Category: Tales From Green Hell 1978 -1979
-
A Truck Load of Sunshine
Four girls stood together on the the far side of the table from me. To none of us in particular one blurted out, “I love you!” Then, all burst into gales of laughter. The phrase was probably the only English they knew. They probably learned it from American movies played at theaters and on TV…
-
Hitchin’ Rides
We waited three hours for our next ride. As we hoisted ourselves onto the truck, we noticed a pile of garbage towards the front of the truck bed. As we tried to settle in we smelled it. It was not pleasant. There were rotten bananas and other unnamed, decomposing stuff that should have been thrown…
-
We Found Indians
I glance at Tibaquete. Anxiety stares from his eyes too, but for different reasons. Flying above the trees is not his element. He belongs beneath the leaves, a Yuqui Indian needing neither compass nor roadmap to go and return. As we bank into a tight turn his fingers dig into my knee in fear. I…
-
Murder In The Swamp
After examining the signs the two men left in the jungle, the Yuqui believed that Tibaquite encountered Juan in the jungle. He knew him, and was not afraid! Up until then, Juan was just talk, a man full of empty threats. He greeted him as only Tibaquite could do- that toothless grin. The men walked…
-
We Found Indians
I glance at Tibaquete. Anxiety stares from his eyes too, but for different reasons. Flying above the trees is not his element. He belongs beneath the leaves, a Yuqui Indian needing neither compass nor roadmap to go and return. As we bank into a tight turn his fingers dig into my knee in fear. I…
-
Just Dropping In!
Sept 6, 1978 A mission organization from Switzerland, called Helimission, arrived in Bolivia a few months before. Its purpose was to use their helicopter to do mission and humanitarian work. It was a perfect fit in our quest to find the illusive jungle nomads called the Yuqui. No airstrips were needed. We could be let…
-
Well, Slither Me Timbers
Near the mouth of the river, the waters of the Rio Hediondo backed up into the surrounding jungle. There was a big pool of swamp-looking water off to our left. In the middle of it was a fallen tree with branches stretched heavenward as if beseeching a greater power to pull it from its watery…
-
The Execution of Nighty Mouse
Despite our best efforts, intruders still breeched the barriers and came inside. Some made themselves at home, hiding from us in the daylight hours. One, I called Nighty Mouse because it came out every night to wreak havoc in our kitchen. It chewed holes in papayas, tomatoes, bags of sugar, and anything else that was…
-
Kitty, Kitty, Nice Kitty!
Dun was the first to spot a large jaguar, standing in the open, on the trunk of a big tree that was toppled and swallowed by the river months before. When the tree fell, the angry waters had stripped all the leaves and bark from the trunk and branches. The weathered grey color of the…
-
What Lurks In The Darkness
I walk alone, bathed in the coolness of the night. The sun has long tucked his fiery head under the cover of darkness leaving his domain for a million stars to play in. I look for the big dipper, but it is not there. The sky I know is not there; the constellations are strange,…
Writings By Phil 