

Post: #3

(09-20-2017 04:18 AM)John Michael Kane Wrote:  Single middle age woman paddles solo right into the middle of a drug route and hopes for the best. Some people are so naive it gets them killed.

Pretty much this. I've been to some rather remote parts of the Amazon and while the people there were friendly, they are rough and in some regards almost animal-like. No way I would do some solo trip without a local guide.

Post: #4

She was a capable adventurer who did a solo trek to the north pole. Her mistake was not hiring a local guide. I doubt a solo gringo would have fared differently.

Post: #5

Yeah, I would love to challenge myself against nature, but going into the jungle to deal with urban problems doesn't sound appealing

Post: #6

The first group of criminals that she wrote about in her tweets probably just called their criminal buddies further down stream to let them know an unarmed, alone, middle aged white women with electronics and other valuables (perfect victim for robbery) would be headed their way. I wouldn't be surprised if she bought into the myth of the noble savage and assumed the natives of amazons were all peaceful and friendly.

Post: #7

I have nothing but respect for anyone, man or woman, who reaches the south pole solo. She trecked for 3 months pulling a 200 pound sled in one of the most inhospitible places on Earth - how many of us could achieve that? This chick was one of the very few examples of women who are actually bad ass. I'd say that a canoe trip down the Amazon would be significantly less risky than a trek to the south pole, but extremely risky nonetheless. I'm sure she was fully aware of the risks and that there was a chance she wouldn't survive. This doesn't seem like an idealistic bimbo on a university gap year. She knew what she was doing and she had her reasons for embarking on such a risky adventure.

Post: #8

(09-20-2017 09:30 AM)Horus Wrote:  I have nothing but respect for anyone, man or woman, who reaches the south pole solo. She trecked for 3 months pulling a 200 pound sled in one of the most inhospitible places on Earth - how many of us could achieve that? This chick was one of the very few examples of women who are actually bad ass. I'd say that a canoe trip down the Amazon would be significantly less risky than a trek to the south pole, but extremely risky nonetheless. I'm sure she was fully aware of the risks and that there was a chance she wouldn't survive. This doesn't seem like an idealistic bimbo on a university gap year. She knew what she was doing and she had her reasons for embarking on such a risky adventure.

Yeah but yeah but yeah but.

Your point is taken. She achieved some stuff that would be impressive for anyone.

Look at her tweets though.



She got a warning sign like a flare gun in the face and ignored it.

So, no matter how gutsy she was, and especially for an older woman, she was either suicidal or fatally overconfident.

Even if you are in the Amazon, you still have to have your wits about you, your street smarts still have to be ready to kick in at a moment's notice.

To paraphrase self defense expert Marc "Animal" MacYoung, almost every deadly or violent situation comes with nearly explicit instructions for avoiding it.

If the methed out biker in the bar is telling you to shut up, all you have to do is shut up.

If you stumble into the wrong neighborhood and someone says, what are you doing here? Leave.

If you are at a party and a drunk dude invites you upstairs to look at his gun collection, don't do it.

Gavin De Becker said something similar about intuition. It is sending you signals all the time, and learning how to listen to them in all their variations can save your life:

Quote:Trust that what causes alarm probably should, because when it comes to danger, intuition is always right in at least two important ways: 1. It is always in response to something. 2. It always has your best interest at heart.

Intuition might send any of several messengers to get your attention, and because they differ according to urgency, it is good to know the ranking. The intuitive signal of the highest order, the one with the greatest urgency, is fear; accordingly, it should always be listened to. The next level is apprehension, then suspicion, then hesitation, doubt, gut feelings, hunches and curiosity. There are also nagging feelings, persistent thoughts, physical sensations, wonder, and anxiety. Generally speaking, these are less urgent. By thinking about these signals with an open mind when they occur, you will learn how you communicate with yourself. There is another signal people rarely recognize, and that is dark humor. Humor, particularly dark humor, is a common way to communicate true concern without the risk of feeling silly afterwards, and without overtly showing fear.

http://fluidself.org/books/psychology/the-gift-of-fear/

Look at that bolded section then look at her breezy tweets.

