Talking Delta Orinoco Blues

Down the Orinoc' in a tippy canoe
Down to the delt' to that watery zoo
Snakes and caimans and a coupl'a birds
A few Warao Injuns and the tourist herds.
(Kansas it ain't
I can't complain...)




Bigger 'an Belgium, smaller 'an the Brit Isles
With crisscrossin' channels by the miles 'n' miles.
It'd take days 'n' weeks to cross it
Won't somebody turn off this leaky faucet ?
(Getting my feet wet,
And I ain't even off the boat yet !)






Always three-fourths drunk, our guide was James
Mumbled, stumbled, and made odd claims
Pay him his due, some rum and cokes
And watch him entertain the tourist folks.
(Drinks just one a day
Just enough to teeter
Just an eensy weensy liter.)



The cook's our man, King of the Kitchen
His name's Elvis, but he's known as Pigeon.
Try his bread, his big flat yummy buns
But avoid his salad, if ya don't want the runs.
(Coo, coo,
Damn good coook...)



There's a cabybara on shore, loves to chew
Your clothes, laces, and straps.  Thumbs, too.
Take the plunge when the weather gets hotter
There're are few hungry piranhas lurkin' in the water.
(Thumb- and bloodsuckers,
Show me your puckers !)




The mosquitoes in these parts are bird-sized
Tourists with type-O are the sweetest prize.
At dusk, the feared mosquito army pounces
Each one has a blood quota of 9 ounces.
(Buzz buzz
A mosquito 'twas.)



The local indigenous live in stilted huts
No walls and no doors in a house without guts.
Inside is mom, dad, 'n' sis 'n' a coupl'a floppin' fishes
And on every roof you see satellite dishes !
(Watchin' the reality shows,
Watchin' the soaps,
and the baseball pros.)