Trying To Say Thanks

The girl in this picture is miserable, and I am smiling like a jackass. This picture could be my epitaph.



Nate had a lot of fun coming up with different captions for this photo. My favorite: Delivery day from www.asianbrides.com.

For once though, I really don't feel like this one is my fault.

We were on the island of Florianópolis, a huge tourist destination in Brazil. The island is about 30 miles long and boasts 42 beaches. It was easy making friends with the few other guests in the empty hostel situated at the southern tip of the island. All of the big hotels were in the northern half of the island.

Adam the Englishman was in his third year of travel, with the express goal of crossing the globe by motorcycle. Hostel stays were mostly a luxury item for him. Most nights he camped. I've got a soft spot for people like him, so I bought him dinner and a beer, with the hope of extending his budget for perhaps one more day.

Kaori, the Japanese girl seen in the picture, was sitting in the hostel's common area trying to get her Macbook to connect to the wireless signal. I introduced myself and asked about her day. She gave me a very animated account of going to the beach and being chased down by a dog. She had trouble putting her finger on the right English words need to tell the story, so she acted it out, including growling sound effects and clawing hands. The dog grabbed a hold of her dress, tearing a large hole in it. It sounded like a frightening ordeal, but I had a hard time reconciling the dogI heard in the the story with the dogs I had encountered earlier that day. These dogs were stray, a little desperate for attention, and eager to play fetch. Kaori was describing Kujo. But then again, she seemed a little skittish. When a cockroach appeared on the other side of the room, Kaori jumped up on the couch until it disappeared.

The next morning I invited Adam, Kaori and Andre to join us for what promised to be a nice hike to a waterfall and swimming hole. Andre was a 26 year old Brazilian living in Sao Paulo who came down to Florianópolis for a long weekend. Nate and Chu made us a group of six. At 10am we started our hike towards the beach. Already the sun was hot. Adam ducked into a small grocery store for water, but came out empty handed. Only carbonated water was in stock and he was sure we would have another opportunity to find water. We did not. Everyone was in high spirits as we walked down a quarter mile stretch of sand and then another. The plan was to follow a trail up into the mountainside where we would find the waterfall.


We quickly left the open vistas and made our way into the forest. An hour later we scratching our heads trying to figure out whether we should continue straight, or take a side trail further up the mountain. We took the side trail, passing a lone house with an angry dog chained to the porch. The trail was getting hard to decipher, but plastic tubing running down the mountain side was leaking water, which gave us hope. We crawled over fallen trees and thorny branches. Adam and Andre were doubtful about trail and turned back. They agreed to meet the rest of us near the main trail. We pressed on for another 15 minutes. No dice.

After the climb up the mountainside, dirt clung to my sweaty skin and my head felt hot. We re-traced our steps back to the main trail and scrambled down the rocks to the coastline 50 yards below. Adam and Andre were sunning themselves on the rocks, glad of their decision to give up when they did. I carefully traversed the boulders and let the pounding waves wash over me. It was 12:30 and I started to think about lunch.

On our way down the trail, Chu had talked to some Brazilians who said that if we continued on the main trail, we would find a beautiful beach and could catch a bus back from there. It was supposed to be a two hour hike. Everyone was a little hot, and little hungry and a little thirsty, but still in good spirits. I mentally took inventory of our water. My water bottle was 3/4 full, Nate and Chu had started the day with 1.5 liters between the two of them. Adam and Andre were empty handed, Kaori had a shoulder bag, but I hadn't seen her drinking anything. I was already contemplating the fact that I didn't have enough water for myself and was wishing Adam had just bought the carbonated water.

The trail become more difficult, more rocks, more brush, steep ups and downs. The brush enveloped our bodies, the trail was barely visible. It started to become unpleasant. Nate, leading the pack, pissed off an ant colony. When the rest of us caught up, the ants were in a frenzy. Their bites were like bee stings lasting a painful 5 minutes. Kaori got it the worst. She was wearing flip flops, ill suited for the hike to begin with. She was having trouble pushing her way through the brush. Too many burrs, too many unknown insects. More than once I accidentally let a branch snap back into her face.

