Most successful pirate was beautiful and tough

Re: Most successful pirate was beautiful and tough

BF750 said:
Is intermission all most over, can't wait to get back to my seat for the second half. ;D


Yeah ive started my second bucket of popcorn already
 

Re: Most successful pirate was beautiful and tough

OHIO: Apologies ladies & gentlemen, but Henrieta, the hurricane, cancelled my server and power various times through out the day. In the meanwhile I am engaged in cleanup. I will continue the first thing in the morning. Thanks for your patience.


Don Jose de La Mancha
 

Re: Most successful pirate was beautiful and tough

Joseph I feel as though I have been reading a wonderful Treasure Mystery , only to find the last two chapters of the book torn out ::) LOL
 

Re: Most successful pirate was beautiful and tough

HI bk after a period of intermitant computer and out of town on business.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As he spoke he became very agitated, he described the problems that they had in traveling through that type of jungle.

As he talked, I suddenly found myself back some 12 years when I was also traveling through that same jungle. I was backpacking with a friend looking for lost Mayan ruins.

I distinctly remembered the fun of cutting a trail where needed, it wasn't anything like the movies. I would cut a vertical slash to the left, then one to the right. Then, useing a forked stick to keep the vegetation away from me, I made a horizntal cut as high as I could reach . The vines etc., fell to the ground in front of you. I then stepped on top of it for the next cut. I quickly found out that the saying "a man is as sharp as his machete" had a very real basis.

I remember the first time that I made the overhead cut, sheesh, I was suddenly covered with dirt, old leaves and hundreds of irritated insects, all landing with their defensive apparatus and stingers in position. I probably spent an hour gettng the dirt etc out of my eyes, and getting rid of angry insects that were biting and stinging wth a vengence.

It seems that my machete wasn't very sharp and instead of cutting throuh the vines, it merely shook then violently. I also remember a certain hollow vine that contained a co-exisitng colony of agressive ants. You simply did not cut that vine or pay the consequences.

This would go on for days, then suddenly one would hit a spot that was almost open dry scrub. When it came time to make a camp in the late aftenoon, I had to clear out a circle large enough for both of our Mosquito net bed combinations. We slept on the ground. My Indian friend and his companions did not have such luxury so simply slept (?) rolled up on the ground trying to hide from the hungry mosquitos.

At times they were so thick that one would inhale some each breath if you didn't have a net. The hot humid jungle air was soo miserable, especially wrapped up, that it was a toss up which you would endure. With my self designed net/bed combination, we could crawl inside, then strip down to try to cool off enough to sleep. Most of the tme I was simply covered with sweat and only half asleep-sheesh, the untalked of joys of exploring.

I also discovered why the people that live there always go around with their pants legs rolled up half way. I made a fool of myself by suggesting that they were crazy to do this since the insects could easily find dinner, They just politly smiled.

I quickly found that when I stepped on the vines etc, I soon became covered with ticks of all sizes and meanness. I remember the first night at camp, I was sitting by the fire when I noticed that my levis were somehow moving. A closer look showed that they were swarming with ticks of all sizes. I almost had a screechng fit since they are my pet phobia.

I pulled them off and proceeded to run a burning stick over them and eventully removed MOST of them. I do not have to go into an explanation how I felt the next morning when I had to put them on again. sigh.

We then proceeded to cut the legs of our levis halfway to the knee. Then on the trail we would every so often take a handful of leaves and just wipe our legs down. This eliminated most of the buggies. "MOST

I remembered that one of the biggest problems was simply water. I hate to think of the many insects or unnamed wriggly things that I had to strain out with my teeth to get a drink from a small pool or plant.

Yes, I was reliving with my friend as he talked of his problems and trip.

My reverie was interrupted when I heard him say, " Pobre Don Hugo was the first to be bitten by the green tree snakes" We couldn't bury him so we just left him after deviding up his things".

I had heard off these green tree snakes, but had never encountered them. "where were they and why did they attack you"? "They were in the vines" " he replied, "when we would cut the vines they became angry and tried to bite us"

"Before we reached the bay we lost two more men to them".

