8678/Digging Up The Past: La Canela, I

Digging Up The Past: La Canela, I
Date of Scene:	13 December 2021
Location:	Quito, Ecuador
Synopsis:	Phoebe, Jon, and Martin accompany Tim to Ecuador and the last dig site discovered by Jack Drake before his retirement. While Tim discusses his father with an old friend, they enjoy a guided tour of the site and an historical lecture on the Yumbo Tribe that once lived there.
Cast of Characters:	Tim Drake, Jonathan Sims, Martin Blackwood, Phoebe Beacon

---

Tim Drake has posed:
    The flight from the Archie Goodwin International Airport to the Marsical Sucre Quito International Airport is a surprisingly tolerable six and a half hours, spent in the comfort of one of the Wayne private jets. Like usual, Tim is busy on his laptop for much of it, though he's decidedly quiet even taking that into account.

    It may have something to do with the carefully packed crate that was seen being loaded into the cargo hold as everyone boarded, stamped with its final destination: the Casa del Alabado, a museum of pre-Columbian art.

    And now it sits in a corner of the sitting room within the suite encompassing half of the Casa Gangotena's third floor, an historic mansion overlooking the Plaza de San Francisco in Quito's historic center. Many of the rooms have a view of the La Iglesia y Convento de San Francisco, the 16th century Roman Catholic church for which the plaza is named.

    They arrive in the afternoon, with enough time to settle in their rooms for a while and freshen up before dinner reservations at the nearby La Octava de Corpus, a small restaurant within a colonial home. It's an intimate setting; the walls are decorated with Ecuadorian art and lit in the glow of warm-hued candlelight, and the meal of traditional food ends with an after-dinner tour of owner and chef Jaime's personal wine collection within the cellar.

    Then, sleep. Which might not come easy, even though the beds at their hotel are sumptuous.

    Tim doesn't look like he's slept a wink at all the next morning.

    Breakfast is served by the hotel staff in their suite: humitas, corn cakes steamed in husks with cheese, onion, and garlic; pan de yuca, cheesy bread made with yuca starch; and colada de avena, a traditional oatmeal drink with naranjilla fruit, brown sugar, and cinnamon. There is of course also a selection of fresh local fruits like papaya, melon, pineapple, zapote and chirimoya, as well as plenty of coffee.

    After, once everyone is dressed in proper attire for a visit to an archaeological dig that requires a fair bit of hiking, they pile into a Jeep awaiting them in front of the hotel. It's going to be a bit of a drive.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    It's been a hell of a week for Jonathan Sims, who spent most of it on his friend's couch trying to solve a series of murders by an angel and then got on the plane just after a battle in which he may have kind of sort of briefly accidentally ended the universe. Ooops.

    It got better, okay? It's fine. Everything's fine.

    For once Jon does /no/ research during any point of the trip. He spends the plane ride napping or talking to the others, he side-eyes the church across the way from the hotel, he thoroughly enjoys the food and amenities that come with traveling with rich friends. Despite the crate on the plane, this is something of a vacation for him. It's difficult for Tim, but he can focus on being there for his friend and not the mystical responsibilities dumped on him recently.

    Besides, everything they're seeing is beautiful. It's a good reminder of why all those mystic resposibilities /matter/. If you're evidently running around saving the entire bloody universe from itself, it's good to feel like the universe is worth saving.

    "So... how'd you find out about this, anyhow?" He asks Tim on the drive out. A chance for explanations, if Tim wants to give them.

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin seems to take pleasure in the opulensce of their accomodations and food. He loves travelling (you have to in order to be part of SHIELD) and South America has always had a special allure for him. The meals in particular are more than gushed over, the man seeming to have a rather fine palette when it comes to flavor profiles. Despite not being much of a cook himself, he does have a knack for identifying spices. That night, he sleeps well and wakes rested and ready for the day.

