I have to be without doubt the most unlucky traveller that ever tramped the gringo trail. And that´s not some light bragging on my part. Can you believe that I have suffered a second bout of food poisoning in as many weeks... Yah no, neither could I and I can tell you in between feeling sorry for myself and projectile vomiting, I was praying, again, for another swift and merciful death. What is it with this continent and personal hygiene?
TC, who has returned to resume the trip after jacking in his job and London Life has taken to using hand sanitizer and is being religious in his application of it. I can´t say I blame him. For my part I am still brushing my teeth with bottled water, even though TC maintains that the tap water in Argentina, is potable and has not suffered any ill effects from it.
The result of this is that there is a lot of purchasing of bottled water and on top of buying coke and snacks for long bus rides, we are generating a veritable Aconcagua of non biodegrable garbage. This is obviously not doing my green credentials any good.
On top of this damage to my green reputation, I must fess up to being a litter bug. And in the worst possible way too. I dropped an Oreo packet in the Amazon river basin...yes, okay I can hear the oohs and ahhs and sharp intakes of breath from everyone (yeah, all three of you). I did try to retrieve it, but was concerned about falling into alligator infested water...(yeah I am also overly concerned with my own welfare). So you see, far from thinking up ways to save the damn planet I am actively contributing to its ever hastening demise.
I am still wracked with guilt and not sure what my penance should be for that crime...should I wash spilt oil from the plumes of 5 penguins? What if a pink dolphin died from choking on that packet? Surely no amount of penguin scrubbing could make up for it? hhhmmm....
On the other hand, TC did drop his sun glasses into the river too. Well, every super captain needs a side kick.
The thing that disturbs me is that we are the ecologically aware sort of traveller. We don´t fish under sized pirañas and we don´t hunt monkeys for sport and we don´t litter, well mostly anyway. All this does not bode well for the future of the rainforest and indeed the planet.
As I sip from my bottle of water I have to consider that, far from being Captain Planet I am indeed Captain Sludge (TC is the Sewage Sidekick), however if I don´t buy the bottled water I shall be known as Captain Sludge for reasons other than my destruction of the Earth.
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