Last week, while leading an expedition into the jungles of Guatemala in search of the elusive tropical cedar tree (not exactly true, but this is what I will tell my accountant) I hollooed to my team. “Up here. A wonderful specimen. Come see.”
I stopped and asked our expedition photographer (Our extremely friendly Tikal tour guide) to capture an image of myself with this natural wonder. The expedition leader (again the tour guide) said, “We have a saying in the jungle. Always look down before you look up.”
Who was he to tell me what to do? I know trees. I am part owner of a little lumberyard in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. I ignored him and posed with el grande arbol while attempting to demonstrate its enormity by looking skyward.
As I walked away from the tree I felt some crawling sensation on my feet. I looked down to find, in horror, that both feet were covered in ants.
I shrieked quite bravely, I dare say.
If you zoom in on my feet you can see the ants starting to swarm.
The expedition leader then shouted at me words that I will never forget…”Dance. They are hungry!”
I want to be clear on this part of the story. I did not do the Electric Slide, I did not Vogue, I did not even do the Twist. I went straight into full-on Jungle Flashdance. You could have put leg warmers on me and dumped a bucket of water on my head. I was moving my legs up and down so fast that they became a blur. Within 30 seconds the carnivorous little beasties were off of me and my heart was beating like a Mayan drum.
Funny thing about travel. I travel thousands of miles to see incredible Mayan ruins but what I’ll remember most is dancing in the jungle…oh yes, and that our jungle lodging seemed quite moldy. Par for the course I guess.
The world is a fairly amazing place. I highly recommend visiting it.
See you all soon at the store.
Michael Friedland and the entire Lumbery Crew
LUMBERY
mainewood@lumbery-me.com
www.lumbery-me.com
Amazing Mayan ruins. Horrible smile.
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287 Ocean House Road
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