Six Days in Machete Heaven

That's some rough stuff, Pict.

ETA: That sure is a beautiful place, though. What's the hammock you're using?
 
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Man I loved the vids! Can't wait to see the next ones. I can only imagine all the ant bites would make for a bad day.
 
great photos Mac, and cool video! I subscribed...actually I thought I had already subscribed but anyway...I'm looking forward to the rest of the vids.
 
Awesome videos! Places like that have always fascinated me, I have yet to get to a jungle but its one of those places I have always wanted to go and experience. The whole thing looks very humbling.

How often did you find yourself sharpening your machete?
How often did you take bearings to make sure you were headed in the right direction and not making uneccesary detours?
 
barrabas74 said:
How often did you find yourself sharpening your machete?
How often did you take bearings to make sure you were headed in the right direction and not making uneccesary detours?
Click to expand...

I put up a video on field sharpening. I would touch up the edge with the diamond rod every day either in the afternoon or in the morning before we set out. I did have to remove some minor edge damage from both machetes. I used Giuliano's coarse stone for that.

For navigation we were working with a map I printed up off of Google Maps that was very vague. It gave us a general layout of the land but very little in detail.

Geographically the area was simple. There was no way off the ridge without crossing steep ravines. We really only knew two things for certain about the land we were on. On top of the ridge about 3 km away there was a short section of trail visible in the satellite image running along the ridge. At our end there was one gentle slope that runs from the valley to the top of the ridge. We just deduced that the trail most likely ran the length of the ridge and down that gentle slope. When we got to that gentle slope we discovered an old fence-line, five strands of rusted barbed wire and many of the posts rotted away. The ground had been cleared there once many years ago to install that fence. We really only used the compass this day to orient the map and confirm that this rusted fence ran up the gentle slope, and that was spot on. After that it was just a matter of following the rusted wires.

In really thick jungle/brush like this you have no visual reference at all, it's very much like navigating in fog or at night. Mac
 
brother pict,

being in the Southern Hemisphere, do you find it necessary to use a particular compass?

TIA.

vec
 
I use a Recta DP-2 that I bought here, but it works fine in the US as well. I have only had one compass brought from the US that didn't work here, there wasn't enough room in the capsule to keep the needle from rubbing on the top. I don't recall what brand it was, that was 10 years ago. Mac
 
Yes, that's Giuliano.

The hammocks we use here are very simple and made locally. The downside to these hammocks is that one good puncture can result in the dreaded Catastrophic Hammock Failure. I am paranoid about my hammock and even considered carrying a spare on this trip. I have never had one of these fail personally but I have seen it happen.

I have never felt the need to use a mosquito net here in central Brazil. The mosquitoes only attack around sun-up and sunset for about an hour and a half.

Mac
 
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