Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
FIVE
SOYMAGEDDON
The smell of smoke, a plume rising by the road, and then we saw the flames. The forest
was on fire. “Stop! Stop!” Gil cried, and Mango pulled over. Adam and I waded through the
brush and emerged into a world of ash and cinder.
We were in the Amazon rainforest. The former Amazon rainforest, to be exact. The
broad field where we stood was empty, freshly scorched to the ground. The air swirled with
cinders. They mixed with sudden clouds of small, attacking insects. Where had they come
from? Was there a species of bug driven to riot by the smell of smoke?
At the edge of the field, we found the fire crawling over what was left to burn. It reared
up in brief flares, as tall as we were, then ducked its head back toward the ground. Adam
started videotaping.
I turned back to the field, a monochrome square a hundred yards to a side. A single
massive tree stood alone in the ruin. The ground was warm through my boots. In front of me,
long bands of white crossed the ground, dividing, and dividing again, growing thin. They
were the ghosts of trees. Felled and burning, they had turned to ash where they lay. Ashen
branches sprouted from ashen trunks. I kicked one and it rose into the air, a white eddy circ-
ling on the hot breeze.
