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instructed, and set about our usual preparations. I couldn’t work with my wounded hand and just sat watching Karl and Kevin set up camp, while Marcus ground spices together with stones that he found lying about. After the tent was up, Karl began skinning the sloth. It was a difficult task, because he didn’t have a sharp enough knife. The monkey was easier. Karl tossed the whole thing into the fire, and its fur burned right off. It was a disgusting sight: its face was all shrivelled up, its teeth and nose bone were stark white, the eye sockets were creepy, and the hands and feet looked human. I could hardly stand to watch. Karl was soon crouched over the stream cleaning out the innards and thoroughly washing the entire carcass. I helped him cut the animals to pieces. He stuck the sloth meat on green, skewer like branches and set them down near the fire.

‘That’s our dinner. We’ll smoke the monkey to take along with us,’ he said.

Besides the sloth meat, which was seasoned with the spices Marcus had prepared, Karl made rice in place of our usual soup.

After dinner Karl rigged a small domed structure of green branches over the fire and set the cuts of monkey meat inside: legs, arms, body, head, and tail.

‘We’ll let it smoke all night. By morning it will be good and dry.’

For breakfast we had rice soup and monkey meat. It was the first time the three of us had