    As they depart the hotel he leans forward from the back seat to address Tim. He's dressed in canvas trousers, a thin grey tee and an overshirt of similar make as his trousers (yes they are a matching set), a pair of sturdy hiking boots, he even had a wide safari style hat and sunglasses for the situation (ever prepared.)

    He's not done much archeology himself but SHIELD does a number of odd jobs for what they consider field work, this is just one more on his list. "Do we know what to expect at the site?" he asks over the bounce and rumble of the jeep. "I know given... previous artifacts from Mr. Drake's collection, not all of them were preciesely artistic in nature." He braces for a bit of a heavier bump. "Do we have a manifest of what was acquired--or at the very least searched for--at this particular dig?"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    It had been a rough last twenty-four for Phoebe. As an archeology and folklore fan she had jumped at the opportunity to accompany Tim, and on the flight down she had managed to catch a little sleep, once just leaning lightly against Tim's legs since she had a tendency to sit on the floor with her a tablet as she reviewed information coming out of Hell's Kitchen with trepedation and muttered about resetting security cameras.

    She was also largely quiet on the way in though, giving worried looks to Tim and their companions, and had mostly fiddled with her fingers, with her locket, and mindfully scratching at her left wrist and not her sternum.

    "You going to be all right Tim?" she asks gently, nudging against his shoulder lightly as they depart, wearing sunglasses and a hair-wrap to keep her braids in place.

    She looks well rested, but her eyes are showing how tired she actually is.

Tim Drake has posed:
    As the palest of the lot, Tim has a hat and a pair of sunglasses on, as well as a significant amount of sunscreen. Which is why he smells vaguely of coconut, no doubt.

    He's at the wheel, his phone attached to the Jeep's dash to help navigate. They'll be taking several back roads around Pichincha, the volcano that overlooks the city, and even off-roading at one point before they have to make the rest of the trip on foot.

    The only answer Phoebe gets to her check-in with Tim is a quick nod. He's keeping everything bundled up inside for now, it seems.

    "I reached out to the Register of Professional Archaeologists," Tim begins to explain, while they're still within the city limits. "They're an organization that champions a code of standards and ethics in the professional community. My father was a long-standing member and served as an officer. They put me in contact with several people he had worked with."

    His fingers drum against the wheel. "The first one who replied is the current director of the dig site at La Canela, Angela Almeida. La Canela was my dad's last big discovery before his retirement."

    Without looking, he reaches back around his seat, into the mesh pocket behind it, and pulls out his tablet. He unlocks it and passes it out to the first person who will take it. "She didn't work with him. Her mother did, though, and they're going to be meeting us today."

    On the tablet is an excrutiatingly deep look into both Angela and her mother, Maria. But aside for some wild partying in Angela's college days there's really nothing significant to speak of. Apparently, so far, they've passed muster.

    "It depends, Martin. Do you know the story of La Canela?"

    Before Martin answers, though, Tim just goes ahead with the story:

    "La Canela, the Valley of Cinnamon, is similar to the legend of El Dorado in that it was a source of great interest to the Conquistadores. Colombus wasn't just here for gold after all; he'd promised the Crown spices, too."

    "They were searching for a source of cinnamon to bring back to Spain. In the mid-14th century, Gonzalo Pizarro--the brother of Francisco Pizarro, who was responsible for the Spanish decimation of Peru--gathered up an expedition team in Quito. They spent a year crossing the Andes until they ran out of provisions and had lost over half the expedition team."

    Tim shrugs. "If they'd only gone west, around the volcano, instead of east, they might have found what they were looking for."

    And that's what they're doing now, more or less. Circling around Guagua Pichincha, the taller of the two peaks in the volcano and the location of the active caldera. The road swiftly becomes hemmed in on one with dense forest, dirt and rock under the tires, and the northern slope of Pichincha on the other side. Soon enough the road begins to curve, and finally they make it to the banks of the Esmeraldas River, where they park next to several other vehicles.

    A bridge allows passage over the water, and beyond, a path leads into the trees.

