Lost: Casa Perdida [Completed]

The Visit To The Village

Frightened, Shifaly jumped into the water. Timothy dropped the fishing rod and jumped too, wanting to save Shifaly who began drowning. The snake grabbed a fish with its mouth and slithered into the water. I ran towards the door looking for Shifaly and Timothy. I searched for them, looking through the windshield and every window.

They were nowhere to be seen.

"Oh no. Not again," I muttered. I could see nothing.

"Not Timothy!" I sank onto the floor, with my hand on my head. I lost Kirt, someone I cared about. How could I afford to lose Timothy?

As I thought those things, I saw some bubbles appear in the water. To me, it was a good sign. Someone of the two survived. Gasping for air, Shifaly surfaced.

Then, beside her Timothy surfaced, holding her. I took Shifaly's hand and helped her onto the bus, while Timothy grabbed onto the railings and helped himself onboard. I was relieved. They hadn't died. I gave Shifaly and Timothy a tight hug. I was also glad that the snake went away. We lost that fishing rod: the river carried it away. But, it wasn't much of a problem because we had more onboard. We were glad that we didn't lose Shifaly and Timothy that day. Moreover, I was grateful that I missed death by an inch. I didn't see the snake coiled up near my pillow when I reached for my book. If I had the wrong timing, the snake would have impressed its two fangs on my wrist, injecting venom. With no antivenom onboard and no help in sight, if I got a snake bite, I would have died a painful death.

Felipe Altamirano Alvarez Espadachín

Stroking the back of my dog Amor, I looked at the river bank. I was on a canoe. The tribal chief sent for boatmen to take the Police Officers to the village. The village was inaccessible by road. I was one of the officers going there. It was my first encounter with that tribe. Their lack of knowledge of the Spanish language revealed how disconnected they were from the outside world. They wore primitive clothing and their canoes weren't motorized at all.

The rays of the sun, filtered by the canopy, formed polka dots on the forest floor. A jaguar stared at us go by, while it was lapping water from the river. When I looked into the river, I could see tiny fishes swimming close to the surface. There were one or two insects on the water. Occasionally, I saw a large fish come near the surface, only to eat some small fish, before going in. We were on the canoes for more than two hours. The river we traveled on wasn't La Muchachita or Princesa Irene. It was a small river that originated from some springs in the jungle and emptied itself in a lake nearby.

Looking at the terrain from the boat, I could tell that traveling on a boat was the fastest way to get to where the tribe's village was. The terrain was hilly and filled with thick forest. It would take a person many days to walk through the forests and to cross those tall hills. We saw a gathering of caimans (reptiles that look like crocodiles) resting on the banks at one point in our journey. They were oblivious to the passing of our canoe through the waters. My dog barked, when it saw the caimans, but eventually calmed down when I patted it. I didn't want Amor going anywhere near a caiman.

When we came near a rocky riverbank, the boatman in the lead canoe shouted something in Aymara, instructing the others to follow him. After he shouted those instructions, the boatmen rowed the boats, which were traveling in the middle of the river until then, towards the bank. When we neared the bank, the boatmen helped us onto it. Once on the bank, my team and I loaded our pistols. Luismar walked with me.

"So here are where we last saw the girls," the tribal chief said as he pointed to a slope of the hill where the village was after we reached the village. After receiving some gestures of hospitality from the villagers, we quickly got to work. I kept my notepad handy, taking notes as the tribal chief gave me details about the girls.

"So that's where you last saw them. Where were you all when it happened?" I asked while I stood near the spot that the chief showed me.

"We had a meeting of all the elders and youths in the village when the earthquake came. The children were outside. When the earthquake was over, we came out and saw that the girls were gone," said the chief.

"What did you see them doing before they disappeared?" I asked.

"They were playing their games," answered the chief.

I sighed. With my assistants, I walked to the spot where the villagers last saw the children. Looking from there, I saw that there was a thick rainforest at the bottom of the slope. It looked like an ordinary slope.

"Do you think the children would have gone there?" I asked, pointing to the rainforest below.

"No, sir. They're forbidden to go there. In our culture, that part of the forest must be avoided at all costs. Even if they fell there, they would have made their way up." he answered.

After that, I continued to question the chief, with Pablo scribbling notes of the questions I asked and the answers he gave on my notepad.

We couldn't get any solid evidence for most of that afternoon. We just took a few pictures and spoke with a few people. But, I was glad that we saw the place where the girls were last seen. That would help me reconstruct the scene of the crime. After a while, the chief showed us some people to question.

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Next Chapter: ¡Amor!