Girl against the jungle by monica vincent

It was on Cristmas-eve at Lima Airport. Suzanne and her mother

wanted to get home to Suzanne's dad. Her dad lives in Pucalpa. That's
a little town in the South American Jungle. In the plane, Suzanne sat
next to a window. After the Take-off she saw the tops of the Andes
mountains.

     After a while she saw the big jungle trees. She hadn't seen the
jungle for three months. Suddenly the plane rolled from one side to
the other. She looked out of the window. There was a flash of
lightning. Then the plane started to spin.

     A great flame flashed out of the right wing. Her mother cried:
"That's the end!!!" Then there was a loud BANG. The plane crashed.
Suzanne was alone in the jungle. She was wet and cold. She didn't find
her glasses and she only had one shoe.

     On the other food she had a nasty cut. Suzanne was very weak, so
she began to sleep. Next day she heard dad's voice in her head. "Find
a river. Rivers are the roads of the jungle." it said.

     Her parents lived in the jungle many years, so they knew lots of
rules. She found a stick and walked. She had to find a river. After a
while Suzanne heard the sound of water. Between big trees she saw a
little stream. She went to the stream and washed her.

     She lost a lot of blood. Then she remembered the piranhas.
Piranhas are little fish with sharp teeth and they smell blood. Suzanne
can't walk in the stream, so she walked on the stream bank. After a
while she saw a seat of the plane. Next to the seats she saw three
dead bodies.

     She rested there and slept. Next day she walked slowly through the
jungle. She found the rest of the plane. Her mother was dead.
Suzanne was afraid but she didn't cry. Next day it started to rain
heavy.
     She found shelter under big trees. After the rain the stream was a
river. Suzanne wanted to swim(that's faster) but she remembered the
piranhas. So she walked along the bank away. After a while she felt
tired and began to sleep. In the meanwhile Suzanne's father listened
to the radio.

     "The plane from Lima crashed in the jungle. All passengers were
dead. "it said. He felt weak but he didn't cry. Next day Suzanne walked
along the river bank. Suddenly she saw a boat in the river.

     Two Indian hunters sat in. But the boat drove away. She felt weak.
Suddenly a man shouted: "Hello!" Then the boat came back. Suzanne
jumped into the boat. She began to sleep.

     When she got up, a doctor stand in front of her. She was in a
hospital. "You are very ill; The maggots nearly killed you." the doctor
said. "But I must get home to my father." Suzanne cried.

     The a visitor came in. It was Suzanne's father. Both were very
happy. For the first time since the crash both cry.

Summary of “Girl Against the Jungle” by

Juliane Koepcke
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Juliane, the narrator, lived with her mother at Lima. Her father was at Pucallpa, across the Andes.
He had written to Juliane and her mother to come over to Pucallpa. They would celebrate Christmas
there. On Christmas Eve Juliane and her mother boarded a lock heed Electra at Lima. The plane
was scheduled to start at seven a.m. It looks off at 11.15 a.m. The narrator was not worried. She
knew it was nothing unusual in Peru. There were about 80 passengers in the plane. She had
managed to get a window seat. The plane took off well. It nicely curved over the Pacific, gained
height and was flying over the Andes. They passengers were served a meal. Some passengers went
to sleep after the meal.
Half an hour after a storm arose. The plane began to roll. The passengers were advised to faster
their seat belts. Even then the narrator was not afraid. She knew that such storms were nothing
unexpected in the Andes region. It started raining heavily. The shower began beating against the
window panes. The plane was thrown about vertically. The passengers shouted it fear.

The narrators looked out and saw lightning flashing very near the plane. The aircraft started rocking
more violently. There were more screams-lightning had struck the right wing of the plane and the
plane was on fire. There was sudden explosion. The plane was crashed. The narrator, on her seat,
was thrown into the open air outside. She saw that she was flying through the air. She was running
round in the air. Here seat belt was pressing on her stomach. She could not breathe. She lost
consciousness.

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The rain brought her back to her sense. She could hear the roar of thunder. It was still daylight. She
found herself lying under her seat. The seat next to hers was empty. Her mother was nowhere there
to be found. There was no trace of the plane. She was all alone, lying in a forest. She did not
despair. She had no fears. She calmly assessed the situation. Her seatbelt was gone. One of her
shoes, her ring and glass were missing. A bone was sticking out from beneath her neck. One of her
eyes was swollen. She had a bump on her head and a wound on her foot. In spite of such injuries
she did not feel any pain, but she did not have the strength to get up and look around. She remained
lying under the seatbelt dazed. Mi

She was feeling dizzy when she got up in the morning. She found a small parcel beside her. She
opened it. It had some toys and a Christmas cake. This reminder her that it was Christmas Day. She
remembered her father. He had probably lost his wife. He must not lose his daughter. The narrators
decided that she must stay alive.

