Kon-Tiki chapter 3 part 1

Arriving in South America, Heyerdahl and Herman start their journey to find suitable balsa for their future raft. Unfortunately, there is no way to get to the balsa trees they need due to unfavorable conditions. As a result, they request and receive an army escort to the balsa trees through the Andes Mountains. Heyerdahl describes the sight in this simile, "...thick cloud banks rolled around us like steam from a witch’s cauldron." After the decent down the Andes Mountains, they arrive in the rainy jungle filled with vegetation and their precious balsa trees. Not before they had their fair share of encounters with jungle wildlife such as scorpions, poisonous snakes, giant lizards, and a Kongo, the two explorers find their desired balsa trees.



After they obtained the necessary balsa wood, Heyerdahl goes to find a good place to build the raft, and Herman stays behind.