    "La Canela is a pre-Incan site, a settlement of the Los Yumbo people," Tim explains as he buckles himself into his pack. "It's five times as big as the Tulipe dig site, which is further down on the river banks. And it's still active; they've been working to uncover it for over twenty years, at this point."

    Longer than Tim's been alive.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon listens to the story with rapt attention, keeping an eye on the landscape as well. He's never been to Ecuador, and both he and the Archive are drinking it all in. He sighs and shakes his head, toward the end of it. "All those lives lost, and for what...?" A pause. "But your father found it, eventually." He doesn't comment on things like what might be in the crate they brought, or what this all might mean.

    Instead he climbs out of the car when they get there, wearing his own hiking outfit that mostly matches Martin's except for being in light browns instead of grey. He checks to be sure they've got water and other sundires before heading on into the site. He peers at the bridge and the path into the trees like it's a door into another world entirely.

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin hops from the jeep, still looking over the tablet that Tim had offered. "Money..." he says to Jon without looking up from it. He was rather impressed--as always--at the detail the young Drake put into his background checks (and slightly suspicious as to how much had been done on him at the young man's behest.) "It's always about money when talking about the conquistadores and their hunts for indiginous civilizations." He shrugs into his own hiking pack and looks at the trail they have to make before rolling his shoulders.

    "So El Dorado 2.0, got it..." he says. "Hmm... any items of significance found as of yet or are they still in prelim stages of uncovering it?" He knows that acheologists can spend entire lifetimes of work on a single site it the discoveries within are momentous enough and the unearthing proves to give intact specimens rather than pieces and shards.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe accepts the tablet as she looks over the information, her lips pursing a minute as she puruses it, then hands it off to the next taker. Her hiking outfit is very reflective of her melanistic skills by virtue of East African inherited skin types. She didn't often travel outside even the Tri-City area, rarely outside of New York or Gotham, she's taking in the scenery and listening, while inputting a few bars of the Indiana Jones theme here and there as it comes to her, and she looks over to Martin.

    "Imagine that." she states regarding the money aspect. Gold, spices, chattel... all riches.

    The two members of SHIELD are just going to have to keep guessing what the Outsiders have in their databases with their faces on it.

Tim Drake has posed:
    "Three thousand natives, about a hundred fifty Spaniards," Tim adds, after Jon mentions the lives lost. It's a staggering number, even if it's more than five hundred years in the past. He's silent for a little while after that, lost in his thoughts.

    His hiking outfit is less coordinated. Thick pants, good boots, and layers; all-weather jacket over a padded vest over a shirt. It's not forecasted to rain, but they are going to be crossing over a river, and it is chilly out, given the time of year.

    He pulls a bag of trail mix out of a side pocket of his pack and scarfs a handful before offering it to Phoebe. "There are thousands of artifacts listed in the records for this site." So to Martin's question, he can only shrug. "Hopefully we'll get answers when we arrive. As far as I know, though, they're in the late stages of this dig, with the site boundaries pretty well-established at this point."

    Once everyone is suited up, off they go. The bridge over the river proves to be perfectly stable, and the path beyond into the forest has been beaten down by many years of frequent use. It's not a particularly difficult hike, except for the general elevation.

    Which is why Tim, at the front, keeps an easy pace.

    It's about an hour-long hike along the slope of the volcano, and the ambient temperature slowly warms as the sun climbs higher into the sky. By the time noon is approaching, the distant sound of human activity has joined the various calls of insects and animals that have accompanied them thus far.

    And then, the path widens and begins to slope downwards. As they pass around a curve, it expands further, until their vision is filled with white.

    Snowfall?

    No. It's some sort of structure, a shield against the sun and inclement weather, stretched across an area comparable to several football fields. There are people bustling about in the open air space beneath, and smaller tents set up along the perimeter.

    A woman with deeply tanned skin and her hair in a messy bun approaches after several workers call out in Spanish upon seeing their approach.

    "Senor Drake, I presume?" she asks in accented English, and then she and Tim are shaking hands. "Welcome to La Canela!"