I took my turn at the front of the line and managed to walk right into several large spider webs which draped the trail every 20 yards or so. Spiders don't really bother me, but nobody likes a face full of spider web. Despite the fact that some of these spider were the size of my palm, you didn't always see them until your face was planted into the middle of their web. I adopted the "wave-a-big-stick" technique to clear them out before my body did.



Every 30 minutes I stopped for a drink and passed my bottle to Adam and Kaori, both gracious and thankful. My shirt was soaked with sweat and my controlled sips felt inadequate. I started to ponder the possibility that there was no beach. The trail was not opening up, the steep hillside was not flattening out.

At 3pm we broke out of the tree line and onto a grassy knoll. The trail dissipated. What we saw was not encouraging. A long rocky coastline ending in a rocky hillside.

Nate, Chu, Adam and Andre thought it was worth taking a look around the bend. I was not so optimistic. Kaori was done. She had stopped having fun 2 hours ago, but was trying to be a good team player. She sat down, not wanting to go further, not wanting to go back. There was 3 hours of daylight left, if pushing on didn't pay off, re-tracing our steps in the dark was going to be difficult and dangerous. The group had reached an impasse. Unless the beach was literally right around the corner, I couldn't see going any further. Nate, Adam and Andre were ready to press on, or at least have a look.


If you look real close you can see Nate, Chu, Andre, and Adam,


I sat down next to Kaori and considered the options. Without food, water, a map or a flashlight, the only reasonable choice was to suck it up and return the way we came. I monitored Nate's progress, his body barely visible against the distant rocks. I decided it was best to just wait it out. If the beach wasn't around the corner, they would all come back. If it was, they would all disappear and wait for us to follow. I was feeling better now that I had plan. I tried to cheer up Kaori but she wasn't having any of it. She wasn't just tired and disappointed, she was genuinely worried. Worried about being able to find our way back, worried about the sun setting, worried that she might actually never get back. I thought I could put the day in perspective.
"Look, we're going to have a long walk back, but in 2 days you're going to be back home in Tokyo and the whole thing is going to be a funny story."
And that is when I decided to snap our picture.

I really thought that she was going to muster up the energy for a smile. I was wrong. But then again, I am an ass. I tried to recover the ship and told her I was going email the picture to her in exactly one month, and that it would make her smile. I was doing my best to be optimistic, but I must not have been very convincing, because 5 minutes later she was crying.

Meanwhile, I was trying to figure out what the rest of the crew was up to. I could make out a few bodies in the distance, but they weren't pushing forward and they weren't coming back. Forty-five minutes had passed and finally Adam was walking back. That's when the drama started. As he approached us, he was visibly upset.

Adam had been the first to make it to the end of the coastline. He climbed the rocks and viewed the next stretch of coast. It was more of the same, as far as the eye could see. He climbed down and told Andre that there was no way we were going to be able to continue. Even if the beach was around the next rocky point, it was too far for Kaori and her flip flops to make it. Andre remained unconvinced. Adam invited him to have a look for himself. Andre disappeared around the rocks. Ten minutes passed and Andre had not returned. Adam climbed back up only to see Andre a few hundred yards out. Adam waved for him to come back, but he kept going.

This left everyone in a very uncomfortable position. Adam was furious. Chasing after Andre was no longer an option, he was too far ahead. And with 2 hours of daylight left, waiting for him to come back wasn't an option either. Nate and Chu, still off in the distance, were going to wait a few more minutes and then turn back. Adam suggested that Kaori and I get a head start, the three of them would catch up.

I put my water bottle back into my backpack so that it was out of sight. I mentally divided what was left and reasoned I could take one small sip every 15 minutes. Kaori was feeling a little better but was still quite anxious. She was not confident that I would remember the way back. I kept turning around to reassure her.
"In a few hours we were going to be sitting in a nice restaurant with a big plate of food, a few bottles of beer, feeling fat and happy."
Every time I turned around to talk, she became more anxious.
"Take care. Take care." she kept repeating. "If you get hurt, I will never make it back!"
I tried lightening the mood.
"I have idea! You can teach me Japanese. Help me remember how to count to 10."
She didn't like that idea.
"No talking! Just walking!"

