The Narrator
The place the students from Qatar went to after leaving La Paz was Cochabamba in Bolivia. For four days, they spent their time visiting various areas in and around Cochabamba. On the fourth day, they left Cochabamba and headed to a place deep in the forest.
Meanwhile, in El Bosque De La Muerte (where the camp was located), many days had passed since the Wolfgang students arrived in Bolivia. The students had done a lot during those days. This day, they were playing treasure hunt. They were restricted to a radius of two kilometers from the bus in the camp. Seagale and Gallagher buried a cup, and everyone is supposed to find the cup in groups of three, using some clues.
Shifaly Udawatte
"Students, today we are going to a tour of La Abuela De Princesa Irene," said Ms. Dayani when we are all gathered in front of the wooden cabin we were staying in.
"Now I know you are punished, Basura," began Mr. Seneviratne. "However, after discussing with Ms. Dayani, we decided that if you behave, we can allow you to hang out with your friends," he added.
Malindu and Agash, friends of Basura, cheered.
"But.." he added. "You must apologize to Shifaly for your behavior, and make a promise to her not to bully or trouble her."
It was difficult for him to say sorry, but he told me he was sorry and offered me a hand. Now, I was stunned that I couldn't say anything. I never expected Basura to say sorry.
"Shifaly? Shifaly?" said Ms. Dayani, trying to make me come back to consciousness.
"Huh? It's fine, Basura," I said as I smiled and offered my hand.
After the handshake, we all began to walk towards the dam. It was a long route up a hill to enter through the gate.
We were near this big dam called La Abuela De Princesa Irene. The Bolivian Electricity board invited our tour group over. Our teachers, gladly obliged. I don't know where exactly the dam was. The road to the dam was a hilly one with many switchbacks. The last signboard I saw on the highway was before we climbed this hilly road. It read 'Puerto Grande'. I loved the area near the dam. It was so close to nature, and the views from my room in the cabin were astounding. There were trees, so many lush, green trees.
There were drying fruits, lying here and there on the trail to the dam's office. There were also some bushes with flowers growing on them flanking the path. Two flies passed by like bullets grazing through my face. There were some ravens around, pecking at the fallen fruit. The smells of the forest wafted through the air.
"Avanthi and Shifaly, hurry!" said Ms. Dayani, instructing us to not tarry in joining the rest of the group; for, we lagged.
I took a deep breath, absorbing the fresh smell of nature when…
Splurt!
I felt my leg stomp something soft.
I took in a vile stench and almost felt like puking. I looked down.
Avanthi burst into laughter.
I looked down once again and then looked at Avanthi, narrowing my eyes at her.
"Why is it always you and dog-shit?" she asked, teasing me.
I stared at her, unamused. "Not funny, Avanthi," I said. She laughed when I said that.
I pulled out my boot, which was stuck in a pile of dog-poo. I tried to rub off the feces stuck to the sole of my boot on a rock. Then by using lots of tissue paper, I wiped my boots' surface clean, and with a disgusted expression, threw the tissues away.
The tissues landed in a puddle and floated there.
I looked towards the direction of the rest of the class. "Oh boy we've got to catch up!" I said. Avanthi and I ran, trying to catch up with my class.
We had just caught up with the rest of the class, when Avanthi said, "Oh boy, I lost my phone. Oh no!" I sighed and agreed to go with Avanthi to search for her phone. Our search led us to the same spot where I stamped on dog-feces.
I broke out in loud, whooping laughter. Avanthi had found her phone.
After lifting it, she gave me the same unamused, embarrassed look that I gave her before and said, "Not funny, Shifaly." Avanthi's phone fell precisely into the same pile of dog poo, which my shoe stomped on (an act I got mocked over).
Laughing, I lent her some tissue papers. She wiped off traces and chunks of dog poo from the surface of the waterproof casing which covered her phone.
"Is that thing, shit-proof?" I asked, teasing her further.
She narrowed her eyes, blushing with embarrassment, and said with a smile, "I'm gonna kill you, Shifaly." She reluctantly washed the phone with water from the puddle nearby.
"I wonder how many animals and people urinated into that puddle," I said and dodged something Avanthi threw towards me.
