As Teresa had foreseen, the subsequent march was a real torture; their boots were sinking in the completely waterlogged soil and every step represented a considerable effort. The ground became uneven, with elevations and ravines that should be overcome with patience. In a particularly steep canyon they had to descend sliding down the muddy slope, which left them covered with mud to the eyelashes. At the bottom of the slope they marched along the side of the bed of a stream normally dry but now overflowing with water, whose course they followed by half an hour. The stream ended in a permanent creek that ran along the bottom of the valley and then, fed by numerous adventitious water courses, it flowed now mightily at high speed, dragging in its wake all kinds of vegetable debris. Francisco g