    Then she turns to everyone else accompanying Tim. "Hello. I am Angela, a pleasure to meet you all." She'll shake more hands too, as introductions are made.

    Beyond her, the dig site is... massive. Visible are the remains of many structures, some single-room abodes, others much larger, with an organized system of paths between that were once major thoroughfares and side-streets. Most are little more than a couple of feet high, though some aren't even that, just the foundations left behind. What draws the eye most, however, is the central structure of ceremonial pools, at least two dozen, in various shapes and sizes inset into a raised platform at the center.

    Up above, beneath the rain shield, is a high-tech system of cameras and various other equipment that slowly glide around on railings, observing and recording the dig site from above.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon shakes Angela's hand and introduces himself brightly. He's been running a lot lately, walking a lot of places, getting in better shape, so the hike is fairly easy. Then he stands staring down at the dig site while the others talk, expression settling into something unreadable. Thoughful, maybe, but also... troubled? Tim knows something of his feelings on archaeology and Martin more, but he knows modern scientists are trying to be more respectful of the native cultures, so... maybe it's just that.

    His gaze is focused on those ceremonial pools, though, and he worries at his lower lip absently. One of his 'thinking' tics.

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin also shakes the archelogist's hand with professional courtesy but allows Drake to be the point man on this. He does take a moment to observe the whole of the site from their elevated position, dedicating the layout to memory. With ancient ceremonial sites, even the layout and placement of buildings could have significance--Stonehenge wasn't built where it was on a whim.

    He notes a few of the more stylistic attributes of the site: the symmetry and consistency with the sizing of the pools of cermony and idly comments. "We spend decades designing structures of glass and metal that can be molded as we please and they build something with such precision in a matter of years with unyielding stone and earth" he shakes his head softly with a slightly rueful expression.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe accepts the trail mix. She slips Tim a raspberry sugar cookie in return as they climb. She has no trouble keeping up -- this is, for them something that isn't out of the normal.

    Except the elevation, but she's taking it at the same pace, bringing her braids up in a Jersey cloth wrap in a drab olive to keep everything in place. Her sunglasses help a little with the glare off the white top, but she brings up the tail end of the group, giving the archaeologist a shake with just a gentle "Phoebe Beacon" as introduction as she looks around the area, and tries to will all of her senses more open to recall just all this greenery, the feeling of the thinner air at this altitude, something to remember.

Tim Drake has posed:
    The air is so much cleaner and clearer than Gotham's. It's heavy with humidity, the sky speckled with clouds that will likely bear rain in the coming days, but today they're lucky.

    It's certainly beautiful. Green growth surrounds the site, which true to its name as the Valley of Cinnamon, is nestled between the slopes of Pichincha and something that is probably just a hill, not quite a mountain.

    "Our ancestors were much more scientifically gifted than most know," Angela explains, a pleased glint in her eyes at Martin's comment. "The Yumbo Tribe were responsible for building roads that connected the coast to the Andes and facilitated trade among many peoples. They did not have the engineering skills that the Inca brought with them, but they had a strong interest in the passage of the stars overhead, and this entire settlement was built with astronomical significance. If you'd like, we could--."

    From a tent nearby, an older woman with her greying hair woven into two braids emerges, and she gasps. "Jacobo?"

    There's a pause, and Angela looks from the old woman, to Tim, and back again. "Mamita," she says, her tone dropped to a soothing register. "This is Timothy Drake, the man who--."

    "Jacobo's son. Yes." The old woman shakes her head. "I am sorry, please. A momentary lapse." She must be Maria, and she looks for a long moment more at Tim before she nods. "We have much to talk about, Timoteo, please. Join me."

    Her voice has turned serious. There is no invitation to those that accompanied Tim, and with only a quick backward glance, Tim steps into the tent, Maria following behind. The tent flap falls closed behind them.

    And then Angela stands there for a moment, before she clears his throat. "Right. How about a tour? Let me show you the pools, please, come this way."

