I certainly hope they are whispering…  Hard to tell…

But leave it to Mara to thread all the pieces together…

But where does Becky “make” the three- dimensional copies?  Does she have a secret 3D printer in another trailer??  Or perhaps she’s selling the copies and passing them off as real…  That way she could sell the same fake over and over again…

Oh, the plot do thicken now, don’t it?

Questions abound!  We know that this is tantamount to smuggling rhino horns!   But is she acting alone?  Has she gone rogue?  The black market for historically significant items is probably fairly rich… with collectors, museums, even…  museums that have to keep their collection fresh to keep the patrons patroning…  What’s Rusty to do with this bit of information?  And couldn’t Becky have found someplace a little less public to conduct business??

As Mara starts to take on the dimensions of her namesake, we enter the temple.  And unfortunately, the group, along with Becky has disappeared!!

But thankfully Rust has that innate Trail sense of hearing!  Even though he shares no Trail DNA!!

But lo, there she is!  Apparently in a rendezvous!  No wonder she didn’t want to be found…

And we can surely stretch that into a week’s worth of installments… <<yawn…>>  <<stretch…>>  <<sigh…>>

And so it begins… Mara and Rusty get lost in the temple, never to be heard from again.  Nice Bearded Lizard…

This is nothing new for Rusty…  He gets ignored all the time!

And clearly Becky wants to be un-found…  Again, it’s the only mystery we have to hang our hats on right now, so let’s just go with it… that, and the fact that Mara ages before our very eyes from panel one to panel three…

Story of his life, I am afraid to say…

That Mara is giving him so much attention is practically a miracle…  But hey, orphans are used to that and I suppose grateful for any form of attention or validation…  They’d better hurry though, as the tour is leaving without them.  Or will they be approached by another “tour guide” only this one won’t be “official…”  Enter Dirty Dyer??  Please??  Something interesting?

Amidst all the other “Tourists,” only her Dark Black Tresses stand out…

…and what’s (again) with the awkward hand gesture, Rusty?  Judo chop?

As Mara and Rusty are left to their own devices…

…they spy with their little eyes Professorial Assistant Becky.  That, after having spent almost no time with her at dinner one night before they went chasing after Toucans…  Well, I’m guessing that Rusty might have had other things on his mind, but that’s all that Mara would allow…

Good golly, these “stories” just plod along, don’t they?

All this talk of naps is making me sleepier that I normally am reading this strip!

Clearly rusty has learned from his father well… how to engage in ways that make people want to sleep!

Yes, si, don’t bet on it, Jose.  This is the part where the “kids go missing” and the fun begins!!

Oh yea… that’s right.  Professor Carter has an “Assistant.”  She made a brief, almost cameo appearance at dinner one (last?) night, TWO MONTHS AGO, but we haven’t seen or heard from her since…  And everyone keeps asking about her!

Professor Carter is confused?  How do you think the rest of us are doing?!

Making our way through the jungle, Joe piles it higher and deeper, a regular PhD!

Super Creepy?  That has to be Mara…

Again, any thoughts what we are spying in the foreground?

And I still don’t know what Joe is talking about from yesterday- the “room” they won’t be allowed to go into…  But if wandering down dark passageways that branch off is your thing, then I guess this going to be the bomb…

I just noticed that one of the things that differentiates men from women in the Trailverse is lip color…  beyond the normal secondary sexual characteristics and physical manifestations, Mara is sporting lipstick?  Lip Stain? Natural pigmentation?  Why, it appears that Rusty and Joe don’t even have lips, amIright?

So far this has all been a horrible tease…

And I’m not even going to try to guess what these critters are…  Any guesses?

Like Molasses in January, so are the days of the Trailverse…

Ha!  See what I did there?  The Tapir is indigenous to the Yucatan?  I guess so…

So Joe was indeed found napping…  And while one of them is being polite (Mara) the other (Rusty) is being a tad bit whiny…  At least that’s my guess.

And in totally unrelated news, anyone pining for a good, old-fashioned story about poachers getting caught, you can read about it here:

Please see ‘TIP call leads to couple with 253 crappies’ at http://e.startribune.com/Olive/ODN/StarTribune/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=MST%2F2018%2F08%2F01&entity=Ar02406&sk=6FEADAAD&mode=text

Don’t ask me what steps one and two are… but this is where it’s bound to get, uhmmm… interesting.

… As interesting as things get in the Trailverse.  No idea what Mark wants to talk to Dr. Carter about- his past, illicit relationship with Cherry?  His business model? Where to get a good street taco in these parts??

Sounds like Joe suffers from a medical condition… probably why he is now making his way on the Yucatan…  Culturally OK to take a siesta!!

And the look on Rusty’s face tells all- that he knows what’s next- he and Mara will no doubt fall into some kind of a trap!

What would be great now is if that little doll would leap up and bite Rusty’s nose off!   I am sure he could be fitted with a prosthetic schoz- I mean, look at Michael Jackson!

…or maybe one of his Dopey-Style ears.  Either way, little guy, take your pick!!  Man does not live by margaritas and cigars alone…

Actually, I think that the Black and white version is a little bit creepier!

And it’s another long walk for a short drink of water…

Yea… I am sure it’s just Bill and Ted having an Excellent Joke on everyone!

The battle in the foreground seems a bit far-fetched, until you see this…  It’s surprising that the Jag can get the upper hand, especially when it’s chosen to go in the water!!

Good lord, how gullible can these three be?  Of course I am assuming that Mark is being taken in by all this, too…  And Rusty is offering up his disbelief…

I think Dr. Carter also majored in pulling legs…  A BS Artist from way-back…

For the love of Mike, Mark, haven’t you been paying attention?!

The doll keeps local robbers away!  That’s the point!!

And it would seem that a shit-faced doll is more effective…  Shaken?  Stirred?  Blended?  Salt on the rim?  Top shelf or rail?  I wonder.

And the Jaguar goes, “Really?”

What is with all the withering, awful renderings of the human hand?

And since when are Rusty’s eyes blue?  I guess I have never noticed that before…  And would confirm that his genes lie outside of the coal darkness that Mark represents…

So, I get it… the unsophisticated and hyper-super-stitious locals are kept at bay by this little warrior doll steeped in legend.  OK, Rusty, you realize that your words are highly prophetic and you have now pretty much guaranteed that you will be spending the night in the trailer with the little man?