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First Village
The second day took us higher into the mountain into lusher lands, more tropical and teaming with life. There had been an important meeting that morning between Mama Saint and another Shaman from the village we had stayed in. This meeting was important because it was about the hospital Mama was trying to establish in the mountain. The hospital would be based on the Indians traditional medicine and bring the Indians a step closer to complete independence from civilisation.
This delayed our departure by hours, and so we set off at a brisk pace in an attempt to make it to Mama's village before dark. The faster pace was rough for me, sweat was stinging my eyes and eventually it dripped as sweet drops into my mouth. It seemed I was running out of body salt. My sweet sweat was quickly forgotten when we were coming around the side of a steep hill on a narrow path. I heard some yelling and hoof-beats on the path ahead. A split second later, three horned, black bulls were charging around the corner fighting for the lead on this single file path. Being within a foot of a major wipeout, I propelled myself down the steep embankment into the lush green vegetation. I watched in bewilderment as they thundered away and shakily climbed back up to the path. I hoped that incident was only a one off - it wasn't, in fact I eventually became accustomed to it (if that is possible).
The sun was fading and I had no idea of how much longer we had to walk, the pace was getting faster and faster and I silently felt apprehensive. I had been told the last part of the journey was the hardest and we had already walked over rough terrain with rocks and large boulders, river crossings, slippery clay and steep climbs. We reached a swift river and everybody prepared to cross. I took my shoes off and waded into the river behind the mule because by this time it was too dark to see the rocky bed. The water rose to the top of my thighs as we stumbled across in the ambient glow of late twilight. Upon reaching the other side I watched as the mule disappeared into the pitch-black jungle. I sighed deeply and followed the mule.
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