"When we finally reached the bay, we then looked for the ----. After a week we finally found it. It was filled with many things, such as a small statue of the Virgin and a Cross of gold"

"We were now running out of food, so we decided that two would go to Belize to buy more":

"As a precaution against the British, we covered up the spot, then moved our camp a few kilometers towards the Mexican border"

"A week passed by without our friends appearing, when a terrific hurrican hit us. After it had calmed down, we were getting desperate from almost no food, so tried hunting and fishing in spite of the British patrols.

A few days later our missing friends arrived, they were hungry, tired, and had brought no food". ©@

Don Jose de La Mancha
 

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Re: Most successful pirate was beautiful and tough

Reale great adventure > waiting for more of the story :) but only when it is convenient for you to continue :)
By the way > who is that handsome devil of an explorer in those pics ???
 

Re: Most successful pirate was beautiful and tough

As he spoke he became very agitated, he described the problems that they had in traveling through that type of jungle.

As he talked, I suddenly found myself back some 12 years when I was also traveling through that same jungle. I was backpacking with a friend looking for lost Mayan ruins.

I distinctly remembered the fun of cutting a trail where needed, it wasn't anything like the movies. I would cut a vertical slash to the left, then one to the right. Then, using a forked stick to keep the vegetation away from me, I made a horizontal cut as high as I could reach . The vines etc., fell to the ground in front of you. I then stepped on top of it for the next cut. I quickly found out that the saying "a man is as sharp as his machete" had a very real basis.

I remember the first time that I made the overhead cut, shush, I was suddenly covered with dirt, old leaves and hundreds of irritated insects, all landing with their defensive apparatus and stingers in position. I probably spent an hour getting the dirt etc out of my eyes, and getting rid of angry insects that were biting and stinging with a vengeance.

It seems that my machete wasn't very sharp and instead of cutting through the vines, it merely shook then violently. I also remember a certain hollow vine that contained a co-exisitng colony of aggressive ants. You simply did not cut that vine or pay the consequences.

This would go on for days, then suddenly one would hit a spot that was almost open dry scrub. When it came time to make a camp in the late afternoon, I had to clear out a circle large enough for both of our Mosquito net bed combinations. We slept on the ground. My Indian friend and his companions did not have such luxury so simply slept (?) rolled up on the ground trying to hide from the hungry mosquito's.

At times they were so thick that one would inhale some each breath if you didn't have a net. The hot humid jungle air was soo miserable, especially wrapped up, that it was a toss up which you would endure. With my self designed net/bed combination, we could crawl inside, then strip down to try to cool off enough to sleep. Most of the tome I was simply covered with sweat and only half asleep-sheesh, the untalked of joys of exploring.

I also discovered why the people that live there always go around with their pants legs rolled up half way. I made a fool of myself by suggesting that they were crazy to do this since the insects could easily find dinner, They just politely smiled.

I quickly found that when I stepped on the vines etc, I soon became covered with ticks of all sizes and meanness. I remember the first night at camp, I was sitting by the fire when I noticed that my Levis were somehow moving. A closer look showed that they were swarming with ticks of all sizes. I almost had a screechng fit since they are my pet phobia.

I pulled them off and proceeded to run a burning stick over them and eventually removed MOST of them. I do not have to go into an explanation how I felt the next morning when I had to put them on again. sigh.

We then proceeded to cut the legs of our Levis halfway to the knee. Then on the trail we would every so often take a handful of leaves and just wipe our legs down. This eliminated most of the buggies. "MOST

I remembered that one of the biggest problems was simply water. I hate to think of the many insects or unnamed wriggly things that I had to strain out with my teeth to get a drink from a small pool or plant.

Yes, I was reliving with my friend as he talked of his problems and trip.

My reverie was interrupted when I heard him say, " Pobre Don Hugo was the first to be bitten by the green tree snakes" We couldn't bury him so we just left him after dividing up his things".

I had heard off these green tree snakes, but had never encountered them. "where were they and why did they attack you"? "They were in the vines" " he replied, "when we would cut the vines they became angry and tried to bite us"

"Before we reached the bay we lost two more men to them".

"When we finally reached the bay, we then looked for the ----. After a week we finally found it. It was filled with many things, such as a small statue of the Virgin and a Cross of gold"

"We were now running out of food, so we decided that two would go to Belize to buy more":

"As a precaution against the British, we covered up the spot, then moved our camp a few kilometers towards the Mexican border"

"A week passed by without our friends appearing, when a terrific hurricane hit us. After it had calmed down, we were getting desperate from almost no food, so tried hunting and fishing in spite of the British patrols.