Message ignored.

I don't know her and can't know why she personally didn't think things getting hairy was for some reason not a reason to scram?

I have known a lot of women who have done similar things and then had to be bailed out by men, and my normal conclusion is that for all their criticism of the male ego, the female ego is the real monster, and they don't really believe that anything bad can happen to them.

Not me. This is my journey/trip/adventure. Life owes it to me.

Women also brag about their intuition all the time which is kooky because they are so good at ignoring it when it doesn't fit in with their current desires and preferences.

Her tweets read to me like the last goodbye from someone who doesn't care to live anymore. It is sad that she threw her life away in such a casual way.

Image came up hard against intuition, and it looks like it won.

That is the takeaway for me here. I have taken to heart MacYoung's idea that violence usually comes with instructions for how to avoid it, and De Becker's advice to cultivate your intuition in all its guises.

And it has literally saved my life on a few occasions. I have my plans and my beliefs about myself and the world and my place in it, but if my intuition screams forget about your image, survive instead, I am going to listen.

I liked this video that was posted on the forum recently:





Dude got strong armed into giving up all his money on a recent trip there. I like it because as you listen to the audio, you can hear, if you are listening for it, countless warning signs, red flags, possible moments to eject, and this fool just keeps doing what he is doing because it is his trip to Paris.

He did everything wrong and still fate shone on him because all he lost was a few pounds. If you are bored, listen to it and ask yourself when you would have ejected, or if you would have even gotten into that pickle in the first place.

I liked it because it made me realize that my intuition is much better than it used to be. I was listening to it and saying to myself, don't do that, time to take a left, time to leave, time to run, and the guy never did.

Like the woman in the Amazon, whose narrative was "my adventure," this guy's narrative was "my trip to Paris," and no reality could make him reconsider.

And that used to be me.

Let me tell you about the time I was chased by a three card monte player and his confederates down the streets of Amsterdam because it was "my trip" and I wanted a picture to take home. Surely the criminals won't mind if you take a picture of them committing a crime, especially not when you need that picture to show your friends.

Or maybe I won't tell you about it. It is so far in my rear view mirror it isn't funny.

I wish there was a better word than narrative to use, because the SJWs use it so much, but narratives these are, and if you are committed enough to a narrative, it will become realer to you than the actual reality trying to smack you in the face and get your attention.

And narrative can kill.

Post: #9

(09-20-2017 11:37 AM)debeguiled Wrote:  

(09-20-2017 09:30 AM)Horus Wrote:  I have nothing but respect for anyone, man or woman, who reaches the south pole solo. She trecked for 3 months pulling a 200 pound sled in one of the most inhospitible places on Earth - how many of us could achieve that? This chick was one of the very few examples of women who are actually bad ass. I'd say that a canoe trip down the Amazon would be significantly less risky than a trek to the south pole, but extremely risky nonetheless. I'm sure she was fully aware of the risks and that there was a chance she wouldn't survive. This doesn't seem like an idealistic bimbo on a university gap year. She knew what she was doing and she had her reasons for embarking on such a risky adventure.

Yeah but yeah but yeah but.

Your point is taken. She achieved some stuff that would be impressive for anyone.

Look at her tweets though.



She got a warning sign like a flare gun in the face and ignored it.

So, no matter how gutsy she was, and especially for an older woman, she was either suicidal or fatally overconfident.

Even if you are in the Amazon, you still have to have your wits about you, your street smarts still have to be ready to kick in at a moment's notice.

To paraphrase self defense expert Marc "Animal" MacYoung, almost every deadly or violent situation comes with nearly explicit instructions for avoiding it.

If the methed out biker in the bar is telling you to shut up, all you have to do is shut up.

If you stumble into the wrong neighborhood and someone says, what are you doing here? Leave.

If you are at a party and a drunk dude invites you upstairs to look at his gun collection, don't do it.

Gavin De Becker said something similar about intuition. It is sending you signals all the time, and learning how to listen to them in all their variations can save your life:

Quote:Trust that what causes alarm probably should, because when it comes to danger, intuition is always right in at least two important ways: 1. It is always in response to something. 2. It always has your best interest at heart.

