Like porridge in a giant sluice, the story continues…

A bit of clip art later… and voila, hopefully we are done “learning…”

More about The Lost City of the Monkey God can be found here… The real-life escapade looks to be a tad more treacherous that what we are currently seeing…

I almost didn’t recognize Dr. Carter with his hat/helmet removed…

Of course characters have the opportunity to morph in the Trailverse… we may even be looking at a visual representation of how Rusty sees this guy… and his desire to know his birth parents…  Now there’s a story line that could go on for years…

LIDAR… I guess we’ll learn more here by accident than elsewhere by design…

Yes, Dr. Carter, please tell us more!  As George has pointed out, Mara’s overly large head/neck is unnaturally craned forward in anticipation…  Rusty looks like he knows he’s about to get a smack!

And what, I ask, or who, gave Dr. carter the right to go in with heavy equipment and local labor to disturb this piece of cultural antiquity?  This isn’t colonial Egypt, for cripes’ sake…  Bill and Ted?  On an Excellent Adventure??  I’m guessing he gave them all anglo names so that he wouldn’t has to learn or pronounce their actual ones…

The fabulously colored Toucan (you know, pale orange beak, black and white body and gray feet) followed them all the way to the Ruins as Mark continues to explain away the obvious fact that Cherry looks for opportunities to NOT be with her husband… the inveterate Man-splainer…

Sure you do, Mark, and there is no hiding the fact that Cherry will often leave you to your own devices given her natural instincts toward self-preservation!  This time it seems that she wanted Rusty to go as well… even if there is slight collateral damage in the form of this Mara-girl…

the look on Dr. Carter’s face is priceless… Not only is he disappointed that Cherry didn’t make the trip, but now he has to suffer inane questions from children, and finger wagging from Mark…

What is up with Mara the Amazon?  With her prematurely gray mane and adult stature, she’s practically dwarfing Mark, let alone Rusty… Poor Rusty, who just seems to be shrinking away?  And did they really just say what they said in unison?  “Honored?” That’s unlikely.  And weird.

Who introduces a friend that way?  “Famed Archaeologist?”  Who apparently was only really looking forward to seeing Cherry!!  What ever happened in the Trail backstory?  We may never know… Perhaps Cherry is absent on purpose- too painful for both of them…

Why make up names when you can simply reference the past?

Howard Carter was the dude who “discovered” King Tut’s tomb…   Whose appearance was anticipated by the faithful souls reading this page…  But beware, gentlemen… These tombs and temples carry curses!

Oh, Joe…

Always ready for a siesta!!  I guess creepy temples just aren’t your thing, huh??

Careful Mark, don’t touch the merch!!  And careful not to get a whiplash!  As Dr. Carter emerges from the mist? Some random backdrop that makes room only for his pithy comment? We see that he is bedecked in safari gear right out of colonial history… Khakis and a pith helmet!  Now that’s authentic!  And at first glance, it would now seem that he and Mark were childhood friends, if in fact Mark has “known him for 30 years…”

Haven’t we talked about this in the past?  You have to pretend that you are allowed out of the Lost Forest Compound every now and then…  You can’t look all wild-eyed at every last thing you see.  Besides, slipping in a little blase and ennui for Mara’s benefit will only up your cred, young man…

Well, at least we are finally here, you know?  That took a while.  Longer than the ride from the airport to the resort…  Nice mask on the temple!

The fact that we have been on this van-ride now for a week and there seems to be no end in sight…

…along with the fact that Mark has been allowed into the jungle with two young people, especially given his track record of inviting disaster, natural and otherwise…

Why does the van keep changing color?  OK, it’s just vacillating between black and white, but still, it’s puzzling…

And Mark, I am sure that you aren’t the only one excited to see the temple…

…now cue the jurassic era bird…

What? Are there prehistoric renderings of Sponge-Bob?  Now that would be different!