Treasure of the Jaguars: Tom's Story

By Thomas Godwin

A loving grandpa takes his girls to Peru to see Machu Picchu. Before long, they are embroiled in an epic adventure—from secret passages to old hidden doors, to treasures and friendship with native folk. They begin to unravel an age-old mystery. Their trip gets longer, and they invite many friends and relatives to join them. You are welcome to join them too. Just be prepared to be thoroughly entertained.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 16, 2019
• ISBN: 9781684563470

Book preview

Chapter 1

My name is Grandpa, to my grandchildren; Dad, to my kids; Honey, to my wife; and Tom, to my family and friends. I have had many adventures and misadventures in my life, and I seem to be able to recall most of it vividly. Whether this is just a good memory or senility settling in is for others to decide.

This adventure is recent, but I hope to share some of my earlier adventures in due time. I was fortunate to serve in the United States Air Force and met many interesting people in many places, both ordinary and not so. Life has been full and wonderful. The parts that weren’t so wonderful were mostly canceled out by the good times.

This adventure began by my trying to find a place for an educational vacation for the family, someplace that they would remember forever. My wife, Karen, was now well after a long illness, and we needed to celebrate. So far, we had a trip to Mackinaw Island, Michigan; Harry Potter World, Florida; and New Orleans, Louisiana. I wasn’t thrilled about any of them. We had all gotten passports, and I wanted to use them. I was hoping for somewhere like London, England; Paris, France; or Machu Picchu, Peru. We put the names of all those places in a hat, and Machu Picchu was the winner. Karen, my wife, and I were happy, but of course, we had to promise to take Miranda, our youngest grandchild, to Harry Potter World on our way home.

After an absolute frenzy of female activity, we arrived safely in Cuzco, the capital of Peru and the nearest city to Machu Picchu. We were hoping to become acclimatized to the heat and humidity quickly. Amber and Laura were not good at heat. We often called Amber’s room at home, in Wisconsin, Norweeja. We took a little siesta, had a cool drink, and dressed as coolly as each body image allowed. Then off we went to the ruins by bus. We had some ride through the countryside. When my head hit the roof for the third time, I started thinking that Harry Potter World was probably a better idea.

Amber and Laura, granddaughters 1 and 2, were listening to their iPods. Jen, our daughter, and Miranda, granddaughter 3, couldn’t stop taking pictures of everything. After a few hours, we came to what would take your breath away and send your mind racing. It was unbelievably beautiful. Steps led up into a beautiful sky, and the mountains soared behind the ruins. The guide told us to go and explore but to take our time if we were going to climb to the top of the ruins. I didn’t think that Karen and I would make it that far, but the girls seemed to be enjoying the climb and would surely reach the top. I had already started thinking of the little drinks with umbrellas back at the hotel. Oh, how much we would love being waited on for a while. Everything around us was fascinating, beautiful, but not exciting. Somehow I had been thinking that this faraway place would have mysteries at every turn.

Late afternoon found us hot and tired but really into trying to read any markings we found. Amber and Laura outdid themselves with spooky tales. Tired legs and little umbrellas occupied my mind. Karen and I were more than ready to sit. I think I actually took a little nap on the way back to Cuzco. The hotel was a welcome sight, and we really enjoyed all the attention we received.

As we started down the ruins on our second day, Amber slid and kicked a stone loose. It exposed several clay tablets, and now our adventure began. Jenny set the tablets up and started taking pictures as fast as she could. We put the tablets back before anyone saw them. It was a good thing that we were slower than the younger tourists, because everyone was ahead of us, looking the other way when we were taking pictures. I had Miranda mark the stone with one of her magic markers so we could find the tablets again. I was thinking that maybe National Geographic would let us take credit for the find, and we would be celebrities.

