Chapter Six
Back on the Chiapas Farm and Onward
Following the trip with Blom and Duby, Carlos returned to his farm. There he continued to work and dream. He put in long hours, and was reasonably happy to be so busy, but it seemed that something was missing.
Although there were a few nubile and marriageable females around El Real, apparently all of them were aware that Carlos either had, or once had, a jungle mistress among the feared Lacandons, and none were interested in him. His friend, the good natured Don Pepe, eventually took it upon himself to ride two days to the pueblo of Altamirano to play matchmaker. Looking around, he found a possible mate. Her name was Caralampia Solis. She was rather attractive, but barely fifteen. Optimistically sensing the perfect match, Don Pepe sent for Carlos.
During these later periods in his life, Frey was not one to try to impress anyone with his attire, and as usual, disdained riding when he could walk. A few days after getting Don Pepe’s message, Carlos strolled into the town, dirty, disheveled, and ragged.
As a half-Tzeltal Indian girl, Caralampia probably would not have been overly impressed by splendid clothing and certainly not by riches, so their lack would not necessarily have offended her. However, according to at least one account, she was unimpressed with Frey, and was at the very least unenthusiastic.
Nevertheless, early in 1945, their union was contracted, and Carlos married Caralampia. This was not one of those marriages ordained by any sort of Heaven. According to one account, the wedding day began with her hiding in a cornfield, and having to be escorted in for the ceremony. While Carlos was certainly not the ideal husband, some considered her rough hewn, and there were occasions in the future when there were questions as to her ability to care for her children. Still, Carlos tried to settle down with one woman.
Later that same year, Frey met Marian Knoll, a young American he chanced upon in Ocosingo, who asked him to take her to visit the Lacandons. Although he described her as "husky" and "strong," one might imagine that she was also rather good looking, because Carlos’s main concern was how local rumors would affect his new wife. He decided that he would have to ask Caralampia to come along with Juanita, his cook, and Jorge, his hired hand, most likely as witnesses.
Caralampia agreed to go. However, she did not want to look less attractive than this other woman, so she showed up wearing her only pair of shoes. Carlos chided her for having them on, when normally they were only for company and special occasions. However, at some point in the past, he had made the mistake of telling her that in the United States, women normally wore shoes, and there was no talking her out of it. She was not going be looked down upon as a peon by some gringa lady.
By insisting on the uncomfortable footwear, Caralampia began by slowing down the entire group. Four kilometers after leaving El Real, Marian suggested that they were being delayed too much, and that Caralampia should be left at a missionary camp. Once Carlos passed this idea along to her, Caralampia became furious. She accused him of wanting to leave her behind so he could sleep with the Marian. Caralampia immediately took off the shoes, tied them together, hung them around her neck, and set off at a furious pace. She led the group at a very fast pace for the next eight kilometers.
Miss Knoll hiked bravely in her English riding boots, though less and less well as time wore on. Finally, the main group finished the four hour walk to Jetjá, which was to be their rest stop for the night. Marian trudged in a few minutes later.
According to Carlos, she blamed herself for having complained about the slow pace. According to him, she said that "if she ever returned to the jungle, she would first learn to walk barefoot."
There, they had what Carlos later tersely referred to as "a bad night’s sleep" among the mosquitoes. In the eagerly awaited morning, the group headed off further into the Lacandón area, most likely toward a place called Puná, a mere fifty minute walk away.
Along the way, Juanita, a full-blooded Tzeltal Maya, told Caralampia and all who would listen how the Lacandons were cannibals, and had killed many of her people years ago. Needless to say, this did nothing to add to the enthusiasm of Carlos’s companions.
To add to all this, a surprise awaited them. The traditional Lacandón way was to either quickly appear out of the jungle, or to suddenly be gone, depending on arrival or departure. As they hiked through the last piece of jungle on the way to the caribal, or settlement, of a Lacandón known as Quintín, they found him suddenly in front of them. Carlos quickly grabbed the arms of his wife and Juanita, before they could run away and offend the man. Later, at his home, and once they got to know this savage looking person better, they realized that all was well, and started meeting the Lacandón women too.
Carlos pointed out the Ku Nah, or the local temple, as well as the icons, or god pots inside. While it was merely a thatched open walled building, Caralampia was intrigued, and started to go in, but Quintin said, in his broken Spanish, the equivalent of " Woman die. Go in men. No more."
