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Larra’s
Mayan Adventure
The next morning the camp began to stir before
dawn and the arduous task of loading the mules
began. By
The expedition followed the Mayan
causeway. It led through a narrow
valley that was thick with rainforest
vegetation. They made very slow
progress. Much of the trail was
choked with vegetation that had to be hacked out of the way by the Mayan
villagers that Larra had hired when she had picked up the
mules. The Guatemalan villagers
had had a free ride up until now, but now they really earned their money,
working in teams to slash a path for the
mules.
The first day the expedition made only three
miles. The next it made only
two, and the third just four.
However, as they worked their way up the valley the vegetation began
to thin. The rise in elevation
led to rockier ground where the vegetation
was not as
thick.
Larra hoped that her hunch about the causeway
would pay off. She had not been
able to decipher enough of the glyphs on the stele to be really sure that
she was on the right track, but someone had cut the track originally, and
that someone did not seem to be about
anymore. Slowly but surely the
party wound itself deeper and deeper into the
mountains. On the Monday of the
second week of the mule-trek the there could be heard a distant
rumbling.
“That sounds like falling water,”
speculated Amy.
“I think you are right,” answered
Larra. We have crossed quite
a few streams already so I guess it was only a matter if
time.”
An hour later the expedition came upon a
spectacular sight. To their left
a high waterfall plunged down a sheer cliff above them and splashed at their
feet. There it formed a deep
plunge pool before it overflowed and dropped into a deep
chasm. Far below Larra could
make out the glint of water. They
were completely blocked. To their
left was the sheer cliff and its spectacular waterfall; directly ahead and
to their right was the yawning canyon.
They could go no farther.
Amy and Katie stood beside Larra, looking
into the canyon. “This looks
like the end of the line,” said
Katie. “There is no way
we can get the mules past here.”
Larra was
puzzled. She was still standing
on the Mayan causeway. It
didn’t make any sense to her to build such a road to the edge of a cliff
without some sort of rationale.
“There is something strange here,”
she said. Suddenly she turned
to Katie and Amy. “You know,
after all those days of marching through the damned rainforest, I feel like
a swim.”
Larra shouted to the Indian
villagers. “Set up camp
back down the trail. We’re
staying here tonight.”
She then ducked behind a large boulder and
stripped off her clothes, revealing her magnificently muscled
body. Within a few seconds she
had jumped into the plunge pool and was swimming across it towards the bottom
of the cataract. She turned over
on her back and waved to the other two
women. “Come on in, the
water is fantastic!”
Katie was into the water within a couple of
minutes. Amy was a little
slower. “What if one of
the Indians peeked at them?” she
thought. Amy was also a little
self-conscious about her body. She
simply could not match the other two women in physical
development. The fact that most
other women would have died to have a body like hers was lost on the gorgeous
redhead when she was in the presence of Katie and
Larra.
Katie was into the water now, floating on
her back, her magnificent breasts jutting out of the water as she backstroked
her way toward Larra. Larra by
now had almost reached the base of the
waterfall. Suddenly she pointed
her shapely derriere into the air and dove out of
sight. Amy shucked the rest of
her clothes and tentatively stuck her foot into the cool
water. “What was Larra up
to?”
“Where did she go?” shouted Katie,
as she neared the spot where Larra had
disappeared.
“I don’t know,” shouted back
Amy, wading up to her waist into the
pool. Making up her mind, Amy
surged into the water and began to breaststroke towards where Larra had
been. The water felt deliciously
cool after the ordeal of the rainforest
hike. This was paradise, but
she was almost in a panic about Larra.
Suddenly Larra re-emerged almost at the spot
she had disappeared. She had
only been gone for a minute, but it had seemed like an hour to Katie and
Amy. Larra was grinning from
ear to ear. “I found the
trail,” she said, “It is on the other side of the
waterfall. We camp here tonight,
and tomorrow we go exploring.
Yippee!” She let
out a long joyful scream.