Intuition might send any of several messengers to get your attention, and because they differ according to urgency, it is good to know the ranking. The intuitive signal of the highest order, the one with the greatest urgency, is fear; accordingly, it should always be listened to. The next level is apprehension, then suspicion, then hesitation, doubt, gut feelings, hunches and curiosity. There are also nagging feelings, persistent thoughts, physical sensations, wonder, and anxiety. Generally speaking, these are less urgent. By thinking about these signals with an open mind when they occur, you will learn how you communicate with yourself. There is another signal people rarely recognize, and that is dark humor. Humor, particularly dark humor, is a common way to communicate true concern without the risk of feeling silly afterwards, and without overtly showing fear.

http://fluidself.org/books/psychology/the-gift-of-fear/

Look at that bolded section then look at her breezy tweets.

Message ignored.

I don't know her and can't know why she personally didn't think things getting hairy was for some reason not a reason to scram?

I have known a lot of women who have done similar things and then had to be bailed out by men, and my normal conclusion is that for all their criticism of the male ego, the female ego is the real monster, and they don't really believe that anything bad can happen to them.

Not me. This is my journey/trip/adventure. Life owes it to me.

Women also brag about their intuition all the time which is kooky because they are so good at ignoring it when it doesn't fit in with their current desires and preferences.

Her tweets read to me like the last goodbye from someone who doesn't care to live anymore. It is sad that she threw her life away in such a casual way.

Image came up hard against intuition, and it looks like it won.

That is the takeaway for me here. I have taken to heart MacYoung's idea that violence usually comes with instructions for how to avoid it, and De Becker's advice to cultivate your intuition in all its guises.

And it has literally saved my life on a few occasions. I have my plans and my beliefs about myself and the world and my place in it, but if my intuition screams forget about your image, survive instead, I am going to listen.

I liked this video that was posted on the forum recently:





Dude got strong armed into giving up all his money on a recent trip there. I like it because as you listen to the audio, you can hear, if you are listening for it, countless warning signs, red flags, possible moments to eject, and this fool just keeps doing what he is doing because it is his trip to Paris.

He did everything wrong and still fate shone on him because all he lost was a few pounds. If you are bored, listen to it and ask yourself when you would have ejected, or if you would have even gotten into that pickle in the first place.

I liked it because it made me realize that my intuition is much better than it used to be. I was listening to it and saying to myself, don't do that, time to take a left, time to leave, time to run, and the guy never did.

Like the woman in the Amazon, whose narrative was "my adventure," this guy's narrative was "my trip to Paris," and no reality could make him reconsider.

And that used to be me.

Let me tell you about the time I was chased by a three card monte player and his confederates down the streets of Amsterdam because it was "my trip" and I wanted a picture to take home. Surely the criminals won't mind if you take a picture of them committing a crime, especially not when you need that picture to show your friends.

Or maybe I won't tell you about it. It is so far in my rear view mirror it isn't funny.

I wish there was a better word than narrative to use, because the SJWs use it so much, but narratives these are, and if you are committed enough to a narrative, it will become realer to you than the actual reality trying to smack you in the face and get your attention.

And narrative can kill.

Great post. Most people aren't in touch with their intuition. I go a lot on gut feelings about things, especially when off piste and risk of Avalanche etc.

Post: #10

(09-20-2017 09:30 AM)Horus Wrote:  I have nothing but respect for anyone, man or woman, who reaches the south pole solo. She trecked for 3 months pulling a 200 pound sled in one of the most inhospitible places on Earth - how many of us could achieve that? This chick was one of the very few examples of women who are actually bad ass. I'd say that a canoe trip down the Amazon would be significantly less risky than a trek to the south pole, but extremely risky nonetheless. I'm sure she was fully aware of the risks and that there was a chance she wouldn't survive. This doesn't seem like an idealistic bimbo on a university gap year. She knew what she was doing and she had her reasons for embarking on such a risky adventure.

She was strong, brave, and good at dealing with hostile environments, but that's a whole different skill set than dealing with hostile PEOPLE. It's like saying I'm a great mountain climber, and trying to sail around the world solo without the knowledge or the training. It might still be brave, but it's definitely stupid.