    She beckons to Martin, Jon, and Phoebe as she turns to descend the steps into the site.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    As they walk through the site Jon starts speaking to himself, low enough to maybe be ignored, but still loud enough for the others he's walking with to hear.

    "La Canela destroyed him, in the end. Oh, yes, it was the war against the King that killed him--they beheaded him right on the field of battle. But if only we'd found the Valley, none of that would have happened. Pizzaro would have been a hero, triumphant, the King would never have appointed that new leader or made the New Laws..."

    There's a faint accent over his voice. Spanish, maybe? Ish? "We were a year out in the wilds, through heat and rain and starvation. We followed the rivers, the Coca and Napo, and we ran out of provisions, but he would not turn back. Not at first, anyway."

    "What is out there in the wilds that drives men to hunt endlessly? To die, to let others die--nearly 4,000 men, by God!--and for what? A fabled kingdom to conquer? Is this for God, or for riches? Do we bring God to the Pais de la Canela? No. We come to conquer and plunder. This is not holy work."

    "He gave up in the end. We went back to Quito, 80 of us, and later found that Orellana and his men found far more than food down river--they found the sea. And what to show of it, now? We have fought our King and killed so many, for what? For cinnamon. This is not the way into the Kingdom of God, I say. I will take the Camino de Santiago and remember my faith, for it is only through the glory of God that we may enter Heaven."

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin stays near to Jon, committing the statement to his own memory as witness as is his usual habit when around the man. He doesn't like it, but he does it for Jon's sake. This particular statement holds some significance for him, since his own feelings on the matter the of some of his ancestors was a mixed bag. Discovery was fine and grand, but conquering a people simply for profit... a travesty in his mind.

    As Jon speaks and he listens his greater senses are probing the depths of the land, seeking out what levels of energies or sources of power might lay beneath their very feet. Cermonial sites such as this one often had a wellspring of power at their hearts a nexus of energy that could add to their cultural significance. He is almost ready to give up when he hits upon something. It's faint, but it is a nexus point of the energies of the land. He smiles and nods, he will delve deeper into probing it when they are closer to the source.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    A travesty in most modern minds -- but back then? Was there even a kingdom in power that didn't want more of it? More riches, more spices, more power over the others.

    Phoebe gives a worried look as Tim ducks into the tent alone. She momentarily, very awkwardly stands there, torn between waiting for Drake or following around the couple, and then she tilts her head back, closes her eyes and whispers "I am always going to be the third wheel, aren't I?"

    And she follows along behind Martin and Jon, listening to his speach.

Tim Drake has posed:
    As Angela is at the head of the group, she misses out entirely on the statement Jon recites. Instead, she's busy... well, giving a tour, like she said she would.

    She talks about the traces of animal bones--deer and guinea pigs--as well as traces of plants like quinoa, potato, and other tubers and legumes that have been found here, explaining that these are considered "eco-facts" that give clues to how the native Yumbo people lived and ate, here. Separate from the various artifacts that have been found, like ceramic shards, pieces of precious metals, and the spondylus shells that the Yumbo brought in from the coast to trade with other indigenous groups.

    The Yumbo were farmers and merchants and made themselves indispensable to the neighboring tribes in this way by developing trade networks with the Quitu and Caru, and avoiding decimation by the invading Inca and Spanish by remaining merchants, instead peacefully integrating with both conquering forces only some thirty years separated.

    Angela briefly pulls them off the main road and into a small pit where several workers are dilligently excavating what might have once been some sort of woven textile, though all that remains are scant traces and more of those decorative spondylus shells.

    "The Yumbo suffered from smallpox and other diseases brought by the Spanish armies, but they did not disappear until over a century later. Pichincha erupted and buried this entire area, and Tulipe further down the river... that layer of ash is partially why so much of this is so well-preserved," she says.

    Back on the main thoroughfare, Angela turns the group around. There in the distance is the remains of a tola, a truncated pyramid, likely the largest structure that existed here. "A great many discoveries were made beneath it, including most of the human remains we've found at this site. Those aren't here, though." She shakes her head. "They're in storage at the National Museum, mostly, though a few are circulating on display across the world."

