Jeremy Hance - Baggage: Confessions of a Globe-Trotting Hypochondriac

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available through the Library of Congress

2020 Jeremy Leon Hance

ISBN-13: 978-07573-2206-8 (Paperback)

ISBN-10: 07573-2206-9 (Paperback)

ISBN-13: 978-07573-2207-5 (ePub)

ISBN-10: 07573-2207-7 (ePub)

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

HCI, its logos, and marks are trademarks of Health Communications, Inc.

Publisher: Health Communications, Inc.

1700 NW 2nd Avenue

Boca Raton, FL 33432-1653

Cover design by Larissa Hise Henoch

Interior design and formatting by Lawna Patterson Oldfield

Photos are copyright of Jeremy Hance and Tiffany Roufs, unless otherwise specified.

For Tiffany

Believe me, youll see why

Know thyself.

Inscribed on the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi.

W hile writing is largely a solitary occupation, a book requires a community. In this case, a global one.

Lets start with Rhett Butler, without whom this book would not exist, nor would many of these adventures. Rhett, the founder of Mongabay, the best online news source for the environment, has been my mentor since the very beginning of my career. Thank you, Rhett, for over a decade of opportunities and tutelage. A special thank you as well to everyone at Mongabay.

For my indefatigable, clear-eyed, and ever-supportive agent, Alice Speilburg, who took a chance on an environmental journalist writing a very personal memoir. Few first-time authors are ever so lucky.

For Allison Janse with HCI Books, who saw something special in an undeniably unusual book, and for Camilla Michael for adopting this somewhat misshapen baby and much improving its contours, thank you.

Incredible gratitude to Artsmith for funding a week of writing on Orcas Island and to Jill McCabe Johnson for her outstanding hospitality. Gratitude as well goes to the Writers Colony at Dairy Hollow for a fortnight of writing in Eureka Springs, with special thanks to Sharon Spurlin. Both programs gave me not only precious writing time but also time in nature, a chance to read my work to an audience, and peerless communities of like-minded artistsyall know who you are.

A thank you to novelist Diane Hammond for advice on writing, publishing, and living. A thank you to Linda Carbone for making my proposal shine. Thanks to excellent beta readers Benjamin Klas, Kris Klas, Erin Cary, Brittany Lynk, and, of course, Tiffany Roufs. Thanks, as well, to dear friends Thomas Christie, Emily Christy, Morgan Erickson-Davis, and Frank Janick for unwavering support and always inquiring, Hows the book? The answer is now, thank God, Its done.

This book takes place in eight countries, each of which required a crowd of guides, scientists, and locals to get me from one end to the other. To each of themsome mentioned in this book, many notI give a special thanks. For those who work in nature tourism, thank you. Your work is vital. A special shout out to the staff, administrators, and guides at Pantiacolla in Peru, Warana Lodge in Suriname, Iwokrama River Lodge in Guyana, Tabin Wildlife Resort in Malaysia, Napo Wildlife Lodge in Ecuador, and Explora Ecotour in the Dominican Republic.

Many of the places I visited, however, were not tourist lodges but science stations or conservation groups. To that end, a multitude of thanks to STINASU in Suriname, the Iwokrama International Center for Rain Forest Conservation and Development, Hutan in Malaysia, the Yasuni Research Station and Tiputini Biodiversity Station in Ecuador, Yabi in Indonesia, the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Sumatra, the Little Fireface Project in Java, and the Last Survivors Project in the Dominican Republic, a program by Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the EDGE program.

Ive spent over a decade interviewing thousands of scientists and conservationists. Many of my views are now distillations of their sweat-filled, years-long, passion-fueled work. In an age of mass extinction and climate change, no vocation is nobler. Thank you to all of them. For these travels in particular, a special thank you for the personal attention and work of these scientists and conservationists: John Payne, Cynthia Ong, Marc Ancrenaz, Anna Nekaris, Sharon McCabe, Hlne Birot, Zulfi Arsan, Terri Roth, Rosalind Kennerly, and Jose Nuez-Mio.

A tip of my hat to all the therapists over the years for your many hours, your daunting work, your compassion, and your guidance. A shout out to Charles Depies, who has been my unwavering therapist in chief for many years and many trips. Thank you for helping keep this ship steady even in rough seas.

For my brothers, Karsten and Andr, for their love, support, and friendship. To my parents, Ed and Erva Hance, who always supported my writing, my creativity, and my myriad healthy obsessions, thank you for guiding me through not only turbulent early years but also those when I was knee-deep in mental illness.

My father died after a long illness while this book was in edits. Prior to that, Id slip my mother rough copies of chapters so she could read them aloud to him; he never missed an opportunity to tell me how proud he was or how much he loved me. Thank you, Dad. I miss you so, every day.

And finally, of course, to Tiffany and Aurelia. For all those nights you let me work. For all those conversations about the book. For all the sacrifices and all the patience. Without your love and support, this book wouldnt be. Thank you.

T his book is a work of memory. But memory is fickle, impressionistic, seductive, and often robed in layers of emotion and color not present in the moment. So, some of the details in this book may be factually iffy. For example, some of the journeys may have been longer or shorter than I recall. Some events may be slightly out of order. Some peoples faces and physiques may be different from how I conjure them out of the past. Some meals may not have been as delicious as depicted. You get the idea.

Where possible, I have relied on journals, itineraries, trip notes, photographs, Tiffany, and a million Google searches to fact-check myself. But more often than not, I have had to rely only on my memory and the stories I came to tell myself in the years since. This doesnt mean any of this is untrueall the events happenedonly that its as true as my memory can make it. So dont sweat the small stuff too much.

In many places, I have made up names. Sometimes I did this to cloak the persons real identity but more often because I simply could not recall his or her name. (Ive always been terrible with names. If I bump into you and dont recall yours, dont take it personally.) When I have used the persons real name, I have received permission.

The animals, to be honest, are probably better remembered than the people. If my memory is good for anything, its for recalling thieving monkeys, banana-eating tapirs, and singing rhinos.