true hallucinations.htm - Federal Jack

We were grateful for the pause in travel, since the voyage on the Fabiolita had left usrather worn. I spent part of each day collecting insects, or writing, or thinking in myhammock. That week we saw Dr. Guzman very rarely. He treated us with the sameremote disdain that the other male leaders of the community affected. Noteveryone was so shy; there were always several Witoto of all ages intently watchingwhichever one of us was most active at any given moment. In one of his oddest moves,Dr. Guzman asked us to answer any questions about the relationships prevailing withinour group by saying that we were all brothers and sisters. This assertion brought theexpression of amazement expected of any reasoning being. And so I think we wereespecially interesting to the people of the village because they were asked by their expertinformant concerning all things in the outside world to believe that such a disparate groupas we were all siblings. It was only one of the good doctor's peculiarities.Once in the heat of the afternoon when I was alone, collecting insects in the forest, Icame around a large tree to surprise Guzman, who was standing absolutely still, poisedabove a small stream with a fish spear in his hand. We walked back to the villagetogether, and as we walked, he told me his view of life."Danger lurks everywhere. Never swim alone in the river. Huge forms move beneath itssurface. There is the anaconda. The rivers abound with them. Snakes are everywhere. Beaware of this as you make your way to La Chorrera. The forest is unforgiving of error."I had spent months in the jungles of Indonesia, and I had been collecting insects everyday in these Amazonian forests since the journey to San Jose del Encanto had begun. Ihad my own idea of the risks of the forests, not nearly so dark as the thoughts of thewildly gesticulating figure who strode raving at my side. Clearly, it had been ourmisfortune to stumble onto what was a very peculiar scene. Guzman had been ruling hiswife with an iron hand. He lived in a nightmare world of delusions brought on by cocaaddiction. His wife had not had any Anglos to talk with since arriving in the jungle.Naturally she was wondering what was going on. She wasn't allowed to chew coca andhe was behaving more and more like a male Witoto of the tribe.There were strange incidents that set everyone on edge. A bushmaster, most deadly ofvipers, was killed near the village and brought back and shown around. Incidents? Sayrather omens or ominous events. One morning an enormous tarantula, the largest Ihad ever seen, made a dash through the village, or so it seemed, since it was suddenlydiscovered very much in the middle of things. Had someone released it?Two nights before we were to leave the village, a tree burst into flames near our hut. Thisseemed unambiguously unfriendly and we accelerated our plans for departure. But we