By this time a number of the Indian villagers
had assembled at the edge of the pool.
They stood there, taking in the remarkable sight of three naked nymphs
swimming jubilantly in a forest pool.
The next day dawned clear and cool, but there
was a level of humidity in the air that promised the day would be hot as
usual. The three women breakfasted
and prepared for their adventure.
The first trick would be to get past the waterfall without getting
all of their clothing and equipment
soaked. Larra had already come
up with a scheme. She had their
clothing and all necessary gear placed inside a waterproof poncho and tied
onto a small raft that she had the Indians
construct.
“As long as we don’t completely
submerge the poncho,” Larra explained, “it should keep everything
dry for the short time it will take to pull it through the
waterfall. All we have to do
is swim underneath it the way that I did yesterday and then pull the poncho
through with a length of rope.”
“Let’s try it,” said
Katie. “We can always try
again if it doesn’t work the first time.”
In preparation for the swim all three women
were wearing only shorts and light vests.
It had not occurred to any of them that they might need bathing costumes,
but these outfits would do. The
women could change out of them on the other side of the
waterfall.
Larra led the way, wading into the pool and
then swimming across to the base of the
waterfall. As on the previous
day, she upended herself and disappeared at the base of the
falls. Katie followed, emulating
Larra. She held her breath under
the pounding water and swam as strongly as she
could. When she found herself
past the turbulent water she headed for the
surface. She emerged in a quiet
pool. Behind her was a falling
curtain of water. Ahead of her
was a stony beach covered with assorted pieces of driftwood and
boulders. Larra was already there,
pulling on the rope attached to the raft.
Katie joined her and helped pull the raft through the
waterfall. A few seconds after
the raft emerged, and Amy also bobbed up, swimming strongly toward
them. A minute later, all three
women were assembled on the stony beach.
The raft had been pulled safely through the falls and Larra was already
divesting herself of her wet
clothes.
Amy looked about
her. They were standing in a
sort of grotto. Behind them a
huge sheet of thundering water marked the presence of the
waterfall. In front of them the
shallow beach opened up into cave.
Natural light filtered through the waterfall, providing enough
illumination for the women to see everything quite
clearly. It was like being in
a kind of giant natural cathedral.
The sight of it took Amy’s breath away.
“What a place,” Amy
breathed.
“Yes,” Larra agreed, “it is
spectacular. It reminds me of
the cave I explored in
Pretending not to notice Larra’s melancholy,
Katie and Amy followed suit. In
a few minutes they had unpacked their gear and were dressed in dry
clothing. The raft had come through
the falls without a hitch.
Larra belted her Browning .45 around her hips
and then braided her hair into a waist-length
ponytail. Amy and Katie packed
lighter firearms. They did not
like the heavy recoil of the Browning, and so each packed a Beretta 7.65
mm semiautomatic. Amy, with her
experience on her South African homestead actually preferred a rifle, but
on this reconnaissance mission she elected to take a weapon that was easier
to use. She was a crack shot
with a rifle, but only passably accurate with a
pistol. Although Katie had practiced
assiduously since teaming up with Larra, she was far from being much of a
shooter. She could handle the
gun well enough, but her aim was far from
accurate. Still both of the less
experienced woman in the party felt that they could rely on Larra’s
shooting skills to get them out of any jams.
Amy had woven her long hair into two long
braids, which she then proceeded to wind around her
head. Katie tied her blonde tresses
off into two small ponytails that pushed out pixie-like from the sides of
her head.
All of the women were similarly dressed in
robust cotton shirts and pants and broad brimmed
hats. Larra was the most
conventionally dressed, with no special adornments to her
outfit. Amy and Katie had wound
wide sashes around their waists.
They claimed that they thought it made them look more
exotic. Amy’s was emerald
green in color, setting off her eyes.
Katie had chosen bright crimson.
As a further difference Katie had the side of her wide-brimmed hat
rolled up. She claimed that she
had seen Australian stockmen wear their hats that
way.
