About a league from San Fernando village we left the jungle. A narrow winding path led to open but extremely humid country. In a more temperate climate this region would have been a vast meadow of grass and reeds: but here the ground was packed with aquatic plants with lanceolate leaves, especially basil plants among which we recognized the magnificent flowers of the costus, thalia and heliconia. These succulent plants reach some 8 to so feet high; in Europe their bunching together would be considered a small wood.