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“Buenos días,” Samuel greets Asoo. He leaps into the curiara and distributes the waterproofed bags evenly under the seats. “What happened here?” He points to a section where several planked seats have been removed.
“Eden to rest,” he says, as though Samuel should understand. “Eden in pain last time.”
Samuel hesitates, wanting to tell him Eden will not be traveling in the curiara. She’s resting in Canaima before traveling home. The gut feeling she’ll fight him on this halts his words. For now, she is healthy and safe. Victor will check on her during the day while Samuel investigates the location of the proposed mine with Asoo. He doesn’t expect any complications. However, he left instructions with Victor on who to call if there’s an emergency.
The risk holds more danger than he cares to contemplate. Both men are aware their presence needs to be hidden at all costs. They have fishing lines and bait to use as an alibi in case they are questioned.
To further strengthen their camouflage as hunters searching for food, the men have no phones or cameras. An action to prove they aren’t spying so as not to cause a reaction if they are caught out or anything untoward happens, Victor is the sole person aware of their venture, and they have no means of contacting any other authority.
Samuel opens the map and spreads it out on the wooden seat. He marks the location of the small Pemón communities dotted along the river. With the latest rainfall, another tributary formed with the overflow of surplus water from the tepui, and it snaked a path to join the Carrao River. The tributary is their destination. Some of these smaller offshoots disappear in the dry season. It is a risk yet perfect for the mine to be invisible since barely anyone would know the location unless they are planning to dam the water supply from another source.
“You have sent word?” Samuel says as they sail along Canaima lagoon.
“Everyone want money,” Asoo says, his expression serious.
Samuel understands the difficulty in convincing the communities the small pay for slave labor isn’t worth risking their lives. Money is survival to these communities as many have forgotten the way of their ancestors by relying on the land for survival. Western lifestyle has influenced their lives, and money controls their life. It’s no longer simply hard work and toil in the fields to sustain their well-being.
They sail along the Carrao River, navigating the Mayupa rapids and onto Orchid Island. They pass the fork to the Churun River, which leads them to Angel Falls and Ulara. Instead, they continue east, then north on the Carrao River, and when the sun is high in the sky, they pass the first curiara anchored to the bank with a makeshift tent onboard, supported by poles. A long rope secures the temporary barge to nearby trees. Three hammocks hang beneath the canopy as well as a line with towels drying. Between the trees is a small opening leading into the jungle.
Asoo shakes his head, and they continue their journey. Several of these unsafe barges dot the shores of the river. The water is a dull caramel color, and there’s evidence of sedimentation from the mines.
The curiara hits something hard in the river, and Samuel’s body slams forward. Asoo kills the engine and leans over the edge to investigate the cause. Closer to the shore, there are artificial sand mounds caused by the mine drenching the riverbed searching for gold. Not far ahead along the river edge is a barge constructed of ropes and plastic bottles acting as a flotation device supporting the machines that do the damage.
Asoo hands Samuel a paddle, and the men steer the curiara toward the shore. They drag their curiara onto the sand and creep toward the sound of a clicking motor.
They barely make it one hundred yards before a bare-chested man wearing long shorts calls out to Asoo.
“Stay here,” Asoo tells Samuel.
Samuel watches as the two men talk for a few minutes until the other raises his voice and uses his arms to dramatize his response. Although Samuel is fluent in Spanish and Pemón, the men are speaking fast and over each other. The dark-haired man turns and glares at Samuel, halting Samuel from taking a further step. Instead, he leaves the men to speak in private and takes shade under a tree. He reaches to lean a weary arm on the trunk and, in a reflex action, snaps his arm away. From the ground to the canopy, organized lines of bullet ants carry leaves in their pinchers. Samuel springs back, checking the ground for the nest. He dusts himself and stamps his feet, then glances up to both men smiling in his direction. Ten days away from the rainforest, and he has forgotten the ways.
Asoo weaves around the wild cashew trees and waves Samuel toward the curiara.
“We go now,” he says with underlying urgency.
“What did you see?” Samuel pushes the curiara into the water while Asoo mans the motor.
“Nothing.” When they are in the middle of the river, Asoo speaks over the sound of the engine. “Other bad men. Diego do nothing wrong. He say he Pemón and this our land. We mine our own land so he not…” he pauses a moment, “… breaking law.”
“I’m aware many people break the law, but this isn’t about the law. It’s about the damage to the environment and poisoning the water. You’ve seen first-hand what the mercury does, and we don’t want radioactive green lagoons that will kill the fish, your primary source of protein.” Samuel curses under his breath. Asoo isn’t the person to lecture.
“He’s earning six American dollars a month. He has to feed his family.”
“He is risking his life and destroying his water system for a mere six bucks a month?”
“It good money, my friend. Most earn two dollars.”
Samuel shakes his head. “The younger generation needs to be educated about the benefits of living off the land. We don’t want them to think this is what they have to do to survive.”
Asoo’s shoulders slump. “His wife coming to cook for men. His children will help sift. He get more money in gold.”
“Where will they live? On those makeshift barges on the river? If the government finds out—”
“He tells me I no understand. I have job. The government made him broke. This our land. He needs to feed his family.”
“So the children’s education will cease?”
“We fight another way, my friend. If we stay and his boss return, we all die.”
