Mists collude mysteriously watching jungle canopy tops. Irish soldiers In their base on a verdant mountain side. By the pebble track and the graveyard, Our tents erected inside a village school ruins.
Paths built from river rock, gullies and drainage dug around strong tents. Hard work, determined grit. Water supplies and rations flown in by Chilean helicopter pilots. Existence eked normality a chore.
I gaze at their barefoot black feet kicking an empty plastic bottle. Make believe goals erected in the slanting field. Two ad-hoc teams and a game of sorts. I compare it to my schooldays.
Red windsock unfurls east to west also proud Tricolour in a firm wind. Behind the game, dappled horses graze, branded cattle munch wild grass. Water buffalo lull lazily, comforting mud pool shielding sun, Clint Eastwood stares. Don't mess with them.
Coffee in my hand I survey all from the outside wooden table. Some lads jog the road; duty sentry at the ******. Backdrop tropical trees and fauna. By cicadas bleat, generator grinds.
Sport during my youth built character I was told. But of what horrors these infant minds were exposed. Collage ******, ****, humiliation, Bad auguries which corollaries their future ideals.
They have no ball or boots no posts to shoot at and no nets to burst. I hear their innocent delightful cries and wish, just once, I had the power to take them out of this mire.
Just a mere glimpse could perhaps do it. Or maybe take them all up in an aeroplane to my world and just once maybe hope they could have the time of their lives .To touch Cornucopia?
Supermarket shelves packed with food and sweets. Fast motorcars in beautiful cities with Walt Disney theme parks. Shoe shops, football boots, new cloths. Hot showers in things they call hotels! How they would laugh at Bugs Bunny And awe at a cinema screen.
But it gets chilly now and my coffee is gone. Twilight assembles the children up the road home. 'Botarde' they shout to me, big Wave and smiles. And I realise in my realistic heart of hearts, that probably they have just had the time of their lives.