Status Updates From Cochineal Red: Travels Thro...

As a general rule, I had noticed that archeologists were spectacularly good at picking arguments, perhaps because they spent so long looking down the same hole. The only profession I could think of that was remotely as cantankerous and bad-tempered were minicab drivers, who spend too much time on their own listening to reports on the radio about how other drivers are picking up fares.

I felt that seventeen explorers, eight muleteers, twelve horses and twenty-five mules were all turning their heads to look at me. I had failed the expedition and brought everyone to the middle of the Peruvian jungle on a wild-goose chase.