Her parents had taught her that the big animals were not the real danger in the jungle. The real
danger came from the small ones like insects, spider’s ants, flies and mosquitoes. She must avoid
them. They had also taught her that in the jungle one must always try to find a river. The
settlements of the tribesmen, the wood cutters and worker in the plantations are found on the banks
of rivers. The rivers are their roads. The small rivers in the Andes flow into the Rio Ucayali which
flows into the mighty Amazon. She knew that she had to find the Rio Ucayali. Pucallpa was on the
Rio Ucayali. Her father was waiting for her at Pucallpa.

She tasted a piece of the cake. It tasted awful. She took a bag of sweets from the parcel and ate
some. She found herself a stick to poke about with on the ground ahead of her. It was started
walking but found it difficult and painful. She was still feeling dizzy. She had to rest again and
again. She did not give up and kept walking.

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She heard the rippling noise of water, close of her. She followed the sound and came to a small
stream. The water was clear and she could drink it. She knew that this small stream could lead her
to a bigger stream. The stream went like a snake. It had innumerable bends; even after walking
miles a long the bank one could hardly cover hundred yards. There are alligators on the islands in
the rivers and on the banks. There are paring has in the rivers. They have very sharp teeth, they are
eager for blood from wounds and the narrators had a wound on her foot.

In spite of all this she had to stay near the river. The banks were densely over grown. Every step
was difficult. There were huge tree trunks blocking her way. She had to wade across the river.
Suddenly she heard the buzzing of files, she followed the sound. She found a row of seats from the
aero plane and there dead bodies. Files were crawling over the mutilated bodies. Her mother’s body
was not among these. She resumed her walk. Though she saw a lot of nice fruit she did not pick
any. She knew that they might be poisonous. She kept walking till evening. Then she chose a spot
on the river bank and slept there.

By the time she got the next morning the sun was already high up in the sky. She resumed her walk.
She found that some of her sweets had been lost through a hole in the bag. This did not bother her
as she did not feel hungry. She heard the vultures. There must be dead bodies near by. She found a
piece of fuselage and a bit of wreckage that looked like the cabin. She could smell petrol. She
looked around and could not see any survivor from the crash. She left the place and walked on. The
progress was very slow.

On the second day she had no pain from her injuries. However her back caused her much pain. The
fastening at the back of her dress was broken; the sun had caught her through the trees. Her back
had been sunburn. She did not care for the pain. On the third she walked a long way. She felt
stronger. She did not care about being constantly bitter by mosquitoes and horse files. Then
suddenly, she heard the sound of aero planes. Carried away by emotion she shouted for help. She
then realise that it was meaningless. She could not see the aeroplanes nor could she be seen through
the trees. The aeroplaned flew away. She was alone again. She was not disheartened. She could
walk. She could drink from the stream. She was not hungry. There was still hope. She had to guard
against the alligators and the stingrays in the river. This is how it went on as a daily routine for nine
days.
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The ninth day was very auspicious. She found strong and newly built boat tied up to the bank of the
stream. There was a path from the boat into the under growth. She walked on that path and found a
nicely built hut. She went into it. There was a motor board and a can of petrol inside the hut. She
was very much happy that she had a roof over her head. She slept on the wooden floor of the hut.
Mosquitoes would not let her sleep well. She lay awake, listening for the sound of human voices.

She had thought that the owners of the boat would come for it. The next morning she waited to see
men. There was not trace of any man. The owners of the boat night have gone away from the
jungle, abandoning the boat. They might have been swallowed by the jungle. For a moment she
thought of taking the boat. The next moment she decided against it. She did not know rowing. What
is more, she must not steal. Then she resumed walking along the bank.

She found the stream rising because of the fresh supply of water by the heavy rain of the past days.
She had maggots at her body. She found a tube of Vaseline in the hut. She rubbed Vaseline on her
body. It did not help. She made skewer out of a piece of palm branch. She dug out about 25
maggots with it. Her right arm was in great pain. She felt miserable. Then she heard human voices.
She saw three young men coming towards the hut. She was greatly relieved. Her ordeal and eager
waiting was over.

These young men rescued her from that hell and took her to her father at Pucallpa. She thanked her
luck for two things. The first on was that she stayed at that spot on the ninth day. Had she gone
wading or swimming she could not have noticed the hut. The second thing was that fate had brought
her to that place on that fateful day. The young men came to the hut for one day only in three
months. They had planned to go back from there the next. Had she reached that spot the day after,
she could not have been rescued.