Kirt Heinrich
McAllister's group discovered the cup. It was buried right beside the bus.
That afternoon, Rodriguez came over to the camp, bringing food and supplies. We partied all afternoon; I enjoyed the music playing in the background. It was a dancy song that got me pumping. Bill Lancaster was DJing, as usual, if playing tracks off an iPod through a loudspeaker counts as DJing. While the others were dancing and eating, I was just looking at everyone. Sergio seemed to be immersed in the celebration and fun. He was smiling at everyone and gently swaying his body, enjoying the music. Mr. Gallagher was dancing, and he was such a funny spectacle to look at.
I thought someone called my name.
At first, I wanted to find out who it was, but then I thought I must have misheard.
So I continued enjoying the festivities.
Ms. Seagale scared me by tapping my back when I least expected it.
"It's me, not a ghost Heinrich," she said monotonously like Professor Snape from Harry Potter. "You and Adelante forgot to fetch my purse," she said.
"Sorry, I'll go now," I said.
"I can't hear you, Heinrich," she said as she leaned closer to me. I realized that the sound of the music and chatter was ducking my voice.
I raised my voice and said, "I will go" in Ms. Seagale's ear as she brought her ear close.
"Okay, Thanks," she said.
I made my way to the bus. I then walked up to the girls' deck.
"What are you doing here, you [explicit]?" yelled Michaela, apparently startled when she saw me in the girl's deck
"Nothing to do with you, Michaela," I said curtly, walking past her.
"Don't you ignore me!" she said as she caught my shoulder and turned me towards her.
I caught her hand, took it off me, and pushed her away, and walked towards Ms. Seagale's capsule.
I opened the door and saw tons of cosmetics there. I let out a "Whoa!"
I shoved my hand into every nook and corner of her capsule, fingering through everything everywhere, trying to find her purse. Then I felt like my hand caught onto something. I pulled it out and discovered that it was a bunch of papers held together by a rubber band. I didn't look into those papers, but I did notice the name of Ms. Seagale and the actual name of Mr. Michael Sullivan Franklin Gallagher ( which was his Irish name: Mícheál Súilleabháin Frainclín Ó Gallchobhair) on them. Uninterested, I tossed the crumpled bunch onto the bed and continued searching for Seagale's purse. After a long search, I found the purse of Ms. Seagale under the pillows. I rearranged the room to make it look like how it looked before my search, before heading out.
Shifaly Udawatte
The dam seemed dilapidated and ancient. The entrance to its office was through a creaking metal gate. The vibes the ambiance gave me was that one gets in a haunted house.
In the lobby of the visitors' building, there was a massive model of a system of dikes and dams. Noticing my interest in the model, the guide asked me if I knew about the dam. I said no. He then began conversing with me and eventually narrated the story of this system of dams and dikes.
So the story went like this:
Many years back, in 1901, someone by the name of Santiago Aristizábal Bolivar intended to divert the frequently swelling waters of the river, Princesa Irene, away from urban areas, and to make the river flow in a disciplined fashion. To accomplish his vision, he built a grand system of dikes and dams called 'La Familia De Princesa Irene'. This dam (La Abuela De Princesa Irene), where we were at, was the main dam in that system. It kept the river from flowing through its original course.
Downriver, after numerous dikes, there was another dam called 'La Madre De Princesa Irene.' After La Madre, there were no dams or dikes until a place 100 km east of Machareti, where a small barrier redirected Princesa Irene towards a point at Machareti. From that point onwards, it flowed towards Argentina. All these dams and dikes helped change the natural course of the river. Together, they formed the system 'La Familia De Princesa Irene.'
When I was listening to the guide narrate the story, Avanthi, who was infatuated with the handsome guide, was just admiring him. It was strange to see Avanthi interested in listening to a guide and asking questions about the dam all the time when we were at the dam. She never let an opportunity to talk with the handsome guide go in vain. The man, cognizant of her advances, shrewdly tried to keep a distance from her.
Kirt Heinrich
It was 7:30. Eduardo Rodriguez left the camp at 6.00 p.m. Everyone was tired of partying that they went to sleep early after eating dinner. I was with Sergio Abrigo, who was cleaning up the area, smoking a cigarette simultaneously.