    Instead, though, they head in the opposite direction, towards Pichincha and the grouping of ceremonial pools.

    She points up towards the mountain. "If you look closely, you can see some of the culuncos that the Yumbo carved into the mountainside. It provided shade from the sun and protection from the rain. There was once an entire network of these open-air tunnels across the region, and this is part of the reason why they were able to establish trade so successfully. If you're up for the walk, we can go see some of the petroglyphs."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon shakes himself after giving the statement and murmurs, "Sorry," to Martin and Phoebe both. When he gets a chance he explains: "One of my ancestors ran into a member of Gonzalo Pizarro's failed expedition to find the Valley of Cinnamon. He'd returned to Spain after the conquistadores rebelled against Charles V and the New Laws that gave more protection to the indigenous peoples of the lands they were invading." He smirks. "A... confession, actually. Evidently there was a period where the Archivists became priests or monks or nuns, and the family had... a /lot/ of children each generation since the Archivist wasn't likely to have children. So, ahh, not a /direct/ ancestor, per se."

    That explanation out of the way, he focuses on the tour, enthusiastic now to see the site and take the hike about and look at the pictographs. He does his best not to let Phoebe feel left out; he and Martin have been together long enough to not need to be entirely inward-facing at each other, especially not when out with others. He /is/ curious about whatever Martin might be feeling off the land, however.

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin has moved up toward the woman leading them, engaging her in conversation about the religious beliefes of the people of the land. Their gods, their cermonies, their rituals. All the while his mystic senses are touching on the nexus underneath their feet, feeling what it's attached to. If it was built in the place or if the place was built to cultivate its ambient power.

    Earthly energies such as this particular line are much the same as most ancient religious sits. Stonehenge has one, there is one underneath Mexico City that was once used to fuel the mystic might of the Aztecs, Giza as well as a handful of other sites in Egypt also had their own wellsprings of similar energy. This one is quite old and rather dormant, its cultivators having long since died out. "It's like Pompei..." he says at the mention of the ash of the volcanic eruption preserving everything so well.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Smallpox... horrible way to go." Phoebe comments quietly. She scratches at her left wrist a moment, giving a soft 'hmm' sound. She looks to the tola in curiosity as they pass by it, and she purses her lips a moment.

    "With the erruption, did you see much of the preservation in the same way here that happened in Pompeii or Herculenium?" Phoebe inquires thoughtfully as they walk around the site.

    Phoebe then begins to rattle off a couple more questions regarding carbon dating older places around the site, comparing a couple notes. She pulled up her own tablet to check a couple GPS readings -- in case Tim wanted it for his journal. She turns and very Teenagery, takes lots of pictures!

    And she turns to Jon and Martin and says "Say Cheese!"

Tim Drake has posed:
    Unfortunately, Angela has little to share beyond speculation into the religious beliefs of the Yumbo people. The only real evidence they have is that there was assuredly some sort of belief in the afterlife, or at least life after death, based on their funerary practices.

    What she can share, though, is her theories regarding the deification of certain animals, like the jaguar. Several of the ceremonial pools are in the shapes of said animals, and she believes that they reflected constellations that represented each animal in the heavens on certain astronomically significant dates of the year.

    Though she points out this is just a theory she is developing, and not yet widely accepted, though she hopes to submit a paper by the end of next year.

    And as their tour guide is fairly young still, probably in her thirties, so when Phoebe has Jon and Martin pose for a picture she pops up in the back to put rabbit ears above both of their heads.

    Just at first, though. She dips out after so that Phoebe can get a proper photo, and then offers to take one of the three of them together.

    They go up to the culuncos after, carved into the mountainside. The path leading to them is dotted with many rock formations that bear petroglyphs, and Angela specifically points out those that represent the sacred animals in her theory.

