African Dreams

Last night I had an incredible dream about climbing a redwood tree in a coastal rain forest. I had no ropes or safety's, I just grabbed on and began scaling. It was a long, visceral, dramatic dream. At times I looked down and fear gripped me at how high I had climbed. At others I needed to make a risky reach to gain a hold. I felt fatigue and pain in my muscles from holding my own weight to the side of the tree. I felt my holds slipping out from under my feet, and cramping in my hands and wrists, but I held on and kept scaling. Eventually I reached the top, and as I crested, I was rewarded with a magnificent panoramic view of the canopy of trees stretching into the distance around me, the sun shining gently from above.

I've heard a few times about how well one sleeps in the third world. I think there is a line about it in a Paul Simon song and maybe in Joseph Conrad, or someone like that. I always assumed that there was some sort of exaggeration in those tales, some other contributor like fatigue or emotional stress. But none of those are affecting me and I have to say that it's true, I have never in my life slept like I sleep here, at least not with such depth and consistency.