Post: #11

I will second the recommendation to get Gavin's "The Gift of Fear" book. An excellent read that might just save your life. Your intuition is there for a reason, learn to listen to it.

Post: #12

(09-20-2017 11:37 AM)debeguiled Wrote:  

(09-20-2017 09:30 AM)Horus Wrote:  I have nothing but respect for anyone, man or woman, who reaches the south pole solo. She trecked for 3 months pulling a 200 pound sled in one of the most inhospitible places on Earth - how many of us could achieve that? This chick was one of the very few examples of women who are actually bad ass. I'd say that a canoe trip down the Amazon would be significantly less risky than a trek to the south pole, but extremely risky nonetheless. I'm sure she was fully aware of the risks and that there was a chance she wouldn't survive. This doesn't seem like an idealistic bimbo on a university gap year. She knew what she was doing and she had her reasons for embarking on such a risky adventure.

Yeah but yeah but yeah but.

Your point is taken. She achieved some stuff that would be impressive for anyone.

Look at her tweets though.



She got a warning sign like a flare gun in the face and ignored it.

So, no matter how gutsy she was, and especially for an older woman, she was either suicidal or fatally overconfident.

Even if you are in the Amazon, you still have to have your wits about you, your street smarts still have to be ready to kick in at a moment's notice.

To paraphrase self defense expert Marc "Animal" MacYoung, almost every deadly or violent situation comes with nearly explicit instructions for avoiding it.

If the methed out biker in the bar is telling you to shut up, all you have to do is shut up.

If you stumble into the wrong neighborhood and someone says, what are you doing here? Leave.

If you are at a party and a drunk dude invites you upstairs to look at his gun collection, don't do it.

Gavin De Becker said something similar about intuition. It is sending you signals all the time, and learning how to listen to them in all their variations can save your life:

Quote:Trust that what causes alarm probably should, because when it comes to danger, intuition is always right in at least two important ways: 1. It is always in response to something. 2. It always has your best interest at heart.

Intuition might send any of several messengers to get your attention, and because they differ according to urgency, it is good to know the ranking. The intuitive signal of the highest order, the one with the greatest urgency, is fear; accordingly, it should always be listened to. The next level is apprehension, then suspicion, then hesitation, doubt, gut feelings, hunches and curiosity. There are also nagging feelings, persistent thoughts, physical sensations, wonder, and anxiety. Generally speaking, these are less urgent. By thinking about these signals with an open mind when they occur, you will learn how you communicate with yourself. There is another signal people rarely recognize, and that is dark humor. Humor, particularly dark humor, is a common way to communicate true concern without the risk of feeling silly afterwards, and without overtly showing fear.

http://fluidself.org/books/psychology/the-gift-of-fear/

Look at that bolded section then look at her breezy tweets.

Message ignored.

I don't know her and can't know why she personally didn't think things getting hairy was for some reason not a reason to scram?

I have known a lot of women who have done similar things and then had to be bailed out by men, and my normal conclusion is that for all their criticism of the male ego, the female ego is the real monster, and they don't really believe that anything bad can happen to them.

Not me. This is my journey/trip/adventure. Life owes it to me.

Women also brag about their intuition all the time which is kooky because they are so good at ignoring it when it doesn't fit in with their current desires and preferences.

Her tweets read to me like the last goodbye from someone who doesn't care to live anymore. It is sad that she threw her life away in such a casual way.

Image came up hard against intuition, and it looks like it won.

That is the takeaway for me here. I have taken to heart MacYoung's idea that violence usually comes with instructions for how to avoid it, and De Becker's advice to cultivate your intuition in all its guises.

And it has literally saved my life on a few occasions. I have my plans and my beliefs about myself and the world and my place in it, but if my intuition screams forget about your image, survive instead, I am going to listen.

I liked this video that was posted on the forum recently:





Dude got strong armed into giving up all his money on a recent trip there. I like it because as you listen to the audio, you can hear, if you are listening for it, countless warning signs, red flags, possible moments to eject, and this fool just keeps doing what he is doing because it is his trip to Paris.

