📸 Photo

rocky with a single hut in the centre of it. The hut was leaning to one side as if about to fall over. Other than that there was nothing but a few pilings lying about. A strange feeling overcame me. The beach offered shelter, which meant that there had been people here. What kind of place was it? How was it that I hadn't noticed it the first time I had passed by here?

I didn't waste time trying to figure out where I was. I hobbled over to the thatched roof, leaned my pack against one of its pilings, and lay down on the ground for about an hour. I thanked God for having led me to some kind of shelter. I spread the poncho out in the middle of the beach. It was full of holes from the termites. I set a few rocks on it to hold it down and then dragged myself to the river. I stuck my feet in the water and washed the mud from my shoes. Then I filled the tin with water and started back toward the hut. I was almost there when I picked up my head to see how much farther I had to go, and there, beyond the thatched roof, carved on a thick log was the word Pam.

I couldn't believe my eyes. Now I understood that funny feeling that had come over me. I was back in Curiplaya.

Suddenly it dawned on me. The storm had washed away the other three huts and almost destroyed this one as well, which was why I hadn't recognised the place immediately. The floodwaters must have also swept away the four islands by