day 2

There was something extra special about rounding a bend and seeing the finish line of a day's leg of the race.  Even though it was not the end of the whole thing,  there was something rewarding about finishing for the day.  That was why we were so excited when we say a huge rope with  banners stretched across the entire river after eight hours of paddling on day two.  The crowd on the side of river were cheering and waving, the sky was blue, the sun was warm upon the water, and life seemed pretty good.  I turned the canoe from the middle of the river toward the shore.  But something was funny,  there was only one other canoe resting on the bank.  We had rowed hard, but there were over 50 boats, by virtue of athletic crew or better design,  that had simply outpaced us that day.  Then I noticed that the crowd didn't seem... big enough.  My turn had brought us closer to the shore, and now we could here the "fans" more distinctly.  They were shouting for us to keep going.  Cries of "keep is up!" and "you're almost there" drifted across the water.  Turns out that the people of this particular Creole village had simply strung their own line across the water.  Who knows why?  Decoration for their party?  A big practical joke?  A cruel tease?  I'm sorry, but after hours of paddling,  "You're almost there!"  almost always sounds like,  "You have a ways to go!"  which is not encouraging by any means.  We didn't want to almost be there, we wanted to be there.  Until I was there, I didn't want to hear how much farther I had to go. As for the banner-bedecked  rope on the water, that bordered on paddler abuse.
That leads me to another factor about the fans on the side of the river.  While most were generally encouraging, a few were not above lying to your face.  They would tell you how the finish line was close,  even tell you how bends in the river lay between you and your destination.  These bits of information were always wrong.  The raced finished not "four bends" away, but sixteen,  but who's counting?  It was true that it was only "half an hour and your done,"  but only if you counted that half hour ten miles after you spoke to the person.  I admit I may have called these people some names after their advice proved false.
At any rate,  day 2 did finally end, and not terribly long after we mistakenly thought it would.  Ironically, the actual finish line was less gaudy then the faux one, with no flags or banners.   It goes to show that things are not always what they appear.  As for our appearance, it was beginning to deteriorate.  But more one that next time.