The walk was getting harder. The ground was muddy, and it was hot and humid. Molly was surprised that she could keep up the pace, but she knew it was more from adrenaline than anything. Jonathan was in seventh heaven, fascinated by everything. He breathed it in, absorbed the sounds and vibrated with the energy of the place. He was more alert than he had ever felt before in his life, aware that there could be dangers at any moment - not only from the jungle, but also from humans.
Jonathan kept the little monkey safe in its sling the whole time, apart from when it chattered loudly, which, he worked out, was its way of asking for a ‘bathroom break’. The two had obviously formed a strong bond.
They needed to stop for lunch and to collect water. The bank down to the river had been steep for the last few hours of the walk, and they had been looking for a safe place to get near the water. They turned a corner and saw another magnificent lagoon. It was a little smaller than the one they had seen the day before, but this too was full of wildlife and fish.
The far bank was swampy, but on the near side there were some spots where it was easy to get to the water and fill up their bottles. Jonathan climbed down to the lagoon, and as he approached a sunlit stretch of the bank, he disturbed what must have been over a thousand dragonflies. Brilliant metallic, purple insects burst around him in a cloud. To Jonathan, it seemed like the air was filled with fairies.
Jonathan filtered the brown sediment and other debris out of the water and zapped it with his ultraviolet light purifier. He dug up a few worms, baited the fishing rod and tried his luck at catching a fish, while Molly prepared some food from their supplies. Molly was glad that the one fish he caught got away. She didn't want to risk lighting a fire which could bring attention to themselves with the smoke.
They took a long break. It was a magical spot and it gave them both a chance to recover their strength. Molly even dozed for a while, and Jonathan kept an extra-special look-out. The last few days had been the most wonderful experience of his life, and he felt a huge gratitude for Molly, his unlikely friend and travel companion. He felt an incredible connection with his parents, too, and kept thinking that this was the sort of thing they would have done.
Molly slowly woke up and, without a thought, reached for a mapacho and puffed smoke around them, as she had done so many times over the last days. Jonathan noticed that she never inhaled; just blew the smoke around covering all directions. They sat in the dappled sunlight, readying themselves to collect more water and get on the trail again. Jonathan reached out for the bottles and realized how quiet everything had suddenly become. Instead, he instinctively reached for his camera and sat poised, motionless and alert. Molly too listened in the sudden quiet, while she watched and puffed smoke.
In the distance, they heard a faint, high-pitched sound, neither a hiss nor a hum. Jonathan saw a small movement in the river that fed the lagoon and motioned to Molly. They caught a glimpse of a snake in the water, dark green with black oval patches, being carried by the river's current. It must have been four or five meters long. It was a huge anaconda. The creature glided past and slid over to the swampy side of the lagoon. Jonathan zoomed in on the magnificent creature with his camera, and could just make out its eyes, peering above the water.
They were speechless. Jonathan decided not to collect any more water.