Boat ride

The motocarro skidded to a halt on a dusty road from where muddy steps led down to the long river boat of about 10 metres, roofed by dried palm leaves.

Finn and Tsursan clambered on board and found space between the dogs, chickens and sleeping passengers. Finn watched amused as a serious elderly lady diligently peeled and chopped onions from a large sack opposite, throwing the leftovers into the river and adding the chopped onions to a plastic box. Aside them a young girl openly breast-fed her son. It didn`t seem right somehow: the girl too young, the boy too old.

Presently, the young captain whipped the motor into life and the boat eased its way up the river and away from the town. The engine was too loud to make any reasonable conversation so Finn lay back and watched the riverbank while Tsur lit up another of his sweet-smelling cigarettes.

Gradually the concrete buildings were replaced by unsturdy looking shanty towns, dangerously close to collapsing any second as they creaked and moaned under the weight of their occupants. After a time, these too finished, and the dense jungle canopy closed in over the river, shading the boat from the mid-morning sun.

Suddenly, the boy captain began shouting loudly and waving his free arm. An old Indian guy who had been asleep at the front of the boat jumped up and took a position as look out. Finn sat up and saw that the river reeds ,which usually floated in small islands, had spread out forming a maze across the entire river with only a thin path through.

The Indian bellowed directions back to the rear as they weaved in and out of the reeds sending birds and insects scattering into the air. But up ahead, everyone could see that the river grasses had conjugated into one imprenetable mass with no way round. The boat began to speed up and it became clear that the captain intended to hit the reeds as fast as possible to try and break through.

Just as they hit the reeds, he quickly pulled the outboard motor out of the water and cut the power resulting in a shocking silence as the boat sailed smoothly into the crackling reeds. It looked as though they were about to make it through to the other side when they ground to a slow halt, a few metres short of clear water.

Immediately, t0he boy captain and the old Indian pulled long wooden poles from under the benches and began to try and lever the boat forward off the reed beds from the front and back. The strain was evident on their faces, but nothing seemed to budge them. They were stuck.

Then, with barely a word spoken, all the other passengers dropped their vegetables and children began rocking the boat from side to side. Finn and Tsursan quickly caught on and joined in vigourously while the captain and his vice continued their efforts with the poles. Gradually they began to edge forward and within a few minutes they had broken clear.

Finn was delighted and half expected a great cheer to rise up from the boat in celebration of their joint efforts. He raised his arms above his head and grinned enthusiastically at the other passengers. But they had already gone back to their respective tasks and as the engine whirred back into motion, it seemed almost as though nothing significant had happened at all.