Capybaras!

We both groaned as we ambled towards the concrete wall in front of us. After half an hour of walking down this street, we had reached a dead end. I suggested just turning back, but the thought of that made us both cringe. After walking two hours to find the beach, an hour while on it, and another half an hour trying to find the street with the bus stop, we had done more than our fair share of walking, not to mention that it was now around 10 at night and busses would be getting scarce soon. We walked up to the wall in vain and saw a small path leading down to the river.
"I'm gonna check it out and see if there's a path leading to a road," said Josh.
"Watch out for possums!" I yelled back. We had seen many of them already, always giving us the death stare from the shadows.
"I found a path!" He yelled, quickly followed by, "Arggghhhhh! I just walked right into a huge spider web!"
I shuddered and looked at the "path". It was basically walking through the jungle in between a river and concrete walls.
"Come on," he yelled,"It's not far!" I stopped in my tracks. Last time he told me something wasn't far, we walked two more hours before we found it.
"No way!" I yelled. But Josh is a determined man, and wouldn't take no for an answer. After walking almost out of sight he stood there until I reluctantly followed, trying not to think about spiders too much. We walked through the tropical vegetation in the darkness, striving to see any sign of civilization in front of us, when we heard a squeal and a HUGE splash directly in front of Josh.

"What the HELL was that?" He yelled, jumping back.

"It sounded like a horse!" I answered back. We both peered cautiously into the water in front of us where we could make out a shape swimming in the night. It came out of the water and I could hardly contain my joy.

"Capybaras! They are capybaras!"

"Capy whats?"

"Capybaras, the largest rodents in the world!" We watched as 5 of them came out of the water and started grazing on the trail right in front of us.

"Are they vicious? Do they bite?" Josh asked. I answered that I had no clue, but I didn't think so. We looked in front of us and we could see the road, but five dog sized rodents stood between us and our way out. We had no other choice and decided to move forward. I talked to them to let them know we weren't a threat as we crossed the path, and they merely stepped out of the way to let us pass. We stopped once we got past them and looked back. They looked like gigantic hampsters, and made a series of barks, clicking noises, and purrs to communicate with each other. They were absolutely adorable. We stood watching them for a while until they decided to leave, swimming in the water and yipping to each other. We walked down the riverside and watched them swim down the river together, a happy, talkative capybara family in search for the next place they could eat more grass.

"Now aren't you glad we took that little path?" Josh asked.

"Yes, Josh, I am."