While no one there explained this, a female was only allowed into such an edifice when delivering food for feasts, or for her meek’ chal ceremony, which essentially baptized her into the community. Any other entrance was forbidden to anyone but men.
Not wishing to appear rude, both women thought it best to view the Ku Nah from the outside. Everyone, however, got in on the gift exchanges with the Lacandons.
Like most traditional Lacandón settlements, Quintin’s was small. According to a later account by Trudi Blom, the general area consisted of fifty-five people, and twelve families. However, like most Lacandón family groupings, or caribals, each immediate settlement had no more than three huts.
In this household, Quintin lived with his three women, who at the time of Carlos’s visit, according to Blom, would have been around the ages of eighty, and seventy, whom he inherited from the previous leader along with a young girl of thirteen whom he selected. As one can imagine, the oldest wife paid little attention to the youngest, and it was probably not the happiest situation for any of them.
Since Quintín was so close to the outside, it seems reasonable that he would be more affected by civilization. By Blom’s account he was a lazy drunkard and a tyrant, but, no doubt, Miss Knoll was more interested in visiting a Lacandón of any kind than going home without such an adventure.
After the visit, Carlos and company headed back to yet another "bad night at Jetjá." That night, while lying awake, and probably not in the best of moods, Carlos decided to stop at the village of Santa Isabel, which was along their way and where lived Old Juan, a former employee.
In the not too distant past Old Juan not only had absconded with some of Carlos’s money, but had taken some of his possessions at the same time. Naturally, Carlos was interested in renewing the acquaintance, if only very briefly.
They hiked to the village the next day, but found only Old Juan’s wife at home. Barging into the hut, Carlos took a number of his own belongings back, including a big butcher knife, blankets, pots, and other loot. He also seized a shiny new ax which he said Juan could get back when he repaid the money he owed.
Well along their way afterwards, they were climbing a steep and very slippery hill, when Carlos looked down and spotted Old Juan’s little white dog scampering into the clearing right below them. This was not a good omen, because soon everyone saw the old man stride into view while brandishing a large and presumably sharp machete.
Carlos remembered seeing a flat open spot at the top of the hill, and called for everyone to go to it. This maneuver quickly erupted into a contagion of panic, as they all began to flee to higher ground. Marian ignored her tired, sore feet, and passed everyone else very quickly.
On top, the women ran on down the trail and out of sight. As usual, Carlos carried no weapon, and he yelled for Jorge to bring Old Juan’s ax, and to come back with him to face the enemy. Jorge excused himself, saying that he had dropped the ax at the very instant he saw Old Juan. Carlos was very angry, and began berating Jorge. They started to argue loudly.
Ahead, Caralampia heard all the fuss, and figured that there was a battle going on between Carlos and Old Juan. Grabbing Marian’s staff from her, she charged into the fray. She came racing around the bend, looking to Carlos like she was "ready to beat the brains out of Old Juan," and nearly knocked over both Carlos and Jorge in the process.
As fate would have it, Old Juan must have been happy with just reclaiming his new axe. He did not come over the hill. Instead, according to Carlos, he appears to have spent the rest of his life telling stories of how, by himself, he chased five people at one time. No doubt, as Frey suggested, Old Juan never mentioned that of the five, three were women, and not a one of them was armed.
Later, back at the farm, on October 27, Carlos became a father. Following the beginning of Caralampia’s first bout of malaria by only four days, it was not an easy birth. The midwife lived on the other side of the river, which was high and could not be crossed in time to be of any help. Between Frey and an old woman employee, they managed to birth the baby, who was named Carlos Kayum Frey.
Caralampia’s malaria came back shortly after the birth, and she became delirious. She kept hearing voices and "soon wouldn’t even answer" Carlos. He gave her doses of quinine, which he made higher and higher until she started to get better.
On November 4, an airplane pulled in with Giles Healey, a United Fruit Company photographer aboard. He and Frey earlier had agreed that Carlos would show him around the area, as well as take him to some ruins beyond El Cedro. Despite his wife’s continued weakness, Frey felt that he was duty-bound to carry out the agreement and he went with Healey.
According to Carlos’s account, Healey was accompanied by a fellow American, and young Singer Sewing Machine heir, John Bourne. The man was recently out of the army, and looking for adventure with his army related money.
The group arrived at what was left of the chiclero camp El Cedro. There they found that with the end of the war, the chicle boom was well over. Only one chicle company remained in the area, but plenty of mules were available for rent. The paths were even passable, though falling into disuse.
