A Modern Quest for an Ancient Remedy....
If you enjoy a fast-paced read, Five Weeks in the Amazon is the book for you. It's an honest story filled with peaks of humor and valleys of despair. Author Sean Michael Hayes has written a book that many wou...
It was late January 2015 when I met @robertfrankwrites, a fellow writer and Wattpad enthusiast. We were both travelling in Cambodia and I was inspired by his story about the readers, fans, and critics he had connected with through Wattpad.
The month before I left my hometown of Vancouver, Canada, my first book was published "Five Weeks in the Amazon".
Now, I am in Northern Thailand, in a town called Pai and I decided to not only put out excerpts like this chapter I deleted from "Five Weeks in the Amazon", but I have also been posting excerpts from my next book to be published, "Killed a Black Dog".... Check out CanadianHayes.com for more info.
Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think of this dialogue between me and my Peruvian friend Oscar.
— Author/Editor Note: Sean did have a conversation with Oscar before he left the Amazon, but it was in Spanish, and he wasn't able to say exactly what he wanted. He did want to embellish the point he was trying to make, so he wrote this, but didn't include it in Five Weeks in the Amazon because it wasn't exactly true to what happened (like the rest of the book).
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4
12:58pm, Star Peru flight to Lima, seat 5A
I've been thinking about the last time I saw Oscar. We had been together in town and I'd been watching him practice pushing around on his new skateboard. He came and sat next to me after the board shot out from under him, and he landed hard on his elbow and hip at the same time.
When he caught his breath, and stopped grimacing, he asked if I'd ever hurt myself skateboarding. I took the opportunity to have a philosophical conversation with him and the boys.
Granted, it was mostly in Spanish, which wasn't as refined as the English version I will relate here, but this how I'd like to remember our last conversation went.
***
"Well, Oscar," I answered, "I've been hurt many times, but it is ok" I paused, then asked him a question in return, "our body is only part of us, it's just our physical vessel, correct?"
"I am not sure I understand" Oscar looked confused, and turned to Michael to help translate what I had said. Michael went to English school, and while he wasn't as confident as Oscar was with speaking to tourists, he had a larger vocabulary. In situations like this he could often explain the words Oscar didn't understand.
"Ok, I think you mean that our body is the physical, material part of who we are?" Oscar questioned.
"Exactly! And our life is like a journey isn't it?" I continued.
"Yes,"
"And if I wanted to drive across Peru I could rent a car for this journey couldn't I?"
"You could, but it would be a long drive" He agreed, contemplating the distance.
