So,
we’re off on another great trek, searching for a treasure that is more myth
than reality, worth more than the others we’ve all chased these last few years.
Oak Island is truly a money pit, but only because of all the money they have
been throwing into it. The Treasure of the Trinity has disappeared into
oblivion. Last night (August 24, 2018) they had the opportunity to let us in on
the secret there, but passed on it. While introducing the new crew of treasure
hunters in the latest incarnation of Treasure
Quest, we saw our old pal Jeremy Whalen from the first two seasons. They
showed us the golden, Inca icon they found at the end of season two, but didn’t
tell us a thing about it. For two years we have waited for something that would
tell us a little more about it, and we have nothing… which means, it wasn’t
exactly the huge deal they claimed it to be.
And
now we’re off searching for a new treasure in a new part of South America, one
that is supposedly better documented. In fact, they showed us an old letter
that explained where the treasure was hidden in a general sense, how it was
acquired and they gave us a really brief history of the previous searches for
it. But as I pointed out in an earlier posting, that letter’s origin is more
than a little obscured and isn’t exactly the perfect source they suggested. You
can read that post here:
And.
For those of you who wish to read the story in its original form and learn a
little more about this, you can find the book here (Chapter VII):
Now,
off we go on another adventure. We get to see them driving along what is
allegedly a road, called the Death Highway because of all the people who have
died on it. It’s little more than a path cut into the side of the mountain with
almost no
room for two vehicles to pass. Drive off the edge and you drive into
eternity. The fall is hundreds of feet.
 |
| Prodgers' Book where the story is told. |
They,
of course, safely meet up with the rest of the team, and have to make the rest
of the journey using burros to carry their equipment as they walk along beside
them. I’m wondering if they had ever heard of a helicopter because I can think
of no reason that a helicopter couldn’t have carried everything and everyone in
without having to face the peril of the Death Highway or the trek with the
burros, which had its own dangers.
As
they’re walking along they hear something above them, and for a reason I have
yet to figure out, turn to run back the way they came. It’s an avalanche, which
is to say, a landslide of rock and dirt that blocks their path. A helicopter
wouldn’t have had this trouble, but then, you don’t get the drama of a
landslide. Besides, there is so much dirt and debris on the trail now they couldn’t
dig it out, which adds to the drama…
But
they can blow it up. No, they don’t have explosives, but they can make what
they need from the material they carry. I’m a little worried about some of the
stuff they have because, if you’re trekking in with burros, I’m not sure of the
wisdom of carrying that extra weight, such as the propane tank. Seems like a
waste of the limited carrying capability of the burros, when you consider the
camera equipment, sound equipment, the digging equipment, and, of course, the
food they’ll need not only for themselves but for the burros. But I digress.
They
are successful in getting through the block, finally reach the valley where the
three rivers converge (and no, it’s not Pittsburgh), and are almost ready to
begin. The burros refuse to cross the water, though I don’t really know why, so
they carry the stuff across themselves and begin their preliminary search.
They
also are setting up their camp. They used all their matches making their
explosive, but not to worry, they have a flint. One of them says that belly
button lint makes a wonderful base for starting the fire. I have to wonder how
you’d have enough belly button lint to be useful, but they spark the fire.
Using
a metal detector in what they suggested were the ruins of the Jesuit mission
built centuries ago, they found a goblet that had been buried for a long time.
This truly was an interesting artifact but it doesn’t really mean there is a
massive treasure hidden there as they claimed. But we’re at the end of the
hour, so we don’t learn much more about it.
We
have seen, in previews and teasers, them bringing in big machinery to help in
the digging (which again, makes me wonder about the Death Highway and the
burros) and poking a hole in the top of a tunnel or cavern. We see them coming
to a wall in the tunnel that is clearly artificial. There are hints of coins
being found and some sort of an underground lake. Along with the goblet, these
are intriguing finds that hint at something bigger.
But
then, when you read Prodgers’s book about Bolivia and this treasure, you learn
that he broke into a tunnel, or tunnels, on several occasions, but he never
found a treasure. That this new group has found a tunnel isn’t all that
surprising, given the history of the area, but it is interesting. These might
be tunnels that haven’t been explored for hundreds of years. Clearly, there is
something in them, given the coins they will find in future episodes… but then,
a few coins do not make a two billion dollar treasure.
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