I peered out the window at the lengthening shadows of the trees. We had been on the road for six hours, but it felt like sixty given the appalling surface. I was now worried that we wouldn’t arrive

I peered out the window at the lengthening shadows of the trees. We had been on the road for six hours, but it felt like sixty given the appalling surface. I was now worried that we wouldn’t arrive before nightfall, and my fears weren’t helped by the driver’s eccentric behaviour. Although it was dark, he still hadn’t turned the van’s lights on. Through my translator I enquired why, yet I immediately wished I hadn’t. There weren’t any. Fearing that we might all have to spend a night in the jungle, I ventured another question beloved of children everywhere. “Are we nearly there yet?” Just one more hour was the reply. I checked my watch. Sunset was in 10 minutes. Fifty minutes on an unmade trail at 40 miles per hour. In the jungle. In the dark. Just great.