Once back at the hotel and Karen’s laptop, I sent the pictures to an old friend in Tampa, Florida. My pal Jim Allen was a world-class photographer (retired) and had experience with archaeology. He was fluent in Spanish, and he had knowledge of this part of the world. As soon as Jim got the pictures, my cell phone rang. Jim wanted us to fly to Tampa as soon as possible. He had enlarged the photos to show all the details and had contacted an old client of his who had written about Machu Picchu some ten years back. Jim said that his friend Dr. Schemal had been on several trips to Peru, trying to find the secrets of Machu Picchu, but they had eluded him so far. Jim sent the pictures on to the doctor, and he was very intrigued by them. He said not to tell anyone about the tablets and not to disturb the site until he had studied the photographs. Secrets—now that sounded interesting.

Chapter 2

After a couple more days wandering the ruins, exploring the temples, and trying to ignore the tablets, we cut our trip short and headed for Tampa, Florida, which was also Dr. Schemal’s home base. Jim picked us up from the airport and took us to the hotel close to Ebor City. It was great to see my old friend Jim. It had been years since we had gotten together, and I hoped we could catch up over dinner. The girls headed for the pool they had seen when we checked in. There was a lifeguard with spiked hair. Karen and I just wanted to get a shower and a gin and tonic, put our feet up, and visit with an old friend. It turned out that I knew Dr. Stan Schemal as Sergeant Schemal, from my tour at MacDill AFB in Tampa. He and I had worked together on the line launching airplanes. Stan had gone back to school and now had his doctorate. He had an office in Ebor City and a small museum nearby. His museum contained artifacts from the Indians around the gulf. These Indians, and their culture, had been his specialty for the last ten years. Miranda wasn’t disappointed by our new plans. She had enjoyed the ruins but had already done that. She hoped she was going to Harry Potter World and had a chance to see her Auntie Cyrilla and Uncle Mark. It was a great and glorious thing to her way of thinking. Our first meeting with Dr. Schemal wasn’t until 9:00 a.m., which gave us time to write down some questions about what we should do next and to enjoy a great meal with Jim.

When morning arrived, jet lag had bitten us right in the butt. Jim was early for breakfast, of course, and then we had to ride to the good doctor’s. Only Jen, Karen, and I were going for this visit. The girls had more important things to do. When we pulled up to Dr. Schemal’s, he was standing outside, waiting for us. He had the biggest smile you ever saw on his face. He almost shook my arm off and was hugging Jen and Karen at the same time. It amazed me how people I had known in the Air Force were kind of like cousins. No matter how long it had been since you had seen them, they were still family, and you picked up right where you had left off. The last time we had seen each other, Jen had been about ten years old and a friend to his two girls. He made us feel very welcome. It was soon obvious that I was going to have to get a crash course in Incan history, so I’d have some real idea of what the good doctor was talking about. I did wish that I had taken that Spanish course when I had the chance. Dr. Stan was so excited that he was flipping back and forth between English and Spanish. Good thing Jim spoke the language.

From what I understood, the doctor wanted us to accompany him on an expedition back to Peru. He needed to see the actual tablets in order to discover what they meant. I was glad that because Miranda always carried a magic marker, we had left a small mark on the stone that the tablets were hidden behind. We had also counted the rows down from the top. I was so smart, having thought of that. I was waiting for the doctor to hug me. No such luck. He was in a panic about getting our things together and flying straight to Peru. I think he was afraid that someone else would find the tablets before we got there. At least I felt sure that we could find the tablets again.

When we returned to the hotel after a great lunch, Karen pulled me aside to let me know that the girls wanted to go to Orlando with their cousin, Lauren, to do some shopping and go to the beach. Karen was also looking forward to a visit with Auntie Cyrilla. She made a mean margarita and was one of those people who could make you feel it was good to be alive. Jen and I decided that we would call the girls’ uncle Steve, Karen’s brother, to see if he would fill out our team. When I called him, Steve was excited that the good doctor had said he could join us. He was an amateur archaeologist and was salivating at the thought of Incan artifacts. He had several weeks of vacation accrued and couldn’t think of any better way to spend his time. The doctor also suggested that we made sure our shots were current and brought any meds that we would need for at least three weeks.

Chapter 3

It was finally the first of June 2010, and at 9:30 a.m., we were just taking off on the five-hour trip to Peru. We had really moved mountains getting ready to go. There were permits