Fair point. I ought to gawk at bit more myself then.
If you made the beginning too wordy then you could pass it off as more than a beginning. Take some kind of event from the end or whatever, make it into a Prologue, stick in the very wordy ex-beginning, and carry on with what you do best. Sor'ed, innit?
Time for a famous Guess a la Lenny. She waks up and the story begins? The scene in her dream is vital for the rest of the story as it is a prophecy of sorts? She ends up waking up in that place as her dream details?
And may I ask, is she a tribe member? Just a little thought...thinking maybe she's part of a Nomadic/tribe.