He did everything wrong and still fate shone on him because all he lost was a few pounds. If you are bored, listen to it and ask yourself when you would have ejected, or if you would have even gotten into that pickle in the first place.

I liked it because it made me realize that my intuition is much better than it used to be. I was listening to it and saying to myself, don't do that, time to take a left, time to leave, time to run, and the guy never did.

Like the woman in the Amazon, whose narrative was "my adventure," this guy's narrative was "my trip to Paris," and no reality could make him reconsider.

And that used to be me.

Let me tell you about the time I was chased by a three card monte player and his confederates down the streets of Amsterdam because it was "my trip" and I wanted a picture to take home. Surely the criminals won't mind if you take a picture of them committing a crime, especially not when you need that picture to show your friends.

Or maybe I won't tell you about it. It is so far in my rear view mirror it isn't funny.

I wish there was a better word than narrative to use, because the SJWs use it so much, but narratives these are, and if you are committed enough to a narrative, it will become realer to you than the actual reality trying to smack you in the face and get your attention.

And narrative can kill.

That "Iconoclast" vlogger didn't get mugged, he was just looking for something to spice up his "Paris Is Burning" narrative. If he has indeed got strongarmed into giving those African wetbacks 20 Euros, he's making much more from his YT ad revenues. It's like the Laura Southern Paris video where she films walking around in a hood that has been African for 30-40 years already instead of the clean 90% of the city, where the east side is constantly gentrifying and the west side is unscathed, full of well-dressed Parisians. There are many parts of Paris and many suburbs that used to be dodgy 20 years ago that are now much gentrified (think NYC).

The immigrants are all in some burbs like Trappes or St Denis, Paris is way too expensive for them. Some of them do trickle in via the RER (commuter train) and loiter in touristy places like the Champs Elysees, where many Parisians stopped going to.

Post: #13

(09-20-2017 11:37 AM)debeguiled Wrote:  



Dude got strong armed into giving up all his money on a recent trip there. I like it because as you listen to the audio, you can hear, if you are listening for it, countless warning signs, red flags, possible moments to eject, and this fool just keeps doing what he is doing because it is his trip to Paris.

He did everything wrong and still fate shone on him because all he lost was a few pounds. If you are bored, listen to it and ask yourself when you would have ejected, or if you would have even gotten into that pickle in the first place.

I liked it because it made me realize that my intuition is much better than it used to be. I was listening to it and saying to myself, don't do that, time to take a left, time to leave, time to run, and the guy never did.

Like the woman in the Amazon, whose narrative was "my adventure," this guy's narrative was "my trip to Paris," and no reality could make him reconsider.

And that used to be me.

Let me tell you about the time I was chased by a three card monte player and his confederates down the streets of Amsterdam because it was "my trip" and I wanted a picture to take home. Surely the criminals won't mind if you take a picture of them committing a crime, especially not when you need that picture to show your friends.

Or maybe I won't tell you about it. It is so far in my rear view mirror it isn't funny.

I wish there was a better word than narrative to use, because the SJWs use it so much, but narratives these are, and if you are committed enough to a narrative, it will become realer to you than the actual reality trying to smack you in the face and get your attention.

And narrative can kill.

LOL at 1:45 - "I hadn't been to Paris in 10 years, had a great time last time, so I decided to go back and see what had changed.".

He found out what changed alright.

Post: #14

I wonder how much she adhered to the "noble savage" concept. That these people, living in primitive conditions, are really just good souls being marginalized by industrial Western powers. We've already seen similar stories that led to tragedy (I believe there was a recent one about a women traveling alone through rural Africa).

A single Western woman, traveling alone through Brazil? That's not the kind of thing that a Church-going woman under patriarchal guidance would do. I am guessing that her decision was influenced by thousands of "girl power" slogans and BBC virtue signalling. To me, it's a cruel indicator that these far-left ideaologies can lead to tragedy.

Post: #15

At least it wasn't a young cute girl. An older woman taking foolish risks is far more palatable, although just as stupid.

