I feel the stress flow off me as the wind blows in the open truck door. I'm on my way to the river. I hear the singing coming from the back as the young guys express their joy in the moment. The road is red and dusty and the green is starting to push up through the perpetual brown of Béré. The wind is warm but cooling as it dries the sweat off my face.
We pass a small village where women are selling peanuts, donuts and grilled meat. The smell of smoke and cooking flesh wafts its pleasant odor across my nostrils. I wave to the kids who jump up to chase after us waving and yelling "Lapia, Lapia". We round a corner as the road narrows and pass some nomad women in brightly colored clothes draped over their heads and bodies swaying gently on their donkeys' backs. A little ways ahead a small boy with a huge turban and a stick watches his cattle amble across the road. I honk my horn and a few cows turn to stare blankly at the truck while a few others start to lope across a little faster. I slow down and slowly weave my way through the bovine maze.
A few meters farther and I see the sign announcing the end of the road with an arrow pointing out the detour to the left that takes one to the barge. I go straight and pull up just to the edge of the cement where the bridge used to be.
There are backhoes and graders parked on the other side watching in silent contemplation their destructive handy work. All the trees have been mowed down leaving a naked, scarred earth with deep ruts and grooves from their relentless march across. All this is supposed to somehow help them rebuild the bridge. On the other side, cars and mini-vans are parked as people unload their merchandise to cross in tiny, hand hewn dugout canoes. Today is Saturday, Market Day and with the barge under repairs there is no other way across.
I get out, take off my shirt and glasses, tie the car key to my swimming shorts and climb down the rough volcanic stone to the water's edge. Daniel and Ferdinand follow me while the others head downstream to a safer crossing.
In between the two buttresses of the ancient bridge the water way is forcibly narrowed creating whitewater and rapids from its strong current. As I step in I feel the tug and lean back to keep from being swept away. I feel the sharp pumice stones encrusted with shards of oyster shells cutting into my feet. I move slowly downstream until it gets deep enough to let go and ride the rapids.
The current whips me around to the left as the whitecaps slap my face. I am borne to the left hand bank which is a clay cliff 20 feet tall with roots from bushes hanging over the top. One tree has fallen in head first leaning it's trunk against the bank. I twist around, give a few quick strokes with my hands and feet and grab onto the tree. I pull myself around and up, using it as a ladder to get to the top of the cliff. The wet clay slips between my toes as I try to get a grip on the bank. I make it to the top where a small crowd as gathered to watch the "entertainment". I look down and see that Daniel and Ferdinand have entered the current and are approaching the tree swiftly. They rapidly follow me up.
I look down river and see the others crossing: Koumakoi, Doumpa and Felix. I also see that Sarah has just arrived on horseback her curly red hair blowing wildly in the wind as she effortlessly trots up and wipes the sweat from her forehead before smiling and giving me an enthusiastic wave. She brings the horse slowly down to the river to drink and then takes him for a swim.
Koumakoi joins us and looking down at Sarah tells me that she needs to be careful or her horse will turn into a hippo. I laugh, thinking he's joking, but one look at his face tells me that he believes it.
We decide to jump off three by three. Doumpa, Ferdinand and I are the first to jump. I step back and then take a few quick steps forward and launch myself out as far as I can wildly flailing my arms and legs to amuse the crowd with the silliness of "Nasara". I plunge in and feel it all the way to the tips of my sinuses as they get their cleansing purge. I touch the sandy bottom and kick my way to the surface taking in a big gulp of refreshing air as I wipe my eyes and nose and leisurely paddle to the bank.
I see Ferdinand has reached the bank too and forgetting about Doumpa I look up to watch the others jump. They are a little hesitant and I start to egg them on. Suddenly, I hear Ferdinand behind me:
"Where's Doumpa?"
I turn and look just in time to see a pair of hands break the surface about 5 feet from Ferdinand and about 15 feet from me. The hands then sink back beneath the surface. As thoughts race through my brain of how I'm going to explain the drowning of his son to our lab tech, Anatole, I push off and quickly swim to where I saw the hands. Ferdinand reaches the spot first and does a surface dive straight down. I arrive just to feel a head and arms being pushed up. I grab Doumpa as he sputters and coughs for air and I pull him to the bank. Ferdinand follows. Instead of the expected fear and sympathy, everyone, including Doumpa, starts laughing. Maybe I'm the only one who realizes how close we came to death in those swift, muddy waters.
A few weeks later, Sarah and I decide to go to the river again and this time she accompanies me in the truck. Israel, our latest nurse volunteer, follows me into the current while Sarah and the Danish medical student, Pernilla, head upstream to get in out of view of the stares of the ever present crowd.
Since the water has risen about 5 feet, Israel and I are able to enter at the top of the rapids and enjoy the whole ride although the slaps from the waves are harsher this time and I'm a little out of breath when I get to the calmer water. We climb and jump just like last time and then circle around with the current as it circles the deep pit at the center of the river. It's perfect since we would be unable to swim upstream if it didn't reverse itself and bring us easily and quickly back to the rapids. We make the circuit several times then watch from the cliff as Sarah and Pernilla also navigate the whitewater.
Sarah and Pernilla then go to rest in the shallows by the opposite bank near where it rises up to the bulwark of the old bridge. There is some calm water there with some old tree branches sticking up. We pass by several times without incident on our way back to the rapids.
When Israel and I get tired of swimming we start chasing kids who have gathered to watch. Many of them are laughing but some are truly terrified and when we actually catch one I'm afraid he'll faint from terror as his eyes are wide and he screams bloody murder while shaking his hands and shouting "Ai, Ai, Ai, baaaaooooooooo!"
Finally, we are tired and I go upstream to get Sarah and Pernilla's clothes. As I return, an excited Isreal runs up to me and says "look, a hippo!" I look downstream just in time to see some huge nostrils break the surface.
"He was hiding down by the bank in the branches, right where we swam past all those times! Then he finally came up and then headed downstream. We were this close, man!"
Suddenly, a cry goes up from the onlookers. Sarah and Pernilla are still in the water by the rapids. I yell at them to come look. They get out quickly and also see the massive hippo waddle out of the water, up the bank and into the bush.
The locals start running after him with sticks and huge rocks that they throw at him. We jump into the truck and give chase. I veer down a small path only to have the kids on top yell for me to go back, go back! I slam it into reverse and squeal back onto the main road.
"Forward, forward!" They scream. I hit the gas and we follow the crowd. I stop and climb out onto the roof. I see the hippo just 30 feet away crashing through the bushes with the others still in hot pursuit. We follow the chase for about 15 minutes before they finally get too far away.
That night, as I'm explaining to Koumakoi and the others he lets me know that those hippos that come out of the water are really men that take on the form of the hippo. Apparently, hippos are not really animals, they're men or horses that have been transformed. Me, I'm just glad that he didn't take a bite out of me and that I'm home in one piece!
James
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