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.The salesman seemed like the Romantic type.He asked how long I intended to go,and I said I didn't know at least a month, probably more. Awesome.Awesome.That should let you get immersed in the place. He seemedto be thinking of something.Then he asked if it was true that some cat sh in theAmazon, called a candiru, you know, that it He didn't finish his question, though he didn't have to.I had read about the almosttranslucent, toothpick-like creature in Exploration Fawcett.More feared thanpiranhas, it is one of the few creatures in the world to survive strictly on a diet ofblood.(It is also called the vampire sh of Brazil. ) Ordinarily, it burrows in thegills of a sh and sucks its blood, but it also strikes human ori ces a vagina or ananus.It is, perhaps, most notorious for lodging in a man's penis, where it latches onirrevocably with its spines.Unless removed, it means death, and in the remote Amazon victims are reported to have been castrated in order to save them.Fawcett,who had seen a candiru that had been surgically extricated from a man's urethra,said, Many deaths result from this fish, and the agony it can cause is excruciating. When I told the salesman what I knew about the candiru, he seemed to transformfrom the Romantic into the Practical.Although there was little to protect someonefrom such a creature, he told me about one gizmo after another that wasrevolutionizing the art of camping: a tool that was a digital thermometer, aashlight, a magnifying glass, and a whistle; compression sacks that shrankeverything inside; Swiss Army knives with a computer ash drive to storephotographs and music; water-purifying bottles that doubled as lanterns; portablesolar-powered hot showers; kayaks that folded into the size of a du el bag; aoating ashlight that didn't need batteries; parkas that converted into sleepingbags; poleless tents; a tablet that destroys viruses and bacteria in 15 minutes. The more he explained things, the more emboldened I became.I can do this, Ithought, piling several of the most James Bond like items into my basket.Finally,the salesman said, You've never camped before, have you? He then helped me nd the things that I'd really need, including comfortablehiking boots, a sturdy backpack, synthetic clothes, freeze-dried food, and amosquito net.I also tossed in a handheld Global Positioning System just to be safe. You'll never get lost again, he said.I thanked him profusely, and when I got back to our apartment building I carriedthe equipment into the elevator.I hit the second- oor button.Then, as the door wasabout to close, I extended my hand to stop it.I got out and, hauling the stu in myarms, walked up the stairs instead.That night, after I put my son, Zachary, to sleep, I laid out all the things I plannedto take on the trip and began to pack them.Among the items was a le I had madewith copies of the most important Fawcett documents and papers.As I ippedthrough them, I paused at a letter that detailed something, in Brian Fawcett's words,so hush-hush that his father never spoke of its objects to anyone.Afterreceiving his diploma from the Society, the letter said, Fawcett had been given hisrst assignment, in 1901, from the British government.He was to go to Morocconot as an explorer but as a spy. INTOTHE AMAZONt was the perfect cover.Go in as a cartographer, with maps and telescope andhigh-powered binoculars.Survey your target the way you surveyed the land.Observe everything: people, places, conversations.In his diary, Fawcett hadIjotted down a list of things that his British handler someone he called simply James had asked him to assess: nature of trails & villages & water & army andorganization & arms and guns& political. Wasn't an explorer really just anin ltrator, someone who penetrated alien lands and returned with secrets? In thenineteenth century, the British government had increasingly recruited agents fromthe ranks of explorers and mapmakers.It was a way not only to sneak people intoforeign territories with plausible deniability but also to tap recruits skilled incollecting the sensitive geographical and political data that the government mostcoveted.British authorities transformed the Survey of India Department into a full-time intelligence operation
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