Post: #16

(09-20-2017 09:25 AM)bacon Wrote:  I wouldn't be surprised if she bought into the myth of the noble savage and assumed the natives of amazons were all peaceful and friendly.

Or she was woefully ignorant in thinking a bunch of bush men were idiots...

Look who the silly and stupid one is now.

iPhone go for big money in Brazil little did she know.

This is all silly and sad. It's one thing to get ambushed and run into bad luck, but her life tweeting her adventurous almost seems that she got caught into her own hype as being some new age female Hemingway.

Post: #17

(09-20-2017 01:30 PM)DarkTriad Wrote:  

(09-20-2017 09:30 AM)Horus Wrote:  I have nothing but respect for anyone, man or woman, who reaches the south pole solo. She trecked for 3 months pulling a 200 pound sled in one of the most inhospitible places on Earth - how many of us could achieve that? This chick was one of the very few examples of women who are actually bad ass. I'd say that a canoe trip down the Amazon would be significantly less risky than a trek to the south pole, but extremely risky nonetheless. I'm sure she was fully aware of the risks and that there was a chance she wouldn't survive. This doesn't seem like an idealistic bimbo on a university gap year. She knew what she was doing and she had her reasons for embarking on such a risky adventure.

She was strong, brave, and good at dealing with hostile environments, but that's a whole different skill set than dealing with hostile PEOPLE. It's like saying I'm a great mountain climber, and trying to sail around the world solo without the knowledge or the training. It might still be brave, but it's definitely stupid.

How is a middle-aged woman going alone to the South pole with a sled, a good thing?

For me, it's a bad thing: it kills the myth, kills the awe and respect I would have had for a man doing the same. I mean, if a not-so-bright middle-age woman can do it, there's no trekking hero (male or female) left.

Matter of fact, except a few politicians whom I consider patriotic heroes, what heroes are left for us to admire, in our modern world? Nothing above Bear Gryllis... sad: the time of heroes is over.

Those were heroes:





all the modern "heroes" are just taking advantage of technology. Cheap 21st century heroes with GPS...

Post: #18

(09-20-2017 08:17 AM)polar Wrote:  She was a capable adventurer who did a solo trek to the north pole. Her mistake was not hiring a local guide. I doubt a solo gringo would have fared differently.

I wonder what the difference is between brazil and the North Pole. Capable adventurer indeed.

Post: #19

The river traders are low life that sell alcohol and guns to the Indians, even though it is illegal in Brazil to sell alcohol to Indians.

Here is a story of a linguist living with Amazon Indians in Brazil who crossed two river traders by telling them it was illegal to sell alcohol to the Indians. The traders then set him up by giving the Indians guns to kill him and his family.

This is a good example of how a quick thinking man recognizes dangers and saves the life of himself and his family.


"Then, about midnight, I was awakened from a deep sleep by yelling. The words that first impressed themselves on my senses were “I am not afraid to kill the Americans. The Brazilian says to kill them and he will give us a new shotgun.” “You’re going to kill them, then?” “Yes, I will shoot them while they are sleeping.”

This discussion was coming from the jungle darkness less than a hundred feet from my house. Most of the men of the village were drunk on Ronaldinho’s sugarcane cachaça. But Ronaldinho had done more than give them cachaça. He had urged them to kill me and my family, offering a brand-new shotgun to the man who would do the deed. I sat up in bed, Keren wide awake beside me.

This was just our second visit to the Pirahãs. We had been in the village continuously for seven months. I spoke their language well enough now to understand that they were talking about killing us. I understood that they were urging each other on. And I knew that something was likely to happen very soon if I didn’t act. My children were asleep in their hammocks. Shannon, Kristene, and Caleb had no idea what kind of danger their parents had put them in.

I pulled back my mosquito net from our bed and, very unusually, left the house in the dark, with no flashlight to attract attention, wearing only the shorts and flip-flops that were lying by my bed. I stepped carefully through the jungle to the hut where the men were working up their emotions to kill us. Adding to my tension, I was afraid of stepping on a snake in the dark, even though I was only walking a few dozen yards.

