I will tell again the things that happened to me:
We were going to leave and my friends went first. Toqué was among them and others said to me: “Go with them.”
So I went with them. But I didn’t see my friend Jusé so I decided to go back. And as I was going back some of the young men met up with us. When they saw I was determined to go back they left me.
On my way back I got a fever:
I got a fever and I passed out. I probably fainted, because when I came to I was flat on my face on the ground laying in my own blood.
I knew I needed water, so I dug around inside a tree. I found water accumulated between the branches and I drank, and then I left. I took some water that was in the tree with me.
When I left the next day I realized I was lost:
But I was so weak that I made a bed and slept. When it was day I left again but I soon realized I was lost. I didn’t know where I was. I tried to follow my friends. I found where we had camped. By this time I was very weak and had lost a lot of weight. I knew I was going in the right direction, though, because I recognized that my friends had been there.
The fire I had made was completely dead:
I looked at the fire I had lit, but it was completely dead. So I looked around but there was no other fire. All of the fires had been extinguished. I made myself a fire. I rested a while, and then I left in search of my friends. It was only me and the jungle. I was all alone. There wasn’t even a deer or any other animal in sight. I was alone in the woods, and I only had the woods around me.
I came upon some holes that someone had dug:
But there were some big holes someone had dug there in the woods. I was all alone. This was after I had passed out, and brought myself around again. So I tried to follow the tracks of my friends again. I had nothing to eat and was very skinny from hunger.
I found a lame turtle, which I killed and ate it in spite of it being lame. I knew I shouldn’t have because it was crippled, but I ate it anyway. I was starved. So I made a lunch of the turtle, but when I reached the women I threw my lunch away.
I came upon a tree where my friends had gotten honey; I got some, too:
I said to myself, “I’ll soon reach the other women.” And I did. I found where they had gotten honey, and I found some also and carried it with me. I saw them at a distance. I saw them and right away I saw that they had seen me too. When I arrived I told them I had slept where someone had made a grave, and at that time I had no idea how close they were.
Umaridaté announced my arrival and said: “*Jocha who was lost, there she is!”
But there was a grave near by. I cried when Jusé mourned for me for she was blind. And I mourned for her. And I cried. I remembered my father and I cried. Jusé cried for me and I cried and mourned. She felt sorry for me. I thought I could stay with my uncle, but when I got there my uncle, Asomedái, wouldn’t let me stay with them. So Jusé sent me to where she was staying and I stayed with her.
She said to me, “Go back and stay with your aunt.”
That made me cry. And I was so sad. But Jusé said: “Stop crying. You are in bad shape. Don’t cry.” And then she tried to comfort me.
Key:
*Jocha – Enuedaté’s name before she had children
Enuedaté – Tobité, Bolivia – 1960
Transcribed and translated to English by: Maxine Morarie
