Child of the Jungle: The True Story of a Girl Caught Between Two Worlds by Sabine Kuegler
Author:Sabine Kuegler [Kuegler, Sabine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Non-Fiction, Biography, Travel, Adventure
ISBN: 9780759572720
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2005-01-01T07:00:00+00:00
Chapter 21
BAT WINGS AND GRILLED WORMS
At some point, a friend from America sent us a poster of a large bowl of ice cream. Mama hung it on the wall next to our table, where we kids sat and admired it. I still remember the picture very clearly. In it was a large silver bowl filled with fifteen or sixteen scoops of ice cream, each a different flavor. It was crowned with a mountain of whipped cream whose peak was a red cherry.
How often we sat in the oppressive heat and dreamed of this ice cream! We spent hours staring at the poster, trying to guess the various flavors. Occasionally, Mama would help, but usually we would just use our imagination. The white scoop was sago ice cream, the orange one was mango, and the yellow one must be made from sweet potatoes. None of us could remember the taste of ice cream, but it looked so good. We were convinced that it must be the best food in the world.
Years later, when we visited Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, what we looked forward to the most was eating ice cream. Mama had already made some inquiries and found that there actually was an ice cream parlor in the city. We wanted to go the moment our plane touched down and were very disappointed when Mama told us that the café was closed at that late hour. We werenât quite sure whether to believe her, but she promised to take us the next day.
The next morning rolled around, and then it was timeâthe day of the great ice cream, as we called it. We entered the café with crazed excitement. So much ice cream in one place was simply overwhelming, especially when the only ice cream weâd ever seen was on a poster in the jungle. My parents, who were watching us with amusement, ordered the largest ice cream creation the store offered. It was called âThe Earthquake.â This monstrosity contained fifteen scoops of ice cream in a variety of colors and flavors. We were in heaven. One of our biggest dreams was being fulfilled, and it tasted as good as we had imagined it would. I still remember how oddly important and satisfying this moment was. Even Mama and Papa joined in with enthusiasm.
When we had finished the first Earthquake, we begged for more. Mama warned us that we would get sick but left the choice up to us. We promptly ignored her and ate another bowl of ice cream anyway.
As it turned out, Mama was right. When we returned to the hotel that afternoon, we promptly began a vomiting session that lasted throughout the day and kept us all in bed. Our stomachs simply werenât used to the cold, let alone the excessive amount of sugar and dairy. This was such an extreme contrast to our usual jungle diet.
There is a very limited selection of food in the jungle. As a result, our diet did not vary much from
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