Yucatan Land

By Jonathan Ellis

Mexico is an enchanting land full of many secrets. Some wonderful
to behold, and some best kept secret. Deep in the heart of the
Yuctan, in a steamy, forgotten jungle, lies one. In 1962, the Mexican
government conducted clandestine operations to test an herbicide designed
to compete with agent orange, the American militarys herbicide of choice.
It was staged over a long abandoned eco-attraction called Yucatanland. It
was a failure, in that it didnt kill the plants, but mutated the animals. One, in
particular, rose to the top of the food chain. A horrible manifestation of the
ancient Mexican God, Quetzalcoatl.
In Southern California, a young couple named Midas and Kelly Soloman, he a
lawyer, and she a teacher, decided that they needed a vacation. Somewhere
close, not too expensive, but interesting none the less. Midas always had
an interest in history, so they decided to travel to Mexico to relax and soak
up some local culture. Little did they know, their travels would be more
adventurous than they could imagine. Join Midas and Kelly as they race for
their lives against impossible odds; the Mexican military wants to kill them,
Narcoterroristas try to kidnap them, and an incredible evil pursues them all in
its own backyard.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 8, 2013
• ISBN: 9781493111084

Jonathan Ellis

Jonathan Ellis was born, raised, and still lives in South Florida. He is a product of the Miami-Dade County Public School system and has received his Master of Science in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. He enjoys reading, and writing. Jonathan lives with his wife and two dogs.

Book preview

Copyright © 2013 by Jonathan Ellis.

ISBN:                   Softcover                               978-1-4931-1107-7

                             Ebook                                    978-1-4931-1108-4

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Rev. date: 10/04/2013

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Contents

Preface

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Epilogue

This book is dedicated to my wife Kelly.

Whose patience, understanding, and love

allowed me to write this story.

Preface

From The Popol Vuh

The Creation Story of the Maya

This is the account of how

all was in suspense,

all calm,

in silence;

all motionless,

all pulsating,

and empty was the expanse of the sky.

Chapter 1

A t first, the sign hung lazily, by one corner in the air. Attached, as it were, to the remnants of an archway, behind a chain link fence. The sounds of the forest animals were muted, as if the damp heat of the Mexican Jungle discouraged too much noise or movement. Then, slowly, the sign began to spin. The animals fell silent, and, like an approaching storm of ill begotten origin, the distant thumping of the UH-1 gunships could be heard drawing near. The Mexican Air Calvary came in low and fast, causing the sign to fall to the dusty remnants of the ruined road. Landing face up, you could just make out the old lettering, Welcome To Yucatan Land, Your Adventure is About to Begin.

The Mexican Air Cav were attempting to field-test an herbicide, a precursor to Agent Orange, which was to be used to clear the triple-layer canopy of the Vietnamese Jungle. Where, in 1962, the United States was trying to stop what one General called, The Domino Effect. The idea behind this was that Vietnam was, A Gateway to a Gateway. If Vietnam was allowed to fall into Communist hands, all of Southeast Asia would soon follow. Mexico saw a need for a product, and felt that it could provide, at a much more cost-effective expense, a suitable alternative. Little did it matter that the chosen test area lay directly in the middle of a land already occupied by the Maya. The designated target zone also encompassed an old, long abandoned eco-tourism site called Yucatan Land (Abandoned before eco-tourism became fashionable).

After the field was cleared by the approaching gunships, DC-3 Aircraft, equipped with specially designed dispersal units, made one pass over a predetermined square mile of the dense jungle. The operation lasted less than ten minutes, but signaled the end for life as the creatures of the forest knew it.

Once the aircraft had completed their assigned tasks, they retreated from the field. The mist of the herbicide mixed with the high humidity of the atmosphere and descended upon the lush, green canopy of the forest like a fine rain.

Two weeks after Operation Rolling Green, as the Mexican military had dubbed it, a long column of unmarked military vehicles converged on the little patch of jungle. First, came the 2 ½ ton trucks carrying soldiers dressed in bio-suits. They dismounted and immediately formed a secure perimeter around the site. Next, specially equipped, rolling laboratories established a base-camp just outside of the main gate to the eco-tourism site. In groups of three, the scientists exited the labs, and began testing the environment. The first thing the experts noticed was the quiet. The air hung like a damp blanket over the deep green of the forest. Finally, the researchers observed that all of the animals in the tested area were immobile. Apparently alive, they lacked the ability to move or respond to stimulus. Some of the animals would live, and some would die, but all would be changed. Of those that lived, only one would rise to the top of the food chain.

After taking multiple samples from the control area located ½ mile from the test site, and from within the tested area, the scientists returned to the labs. The soldiers mounted up, and, under a cloud of failure, the column left the field.

Chapter 2

Mayan Civilization Geography and Landscape

T he Maya are one of the best studied of the major pre-Columbian native American civilizations. They were a much older civilization by the time of their encounter with Europeans. The Maya first appeared in the Yucatan Peninsula about 2600 B.C. and became a civilization of major importance about 250 A.D. Unlike the Inca and Aztecs, the Maya were not a centralized imperial state. Their virtually independent, city-states were connected by extensive trade routes. The Maya show evidence of assimilating the technology and culture of previous civilizations which had developed to the north, in modern Mexico, especially the Olmecs.

The ancient Mayan civilization occupied the eastern third of Mesoamerica, primarily the Yucatan Peninsula. This area has a tropical savanna climate, which, in essence, tends to have more pronounced dry seasons than a tropical monsoon climate. In most places that have tropical wet and dry climates, the dry season occurs during the time of lower sun and shorter days because of rain shadow effects during the high sun part of the year. The dry season takes place from February to May, and is characterized by air that is intensely hot and uncomfortable.

Relief would not come until late May, when the rainy season began.

The southern portions of the lowlands were covered by a rainforest with an average height of about 150 feet. Scattered savannas and swamps, or bajos, appeared sporadically, interrupting the dense forests.

Many dangerous animals occupied this region of the peninsula, including the jaguar, the caiman (a fierce Crocodile), the bull shark, and numerous species of poisonous snakes. Various varieties of monkeys and quetzals (A resplendent, vibrantly colored bird sacred to the ancient Maya.) also lived among the upper canopy of the dense forest.

The lowlands primarily produced crops which were used for the Mayas’ personal consumption, the principal crop being maize, or corn. The Maya also grew squash, beans, chili peppers, amaranth (A cosmopolitan genus of herbs with flowers that range from purple and red to gold. Amaranth was used as a leaf vegetable, and cereal grain—30% higher in protein than rice, wheat flour, oats, and rye.), manioc, cacao, cotton for light cloth, and sisal for heavy cloth and rope.

The volcanic highlands, however, were the source of jade, obsidian, and other precious metals like cinnabar and hematite that the Maya used to develop a lively trade. Although the lowlands were not the source of any of these commodities, they still played an important role as the origin of the transportation routes. The rainfall was as high as 160 inches per year in the lowlands and the water that collected drained towards the Caribbean or the Gulf of Mexico in great river systems. These rivers, of which the Usumacinta and the Grijalva were of primary importance, and were vital to the Mayan civilization as the form of transportation for both people and materials.

The Mayan Culture

Contrary to popular belief, the Mayan civilization was not one unified empire, but rather a multitude of separate entities with a common cultural background. Similar to the Greeks, they were religiously a nation, but politically sovereign states. As many as twenty such states existed on the Yucatan Peninsula.

Mayan Writing

An elaborate system of writing was developed