    By the time they make it back down into the dig site, it's lunch time, and she invites them all to join the camp for a meal. One of the tents outside the site's perimeter is where the camp cook does his work. Today the main dish is menestra, a lentil stew with onions, peppers, tomatoes, and garlic, served with patacones, green plantains fried in a skillet over a campfire.

    Plus a good selection of canned sodas, prepackaged sandwiches, and pieces of whole fruit kept in coolers of ice.

    Tim's there, sat at a folding table with Maria, both already with food in front of them. A group of locals are crowded around a satellite TV broadcasting some sort of sportsball game.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon is good-natured about picture taking, with and without bunny ears. He always forgets to do that himself, with his photographic memory. Probably good someone is.

    He grabs some of the lentil stew and patacones, a soda and some fruit out of the cooler. "I have to say, this is all quite brilliant," he comments as they're getting the food. "It's... heartening, to see people dedicated to learning about the past and honoring the place and the people it came from." A lot of his own ancestral treasures are still in England, after all, claimed as spoils of conquest and stubbornly kept there despite multiple requests by the Egyptian government to repatriate them.

    He goes over to join Tim, grinning broadly. "It's a shame you missed the pictographs, and the /pools/--I'm /certain/ they were doing something important there, ma--religiously, but I think Phoebe has pictures." A little reluctant to just up and talk about magic in front of the mundane sorts, it seems. He's learning.

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin enjoys the pictures, it gives a level of credence to the vacation aspect of this trip and while he doesn't have any archelogical knowledge he feels that the young woman might be on to something with her theories. There is a primal aspect to the nexus beneath them. He gets food himeslf, a similar plate as Jon and takes a seat across from his husband smiling at Jon's enthusiasm.

    "I think you might be right, Jon" he says, a small yet knowing smile on his face. "I am sure there is something of great significance about this sight. More than just that of an ancient trade nation." He looks at Tim, wondering if the young man's meeting had been fruitful in anyway as he pops the top of his soda and takes a sip, enjoying the cool sensation as the sugar hits his palette.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe sends both versions of the picture with Jon and Martin, both Rabbit Ears and non. They were nice pictures, and as she comes back, she grabs a soda (and she marvels over some of the flavours! And real sugar!) and she happily sits down with some fruit andmenestra and patacones and she looks rather pleased.

    "I was uploading information to Tim as we were going. I know it's not the same as seeing them in person, but if you want, I recorded Angela's tour." she states, and she looks to Jon, and Martin, and she makes sure Tim is actually eating and not just observing the food on his plate, and she gives her stew a stir with a little smile "I'd be happy to re-walk it tomorrow."

Tim Drake has posed:
    Not long after the tour group returns, Maria excuses herself. She's no longer officially a member of the dig team, but that hardly stops her.

    Which leaves just the four of them.

    "My father may have led the expedition that found it, but most of the people who've worked here have been locals," Tim says as he ladles up a spoonful of stew. Which, yes, he's eating! He's also managed to find coffee.

    Tim's gonna Tim, no matter where he is.

    And then he nods. "I was listening in as best I could, and I have access now to all of the site records and recordings." Tim nods towards the tent structure covering the site, with its advanced image capturing system. "We'll be able to review things back in town."

    He sets his spoon down, and takes a long sip of coffee. Steadying. He follows it with a deep breath. Oh boy.

    "This site was haunted, during the first few years after it was discovered," Tim explains. "It started out fairly innocuous, but by the end people were getting hurt. Two workers died." He gives this information as he stares down into the mug he's drinking out of, the sort of enamel kind common with campers. "Maria wasn't sure what happened, but my father apparently brought in a specialist to help him deal with it... and not long after, he left."

    There's likely more to the story than that, but given they're surrounded by workers, many of whom do speak at least some English, Tim does not go into further detail. Instead, he asks after some of the things they saw on their tour and keeps the conversation light, until they're done eating and it's time to make the hike back to the river and their vehicle waiting beyond.

    Once they've made it back to Quito and their hotel suite, the crate has already been picked up by Museum staff as pre-arranged by Tim. Just having it gone seems to improve his mood considerably.