With mules and a man to handle them, they went to another chicle camp, about a five hour walk to the south. There they spent the night.
The next day, a chiclero took them to an abandoned camp known as El Perro, or The Dog. He told them a wild tale that the camp was named for a ghost dog. According to his story, a large black one with flaming eyes would enter the camp every night before dawn, and frighten the cooks preparing for breakfast, but apparently, no one else. While Carlos did not comment on this, it is probably a safe bet that his group did not see this phantom.
The next day, they hiked with the chiclero to a nearby Maya ruin. There they found four stone buildings in good shape, and cleared away the brush, so that Healey could take pictures. Because neither Carlos nor Bourne had a camera, Healey made a promise not kept to give them copies of any pictures taken.
Returning to El Cedro, they met up with and convinced Carlos’s Lacandón acquaintance, Chan Bor, to go with them, and show them ruin sites. He was willing to go, but not for two days.
There was no arriero available for this foray, so Carlos volunteered to handle the mules, rather than wait even longer. They arranged for six mules for the day of departure.
At the last minute, Chan Bor decided that he would bring along one of his wives. After a few miles, he decided that she would ride one of the mules. Apparently, no one wanted to offend the person who might bring them fame, and so Chan Bor’s wife was allowed one of the mules, once they rearranged the gear.
The woman herself was terrified of the animal, having only first seen one a few years before. However, Chan Bor convinced her to mount it and he walked beside her until after a couple of days, when she became more confident.
On the fourth day of travel, the group somehow became lost, and went well out of their way. Arriving near a high mountain, they realized that they were well off course, and began to backtrack. With the coming of night, they had to make camp. There was no water, and they were unable to cook anything for dinner. Carlos wrote he was so thirsty, that in the night, he got up to lap up dew that had collected on the tarp over his hammock.
The next morning, Carlos sent Chan Bor out to look for water. Later, the man came back without it, but knowing where they had made the wrong turn. The path they needed to take was hidden by a fallen tree, and they had gone right past it the day before.
In the Lacandón jungle, there is the bejuco de agua, or water vine, which can help people survive, because they can drink from it. However, it does not provide enough to do much more than get by. With that, they survived, but left without breakfast and arrived at midday at the remnants of the San Pedro chiclero camp where Blom and Frey had stayed. At this point, it was barely noticeable as anything but jungle.
They continued on through the afternoon, hacking their way through what was left of the old trail with machetes. Just at dusk, they found a ravine and some much needed water. At this point, they had not eaten for at least thirty hours and according to Carlos Bourne was fearful that they would never get out of there.
The next morning, Chan Bor took Carlos away from camp, supposedly to see about some more mules, but what happened was that the Lacandón took him to see a ruin site. They climbed a pyramid, and saw five other visible buildings. This site was later, at least briefly called the San Pedro ruins, presumably due to its relative proximity to the old camp of the same name.
The proximity to Blom’s old base camp is intriguing. The ruins were just under five kilometers south of it. However, by all accounts, the previous expedition did not see it. Chan Bor assured Carlos that aside from Lacandons, only an old hermit named Vicente had seen the ruins, and he was dead.
According to Carlos, the Lacandón did not particularly trust the others, and he also pointed in the direction of two other sites Frey could be shown. Carlos convinced Chan Bor to bring his companions to see all of the ruins.
In all, that day, they visited three different ruins, arriving at the last one at nightfall. Though this was short-lived, and ignored by others who followed, they named one ruin Miguel Angel Fernandez, after a well known Mexican archaeologist, and another, the Bee Ruin after a bee portrayed on stucco inside a building.
They built a hasty shelter just outside the last site, because Chan Bor would not allow them to sleep inside it. Later that night, while lying in their hammocks, Chan Bor’s wife began singing the Lacandón air, "Song of the Jaguar," an eerie lament which could be heard on and on through the jungle night air, and frightened the inexperienced Bourne and possibly even Carlos.
The trip seemed to otherwise go well, but shortly after they returned, there was a falling out. According to Frey, Healey refused to give either him or Bourne any credit for discoveries, or even the promised photos. The two then headed back to civilization to make new plans.
Their eventual idea was to return as two equals to discover Maya ruins. This would establish Bourne and Frey as a team on the road to discovery. Bourne would supply the money and Frey the know-how.