“That will probably give you a sunburn
on one side of your face,” joked
Larra.
“Not so,” rejoined Amy.
“I’ll just rotate the hat every half
hour.”
The women picked up their packs and set
off. The walking was quite easy
at first. Near the waterfall
there was enough light that they had no difficulty picking their way around
the numerous boulders that had fallen from the cave
ceiling. Gradually, as the cave
darkened it became more difficult and they had to use their electric torches
to light the way. Katie, being
American insisted on calling her torch a flashlight, which both Larra and
Amy found amusing. The first
part of the walk was a lighthearted
affair. The women bantered back
and forth with each other as they walked.
Far ahead of them they could see a faint glimmer of
light. More important to Larra
was the occasional Mayan glyph cut into the
walls. It told her that she was
on the right track.
After about a half-hour of walking they came
to the light. Here the cave opened
out into a steep sided canyon. Now
they no longer needed their torches and they stowed them in their
backpacks. Far above them the
canyon walls were bordered in shades of green as the rainforest closed in
at the rim. Here and there small
waterfalls tumbled to the canyon floor and formed a stream that flowed in
the same direction that they were going.
Larra was glad of this, it would provide them with a source of water
so that they could preserve what
was in their canteens.
Another half-hour of walking took them further
into the canyon. Always the floor
of the canyon moved slightly downhill.
Ahead of them the three women could now hear a faint
roaring. The roaring got steadily
louder. “That sounds like
another waterfall,” suggested Katie.
A minute later she was proved
right. Thundering down from the
high canyon rim, a huge column of water splashed into the chasm and roared
directly across their path, disappearing into a cleft in the canyon wall
that was at right angles to their
approach. It formed a water barrier
over thirty feet wide and ten feet deep.
All of the women could see that the speed of the rushing water made
fording or swimming it impossible.
The three women
halted. There did not appear
to be any way around this obstacle.
“Looks like we need a bridge,” said Amy.
“Maybe,” Larra
replied. She was looking at a
huge tree trunk that had toppled into the canyon on the far side of the water
barrier.
Without further comment Larra put down her
pack and took out a length of rope she had brought with
her. She had brought it along
in case it would be necessary for the women to lower themselves down any
cliff, but now she was considering another use for
it.
Larra began to look around on the
ground. The other two women watched
her wondering what scheme was percolating through that keen
mind. Larra finally found what
she was looking for. She picked
up a rock about the size of a softball.
Carefully, she wound the rope around the rock, and then taking a piece
of string from her pack she used it to make sure that the rock would not
slip off the boulder.
The two women saw what Larra was up
too. “Great,” said
Katie, “but I doubt that I am strong enough to hang onto that rope long
enough to get me across.”
Larra looked at
her. “I have faith that
you can. You have been getting
stronger every day.”
What Larra said was
true. Larra always made a point
of stopping early each day so that the three women could work out
together. As best she could Larra
wanted to pass on some of her martial arts skills to the two other
women. The workouts were quite
strenuous and both of Larra’s companions had developed muscle where
before there had been only fatty tissue.
Larra was swinging the rock back and forth
now. There was room enough in
the canyon for her to swing the boulder ten feet to either side of her, provided
she had the strength to do it. Amy
and Katie stepped back to give her more room.
Larra widened the arcs of her swing, and then
seizing the rope with both hands she began to twirl around faster and faster,
like a hammer thrower. Finally
with a grunt of effort she released her grip and watched the rock sail
upward. The rock carrying the
rope arched high and then fell back.
It had missed clearing the tree trunk by about three
feet. Undaunted Larra tried
again. And
again. And
Again. By now she was getting
quite tired. Hurling the rock
upward required maximum strength.
She tried one more time. The
rock sailed high, cleared the fallen tree and began to come down on the other
side. Larra watched it fall and
then gave a sudden jerk on the rope, pulling it taut and causing the rock
to swing around the trunk. The
speed of its descent resulted in the boulder wrapping itself around the trunk
twice before it ran out of rope.
