Caral - 4. Chapter 4

On the flight to Peru, Toby and Carlos sat in front of Dr. Viego and Toby’s dad. “Dad, have you and Dr. Viego given any thoughts to us working on the mountain.”

“That so-called mountain may be a temple. If you check other sites, there was always a temple of some sort. I have no problem with you and Carlos working there, but I think maybe either Dr. Diego or myself should help.”

“Okay, but can we start?”

“First, let’s get to the sight.” Toby heard a chuckle from the seats behind him and Carlos.

Arriving in Peru was like an old hat. Toby knew his way around. Carlos and Dr. Viego being Peruvian practically walked right through customs. Toby and his dad were asked a lot of questions, as they expected.

Exiting the arrivals halls, “Dad, have you given any more thought to my request?”

“Just give me a minute.”

John Bentley went to find Dr. Viego. He wasn’t sure if he should let the boys attack that temple alone, although they did a fine job uncovering the wall.

“Luis, the boys want to investigate the temple. What do you think?”

“I think John, one of us should be there. With their luck, I feel they’ll uncover something, and we should be there to help them identify it.”

“That’s what I thought as well. Why don’t you work with them? I’ll work with the rest of the team.”

The next morning Dr. Viego went to the temple with the boys. Looking over the temple, he decided to start at the top. He was afraid if the started at the bottom, the sides would slip down and cover what has been dug and put the boys in harm’s way.

Explaining his strategy and why, the boys were ready to climb the side and start uncovering the top. Carlos suggested cutting steps in the side, which would make climbing easier. Toby and Carlos went to get buckets and screens to sift the dirt they removed for the steps. Dr. Viego smiled, their thinking was logical, and the idea of sifting the dirt removed indicated they were taking this project seriously.

The other students, under the guidance of Dr. Bently, returned to the wall. The question was ‘why the steps up, but no steps down.’

He called the four older students for a meeting, “I’m confused about something, and I think we need to determine why.”

That was marching orders. The boys called their teams together and laid out a plan for the dig.

One month later, the pyramid top layer was removed, about 1 foot of the top earth was screened. No artifacts were found, but the boys hadn’t expected anything. The other team discovered that the wall was about one meter thick, lifting the top surface from the rocks. What they found indicated that the wall consisted of packed dirt topped by stone.

At the end of the summer break, significant excavation was completed. Once the team discovered the wall, they split up and removed the dirt from the center of the circle. No significant artifacts were found, but the discovery of the wall was a significant find.

Toby and Carlos weren’t disappointed in not finding any artifacts. They were more interested in their relationship to feel disappointed. The encouragement from Dr. Viego to continue made them feel that what they were doing was important and even though they hadn’t found any artifacts.

Before leaving the dig, the area had to be prepared for closure. This took the team four days to place tarps over the areas that were uncovered.

Carlos and Toby made plans for Carlos to visit Toby at Thanksgiving. “We’ll be back at the dig over the Christmas holidays. Then spring break. Hopefully, we’ll make a significant find on the temple.”

That night Carlos and Toby sealed their relationship in only the way two lovers can. In Toby’s mind, this was it, Carlos was his future, and he hoped Carlos felt the same way. He envisioned Carlos as his partner, much like his mom and dad were. Romantically, he could see Carlos and him making great discoveries.

Dr. Bently noted that Toby was as sad as he was last year when the summer was over. What he didn’t know, he and Carlos had decided that this year they would put all of their time in achieving high marks in school. They still had time to chat, and one would think they talked about their relationship, but they would be wrong. They discussed homework or the lectures they attended. They were serious about excelling this year in school. Dr. Bently noticed the attitude and the emphasis that Toby exhibited concerning his studies.

Being occupied with school, time seemed to pass quickly, and sooner than he realized, he was on his way to pick up Carlos at the airport. For the next few days, Toby’s mind wasn’t on school, but he and Carlos shared their intimate relationship. They did manage to talk about the dig as well. Both boys looked upon the dig as their initiation into their field of endeavor.

Sadly the Thanksgiving break was over, and Carlos had to return to Peru. Toby’s dad noticed that Toby wasn’t as depressed as he was last year. He wasn’t sure what happened, but he was glad for Toby. This was a markable change from last year.

Toby and Carlos again picked up where they left off. Studies were number one.

As the Christmas holidays approached, several summer team members asked if they could take their break in Peru. They would join the team after Christmas having to spend that holiday with their families.

Back at the dig, they spent one day removing the tarps that were placed over the dig. After Carlos and Toby rekindled their special relationship very specially, they were anxious to start on the pyramid again.

In a meeting with Dr. Viego, he introduced them to a new member of the dig, Luis. Carlos knew him, “He’s in my classes and showed a high degree of interest in what we were doing. I spoke to Dr. Viego, and since your dad has brought extra students, I thought we should include him.”

“That’s a good idea. The more we have, the faster we can progress. If you have any other friends that would like to come, ask Dr. Viego if they could come.”

Carlos was glad that Toby didn’t mind Luis coming. Dr. Viego asked Carlos to explain to Luis what we were doing, more or less.

