Episode 23: Tibes

NARRATOR
Previously, on Timestorm…

BENI
Faro, Tibes, torre más alta. Do these clues all point to one location?

ATABEY
The clues are for three separate quests.

An electric whir. Dogs bark.

ALEXA
I don’t think we can leave until you tell us the hiding spot.

ILEANA
...está en la boca de una gallina de palo.

BENI
In the mouth of a stick chicken?

An electric whir.

ALEXA
Ileana said we’d find the medallion—

ALEXA/BENI
—en la boca de una gallina de palo.

JOSIE
Yeah, that’s not a chicken.

ALEXA
Beni, look at the mouth of the iguana. It’s guanín.

An electric whir.

BENI
Got it!

ALEXA
We did it!

ALEXA and BENI high-five.

MUSIC: THEME SONG - "IN THE TIMESTORM"

Witness. Find. Remember.
The hidden past seeks its dawn, showing us that we all belong.
Horacio, Alexa, and Beni take back time, find history in the timestorm.
Witness. Find. Remember.

2018. TAÍNO COMICS AND GAMES, OLD SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO.

MUSIC: “TAÍNO COMICS AND GAMES - SAN JUAN” TRANSITION.

ALEXA
What are you reading, Janelly?

JANELLY
I’m digging more into the Tibes clue. Here, I printed out what I found online.

JANELLY hands ALEXA the paper.

ALEXA
The Tibes Indigenous Ceremonial Center.

BENI
Like a church?

JANELLY
Not quite, it’s kinda like the Alamo. But the Alamo is three hundred years old and Tibes has been around for sixteen hundred years.

ALEXA
Nice find, Janelly.

BENI
You’re doing a great job as the research assistant.

JANELLY
You mean, Research Captain?

BENI
(laughing) Captain does have a nicer ring to it.

JOSIE
Ahh, here it is! I knew I’d stashed it behind the counter.

ALEXA
Ooh. What’s that, Josie?

JOSIE crosses to the table.

JOSIE
A book about the Taino ball courts in Tibes. Bateys.

JANELLY
I remember reading about batey. But I thought it was a game.

JOSIE
It’s also the name for the courts where the game was played. The bateys even doubled as spaces for areítos.

JANELLY
Areítos? That word popped up in my research—some kind of ceremony, right?

ALEXA
Kinda like storytelling, but with dancing and music.

JOSIE
I haven’t been to the ceremonial center in years.

BENI
You’ve been to Tibes, Josie?

JOSIE
Titi Mari took me once. We walked through replicas of the plazas and bohios.

LALO opens the front door.

LALO
(shouting into store) Buena noticia!

JOSIE
Lalo?

LALO
Tengo trabajo! Tengo trabajo!

JOSIE
Great news! What kind of job?

LALO
Can’t talk right now. Don’t want to be late for my first day. But had to tell you! Okay? Bye-bye!

LALO throws air kisses and then closes the front door. A rumble of thunder.

JOSIE
Good for him.

The barometer buzzes.

ALEXA
That’s our cue. Catch you after our trip.

JANELLY
Take my printouts. There’s a map on this one.

JANELLY hands BENI the printouts.

BENI
Thanks!

BENI and ALEXA yank the curtain open and closed.

ALEXA
Barometer?

BENI
Buzzing in my pocket.

ALEXA
Ready or not...

BENI
Here we go—

A thunderclap. ALEXA and BENI shout as they travel through the portal.

THE TIMESTORM. ANOTHER DIMENSION.

MUSIC: “TIMESTORM” TRANSITION.

HORACIO
I’ve gotta say, I’m impressed by the little team you’ve got going.

ATABEY
Janelly has proven to be a valuable resource.

BENI
We bought some of her research. Look!

BENI rustles papers.

HORACIO
Ah, a map might prove useful.

ATABEY
Looks like you’re ready to get started. But first, we’ve got something to take care of. Artifact cloud, emerge.

A rhythm indicates the artifact cloud has emerged.

BENI
Here it is.

BENI grabs the medallion from his pocket.

ALEXA
A guanín medallion.

HORACIO
To think this was worn by a cacique.

ALEXA/BENI
Right?

ATABEY
Artifact attained.

A whoosh indicates the artifact has floated into the cloud.

ATABEY
Artifact cloud, retreat.

The artifact cloud retreats and the rhythm stops.

ATABEY
Lieutenant?

HORACIO
Clothing!

A whoosh indicates a costume change.

ALEXA
Rain ponchos and boots this time. Ooh, and a pencil.

ALEXA and BENI move around in the ponchos and boots.

