Life in the jungle settled into a pattern for Vanessa as she and Ralph became absorbed into the routine of village life. Ralph, busy helping and recording the building of a small dam on a river near the village, disappeared early every morning with the men, leaving Vanessa to spend her days with Angela and the other women.
Vanessa had known life in the jungle would be a whole new experience, something to take her out of her comfort zone, and she’d looked forward to it. Ralph had talked to her, shown her films, given her books to read, but now she was here the reality of day-to-day life was hard to take in. Looking after a family in the jungle was exhausting for the village women – her own life back in England, even with all its stresses and first-world problems, was nothing compared to what these women endured. Several times as she helped cook the evening meal and stirred something indescribable bubbling in the pot swinging on its tripod over an open fire, she thought of her high-tech kitchen at home. What would Angela and her friends make of her gleaming Aga and all the labour-saving gadgets her house contained?
The lack of available communication with the outside world bothered Vanessa too. They might have satellite phones, but getting them charged via the solar panels wasn’t an exact science due to the dense nature of the forest. She’d also learnt that bad weather hundreds of miles away could affect the efficiency of the satellite. Ralph took the charging panel and the phone with him every morning, hoping to recharge the phone in a small space open to the skies near the river, but would inevitably return shaking his head in the evening. Vanessa longed to have a proper conversation with Pierre and Olivia rather than the one or two sentences they managed before the connection died. She wouldn’t, couldn’t, of course, admit to Ralph or even talk to Angela about how difficult she was finding it to adapt to her current lifestyle.
She and Ralph spent their evenings in the large communal hut, where, as honoured guests, they were feted with the best the villagers could provide and entertained with traditional songs and music. Afterwards, in the small hut allocated to them, Vanessa wrote about the day’s experiences in her diary.
In their hammocks at night before they settled down to sleep, Ralph talked to Vanessa about his worries for the village.
That night, he said, ‘They seem to think this dam we’re building to help with the gold panning is going to be their path to untold riches. Now some sleaze from Rio has appeared on the scene telling them his boss will help to fund enlarging the mine and sell the gold on for them – all for a big fat rake-off, of course.’ He shook his head. ‘They know the mercury he’s going to provide for separating the gold is poisonous and so bad for the forest, but they hear of other villages prospering and they want to do the same. The fact that they’ll probably end up polluting their water supply, poisoning the fish and eroding the forest even more doesn’t seem to be an issue for them.’
‘Can’t you persuade them to stick to just panning for gold without the mercury?’ Vanessa asked.
‘I’ve tried, but they’re desperate and see this as the only way to survive. I wish I could think of some other way they could make the money to buy the essentials like stock and seeds so they can carry on farming in the traditional way.’
‘Eco-tourism like the first village we stayed in?’ Vanessa suggested.
‘The villagers aren’t that keen on the idea of too many strangers in the village. Besides, they’re so poor they don’t have the money to even improve their own basic living conditions. Being so deep in the jungle here too, it wouldn’t be easy to organise. I know, I had a few problems getting us here. Most of those eco-camps are within two hours of the Amazon River. Nowhere as deep in the jungle as we are.’ Ralph sighed. ‘The trouble is we’re here for such a short time, there’s not a lot we can do. The dam should be finished tomorrow, maybe I’ll get a chance to talk to the head shaman then.’ He leant across and gave Vanessa a kiss. ‘Nearly forget to tell you: Luigi, the guide, has offered to take us to see the young dolphins in a couple of days. It’s a long trek to get to where they’re being born, but should be well worth it.’ Ralph smiled happily at his wife.
‘That’s good of Luigi,’ Vanessa said, smiling at Ralph. ‘Something to look forward to.’
The next morning, Ralph left as usual and Vanessa joined Angela and the other women for the daily chores. Today, besides the normal cooking and husbandry of the small animals that roamed around the village, they were planning to plant seedlings.
As ever, the humidity in the jungle was high and Vanessa struggled to keep pace with Angela and the others as they went to collect the seedlings from the large government-controlled farm where they’d been grown. It proved to be a long, hard day as they planted the small trees on cleared forestland previously grazed by cattle. From time to time, thunderstorms rolled across the sky and torrential rain forced them to stop work and seek shelter. During one of these breaks, Vanessa noticed that a couple of the women were muttering unhappily together.
‘They have nothing,’ Angela explained. ‘Life is getting harder and all they hear is how we must take care of the forest. Who is going to take care of us? We have to survive too.’ She shook her head. ‘We have a school now, but what work is there going to be for the children? What kind of future do Maya and the other children face?’
Vanessa was silent. How could she possibly answer that question?
‘Will a bigger gold mine help?’ she said finally. ‘Ralph says it’s not the answer, but what do you think?’
Angela bit her bottom lip before replying, ‘If it was a legal gold mine it would help more, but, as usual, the wrong people will benefit from it.’
Vanessa gazed at her, horrified. Did Ralph know he was building a dam to help an illegal gold mine operate?
Before she could ask any more, the rain stopped and the women began to move back out on to the wetland.
‘If we are to survive living off the land, we need more legitimate help,’ Angela added quietly, as she handed over a trowel and another box of seedlings.
Thoughtfully, Vanessa began the rhythmic business of planting the tiny trees – dig hole, drop seedling in, cover and press, on to the next – while trying to work out how Ralph would respond to the news about the mine.
It was late afternoon when Vanessa removed her hat and pushed her damp hair back from her face. Her clothes were wet and sticking to her body and she remembered longingly the delights of a cool shower. At least it would soon be time to return to the village and help prepare the evening meal in the shade of the trees surrounding the encampment.
As the women were gathering their things, one of the young native boys returning from the day’s work on the dam, ran up to Angela and said something to her urgently. Vanessa felt a tremor of fear pass through her body as Angela glanced across at her, a look of concern on her face, before walking towards her.
‘What’s happened? Something has happened to Ralph, hasn’t it?’ Fear made her voice sound shrill even to her own ears.
‘Ralph has been taken ill,’ Angela said quietly. ‘The men are bringing him back to the village.’
‘I must go to him,’ Vanessa said, panic-stricken, and went to run towards the huddle of men approaching the village.
Angela placed a restraining hand on her. ‘Wait here,’ she said gently. ‘Let the men deal with it.’
Vanessa’s heart was in her mouth as she watched the group approaching. She forced herself to stay still as two of the village men carried an unconscious Ralph on a makeshift stretcher into the compound before carefully placing him in the medicine man’s hut.