I didn’t know what to expect from the Pirahãs. I was so shocked by what they were saying that I no longer felt that I knew them. Maybe they would kill me as soon as they saw me. But I couldn’t leave my family waiting for the Pirahãs to kill us.

I saw where they were—in the small house built originally by Vicenzo. Peering from the jungle darkness through the palm board slats into the house, I saw that they were sitting by the flickering light of a lamparina—a small kerosene lamp, common in Amazonia, which contains a few ounces of kerosene and a cloth wick emerging from a narrow aperture, looking something like illustrations of Aladdin’s lamp in The Arabian Nights. These lamparinas give off a dull orange light in which people look eerie at night, their dully glowing faces standing out only barely from the surrounding blackness.

I caught my breath silently outside, trying to decide how to enter in the least confrontational way. Finally, I just walked inside with a big smile and said in my best Pirahã, “Hey, guys! How are you doing?”

I made small talk while I walked around the hut picking up arrows, bows, two shotguns, and a couple of machetes. The Pirahã men stared at me with dull alcohol-laden eyes, in silence. Before they could react, I was done. I walked out quickly and wordlessly into the dark, having successfully disarmed them. I was under no illusion that this made me or my family safe. But it did slightly reduce the immediate threat. I took the weapons to our house and locked them in the storeroom. The river trader who had given them the cachaça was asleep in his boat, still moored at the raft in front of my house. I decided to chase him off. First, though, I had to take care of my family.

I locked Keren and the children in our storeroom, the one room that had walls and a door. This was a dark room in which we had killed more than one snake, several rats, and lots of centipedes, cockroaches, and tarantulas. The kids had missed the entire episode so far and as we woke them up in their hammocks to move them to the storeroom they were groggy and half-conscious. They just lay down on the floor, without protest. I had Keren lock the door from the inside.

Then I walked down the riverbank toward the boat, anger building with every step. On the way, though, I was sobered by the realization that I had not seen my teacher Kóhoi or his shotgun. Almost at the exact second that I had this thought, I heard Kóhoi’s voice from the bushes on the bank just behind me. “I am going to shoot you right now and kill you.”

I turned toward the voice, fully expecting to receive the full blast of his 20-gauge shotgun in my face or torso as I did. He came toward me out of the bushes, unsteadily. But I could see with relief that he was not armed. I asked, “Why do you want to kill me?” “Because the Brazilian says that you do not pay us enough and he says that you told him he could not pay us if we worked for him.

We were talking in Pirahã, though he had originally threatened me in rudimentary Portuguese—“Eu maTA boSAY” (I kill you). If I had not been able to speak Pirahã, I might not have survived the night. Kóhoi and I exchanged words in the Pirahãs’ stacatto-sounding language (it sounds this way because of a consonant, the glottal stop, that Pirahã possesses and English doesn’t).

I struggled and focused as never before to put each thought across clearly to Kóhoi. I said, “Xaói xihiabaíhiaba. Piitísi xihixóíhiaagá” (The foreigner doesn’t pay. Whiskey [he gives you] is cheap).

Kóhoi responded, “Xumh! Xaói bagiáikoí. Hiatíihí xogihiaba xaói”(Wow. The foreigner is stealing from us. The Pirahãs don’t want him)".

Everett, Daniel L.. Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle (Kindle Locations 1231-1234). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Post: #20

(09-20-2017 04:41 PM)Going strong Wrote:  

(09-20-2017 01:30 PM)DarkTriad Wrote:  

(09-20-2017 09:30 AM)Horus Wrote:  I have nothing but respect for anyone, man or woman, who reaches the south pole solo. She trecked for 3 months pulling a 200 pound sled in one of the most inhospitible places on Earth - how many of us could achieve that? This chick was one of the very few examples of women who are actually bad ass. I'd say that a canoe trip down the Amazon would be significantly less risky than a trek to the south pole, but extremely risky nonetheless. I'm sure she was fully aware of the risks and that there was a chance she wouldn't survive. This doesn't seem like an idealistic bimbo on a university gap year. She knew what she was doing and she had her reasons for embarking on such a risky adventure.

