Page 102 - Exile-ebook

102 AN EXILE OF THE MIND THE RIVER OF LANTERNS 103

then to walk gloomily in the pouring torrent. Returning by ferry was not
rain to the ruins. The clammy night possible and we crossed the river in a
was spent in the leafy shelter of a dory, a dugout canoe, which seemed
thatched hut, windowless with two even more treacherous.
camp beds under mosquito netting. On our way back to Belize a
From its doorway hung a strip of shaman disclosed his cure for
cloth to keep out wild animals. cancer. A crow boiled complete with
The archaeologist talked nonstop feathers and the liquid guzzled down
about his life among the ruins. About with a shot of rum. Warned not to
dangerous mountain lions, snakes, broadcast this remarkable find to
scorpions and vampires. At long last the world, I told him a fortune
I slid into a welcome sleep to be could be made by selling his
jolted awake by a loud explosion. formula to a pharmaceutical
A lantern quickly lit revealed a company.
charred hole smoking in the With my last dollar giv-
commissioner’s mosquito en to the shaman, I waited
net. A snake had dropped patiently for the bank to
from the bamboo ceiling send my funds. My landla-
onto the net and was dis- dy or the ‘Madam’ as I now
patched at point-blank called her, kindly offered a
range. The commissioner loan of some illicit dollars
hadn’t bothered to move from her establishment.
from the comfort of his bed The Pickwick Club, on
and casually put his revolver learning I wasn’t pimp
back under his pillow. material after all, invited me
The next morning, still bleak to afternoon tea where I showed my
with the Stone Woman’s curse, El bad manners by scoffing most of the
Castillo showed its head above the cakes and five cups of tea.
rubble and damp vegetation. Heavy Despite my dire situation, the
rain weakened our resolve to scritch commissioner’s suggestion to visit
away on the dig. With little funding buried ruins was tempting. Forty
from government, many ruins would kilometres south of Xunantunich as
wait years to see the light of day. The
swollen river was by now a raging The ruins of Xunantunich today.