City of the Beasts

The group sets out on the river once again, this time traveling up the Orinoco. Alex tells Kate about the conversation he and Nadia overheard. Though Kate states that she dislikes Carías and worries about his plan to exterminate the Indians, she agrees with Nadia that it’s best to simply wait and see what happens. As the journey progresses, Alex senses that the adults are all tense and worried, and he feels as if he is being watched. 

From the locally-born soldiers and the Indian guides Karakawe and Matuwe, Alex learns more about the culture of the native people. He discovers that Indians tribes own almost all possessions communally, share labor and child-rearing equally, and live together in group homes called shabonos. However, it is said that contact with outsiders can have a profoundly corrupting influence on the Indians, especially when they learn about metal weapons like machetes or guns. Karakawe, who has lived among outsiders for a long time, seems not to be like other Indians and rarely speaks to or spends time with the other members of the expedition. Nadia and Alex catch Karakawe going through Dr. Torres’s possessions and decide “to keep an eye on him” (118). 

As the boats progress into Venezuelan territory, Alex encounters many strange and beautiful new fruits and animals. Kate notes that this is also the region where the mythic city of gold, El Dorado, is said to be located. To pass the time, Alex plays his flute and discovers that in addition to comforting his companions, the music attracts birds and monkeys from the jungle. The peace on the boat is interrupted when a poison dart from the jungle strikes and kills one of the soldiers. Leblanc is particularly upset by this development and wishes to return to the village. 

The journey becomes increasingly uncomfortable, and the party stops to rest at a small lake. Watching the women in the group swim, Alex reflects that the journey has been a welcome respite from “hormones churning around, not letting him think in peace” (132) and notes that he can now see the women’s bodies as “equally beautiful, each in her own way” (133). While swimming, the photographer Joel Gonzalez is attacked by an anaconda. Though the rest of the group kills the snake, Joel is seriously injured and Dr. Torres states that he needs to return to Santa Maria de la Lluvia. The party roasts the anaconda and Alex, interested for the first time in trying a new food, eats some of it. Reminded of his father’s pancakes, Alex has a sudden, brief vision of his mother. Nadia tells him that with practice, he can improve that ability to see her "from afar, with the heart” (140).

The group makes camp in the jungle and sets up shifts to keep watch. During his shift, Alexander realizes that he has gained the ability to “sit quietly for a long time, in silence, concentrating on his thoughts” (143) and likens this new experience to the calm focus he feels while mountain climbing. Toward the end of the night, Alex is awakened by shouts around him and a terrible smell that permeates the campsite. Karakawe reports that one of the soldiers on his shift has vanished and the group discovers the missing man’s mutilated body in the jungle. Near the body is a huge pile of excrement, which Leblanc falls into, and the members of the expedition agree that an enormous animal must have left the dung. They also find broken branches and dark hairs nearby, all signs of the Beast. 

After this second death, the group decides that Matuwe, along with some soldiers, should take the injured Joel Gonzales back to the village in one of the boats. The rest of the group resolves to continue, though Leblanc initially tries to leave and only commits to staying when Kate threatens to publicly expose him as a coward. Alex and the others proceed to set a trap for the Beast, though Nadia says that she hopes the trap fails, wishing that they could instead “talk with it and ask what it wants” (155). They also set out gifts to attract any nearby Indians, so that Dr. Torres can vaccinate them. Additionally, the members of the expedition discover that their radio is broken, and Nadia suspects Karakawe of tampering with it. 

Alex plays the flute for the group again after dark, and Nadia’s monkey Borobá draws Nadia and Alex’s attention to a presence just outside the campsite. The friends sneak out in to the jungle and discover that they’re surrounded by silent, nearly invisible people with painted bodies. Alex is filled with wonder, and the mysterious beings vanish without speaking. Nadia tells Alex that the beings must be the legendary People of the Mist, a remote native tribe said to possess the power of invisibility. They agree not to tell anyone of their meeting.