They slept well and got up late. All they needed to do that day was get supplies from the market. Molly had a shopping list, mostly of things Jonathan had never heard of.
The market was still, for the most part, open-air but it had changed, for the better. It had a lively, noisy feel, with traders’ banter and music blaring out from the stalls. The general layout was the same, with stalls on either side of the street displaying the brightly colored fruits and vegetables. But the flies and piles of garbage had gone, as had the grey sludge on the ground that used to smell and look like raw sewage. There was no meat in the open air, nor any of the half-skinned turtles that used to send shivers down Molly’s spine.
The street with medicinal plants from the jungle was in the same place, and still sold the same strange barks, leaves, powders and potions. They stopped at several stalls for Molly to check the quality of the products. She rubbed oils and liquids onto the back of her hand, and explained that this one should foam more, that should be stickier and another should smell completely different. She finally found the quality of the mysterious oils and liquids she was looking for and bought a few bottles. She also bought two huge fruits that looked like cannonballs, a ball of bright pink cord, and a pair of rubber boots for each of them. Molly also bought a small machete that was light, but sharp. They stopped for a lunch of fish with local vegetables and exquisite sauces, taking the leftovers with them for the journey.
Back at the hotel, Molly decanted the oils into small travel bottles and cut up some of the cord into short lengths. She had also bought some cigarettes made from the locally grown tobacco, known as mapacho. Jonathan was fascinated. He had never seen cigarettes, and certainly never seen Molly smoke. But all she said was, “Tobacco is a sacred plant.”
“Where on earth are we going?” he asked, staring at the strange collection of items, especially the machete.
“Could be anywhere. We could find anything. You know, I have to admit it, your guess is as good as mine.”