What I am about to say , I give freely, if you so feel inclined to search for "THE RIVER OF GOLD", be it known!!!!!!!!! there are dangers!
We were about 11 clicks W.S.W. of San Jaun de los Morros. As we came to a ridge on our way, we could see that the canopy ahead of us was VERY different from what we had been Thur! We saw shafts of Golden Light that looked SOLID, shining down. We paused before we topped it. It was almost like a "FAIRY WALL", where it was different on other side! Without knowledgeable consent, we BOTH turned off our bikes , leaned them against trees and walked to the summit. It was like a Disney Dream come true! I mean, the birds that flew around!!!!! They were of ALL colors , shapes , sizes and sounds!!!!!!We both just fell on our butts with our arms around our knees and LOOKED!, and LISTENED!
Some of the birds had tails that looked like classic GREEK LYERS, others had beaks at least a foot long colored "pink"with head crested feathers of BRIGHT RED! and wings of Bright Green! others had tail feathers at least 2 feet long! the "Humming Birds " were anywhere from the size of a Bumble Bee to the size of a Bat! We just sat there as tears came to our eyes.........It was as if GAWD had just smiled at us!.........
and the sounds............. I can't EVEN begin to describe!!!! the sounds..... like water delicately falling over stones......... like angels laughing............like the sound of your baby brother laughing as you tickle him..........as your kitten sits on your chest and looks at you square in the eyes and "PURRS" SO LOUD that you wonder if a "Mack" truck just went by..........
We sat there for what seemed hours! As it turned out? it Was hours! hahahaha. It seemed as if all our SINS were absolved! This was our Xanadu.
Eventually we got our shit together and decided to make camp here . We gathered our gear and walked to the stream that we saw about 60-70 yards away. After clearing a site for the night, We made a fire,(and the funny thing is that we didn't feel as if we had to sleep in the trees this night.). We gathered dead wood for a fire and ate our dried meat and drank herbal tea. There was a profusion of "water vines", so we didn't need to worry about the kind of water we wished to drink.(the choice was , either 1), healthy, mineral ladened water? . or 2) cool?)) . haha. We didn't either smoke reefer or eat "Wacky Fruit" or drink Tequila. WE WERE IN XANADU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (or so we thought..............)
The next morning, after being awakened by winged angels dropping laughter drops in our ears, we stoked the fire and had coffee, Joel said He was going for a swim I said "cool, I wanna check the bikes."
After I had checked the points, plugs, batteries and His tire. hahaha, I got my paper from my pack and brought my journal up to date. (remember ? that I had said that "Papa Hemingway", was/is my HERO?), I started to write my encounter with THIS NEW WORLD(!), to me. I / WE both had a ream of paper for different reasons! Joel? 1/2 ream for charcoal sketching paper, the other Water Color drawings, Me Stickily writing! (remember , the title said "and PAPER?), SOON! HAHAHA.
As I was laboring over my minds encounter with the night before, Joel came up to me , all wet and shit , and asked ,
"Do you remember any thing from chemistry class?"
"yeah, a little.", I said. (you, as the reader have to know that Joel was an extremely smart guy!).
"Well, can you tell the difference between PYRITE and GOLD?", as He held out His hand with 2 nuggets the size of pigeon eggs in His hand. (personally , I thought He ate a bit of the "wacky fruit". but I smiled and humored Him and said,"sure, lets go see."We went over to the "bikes" , and I popped the seat, got the tool kit, and opened a plug of the battery chamber.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I had remembered a class test that Mr. SMITHE, the chemistry class teacher, had conducted one day to see the difference between Gold and Pyrite , just to show off , I think/thought. He had 2 samples of both pyrite had Gold. He had gotten a vile of Hydrochloric or Sulfuric Acid, and laid a dab of both on each. The resulting colors designated the truth of each, so I did the same.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I looked a t Him with eyes the size of dinner plates and asked as calmly as I could,
"WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU FIND THIES?",
'In the river, over there." He said,in amusement, as He pointed.
"GET OUT OF HERE!", I sputtered, with all the class of a 17 year old!
"HOLY SHIT, MAN! SHOW ME!!!", as I jumped up and started to run to where He pointed. I looked over my shoulder and yelled again, as I ran, " COME ON MAN! SHOW ME!!!!!". As I turned and ran to the river, I ran smack into a tree and knocked myself out cold!
The next morning I woke up to the smell of coffee, eggs frying in bores fat and pan bread made the old fashion way like they did on the parries in the old west. Oh yeah, and a bump on my forehead the size of a goose egg! I struggled to sit up holding my head so it wouldn't fall off, I looked down to see that Joel had placed what looked like 2 handfuls of "GOLD NUGGETS" by the coffee pot! For what seemed like hours, I stared at the GOLD and thoughts of freedom, education, travel, education, women, education, clean cloths and eduction. (actually, it was probably all of 2 minutes.)It never entered my mind that it was mine' or Joels...... but more like just ours.......I looked up at Joel as He cooked the breakfast with a Cheshire cat's grin on His face, as He said, "after we eat, we'll go get some more.", and He laughed. I MEAN REALLY LAUGHED!
As we ate , we vocalised our dreams for the future to be. As I suspected, Joel was basically dreaming along the same lines as I was. He told me about how this might pay for His way to "THE SORBONNE, in PARIS", to study His art and how His parents would shit when they got a card from Him in PARIS!, and how He intended to frequent ALL the whore Houses He could just to be like a famous artist, but at least not starve like they did! To hell with that! HAHAHAHA
After we finished breakfast and cleaned up our "boy scout mess kits", We WALKED to the river! hahahaha.
E S D
