A Mayan Curse

I have never been to Mexico. And not just that, I had never even been outside of the United States. It just seemed like a time to travel. I had been working at the same bank for about 10 years, and really never even took any vacation days besides the days everyone else takes to visit family for those staple holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. So ok – saying I never take ANY vacation days may be a little too dramatic of a statement. I am not trying to paint myself as a wage slave working in a Chinese semiconductor factory that works six days a week, who has no other purpose in life other than work. My pay is good. I get good benefits. I have up to three weeks of paid vacation. It´s just that I voluntarily decided to take no vacation days – besides the 3 – 5 days I take each year to visit my mom and dad on major holidays. Anyway, I feel like I am losing my train of thought. Ah yes! I was talking about foreign travel. I guess I did not veer too far off topic. I am traveling to Mexico to start taking advantage of my vacation days – and also to do something with my life. Like I said, I never take any significant vacation days from my work, and I am totally fine with that. It is natural for me. I like to work, and I feel like I am in my mojo whenever I am working. It is almost fun for me – but not quite. Fun is not the correct word. But I feel like I am in my element whenever I am working – kind of like a fish in water. I don´t think all fish have fun in water, but I imagine that they at least feel like ¨meh, whatever, this swimming thing feels kind of natural¨. That is how I felt when I started working for the bank after my last day of college. After my first day, I was like ¨meh. I could see myself doing this for the next 40 yers¨. And for 12 years thats what I did. Everything was fine. But that all changed after my 33rd birthday. I am not sure what changed exactly, or why I felt different. But I started asking myself questions and looking back at my life in a broader context. I am 33. I am not married. I have no children. I have a mortgage and a good credit score, but If I could have either that or a wife and children, I would rather stick with the family and be poor. But at the same time, I have never been poor while having the responsibility of needing to feed a family, so maybe I don´t even know what I am talking about. I guess the point I am trying to make is that I have not done anything interesting with my life. And what is worse – I am totally fine with that. As of late, I have been thinking that maybe I should be worried that I am content with living such a boring life – no family, no close friends to speak of (besides the ones I occasionally drink with) and especially, and what may be the worst part – no adventures. The no family and no friends thing I can live with – but literally NO adventures, no crazy situations, no danger – that is what bothered me the most.

So that is when I decided to travel. I wanted to go somewhere weird and outside of my comfort zone. Maybe not somewhere on the total opposite side of the spectrum as far as safety is concerned – I still do not want to visit Darfur, the Democratic Republic of Congo, or Gaza. I do not have a 100 percent devil-may-care attitude. I do not want to die. But I do want something challenging and that is not 100 percent safe. I want to go to a place where cops could potentially be bribed due to their low salary if they try to give you a speeding ticket – like that kind of danger.

Anyway, with all off that background information out of the way, now I can tell you, the reader, what happened next. I decided to visit Mexico. Specifically, I went to visit the Yucatan peninsula, which is on the eastern side of Mexico. I chose this place because I heard, at least from my limited research on reddit, that the Yucatan peninsula was the safest place in all of mexico – not too much crime, guns, drugs, etc. Secondly, the reason I chose the Yucatan peninsula is because that is where the Mayan people are from. I am a big history buff, especially when it comes to ancient civilizations, and I always get especially interested in any civilizations that had pyramids. It´s just cool geeky stuff that I enjoy. I don´t really have an explanation as to why I enjoy it.

Anyway, where was I? Ah, yes! Anyway, I took a flight into Cancun, which is one of the biggest cities on the Yucatan peninsula. But I didn’t want to stay there. That city is an overpriced tourist trap. I wanted to go to the off-the-beaten-path type of places. I wanted to go into the jungle. I wanted to follow in the footsteps of Cortez and come face-to-face with jaguars and talk with natives who don´t even speak Spanish, but the ancient Mayan language.

And that is the conversation I had with my taxi driver on my way from the airport. He was surprised I didn´t want to visit the bars, beaches, or strip clubs in Cancun. He was almost taken aback when I said that all I wanted to do was visit the ancient pyramids and be around the indiginous people who still spoke Mayan. He was like – ok gringo, you are strange, but if you give me 1000 pesos a day (which is basically nothing in USD), then I will take you wherever you want to go.

And that was it. He took me to my hotel in the center of Cancun, and at 7 AM the next day, he picked me up, and we were off. We visited the major pyramids that were very popular with the tourists, went to the small villages in the jungle where people still spoke maya, and it was an interesting time – you could almost call it my first real adventure.

As the day started nearing its end, it started to get dark. My driver asked me if I was ready to go back to my hotel in Cancun. I responded that I was, unless there were any other pyramids left that we hadn´t visited yet. I paused and said ´´well yes, there is one more that we have not visited yet, but I do not think you want to go there´´. After assuring him that he was incorrect, he still did not want to take me there. It was only after I guaranteed him that I would double his pay (which was still nothing compared to US prices) that he agreed to drive me to this final destination. We drove into the deep jungle, where the roads were not paved. Then he stopped the car. He told me that he would go no further, but if I wanted, I could get out of the car, and if I followed the dirt road for 2 more kilometers, I would see the final pyramid that we had not visited yet. I exited the car and made my way down the path. The sun was setting, and I was nervous that it would get dark before I made it to this final pyramid that my driver was so hesitant to visit. Right as the sun started to dip below the horizon, I made it to my destination. It was not that impressive. The big tourist destinations had pyramids that were well over 100 meters tall, but this one was barely over 50 meters, and covered in greenery. I was stating to think that I had wasted my time on a dud – But the last I could do was climb to the top before I returned to my driver. Breathing heavily, I made it to the top, which was rather flat, about 20 meters by 20 meters and had a large tree in the middle. Right before I started to make my way down – I noticed something. There was an old woman sitting by th tree. She wasn´t just old, she looked ancient – she could have easily been 90 if I had to guess. Anyway, I noticed she was holding a cup in her hand. As I approached her, I noticed this was not some simple plastic cup – this was a cup that looked to me to be made of pure gold, even though she looked very poor and was dressed in traditional Mayan clothes. I thought, at least based on her appearance, the least I could do was give her a few pesos before I started heading back to my car. She moved her cup in a gesture that made it look as if she was asking for alms. So, I walked up to her, smiled, and dropped 2 coins of 5 mexican pesos into her cup. She looked at me with a smile, as if she was about to thank me for her generosity, and then before my very eyes, she turned to dust. The sun had set, but fire and smoke came forth from the ashes of where her body used to sit. Then a creature, half jaguar, half man, clothed in royal regalia appeared before me.This creature spoke in a language that I felt had not been spoken for a thousand years, but for some reason, in my heart I understood it: ¨You, who have cruelly disturbed my slumber! What brings you here? Should I not destroy you for sullying this sacred land with your foul feel? What say you!? Why do you say nothing silent barbarian?!