A Golden Legend

Chapter 17

She also saw a couple of orchid bushes, one of which was of remarkable delicacy. That intermediate area, close to the village, was certainly a secondary forest, i.e. an area which had been used possibly long ago by the indigenous agriculture, that when once  the usually relatively poor in nutrients in the tropical forests soil got depleted, was abandoned by humans to the jungle, whose regenerative power had resulted in this transition forest.

Moving away a little more she  interned in the area of native forest, with giants one hundred to one hundred and twenty feet high, with a soil depleted of other species but covered with plant material in degradation, a real kingdom of ants, caterpillars, fungi and lichens, whose mission was to restore to the soil materials of decaying vegetation. Constantly Teresa should scare off of his face all kinds of insects that swarmed around her and buzzed in her ears. Finally, and despite the heat, fell resignedly his shirt sleeves that were coiled, closed the neck button and lowered her hat up to the eyes, so as to expose the minimum of her body to stings. She recalled that this area had one of the greatest varieties of insects in the world, and that many of them transmitted tropical diseases.

When she judged that she had moved far enough from the village to ensure privacy, she stopped to urinate. When she had finished he looked up and saw a human figure looking at her with a shock of fear mixed with shame. Calming down, she realized that it was very young Indian boy, only dressed in a loincloth and a kind of headband around his head, who supported on the ground a bow and a bunch of arrows higher than himself. Teresa smiled nervously and proceeded to dress and to move cautiously, trying to avoid making movements that could be perceived as aggressive or produced by fear. Reasoning quickly wondered if she inadvertently would have invaded the boy hunting area, but finally she felt relieved when she realized that the native´s attitude was more of curiosity than anger and concluded that the episode would not have consequences.

On her return she endured torrential rain typical of the tropics, a "palo de agua" in the Caribbean slang she knew, that soaked and suddenly cooled her body, causing chills, so she decided to cross the last stretch to the shore running. In her hurry she did not realize that the nature of the soil was changing, and not only because of the rain. Under a carpet of grass stretched a swampy area and the inadvertent young woman was heading towards its centre. She sloshed in the mud until she realized that she could not remove her feet out of the clay. Scared realized that the ground ceded under her weight, so she was rapidly sinking. She tried to take some tree branch but all were too far from her reach; the mud covered already her knees and for worse every movement got only accelerate her sinking. She tried to compose and remember advice and testimonies she had heard about similar experiences. Teresa tried to sit on the muddy surface to swim or crawl over it, as if it were water, but found that the medium was too viscous and locked her displacement. Vain were her attempts to stay calm, particularly when the mud became to her waist level. Desperate uttered a cry, and her anguish grew to think that no one would hear it.

The moving soil had already engulfed her up to the armpits when she saw some tree branches shaking right in front of her eyes; suddenly a flash toured her mind, she had the intuition that she was being observed and a principle of hope was born in the midst of despair. The weeds in front of her opened, and with surprise she distinguished the young indigenous hunter that she had encountered earlier and whom she had regarded with apprehension. The boy came with caution to prevent becoming himself a prisoner of the swamp; feeling the ground he caught firm hold of a tree branch and knelt on the ground. He took by the tip the long bow he was carrying and extended it in the direction of the girl. She stretched the single arm that remained free of mud and grabbed the bow with all her strength. Once he verified that Teresa had taken the bow the boy began pulling it toward the trees. At the beginning it seemed that the mission would exceed his forces, but little by little the woman felt that her body was slowly extracted from its closure. In a moment she was lying on the mud, and added her own movements, lightening the load carried by the hunter.

  After an exasperatingly long time, she could grab a low tree branch, and pulled it until his body was rid of the deadly embrace of the mud. Teresa dragged along a stretch to make sure she was on firm ground and stood with trembling knees. She turned to the point where her savior had been in order to thank him, and with great surprise found that he had disappeared in the frond. Gentle and timid forest creatures that vanish after performing a feat.

When Teresa approached the camp Marcelo came out to meet with clear signs of nervousness, which increased when he saw her covered of mud to the eyelashes, and rebuked him:

“How it occurred to you to wander amid this forest, with natives of unknown intentions with whom you cannot communicate, and also unknown animals?”

Teresa explained the reason for her state and attempted to convey some of her recent experiences in the forest, while he covered her with a blanket to allow her to change clothes by dry ones.

“If it were not for the native of “unknown intentions” I would not be talking to you now.”

“Pity that we cannot thank him accordingly” said Marcelo with the more serene mood “and tell me, was it worth the adventure?”

“You have no idea, it is an idyllic place.”

“Do not forget how it ended for Eva the Eden adventure.” was the cutting response.

Teresa was literally covered with a foul smelling mud due to the decomposition of the marsh vegetation, so the expedition, which was already ready to follow path had to wait for her to bath and wash her clothes; a native woman informed about a bend in the river that the natives used for such purposes, and Teresa went there to bath, even knowing that many curious eyes of children in the village watched her behind the bushes.