Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz

"The abandoning of the original site of Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, six years after it was founded", my grandfather said. " was due to an abundance of poisonous snakes. These snakes were attracted to the area by sympathy spells cast as part of a curse by native sorcerers angered by the spanish conquest and the desecration of their sacred mountain". "Do you know little Ricky", he continued. "The Spanish uncovered the sorcerers and executed them. But the spells remain, three-hundred fifty years later".

1

Mac is the keeper of the Abuelo . A stocky fellow, Mac has a scratchy voice and a shiny head. He will be the captain on this voyage " Ok now, please stow all your things down below decks. I know that it may seem more roomy then you thought but wait until we have been on this thing for awhile", Mac said. "And I know that I am bald and I do not want to hear any patrinising comments about bald being becoming of me", he continued. " were here to sail and thats all. I cannot be responsible for anything else that happens to you while out their", he points to the vast ocean, " I know how to sail, i'm here to captain this boat and thats all. I am a nice guy but choose not to be, I am not anyones Daddy". One could not help, depite the seriousness in Macs words, that there was an audience of laughter behind them.
"Ok, give me your names and I will give you your watch times". A tall, slim, figure raised his hand high like a school kid trying to get the teachers attention, "Uh...I am Ernest ..I uh..come from San Francisco...and look forward t...", before he could finish Mac interupted, " OK lets forget the introductions, I will learn your names as we go. Go ahead and stow your things and grab some coffee from the galley". Everyone stared, stunned but relieved at the same time, coffee sure sounded good.
Coffee

VeraCruZ. 16:43 hrs. Latitude: 96o 12.O'N-Longitude: 96o 08.O'W

After everyone stowed there gear and rested a few hours captain Mac, wanted to get underway. All he asked us to do was get the xxxx out of the way. He told us he would begin some lessons after we got out of port. We made our way along the coast of Veracruz toward the Cancun Penninsula. The weather was clear and still warm despite it being almost twilight. The wind was out of the NW. We had a nice ride south. "Alright ", Mac barked. "You", pointing to me. "Take the helm". I obliged him and he told me to maintain the course. Then he sat down and lit a cigar. All of us were quiet. The wind pushed the sails that carried us. We all were waiting for something, anything. Mac was supposed to begin something, or so we thought, but he just took another long puff off his cigar and closed his eyes. It was quiet, except for the waves and wind, for quite awhile when all of a sudden Mac began to speak. We nearly jumped out of our seats. " Do you smell that", he said. We all took deep breaths through our nostrils, everyone remained still, no one knew what Mac smelled and no one wanted to admit it. " Mac continued. " Around here there is alot of indian fishing boats. They burn Copal in order to offer to their Gods their trip so they will have a good catch. Thats what the smell is ", he finished. Then it was quiet again. I took the first 4 hour watch that night since I couldn't sleep and I was already at the helm for 6 hours. It was now about 23:30 and the wind had picked up a little and the waves were breaking harder over the bow. Mac took us pretty much across, to save time, instead of following the coast all the way to Cancun. We were to stop at Campeche, then Progresso by mid-day tommorrow. We were going about 5 knots.

2

Like the Egyptians, the Americas, hold many mysteries. Our course has taken us to Campeche this morning. It is about 08:00 and we are going to go ashore.

Campeche

02:20hrs Campeche, Mexico.

We spent most of the night here in Campeche, ate and shopped, mostly. Last night I had a strange dream and it has made me wake up now. the water is calm and the boat does not rock much. Mac is no where to be found. The rest are either sleeping or still out in town. There are only eight of us on board the Abuelo, myself included. I only got to know a couple. Mostly everyone remains to themselves. Mr. Ernest Pontenpotter, the one Mac has stayed away from, is quite wealthy and pompous to boot. Yet, there is an inteligence in him that I think makes others threatened. Anyway, let me tell you my dream:

Dream

I was on top of a stone table. It was obviously old, like you see in the pictures of the Mayan ruins around here, moss and old stone. I was looking a brochers so I can understand that. I was lying their when I heard Mac's voice warning me not to stay on the stone too long. I asked why and he just told me I should not underestimate the power of these stones and statues. His seriousness alone seemed to make me believe him without question. Then I hopped down from the table and quietly moved away. Then my dream sort of shifted to the Abuelo. We were underway again and this time it was an unfamiliar face that I somewhat recognized on board. He looked very afraid of something. Like Mac's warning of the ruins, this guy had the same conviction in his fear that Mac had in his warning. Then I remember screams and water everywhere. I thought maybe we were caught in a storm but when I would look at the port side of the boat it was calm. But something was causing a battering of the boat. I awoke to the banging of the dingy tied up to the side of the Abuelo. Hey, wait a second, if the dingy is here then everyone should be aboard ! Where is Mac ?

07:40

Mac finally boarded around 06:00 this morning. he was brought over by another boat that Mac knew. He smelled a little drunk and didn't seem to be in a very talkative mood. Everyone waited for instructions. They never came, Mac went below and was out like a light.

14:30

"Alright ", Mac yelled. "Lets get this show on the road".
I was sitting up stern getting some sun and reading, Ernest was doing a crossword pussle next to me. The others, Marsha and Jeff, were in the cabin. Nathan Daniels and his wife Barbra were behind Mac already. "Ernest", Mac yelled. "Weigh the anchor", turning behind him, "you guys stand-by with the mainstay".
"yes sir", replied Nathan.
"I'll take the helm". Mac said. "Wheres Marsha and Jeff", I asked. "Sleeping"?
"Down in their cabin, who do you think woke me up ? they are not sleeping ", Mac said.

22:15

It was pretty dark. The sea fairly calm with swells at about 4 feet. I couldn't see alot of stars so I knew it was cloudy. Mac stayed at the wheel and we all were on deck. "The Barometer has dropped several points", Mac stated. "Not a good sign, someone go down below and check the Loran weather".

Tropical Storms

"Looks like we got ouselves a tropical storm headed this way", I told Mac. "the weather channel said it was not a hurricane yet but that its winds are picking up and may be one soon".
"Whats it's location?" asks Mac.
" They said it was 030o moving North by Northwest coming up from Belize"
. Mac stood there not saying anything for awhile. "I guess we have a change of plan's people", Mac finally said. "It is kinda late for a storm out here and it was kinda sudden as well. I knew the barometer was falling and i knew there was a storm out their but a tropical storm I did not expect".
"Mac", I interupted. "they said that the storm dropped five millibars in 20 minutes".
"DAMN!" Mac exclaimed. Ernest yells "WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!
"It means the storms intensifying pretty quick, we will head toward Key West and go that route. We are far north enough to bypass this thing. Actually its wind will probably get us their quicker".
Mac continued. "Look people don't worry lets just change our course and we will be fine, shhhh. I have sailed the cape and the horn with the sea so choppy the bow was awash half the time under thirty foot waves, so don't worry, I am going below to check the maps and radar. Ernest take us out".
Hurricane Henry

04:49

We sailed through the night and well into the morning. It didn't seem like rough weather at all. The wind was nice and the swells were around 3ft. Mac stayed up all night as all of us did. Mac said that Hurricanes were like woman, that they can change their minds like women change their emotions. Mac said it was stupid for them to change the names of hurricanes to men. They were definately female.

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