I was submerged up to my chest in a tributary to the Amazon when I took this picture. After a hot day in the jungle, it was a wonderful feeling to be in the cool water as evening settled. Children’s voices pierced through the muggy air. The slapping of an older man washing his clothes in the river echoed rhythmically. After a while, I packed up my camera, leaving it on the shore so that I could swim unencumbered. I felt unified with everything around me. The experience felt timeless — like something generations of people before me had enjoyed in exactly the same way. While that may be so, I did later remember stories from my guide about how his parents had frequently been unable even to canoe along the river for fear of human-eating crocodiles: crocodiles that have since been hunted out of existence for miles.