We were back on the pyramid, with the extra hand, we were making good progress. Still, the sifting took time. Toby noticed that Luis was pitching in, smiling whenever Toby looked at him. Over the next week, Luis, Carlos, and Toby became close friends. In the evening, the boys would sit on the wall and talk about the dig and their personal lives. Carlos informed Luis that he and Toby were boyfriends. Luis suspected something like that.

“Carlos, I’ve always suspected you were different. Maria used to find ways to be with you. I remember at lunch, she practically threw herself at you, and you seemed to ignore it or treated it as a joke. At first, I thought it was because of your attitude toward your studies. You were Dr. Viego’s number one student.”

I knew why he was Dr. Viego’s number one student. He was his nephew.

After two weeks, we still hadn’t found any artifacts, but we did begin to see the top of some stones similar to what we found at the wall. Dr. Viego said that we should clear away all of the dirt above the stones as this would indicate how big the temple was.

“During spring break, we could start to work on the sides. Then this summer, we can begin to remove the top layer of stone, and maybe we can get inside the pyramid.”

That was enough excitement for the boys until Dr. Viego told them that removing the top stones would be a bad idea. He went on to explain that if the weather got into the pyramid beside the dirt, it would compromise any findings. The boys considered what Dr. Viego told them and decided they would wait till they found the entrance at the bottom of the pyramid.

Again it was time to return home. Toby was excited about finding the top of the pyramid. His dad listened, smiling inside, as he heard the enthusiasm in Toby’s voice.

The boys inserted themselves into their school work. Dr. Bently knew that any assignments their professors would give them would result in a paper written by the boys, which would cover being on the dig. He smiled to himself but also was proud of Toby’s professionalism at the dig. He wasn’t sure among the two who was the leader. But they seemed to very compatible with the same drive and motivation. He was happy for Toby, and it didn’t matter to him if he and Carlos shared themselves. If Toby was happy, that was all that counted. Toby’s approach to his schoolwork was something Dr. Bently expected. Archeology was always discussed in the home, and Toby took an interest in those discussions. Dr. Bently knew that his wife would have supported Toby unconditionally.

Spring break was right around the corner. Toby was talking to Carlos, outlining what they wanted to do at the dig. Carlos was to review their plans with Dr. Viego, and Toby would review their plans with his dad.

Spring break and the usual group headed south. Toby was excited to see Carlos as Carlos was excited to see Toby. Spring break was only ten days, which meant they had only seven days to work on the dig, two days for traveling, and one day to wrap up the dig.

Toby and Carlos knew that not much could be done in 7 days. They were excited to be together as well as getting more data from the dig.

At a meeting with Dr. Viego, Toby asked if he had any idea how much earth had accumulated on the pyramid. Dr. Viego told them it was hard to estimate. But he thought most had already been removed from the top. He explained the wind would remove the loose dirt, but the rains would turn the dirt into mud, which would cake and dry.

“The top was mostly dried mud. It came off in chunks, which we had to break up to sieve.”

The sides were easy. The dirt wasn’t as caked and what was caked was the front. They started at the top and worked down one side. One gathered the dirt, the other shifted. Then Luis showed up and started to help. Now with two boys removing the dirt and only one sifting, the sifting became the limiting action. “We need two sifting if we continue to have this much dirt to sift.”

“Luis, do you think Miguel might want to come and help?”

“Probably, he’s been asking about the dig.”

“It’s too late now, but this summer would be perfect.”

The boys continued to sift dirt when it backed up, one of the boys joined with the sifting. When they got caught up, one sifted while the other two removed the dirt from the pyramid. They proceeded like this for the seven days that they were at the dig.

On the way home, “We don’t really get much done in 7 days. I think we cleared only about 12 inches of soil from the pyramid. At that rate, it will take us about six months to get to the bottom of the pyramid.”

“Maybe this summer we can get more people working on the pyramid. I know you wanted it to be your and Carlos’s project, but you have already added another person. When you talk to Carlos, ask him if there are any more students in his class that may want to help. He’ll need to clear that with Dr. Viego.”

“Maybe” Toby was getting disappointed, but he couldn’t figure out why it was taking so long or was the time away too long. He knew that you couldn’t hurry a dig along. You might miss an important clue or artifact. He knew that and accepted it, but normally they would stay at a dig until it was complete.

This bothers Toby. He thought maybe he should have stayed home until he had his degrees.If he did that, he wouldn’t have met Carlos. Toby wrestled with this issue on the plane ride home. He knew what he had to do. Later that night, he would call Carlos.

Dr. Bently understood Toby’s dilemma. There were times he had to leave a dig. By the time he got back, someone else had finished the excavation.

Over the next few weeks, Toby poured his efforts into his school work. It proved to be a distraction from the dig. Focusing on his schoolwork made him realize that when the mind was busy, there wasn’t time to dream up worries, worries about the dig and time remaining, worries about his future, and how he and Carlos would resolve them living in two different countries. These thoughts use to plague him now they weren’t in the fore.