I remember a kayak trip I took with the boy scouts and my dad. It was 3 days, through the mangrove forests down the river. It was summer, and there were a lot of people partying on the river like college students and retirees. The scout leaders kept telling us to look away from the women in bikinis or not in bikinis, and we would try to paddle as quickly as we could to get back to “Christian” territory.

When we camped at night, it was on a small island in the middle of the river. There were so many trees and mangrove roots that it was nearly impossible to find a spot to set up tents, and when we did, we would end up with a rock or a root in the middle of our backs. I remember lots of spiders and mosquitoes. I was so scared of all the spiders that I saw that I skipped dinner and didn’t leave the tent until we left to continue down the river the next morning.