City of the Beasts

Chief Mokarita informs the group that they will have to climb the face of the waterfall. Nadia, who is afraid of heights, despairingly claims that she cannot climb it. Mokarita and the other Indians become angry with Nadia, and but Alex calms them with his flute music and convinces Nadia that he can assist her with the climb. He notes that his father is "one of the most experienced and daring climbers in the United States” (186) and that he, Alex, has accompanied him on many difficult climbs. Although Nadia is terrified, Alex works with the Indians to make a length of rope and, once he and Nadia are secured together, they begin the climb up the waterfall. 

Alex and Nadia successfully follow the People of the Mist to the top of the waterfall, using hidden footholds to make their way. When they reach the top, it becomes clear that one member of the party fell, and Alex goes back down the face of the falls to find the missing person. He brings the person back to the top of the falls and discovers that it is the chief, Mokarita, now gravely injured. The Indians lead Alex and Nadia the rest of the way to their home, which they call the Eye of the World. It is a beautiful paradise, a valley of rain forest surrounded by tall black mountains called tepuis. Alex realizes that these are the mountains he saw in his vision with the jaguar. 

After walking a bit farther, they arrive in Tapirawa-Teri, the hidden village where the People of the Mist live. Once Alex and Nadia remove their clothes, which frighten the residents of the village, they are welcomed warmly and learn the customs of the People of the Mist. Alex discovers that he can “listen with his heart” (202) and understand much of their language, and so he learns of the beauty of their communal way of life, in which connection to the community and living simply and respectfully are the most important things. The People of the Mist “had lived the same way for thousands of years and did not want to change” (205). Alex is amazed at the hidden society and the enormous variety of life on earth, thinking back on how he had recently “thought he was the center of the universe” (206). Alex and Nadia join with excitement in the village’s preparation for festivities to welcome the warriors home and celebrate the arrival of “the two ‘white souls’” (208).

Alex and Nadia take place in a joyous celebration including food, drink, and dancing. Mokarita is at the center of the festivities but continues to weaken. Mokarita summons Alex and Nadia and explains that they’re “the only foreigners to enter Tapirawa-Teri since the village had been founded” (213). He also says that because of Walimai’s prophecy that Nadia must help protect the People of the Mist from the bloodthirsty Rahakanariwa, Nadia and Alex have been invited into the life of the village. 

When Mokarita dies, the village falls into chaos, unsure of how to choose a successor, so Nadia uses her amulet to call Walimai. Alex finds that he is now able to see Walimai’s beautiful spirit-wife, who was previously invisible to him. The tribe grows calm in Walimai’s presence, and Walimai tells them that Alex has come to help them. He also relates what he has seen of the foreigners, or nahab, saying that they are crazy and appear “like the dead; their souls have escaped their breasts” (221). Tahama vows that the nahab will never enter the Eye of the World, but Alex warns them that there may be no way to keep the helicopters away. He and Nadia attempt to convince the Indians to accept Dr. Omayra Torres’s vaccinations when she comes. 

Alex and Nadia participate in the tribe’s funeral rites for Mokarita. Under the influence of ayahuasca, each takes on the form of a totemic animal for a spiritual journey: Alex becomes a jaguar and Nadia becomes an eagle. During her vision, Nadia sees three crystal eggs in a high nest that she senses are very important. The two become members of the tribe by partaking of a drink made from Mokarita’s bones. After much negotiation, Iyomi, Mokarita’s ancient widow, is chosen as the new chief. Iyomi also names additional chiefs, saying that Nadia (known as Eagle) will be “chief for soothing the Rahakanariwa” (229-230) and Alex (known as Jaguar) will be “chief for negotiating with the nahab and their birds of noise and wind” (230). To mark his transition to manhood, Alex is taken by the men of the tribe and subjected to a series of trials, including having his arm covered with fire ants. During the experience he finds the strength to “open himself to suffering without resisting” (235) and knows afterward that he has “left his childhood behind” (236).