She was strong, brave, and good at dealing with hostile environments, but that's a whole different skill set than dealing with hostile PEOPLE. It's like saying I'm a great mountain climber, and trying to sail around the world solo without the knowledge or the training. It might still be brave, but it's definitely stupid.

How is a middle-aged woman going alone to the South pole with a sled, a good thing?

For me, it's a bad thing: it kills the myth, kills the awe and respect I would have had for a man doing the same. I mean, if a not-so-bright middle-age woman can do it, there's no trekking hero (male or female) left.

Matter of fact, except a few politicians whom I consider patriotic heroes, what heroes are left for us to admire, in our modern world? Nothing above Bear Gryllis... sad: the time of heroes is over.

Those were heroes:

all the modern "heroes" are just taking advantage of technology. Cheap 21st century heroes with GPS...

Going strong...live and let live.

As technology and gear progress, what was once unthinkable becomes first challenging, then merely complicated, then commonplace. Knowledge gets passed on. Processes get improved. Safety increases. Then comes comfort.

Upwards of 10,000 people now ascend Mt. Everest annually.

But there is also the history of human feats involving little gear (such as Roger Bannister's four minute mile) that were thought impossible until accomplished. Since then, lots of athletes have broken the four minute mark. One of the things helping them drive forward is knowing that it has been done before.

I don't think repeating someone's previous feat is worthy of the same praise as the trailblazer. But any feat of mental and physical fortitude is worthy of admiration. And some of those who follow in the footsteps end up carving out their own path forward.

The trick is becoming capable enough of new achievements, and then finding yourself new challenges.

Post: #21

In and around Iquitos, the locals seem to be somewhat friendly to gringos. I think they realize that gringos bring in money. If the place becomes too dangerous, the gringos will stop coming. That's the benefit of ayahuasca tourism.

It sounds like the gangs in Brazil get away with a lot more. Of course, a much larger portion of the jungle is in Brazil.

I admire this woman for pursuing adventures that made her happy.

I suspect she was killed by criminal gangsters--the types who operate all over Brazil. Naturally I wonder which is safer for an English women by herself--going down the Amazon in a canoe alone or walking around alone in a bad neighborhood in Rio or Sao Paulo?

Post: #22

So this lady gets surrounded by brutal natives and her instincts tell her to tweet about it?

Am I not following something here?

Aloha!

Post: #23

(09-22-2017 11:24 PM)Kona Wrote:  So this lady gets surrounded by brutal natives and her instincts tell her to tweet about it?

I doubt they were natives, though. Keep in mind that Afro-descendants (often and erroneously called "Caribbeans") are not native to South America...

Only the "Indigenous" tribes from the selva are native to South America, and I don't think these natives are into smuggling and assassination of tourists...

...Unless the Amazon real natives have somehow started getting involved in riverboat piracy, smuggling and organized criminality? I don't know about that.

Post: #24

I suspect those are mestizos with a lot of native blood mixed with African and a bit of European, and they're generations removed from native culture.

(09-20-2017 02:25 PM)MajorStyles Wrote:  I wonder how much she adhered to the "noble savage" concept. That these people, living in primitive conditions, are really just good souls being marginalized by industrial Western powers. We've already seen similar stories that led to tragedy (I believe there was a recent one about a women traveling alone through rural Africa).

A single Western woman, traveling alone through Brazil? That's not the kind of thing that a Church-going woman under patriarchal guidance would do. I am guessing that her decision was influenced by thousands of "girl power" slogans and BBC virtue signalling. To me, it's a cruel indicator that these far-left ideaologies can lead to tragedy.

She reminds me of an ex. Very beautiful woman (Sharapova lookalike) with a bit of an innocent and naive streak, had a great mom from the South, and a very successful rich hippie surgeon dad who had bailed on the family while she was still a kid. Grew up in NorCal with those scars and a Marin Co. mentality, didn't want to settle down.

I saw her 5 years after we broke up, she got sucked into the Oakland ghetto scene and looked 10-15 years older (probably form crack abuse). I suspect that the man or men she was with had pimped her up.

She's in a good place now, living near her mom in the South, but like that British woman that went into the Amazon, she lacked that basic social filter and situational awareness.

Post: #25

It's hard not to say....



So?