BENI
The boots are so squeaky! And these ponchos—

BENI intentionally makes more noise.

ATABEY
Benito.

BENI
Sorry.

A zap. The barometer buzzes.

ATABEY
Mil novecientos ochenta / nineteen eighty / Ponce / Tibes / Igneri / Taíno / archeologists / arqueólogos / Ricardo Alegria / Osvaldo Garcia / el solsticio / solstice / stone / la piedra / guanín / arrowhead / la punta de flecha. Quest: Find the largest slab—where the arrowhead rests. Begin.

A dramatic thunderclap. ALEXA and BENI shout as they travel through the portal.

1980. TIBES ARCHEOLOGICAL SITE. PONCE, PUERTO RICO.

The twins laugh as they land in the mud. It's raining. A river rushes in the distance.

ALEXA
Surprise, surprise. It’s raining.

BENI
At least the timestorm gave us raincoats.

ALEXA takes a couple of steps in the mud.

ALEXA
Look over there. A river. The water’s rushing pretty quickly.

BENI looks at JANELLY’S printout.

BENI
According to Janelly’s map, it’s...Río Portugues—or Ama Baramaya in Taíno.

ALEXA
This area looks like a construction zone. It’s probably, like, an excavation site.

BENI
I always thought archaeology was an Ancient Egypt kind of thing, but I guess it can be tropical, too.

ALEXA
Let me see the map?

BENI hands ALEXA the paper.

ALEXA
Look at these stones along here. These are batey courts.

BENI
Ooh! Watch this! (runs in the mud) In the beginning—

BENI/ALEXA
—only the goddess Atabey existed.

They laugh as two men approach.

ALEXA
(gasps) Beni, someone’s coming.

BENI
Uh...hide behind that huge rock!

The twins run and hide as their ponchos swish. RICARDO and OSVALDO trudge through the mud. Rain dances on their umbrellas.

OSVALDO
Of all the days to get rain! I told you I had terrible luck, Ricardo.

RICARDO
It’s only a passing storm.

OSVALDO
I don’t want to wait another six months to prove my theory. If there’s still cloud cover at sundown—

RICARDO
You’ve gathered the evidence. You can present your findings to the Guaynia Society with confidence this evening.

OSVALDO
Right. My findings.

RICARDO
Ay, Osvaldo. We’ve talked about this.

OSVALDO
Are they really my findings? You uncovered similar evidence in Utuado years ago. Am I just catching up?

RICARDO
It’s time your generation stands in the spotlight. ¿Viejo arqueólogos como yo? We’ve had plenty of time in the sun.

OSVALDO
It’s raining, Ricardo. No sun for me.

RICARDO
(laughs) Chin up, Osvaldo. Ah, mira. Streaks of sunlight in the distance.

OSVALDO
(sighs) I just hope some of that light makes its way here by sundown.

OSVALDO takes several steps in the batey.

OSVALDO
Evidence aside, there’s nothing like seeing the sun hit the bateys on the solstice. Witnessing firsthand how the courts line up with the sun.

RICARDO
Ay, sí. Knowing the Taínos used this spot to observe the stars.

OSVALDO
A field-sized clock telling them when to plant their crops.

A whoosh.

ALEXA
(whispering) These courts align with the sun.

BENI
(whispering) Like a Taíno Stonehenge.

ALEXA
(whispering) Stonehenge. Hey! A stone could be a slab.

BENI
(whispering) And this one’s definitely the largest.

BENI and ALEXA's ponchos make noise.

RICARDO
(distant) Oye, ¿qué es eso? What’s that noise?

OSVALDO
(distant) Hey! You kids!

ALEXA
Oh no.

OSVALDO and RICARDO approach the twins. ALEXA and BENI stand.

ALEXA/BENI
Hola.

OSVALDO
You’re trespassing on an excavation site. Do you know how dangerous that is?

BENI
Believe me, we’ve been in way more dangerous spots.

OSVALDO
Excuse me?

RICARDO
(chuckles, overlapping) No kidding?

BENI
I’ve got scratches I can show you from when I wrestled an iguana!

ALEXA
(whispers) Wrestled?

BENI
(whispers) I’ll keep them distracted. Search the big rock.

ALEXA
(whispers) I’m on it.

BENI continues talking as ALEXA walks towards the large stone.

BENI
Let me tell you, this iguana was no joke.

ALEXA
(to herself) Atabey said to find the largest slab. And if by slab, she means stone then...

BENI
(distant) Now, I’m sure you’re picturing a cute, little iguana. One you might keep as a pet.

ALEXA
Beni’s right. This stone slab is the biggest one around. Hmm, there’s gotta be an indent or hole in it.