A few days later our missing friends arrived, they were hungry, tired, and had brought no food". ©@

He appeared a bit agitated from his memories, so, to break the tension, I asked Luchi to bring us some fresh coffee and sweet rolls - I had seen her shadow on the wall through the open door, so I knew that she was snooping as usual. hehe.. She quickly came bouncing in her usual fresh breezy way with the refreshments. I thanked her and suggested that she had work to do elsewhere , she looked at me in obvious disappointment, wrinkled her cute nose, pouted, then left.

My friend slowly drank his black Mexican coffee while eating a sweet roll, he was obviously lost in his memory of that time. I patiently waited for him to continue, trying to appear not too interested by watching the humming birds.
After nursing his empty cup for a while he commenced to talk again.

"when my Amigos / friends appeared, I was very mad at them, they had brought no supplies. However they soon explained this. They had arrived at Belize with no problems. They had stayed at a small hotel, complete with chinchis / bedbugs, and the next morning, after eating breakfast, commenced to buy the supplies. All was going well, when someone reported to the Migra ( British immigration) that they were using Mexican money, which while legal, was suspicious since they were obviously Mexican..

The Migra picked them up for not having any legal papers and put them in the big prison in Belize. A few days later the Hurricane hit Belize. It destroyed one of the walls of the prison and they managed to escape along with many other prisoners and returned to the camp site.

It was decided to return to Mexico since we could not do anything more. It was on the return trip that we lost Don Xavier to those green snakes two days later. Don Miguel went a day later, we never knew why other than he was foaming at the mouth?

The return took a day longer because the hurricane had downed many trees and flooded the area.

After we has returned home we discussed how we would handle the return trip. However, as usual, we did nothing for months, then years. I finally decided that the time had come, but I could not find my former partner? He had disappeared".

He leaned back, sighed, and looked pointedly at the still hot and partially filled coffer pot. I took the hint and asked him if perhaps he would like another cup of coffee. He brightened and politely agreed..

I then asked him, " and just how may I help with your problem"?

"Well Don Jose, I need some advice and perhaps a bit of help from you, if you are so inclined" "How may I serve you" I replied. He said "Do know the country between Belize and Quintanna Roo, Mexico"? "Of course "I replied. "As you know there is only one entrance into the bay, since it is in Belize water, it is patrolled by the British". We had come to the conclusion that the treasure could only be moved by boat, but we would lose everything if we were boarded by a British Patrol boat. since all treasure belongs to the Queen". "Just how would you handle this Don Jose"?

It was now my turn to nurse my coffee cup while I thought of how. After a bit I suddenly had an idea which I explained to him. He listened intently then after a bit of thought, then agreed,

"Don Jose, I can take you almost to the exact spot by a small boat". From there we can load the larger boat and hide it". We discussed just how we would try to smuggle it out of British waters for the next two days, then I suggested that he return home, try once more to locate his surviving partner, then contact me..

I gave him sufficient money for this, then waited patiently for a few weeks while watching Luchi bouncing around out of the corner of my eye. Then suddenly all communication was stopped. ??? ©@

Don Jose de La Mancha - Till Eulenspiegel


The peninsula is also home to a large grouping of Mayan archeological sites; major ones include Chichen Itza, Coba, Edzna, Kabah, Tulum and Uxmal.

Many areas of the peninsula are blanketed by a thick jungle, and in the southeast, tropical rain forests merge into the borders with Belize and Guatemala
 

Re: Most successful pirate was beautiful and tough

Real de Tayopa - you are simply a fascinating person! It's rare for just about all of us I'm sure to ever get a chance to listen to someone who's actually explored and hunted treasures during their lifetime! I read your posts and often find myself lost in imagination the way I did when I was in grade school reading about pirate treasures and lost mines.

You're a person I could sit down with over good food and drink and listen to for hours.
 

Re: Most successful pirate was beautiful and tough

HIO Cubfan: Sheeesh blushing, gracias for that compiment, but I am just a tropical tramp. However, I would enjoy that myself IF there was a huge pot of coffee.

Don Jose de La Mancha
 

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