A Chameleon on a Stick - PART 2

READ PART I HERE

We climbed downhill and saw a hole in the ground. 

"A de ser de wech," said Angel.

"Si way," I replied. 

We kept our pace downhill slowly, still looking out for palms. I saw another hole. It went straight down. My first thought was it could be a post hole. Maybe not. What could it be doing all the way up here. 

"Es un chultun," I said with confidence.

"Un que?" asked Angel. 

"Ese," I pointed to the hole, "Es como el refridge de los maya," I added. 

"Que berga?" replied Angel. 

"Si, aquel dia estaba viendo un programa que hablaba de ese. Unos creen que era para guardar comida, otros que era como refridge, pero no estan seguros. Mas creen que era adonde hacian chicha." I informed him. 

"Cho! Vamos a ber si todavia hay algo," joked Angel. 

We chuckled a bit, and we kept walking downhill. I was exhausted and soaking wet from sweating in the humid environment. I slid and stumbled until I made it to the side of the road. I set down everything and took off my long sleeve shirt. I squeezed it dry and set it down on the floor. I picked up my water and was about to take a sip of water when...

"Maestro! Maestro venga!" Angel called out from within the bush.

"Orita!" I shouted back.

I ran up the hill leaving my things and following a trail left by an army of leaf cutter ants. I got to where I figured Angel was and I looked at him.

"Vea maestro. Una cueva." said Angel in awe.

"Deveras!" I answered as I slowly walked up to the edge and peered down the cave's mouth.

While we marveled at this underground opening a slight burning began in my left eye. I thought it was sweat and just wiped my eyes. I thought I was over dressed for the job and took off my long sleeve shirt and tucked the sleeves in my shirt neck and used it as a hood to keep mosquitoes away from my ears. After I had my fill of the cave I walked back down to get my things. On the side of the road a bit uphill I saw one of the kids that came. It was packs, and he looked just as exhausted as I was.

"Agarrando un break?" I asked.

"Ya no voy mas." answered packs.

"Yo tampoco," I agreed, "Mejor vine aqui, solo voy a atrasar a Angel." I added.

We made small talk for a while as we rested. then I told packs of the chameleon I saw. He sounded super surprised, he had no idea Belize had chameleons. I wanted to further his awe for the place and asked him to imagine what this place was before. I kept the cave and chultuns a secret. He wasn't as imaginative as I had hoped. He thought it was just a forest before. It could have been, but then I told him what if it had been a place where Mayans called their home! I talked to him about Lidar and all of the other things that archeologists used to find new places and new sites that were under super dense forests. It was really a fun time for both of us. During all of this people kept looking for palms but I was exhausted so I stayed outside on the trails. My eye kept burning more and more so I poured water on it but it only helped for a while. At times I kept my eyes closed because if I opened them and closed them it burnet like if someone rubbed habanero in my eyes. It kept getting worse and worse, and the palms were super scarce so I waited for two hours for everyone to come back. When they did everyone had palms, they found a spot with a bunch of them! I didn't want to bum everyone out so I down played my pain. I jus said I think it's sweat that got in my eyes. By the time we loaded the pickup I couldn't open my eyes at all. Everyone thought I had gotten chechen in my eyes. At one point I had accepted it and agreed with them. They theorized that it could be sweat, or the heat, or I was allergic to the chechen and I sat under the shade. They then theorized cures, like eye drops, or pepper, or sugar and water. I honestly thought they were crazy with the last two "remedies". All those cures sounded insane, except for the drops. When I got home after almost three hours behind a pickup at this point I went to my mom and told her what happened. She got super nervous but she handled it like a pro. She made a thick syrupy sugar and water. I thought it might not be crazy if it came from her. I opened my eye in the cup and felt better almost immediately! I kept doing it. Over and over and after a few more times of doing it I threw myself on the floor exhausted and fell asleep. When I woke up a few hours later drenched in sweat I realized I felt so much better. A few days passed and I began forgetting about the incident, until I met up with the guy that drove us to the place. 

"Que maestro? Se siente mejor?" asked Milo.

"Si, me quemaba esa cosa como chile." I answered.

We shared a laugh and then we talked about the fire that happened three years ago that caused the lack of palm trees in the area. It leveled fields of coconut trees, and dried out streams with fish. Milo said that the snakes rushed past people to get away from the fire, and one man even saw a baby jaguar drunkenly making it's way away from the blaze. One topic after another, eventually we got to what happened last week Friday. 

"Maestro, save mi vieja me estaba diciendo que no fue el chechen k le iso eso." said Milo in a serious tone.

"Deveras," I answered questioningly.

"Si." Milo answered firmly whilst noding his head.

"Que sera que fue entonces?" I asked now genuinely curious.

"El camaleon." answered Milo almost reverently.

"Sera?" I asked almost jokingly, "Porque?" I asked now wanting to know more.

"Hace anos cuando mi vieja era chamaca tuvo un encuentro con uno de esos animalitos cuando fue al monte." began Milo, "Llevaban como dos horas perdidas ella y otra chamaca. Caminaban y caminaban y como si solo vueltas estaban dando. No save como pero dice mi vieja que vio un camaleon en una rama." Milo looked at me and continued, "Llamo a la otra chamaca a ver al animalito y despues de que lo vieron las dos, salieron del monte. Dice mi vieja que se lo conto a su papa lo que paso y que vieron, y dice ella que su papa le dijo que el animal ese fue." noded milo at the end, "El camaleon iso que pierdas tu camino, saliste porque lo buscaste. Si no lo hubieras buscado te quedas en el monte dando vueltas y vueltas sin poder salir. Si hubieras estado viendo arrededor, le dijo, y miras al camaleon antes de que te pueda perder tus ojos te ivan a comensar a picar despacito y se iva poner mas y mas serio. Asi le dijo mi suegro a mi vieja." 

I was left speechless but as I tried to get a word in Milo said, "Tambien dicen que es buena suerte verlo antes de que lo pierda."

"Pues que suerte la mia." I joked. 

Apart from jaguars that want to tear you to shreds, plants whose leaves are full of spikes, and snakes whose bite can kill you before you even get out of the bush, you have to add chameleons that make you get lost, and at best burn your eyes like habanero. I still think Belize is fucking beautiful.