Larra’s plan had worked!
“Time for a lunch break,” gasped
Larra, breathing heavily. “I need a rest!”
The three women sat down and unpacked their
lunches. There was plenty of
water in the rushing stream and Larra used a small pot to scoop some of it
up. Gathering up a few sticks
of wood she soon had a small fire going.
Placing the pot on the fire, she heated up some water for
tea.
“You Brits,” laughed
Katie. “I’ll never
understand your passion for tea.”
“I haven’t noticed you turning it
down,” rejoined Amy. “I
think you are becoming one of us.”
“Funny,” said Larra, in her cultured
British accent, “I have never thought of myself as
British. I never lived there
you know.”
“Nor I,” said
Amy. “I’m South
African. A wild girl from the
colonial veldt.”
“Alright,” said Katie flashing a
smile that displayed her beautiful white
teeth. “I
apologize.”
They finished their meal of tortillas that
the Indians had prepared for them.
After washing the spicy food down with unsweetened tea Larra felt
ready. The two other women watched
her attentively. They would have
to try to emulate her if she succeeded.
Grabbing the end of the rope Larra looked
around for a launching platform.
She spied what she needed in a small projection jutting out from the
canyon wall. “Give me a
boost girls,” she called to Amy and Katie.
“You’re not really going to trust
that rope are you?” asked Amy.
“It could give way when you are halfway
across.”
“I don’t think so,” said
Larra. “Anyway there is
only one way to find out.”
Amy and Katie pushed on Larra’s shapely
rear end, allowing her to scramble up the canyon wall to the small ledge
she had spotted, while taking the end of the rope with
her. Pulling the rope tight,
she grabbed it as high up as she could and then jumped into the
air. She swung in a rapidly
accelerating arc across the raging torrent below
her. If the rope gave way she
would be plunged into the foaming stream and carried away without any chance
of rescue. But the rope did not
give way. Larra swung out and
over the stream and at precisely the right moment she released her grip and
slid rapidly down the rope to the canyon floor on the other side of the
river. Attempting to retain her
hold on the rope, she made an ungainly landing and bounced off the canyon
floor on her bum. She had, however,
made it across to the other side.
Regaining her feet and dusting herself off
a bit, Larra tied a small rock to the bottom of the length of rope she had
brought with her. Then she tossed
the rope back across to the other two women.
“I’ll try it next,” said
Katie. “Boost me
up.”
Amy gave Katie a push and she too managed
to make it to the small ledge.
“Maybe you should give me a hand up before you go,” suggested
Amy. “Is there room on that
ledge for two?”
In reply, Katie lay on her belly and extended
her hand down to Amy. Between
her pulling and Amy’s scrambling, the lighter woman made it to the
ledge. Larra was
right. She and Katie had gotten
stronger.
Katie now launched herself across the rushing
water. She timed her swing a
little less well than Larra and had to completely let go of the rope to make
sure that she made it across.
Larra, however, was waiting for her and caught the rope before it
could swing out over the water. She
then tossed the rope back to Amy.
Amy did not have a good feeling about jumping across the surging stream,
but she reasoned that since both Larra and Katie had made it across and they
were both heavier than she was, there shouldn’t really be any
problem.
“Yeaahh!” With
a Tarzan-like scream Amy launched herself across the
stream. This time both Larra
and Katie were waiting for her and caught hold of her as she came
down.
“Made it!” Amy
exulted. The three women engaged
in a hug.
“I’m proud of you two,” Larra
exulted.
Both Amy and Katie
beamed. Larra was a natural
leader. For Amy it was natural
to gravitate to the older more experienced woman, but for Katie it was a
bit of a paradox. Katie was actually
a year older than Larra, but readily accepted her leadership of the
expedition.
“Alright,” said
Larra. “It’s time to
get moving.” We want to
be able to get a little farther down the canyon, and still get back to camp
before nightfall.”
