It was a warm day; Ash and I were floating along the Amazon river in our rented boat. The water was smooth. There were lush trees around us and thin streaks of sunlight shone through the dense trees and their leaves. It was our plan to spend our day in the Amazon river, while our families were on the camp side in the forest, a bit far from where we were right now.

We saw the most beautiful and vibrant parrots flying around us. A sloth and its baby eating fruits and leaves from the trees they were resting on. From the corner of my eye, I saw an orangutan swinging across thick branches and vines. Suddenly, we heard irritating banging sounds, I looked around and saw a woodpecker. Its body was black and its wings were bright red.

The sight was amazing as I had never seen a woodpecker in real. The forest was full of beautiful creatures both on the land and those flying above our heads like exotic toucans, owls sleeping inside tree holes, with their tucked into their soft feathers.

Unexpectedly, the river started to narrow and the trail started getting rocky and with this, our boat started shaking badly. Ash and I were confused for the trail behind was very smooth, we had no idea of what to do in such a situation. We ignored it and as our stomachs started to rumble after seeing all the fresh fruits on the trees, we decided to have a snack. We took out our peanut butter and jam sandwiches and started munching on them. At a distance, Ash noticed something.

“Uh, Rose, I think we’re heading towards a waterfall.”

I froze. I slowly looked back and just a few metres away, I saw water falling down from some rocks and I felt I will have a heart attack.

Not knowing what to do, I shouted, “Ash start looking for something useful in the bag while I do the same.”

We scurried through our bags, looking for something that could help us. The bank was too far away so jumping off the boat wasn’t an option. We had just bought food, water and our cameras. I started stressing out and Ash was a little too overwhelmed.

“We’re going to die! We’re going to die! I’m too young to die. I never graduated college, I never got a pet tiger!”

“Ash, Ash We are not going to die! Stop crying!” I yelled “If you won’t help, we will die. So, wipe your eyes and help me!”

She looked at me like I was never capable of doing such a thing, then she decided to lend a helping hand. The closer we got to the waterfall, the more I started panicking.

At a distance, I saw a thick branch dangling from above a giant old tree. We immediately thought of an idea to hold the branch tight when crossing it, that way, we could move closer to the bank and then jump on to it. Ash didn’t really like the idea, but it was our only hope. So, we got ready to grab the branch, our hands were up and ready. We got nearer and nearer. I tried to grab it, first.

“Oopsies!” I said in an unsure and low tone as it slipped out of my hand.

“We missed it!” Ash said in a terrified voice.

“What will we do now!”, I bellowed.

The water force got harder and we were heading for the waterfall faster. At this point, we were shivering with fear. We were only a few feet away from falling down into the water. From the very corner, I saw a thick branch of a vine hanging from one of the trees. I grabbed the vine and shouted to Ash to grab me as quick as she can. Just as I caught the vine, our little boat fell down the waterfall. We caught onto the vine in the nick of time.

I had always wanted to swing on vines, just like Tarzan. And this was real Tarzan thing.

“Ash, hold me as tight as you can, we’re going to swing and then I will let go of the vine, so we will fall on the ground,” I said in a sly voice.

“No, no!” Ash yelled at me. “No more adventures, we have already had quite the adventure,”

“We have no choice!” I spoke.

We swung a little and then I let go of the vine and we fall to the mushy ground of the forest.

“Ah, thank goodness, we are alive, today was quite fun, wasn’t it?”

“Fun? Enough of all this fun! We had died today in fun. I’m going to the camp side! Enjoy your time,” she shouted and walked away.

“I had a great day,” I thought to myself and laughed. I picked up my bag and I followed Ash back to the camp side.

Published in Dawn, Young World, December 19th, 2020