Kaori's pace quickened with the promise of a destination. It was dusk when the trail finally emptied out onto the beach. Adam, Nate and Chu had caught up and everyone breathed a little easier. Nate, Adam and I ran into the ocean to rinse our sweaty bodies and to take the weight off of our tired feet. I felt happy and marveled at how much more enjoyable the beach was after working so hard to get to it.


We discussed Andre. Nobody like the idea of him being out there all alone, but he made a really selfish decision and it was hard to feel guilty about it. Still, he was a nice guy. Hopefully he would be smart, find a rock to spend the night on, and then turn around in the morning. We returned to the hostel and recounted the day to the manager. The police arrived and we gave them as much information as we could. There wasn't much they could do at the moment, but they did say something about a call to the fire dept from someone who was lost. The five of us went to dinner and tipped a glass for him.

The story doesn't end badly. Around the same time we were running into the ocean, Andre was rounding the corner to the fabled beach that was our original destination. He caught a boat taxi and then a bus back to the hostel, arriving around 10pm. He's a lucky sunnava bitch if you ask me. The final story I heard from Nate a few days later was that he called the Fire Dept to report five lost hikers that got left behind! When I heard that, I wasn't sure if I hated him more or less.

The next morning Adam got on his motorcycle and bid farewell, Andre got on the bus back to Sao Paulo, Nate and Chu made a day of going to the bank, and Kaori had one more afternoon to burn before catching a night bus back to Sao Paulo for her flight home.

I accompanied Kaori to the opposite end of the island. The bus system was a little tricky, and neither one of us were sure about where to get off. We showed the bus attendant where we wanted to go on the map, who then motioned to us when we reached the correct stop. I followed Kaori out the back door, pausing to say thank you to the attendant. As I stood in the doorway of the bus, Kaori stepped forward and immediately froze at the sound of tearing fabric. I looked down and saw my foot trapping her ankle-length dress, which was now dragging on the pavement.

I tried to make amends. I bought her a new dress and apologized profusely. She was very gracious the way Japanese people always are.

Kaori and I had dinner before she needed to get on her night bus back to Sao Paulo. I apologized again for the previous day. Watching her think about it made me laugh. She said she was glad she went on the hike because it was.....
I tried filling in the blank. "A good experience?"
"No. Not a good experience." She quickly corrected me.
I tried again. "A unique experience??"
"Yes! A unique experience."

You know how a quotable phrase from a favorite movie or song can embody certain situations? As Kaori and I said our goodbyes, all I could think of was a line from a story which was aired on This American Life. It's funny story (check it out here) involving an affluent couple enjoying a romantic evening, which was interrupted by a squirrel in the attic. A veteran cop recounts the story from his rookie days, who responded to the call with his rookie partner. They managed to botch their response at every turn. The story ends with a broken nose for the husband, fire damage to the living room, and the wife in tears. As the the husband is escorting the cops out of his house he says, "You know, I can't point to any single thing that you did wrong......I did call you and ask you to come over.....But I just can't thank you for this."

I imagined those words running through her mind as we said goodbye.


Update:
As promised, I emailed Kaori one month later. She wrote back:

hi james!
how are you?

thank you for beautiful pictures.
it's verrry beautiful, so i became happy.

my job is very good and i have fun every day.
i had memories not bad, but not good. haha
but , i think now i was lucky to experience that.

me,, i separeted from him after back to japan,, (referring to her boyfriend, who she was missing in Brazil)
he couldn't wait me.
so, i regretted to go my trip,,very.
but i look at your picture, and i remember a lots of
memories.
thank you.
now, i don't regret. it was so fun!

nice to meet you,
and i hope we see again someday somewhere.

then, how is your trip?
where did you go?
did you say to your friends to your hope?


kaori