The women resumed their
trek. The canyon continued its
slight downward slope for a few hundred feet and then slowly began to
climb. As it was early afternoon,
the temperature was beginning to
increase. All three women were
beginning to perspire quite profusely and they all drank freely from their
canteens. Larra was glad that
the canyon offered frequent shade, it tended to keep the temperature lower
than it would have been.
The canyon was now beginning to curve slightly
so that the three women could not see very far ahead of
them. They trudged on for another
half-hour. Larra was just about
to call a halt, when suddenly the canyon opened
out. Before them the canyon divided
into two branches. One took a
sharp turn to the right, but the other continued straight on before
them.
“I think this is as far as we should
go today,” Larra said.
“We’ll head back to camp, pick up a little more gear, and
then explore a little farther tomorrow.”
Suddenly, the ground surged beneath their
feet. “Earthquake!”
Larra shouted.
From the sides and top of the canyon boulders
of all sizes tumbled down toward the three
women. With nowhere to run they
were exposed to a hail of rocks.
“Move to the sides!” screamed Larra, dashing toward the
canyon wall. It was a desperate
hope, but there might be some chance of shelter there.
A large boulder bounced off the ground in
front of Amy and rebounded into her leg, knocking her to the
ground. Too late to get to the
canyon wall, she simply covered her head with her arms and curled up, trying
to make herself as small as possible.
Larra made it to the wall, but as she did
so a large slab of rock detached from the cliff and dropped behind her, grazing
the back of her head as it passed.
The blow knocked her senseless and forced her tightly up against the
base of the canyon. By sheer
good fortune, the huge slab that had knocked her unconscious fell against
the wall of the canyon, providing a shelter against the other boulders raining
down from above. Within a few
seconds, Larra’s refuge was covered with several tons of fallen
rock.
Katie dashed back up the canyon, trying to
avoid the falling rock. Small
boulders rained around her and several smaller rocks actually struck
her. Holding her arms over her
head she was able to deflect these smaller objects away from her, suffering
only bruises. Behind her Katie
heard a gigantic crash. Glancing
over her shoulder as she ran she saw the entire side of the canyon wall crash
down. The canyon was now blocked
by a huge pile of rubble that she would have to climb over in order to rejoin
her companions.
The earthquake stopped as suddenly as it had
begun. A few more boulders crashed
into the canyon after the earth stopped shaking but then they too stopped,
leaving the area where Katie was standing shrouded in a huge cloud of choking
dust. Coughing, Katie moved farther
up the canyon in the direction of their
camp. She would have to wait
a few minutes, before attempting to find Larra and Amy.
Farther down the
canyon. Amy Price got to her
feet. Incredibly, she had escaped
serious injury, having been struck by only a few small
rocks. She was bruised, but basically
unhurt. Immediately she clambered
over to where she had last seen Larra.
Before her was a huge pile of rock.
“Larra!
Larra!
Larra!” Amy called
out in desperate hope of an answer, but a cold dread filled
her. Where Larra had last been
was a massive pile of stone. No
one could hope to survive under that mass of
rubble. But Amy would not give
up. Desperately she tossed aside
boulder after boulder, straining hard to roll some of the larger rocks
aside. Eventually, covered with
sweat and dust she collapsed sobbing on the pile of
debris. She had hardly been able
to move any of the rock material.
If Larra was still alive, she was entombed without hope of
rescue.
Farther up the canyon, Katie began to climb
over the huge mound of rock that now blocked access to her
companions. The climbing was
difficult because she had to be wary of boulders that continually came loose
under her hands and feet. Abruptly,
when she was about twenty feet up, the boulder she was standing on came
free. Katie went crashing to
the canyon floor. For about five
minutes, she lay there dazed, her eyes closed and bright colors dancing before
her eyes. Slowly consciousness
returned. She opened her eyes
and found them focussing on a pair of brightly polished
boots!
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