Once You Go Back. 11
Previously, By happy coincidences meeting generous people, Buckeye finally heads out into the wilds of Parque Pelampito— Read Table of Contents and Other Chapters.
Delvin pulled out a map that looked like it came from a forestry supply company circa 1970s. It was in German. Alfredo, smelling of fish, leaned in close and ran his hairy finger over the center of the island.
“Mountains cut the island in two,” Alfredo explained. “Haiti is over there, and they should stay there. Jagged mountains, thorn forests, and no roads protect us from them. Only a 4 x 4 could go this rugged, this vertical.”
“We’ll take this fire trail,” said Delvin, who apparently procured the 4 X 4 and the specialized knowledge for this adventure. With Alfredo for a boss, time off was not an issue. “Y’all get in the back. But hold on to each other. Don’t bounce out.”
They climbed into the cab, and Wilfredo and I tried to get comfortable in the truck bed. The coolers and bedrolls stashed by the tailgate seemed like some protection from the very real risk of sliding out. We hunkered down and shouldered up, legs against coolers, backs against the cab. We watched the town get smaller as we drove up the mountain.
The wilderness began with an open sky and a low, thickety thorn forest. Soon we were under the canopy of massive hardwoods laden with epiphytes, just like I'd seen in the coffee plantation. But the verdant canopy turned skeletal and gray. We pulled over at the peak, and Delvin said, “El bosque de Barbara,” as he scratched his chin.
I shrugged.
“Barbara! Cunadó,” he said more loudly. Delvin had little patience for my lack of vocabulary. He raised his arm to show a hairy pit, then scratched his face. Then I got it. This was the forest of beards.
We were high enough that most green plants were gone. Skinny conifers held thin needles up high, but their trunks sported curled gray beards of moss and lichen. Wind whistled. Something else did, too — a bird or some sort of whining, wailing mammal.
Delvin seemed on edge in this eerie spot. “Now we go down again,” he said looking forward, commanding us to load up.
We crossed the peak and headed down the steep, rocky trail. Now, our backs were pressed to the cab. Somewhere down there, below sea level, a massive salty inland lake settled into a rift; home to crocodiles and flamingos. For now, we no longer feared sliding out the tailgate as the pressure pushed us together. As the air warmed, the canopy expanded.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Plant People to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.