Wayne Westphal Barrow

A Gift From The Patamona Tribe

They found her sitting next to her mother in the dense rainforest of Guyana approximately twenty miles away from any known houses. It made no sense that she was in this remote area, alive, according to the city dwellers. This was one of the most hostile places on God’s green earth. Jaguars roamed freely. The anacondas that could squeeze and devour a whole cow in a matter of hours frequented the dense under path. Labarias, vipers which struck with lightning speed and whose venom incapacitated a full-grown man pronouncing his imminent death sentence, were numerous. The miniature insects, the aedes aegypti and the anopheles mosquitos, moving in swarms searched for human blood wreaking havoc in the lives of those who dared to travel these remote but breathtakingly beautiful areas. If the yellow fever didn’t kill the unsuspecting traveler, the malaria would, not instantly but the chills and fevers would incapacitate the healthiest of beings.