Post 3 - Search for the Evil Spirits

When we returned home, my business was still not making a profit and I knew I would not be able to hang onto it much longer, so I was again living under my cloud of gloom.  Our son knew how much Virginia and I enjoyed our trip to Belize, and he gave us airline tickets so I could separate myself again from my impending failure and pursue my new purpose.  This time we would stay long enough to visit additional historic sites and to talk with some of the people.  I especially wanted to learn what I could from the remote villagers who lived near the abandoned cities.  Many of those Mayans still live in thatched homes like their ancestors did, and they still practice some of the same ways that had been followed for hundreds of years, maybe a thousand.  That’s when the cities were abandoned, a thousand years ago.

 

If I wanted to discover the scrap of truth behind that ‘evil spirits’ tale, I needed to discover what these rural Mayans know. 

A friend told me about Ralph and Penny, a couple from Indiana who were running a medical clinic that gave free care to impoverished villagers near the abandoned city Virginia and I had visited.  I contacted them, and they invited us to visit them.  They even provided us with a vehicle so we could visit additional abandoned cities, also caverns where ancient priests held sacred ceremonies, and they carried us to remote villages.

Thanks to our newfound friends, I learned much about the rural Mayans of today and their ancestors.  I would stand in the plaza of an abandoned city, in front of the pyramid that was the center of their religious activities, and I would imagine the events of a thousand years ago, the time that great empire was at the peak of its achievements. 

Virginia and I enjoyed the trip so much we decided to return, if we could.

I owned a boat we rarely used since I became involved in my business, and I sold it.  Before I did something foolish with the money, such as invest it in my sinking business or put it into an investment account, I bought airline tickets to Belize.  In the next few years, Virginia and I made additional trips to search for that scrap of truth.  I made five trips there in all, and I gathered enough information that I could imagine the way those ancient Mayans lived. 

I could even visualize the way that ‘evil spirits’ tale started.  With that, I began to develop the theory for which I had been searching since my first visit to Belize, since the time I found out that all current explanations about the Mayan Mystery were plagued by flaws.  I did not yet have the answer to the mystery, but I had new evidence that I wanted to present.

My new theory would not dispute any of the discoveries of archeologists, in fact, it would use their findings but in a different way than the existing theories.  It would add to those findings the scrap of truth I had found in the ‘evil spirits’ folklore tale.

Telling the ‘Evil Spirits’ Story

 

            The flaws that plagued all current theories about the Mayan Mystery were so significant that none of the reasons could be correct.   However, a different reason became obvious as I searched for the scrap of truth behind the folklore tale our Mayan guide told us

Unlike the current theories, I could see no logical flaws in this new theory.  But, what could I do with it?  I could not present it in a research paper, even though I could write the paper.  I had more than twenty years of experience as a technical writer.  I knew, however, that if I did write such a paper, nobody would pay attention to it because I did not have the credentials necessary for it to be taken seriously.

I could write a novel, though.  I did not need a doctorate in archeology to write a work of fiction, all I needed was a good story.

I would create fictitious characters, Americans on vacation in Belize, and they would be searching for the answer to the Mayan Mystery as I had done.  These characters would go to the same places I had been, do the things I had done, hear the ‘evil spirits’ tale I had heard, discover the information I had discovered and maybe they could figure out the answer that had eluded me.  My daughter had told me that I needed to separate myself from my business problem to understand it and make better decisions, and that advice proved to be correct.  Perhaps the same technique would work for this situation as well. 

I would give my problem to the characters in the story and I would examine it, and them, from a distance.  As I followed the characters through this adventure in Belize, maybe I would be able to figure out the answer that had baffled so many researchers for decades, and had eluded me during my five visits there.

My search for the truth behind the ‘evil spirits’ tale had been just like an Indiana Jones adventure, exciting and full of surprises. 

That should make a good story for a novel.