A Golden Legend

Chapter 27

The two weeks flew without noticing them. The young man spent all his free time to show Teresa the city and its surroundings. In the weekends they traveled to discover the Iguazu Falls, San Carlos de Bariloche and Mar del Plata. As it is usually the case of many Latin American tourists, Teresa liked Buenos Aires despite all its contradictions, and she spent her time visiting it at her own.

That day she returned to the apartment and set out to wait for him, lying on the bed. She heard the sound of the telephone, and after hesitating took the call.

“Anyway he already has made me talk to their parents, and their friends know that I am here.” she reflected.

“Alo! Teresa?” the unmistakable voice of Lupita caused her a bounce, but immediately recalled she had given Marcelo´s phone number to some members of the expedition precisely to enable them to locate her.

The Guatemalan informed her that McPherson had succeeded in getting funding for the second part of his expedition, and he was already traveling to Lima to organize it. The expected departure was in the middle of the following week.

“Why hurry?”Teresa asked.

“Keeping the entire expedition hosted in Lima is very expensive... tell me, your reluctance to come back shows me that you are having fun!”

“Well” Teresa felt that involuntarily has had flushed, despite not being observed by anyone”“the truth is that I am indeed.”

“Tell me everything…” Lupita´s tone had become imperative.

LAN plane to Lima departed on time. Once the pre boarding and take-off stress was over Teresa´s mind began to review the events, experiences and sensations of the almost twenty days she had spent in Buenos Aires. She was used to use waiting time at airports as well as flights for introspection, and had acquired a method to do this neatly. She was surprised her easy adaptation to a city so different from her hometown; and to move in a more modest social level which she was used to, for example as she had learned to move in public transport, do domestic purchases and buy not only in shopping centers but also in neighborhood stores. Other tasks, such as preparing food and washing her clothes she was already family with for her participation in expeditions. To move around the city at its feverish and eager rhythm of the locals had infected her, and even it had stuck her some heavy Argentine accent,

“ I have to get rid of it, fast!” She mused, thinking of the jokes that would result from it.

Then her thoughts turned towards the relationship that had developed with Marcelo. She moved in the seat, noting that the issue was especially pleasant for her. The feelings had evolved too fast, and she realized that she couldn't or didn´t wish to  control them. She had had a few relationships before, not all unsatisfactory, but the depth of the current was unknown to her.

“Could it be that I'm finally in love?” The question took her by surprise, and the first reaction was a shock, but immediately gave rise to a warm and comfortable feeling. She left the question bouncing around, and found that there was no need to answer it.

Flight time passed fast, since it was inadvertently engulfed in memories of the previous days and the experiences she had treasured, so that the pilot´s message over the next landing in Lima shook her again.

“Teresa, this is not really you. When have you been disconnected from reality in this way?”

New message of the pilot was heard, urging passengers to fasten seat belts.

“Well” the soliloquy went on “in a couple of weeks he will take the balance of his holidays and I will have him again with me.”

Not only Teresa was returning to Peru after her short break in Buenos Aires. Approximately at the same time Magnus McPherson boarded his plane from New York to Lima, after the successful presentation made to the expedition sponsors on the prospects of finding great Paititi in the mountainous region of Peru. The Committee, which acted on behalf of the sponsors had riddled him with questions about the chances of finding ruins of important archeological value, the hints he based his claims upon, the costs involved, the dangers that expeditionaries would be exposed to and the legal situation of the findings in relation with the Peruvian Government. This to some extent was a repetition of what he already explained on the occasion of the initial journey, but now with more specific data, obtained in it. The most critical was Dr. Wilkins, an old lady who was a well known specialist in South American archeology of the Yale University and very skeptical about the myths of lost cities such as the Great Paititi or Eldorado, which she attributed to pure Latin fantasy. She had been backed by Jonathan Leibowitz, also notorious archaeologist at the same University and academic rival of McPherson, who had an attitude perhaps based on professional jealousy.

Finally he had succeeded to overcome the resistance of the academic sector thanks to the support of Melvin Anderson, his old schoolmate from High School and his one thousand raids buddy. Melvin had then studied law and had made his fortune as a lawyer. The night before the departure of Magnus's return to Peru they both had celebrated the approval of the budget for the new expedition with a magnificent dinner which culminated in a historic drunkenness, extremely infrequent in McPherson, who later vaguely remembered that Melv had been interested in having further details of the progress of the expedition. At the end of the night, Magnus had sought among his clothes.

“What are you looking for? If it´s your wallet, forget it, I invited” said Melvin.

“Actually I'm looking for my cell phone. I want to call my sister to come to take me home.”

“I may drop you off at your house.”

“Thanks Melv. You should not drive with all the alcohol you've taken.”

“Shut up, take my cell phone and make your call.”