The Mayan Codex

43

Sabir pulled off the Veracruz cuota road and into the village of La Antigua for lunch. The trio had approximately two days’ driving left before they reached Kabah, and Sabir figured that a treat was called for.

‘What is this place?’ said Lamia.

‘It’s where stout Cortes scuttled his ships so that his men wouldn’t dare back out on him and return to Cuba.’

‘Stout Cortes?’ Calque stretched both hands above his head, like a man trying to reach for a light bulb. He stared down towards the river, which curled like a dirty brown ribbon towards the nearby Gulf. ‘The man was a barbarian. He almost single-handedly destroyed two great empires.’

Sabir threw back his head. ‘I’m not giving him a testimonial, Calque. I’m quoting Keats’s “On First Looking Into Chapman’s Homer”.’

Calque acknowledged Sabir’s point with a hitch of his shoulders. ‘And how do you happen to know about this place? It’s not exactly on the beaten track, is it?’

‘A holiday. With my mother and father. The only one we ever took together as a family.’

‘Why here?’

A dead look came into Sabir’s eyes. ‘I was seventeen. My mom was going through a stable period for once. Semi-sane, anyway. My dad paid for us to take a trip to Mexico because he thought it would be good for her. We came down here via Oaxaca and Monte Alban, to see the ruins at Zempoala. It was a disaster. My mom had to be airlifted back to the US under sedation. But La Antigua was the very last place we had something approaching a good time. We ate langostinos al mojo de ajo just up the road there, and drank mojitos, and my father told us all about what happened when Cortes landed here with his men. We even took a boat up to the mouth of the river, and walked around on the headland.’

‘So you speak a little Spanish?’

‘Not a word. How about you, Calque?’

‘My Spanish is a fraction better than my English. And you know how good my English is.’

‘I wondered why you let Lamia do all the talking when we checked into our posada.’

‘I couldn’t help noticing you didn’t say much either.’

Lamia had already started down towards the restaurant. ‘Well, I shall just have to do your translating for you, shan’t I? It will give me a role to play. Fortunately I speak Spanish fluently. As well as Italian, English, Portuguese, German, and a little Greek. Not to mention French.’

‘Show off.’

She turned around and flashed them her most captivating smile.