Curucucú - Hellgate Press

A Chance Anecdote 19
Mules laden with the expedition’s equipment crossing the páramo
between Guicán and Cobagón.
facing down. an impediment to a good night’s rest was the differing lengths
of bodies lying next to each other and the consequent unsolicited and occasionally
intimate proximity of another’s knee. Moreover, a tug of war using
the top sheepskin inevitably took place between those lying at the edges of
the bed. When the person on one side rolled over and faced outwards he was
obliged to pull the sheepskins over his knees to keep them warm. that action
uncovered the person on the other side, who yanked the coverlet back again.
the caress of unwashed sheepskin pulled back and forth over the faces of our
group in the middle snapped the willingness some had expressed to expose
themselves to a genuine ethnic experience. Crawling over cursing bodies
they disappeared into a cold mountain rain to pitch tents on uneven stony
ground.
In the morning it was difficult to decide who had fared the worst, those on
the split saplings or those on the stones. We all looked dishevelled. all of us,
that is, except roger. never for one moment had he entertained the notion of