BENI
(distant) I thought I was staring down a dragon.

ALEXA
Here! Where the water’s pooling.

BENI
(distant) Once I saw its scaly tail and beady eyes, I knew I was looking at the largest iguana in all of Puerto Rico.

ALEXA
That’s gotta be the arrowhead Atabey wants us to find. La punta de flecha.

ALEXA tries to remove the arrowhead.

ALEXA
Nope. Definitely not taking it with me now. Eh, it’s supposed to stay there until thirty-eight years from now, anyway.

OSVALDO
(distant) You can’t expect us to believe that, mijo.

BENI
(distant) It’s true! Its mouth was as big as my whole head!

ALEXA
Good thing Janelly gave us a map. Okay, if these are the bateys...that means this rock’s about...here.

ALEXA makes a note on the paper. She walks back to BENI.

RICARDO
And so you wrestled it to the ground?

BENI
You bet, I did!

ALEXA
Sorry about trespassing. We were walking in the woods and my brother here got us lost.

BENI
Hey, I’ve got a great sense of direction!

ALEXA
Uh…yeah.

RICARDO
(laughs) Do you need help finding your way home?

ALEXA
Nope! I found our map.

ALEXA rustles the map.

OSVALDO
What kind of map is that?

BENI
Uh, we better hurry back.

ALEXA/BENI
Bye!

The twins run off into the woods.

OSVALDO
Pero ¿adónde van? Into the woods with that strange map?

RICARDO
Let them be, Osvaldo.

OSVALDO
They could’ve gotten themselves hurt.

RICARDO
Eh, I was just like them. I found myself in places I didn’t belong.

OSVALDO
They could do real harm to the excavation site. They don’t realize the importance of what we’re doing here, Ricardo.

RICARDO
Or...maybe that’s why they were here—to see a bit of history with their own eyes.

OSVALDO
Those kids? Searching for history?

RICARDO
Sure. Why not?

THE TIMESTORM. ANOTHER DIMENSION.

MUSIC: TIMESTORM TRANSITION.

ALEXA
What was that about wrestling a giant iguana?

HORACIO
Mouth as big as your head, huh?

BENI
I’m an amazing storyteller. Okay?

ALEXA
Uh-huh. Save it for an areíto.

ATABEY
You found where the arrowhead rests, Alexa.

ALEXA
Yep. I found la punta de flecha de guanín. It was in that huge stone slab.

BENI
You were like Indiana Jones.

ALEXA
I even marked the stone on Janelly’s map. It’ll help us find it in twenty-eighteen.

BENI
Research Captain for the win!

ALEXA and BENI high-five.

ALEXA
Hey, what happened with Osvaldo? Did the rain clear in time for sundown?

ATABEY
Yes. He showed how the Taínos aligned the batey area to cast great shadows during the solstice.

HORACIO
It’s not every day you get to meet two generations of archeological geniuses talking shop.

BENI
I liked that Ricardo guy.

HORACIO
Don Ricardo Alegria. He was a trailblazer in preserving the culture and history of Puerto Rico.

ATABEY
Osvaldo Garcia followed in Don Ricardo’s footsteps. He’s a scholar and professor in two thousand eighteen. But when you met him just now, he was still completing his studies.

BENI
I think I’d be good at archaeology.

HORACIO
I think you’d be great at it.

ALEXA
He’s getting pretty good at the history stuff too.

HORACIO
¡Claro que sí!

ALEXA’S poncho makes noise as she moves.

ALEXA
Hey, Horacio? I’m kind of sweating in this poncho.

BENI
Me too.

HORACIO
Oh, right. Clothing!

A whoosh indicates a costume change.

ALEXA/BENI
Thank you!

ATABEY
Quest: Retrieve a guanín arrowhead in Ponce in two thousand eighteen.

A thunderclap.

MUSIC: THEME SONG "IN THE TIMESTORM" (INSTRUMENTAL).

NARRATION
This episode was written by Andrew Siañez-De La O. With story and direction by me, Dania Ramos. Sound design and original music by Michael Aquino.

The role of Alexa Ventura was played by Leilany Figueroa. Beni Ventura was played by Claudio Venancio. Josie was played by Angelica Ubiera. Janelly was played by Frances Ramos. Lalo was played by Kelmi Bermúdez. Horacio Méndez was played by Orlando Segarra. Atabey was played by Alicia Rivas. Osvaldo was played by Kristian Otero. Ricardo was played by Carlos Ponton.

Timestorm is produced by Cocotazo Media and is a proud member of TRAX from PRX. Support for TRAX comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Learn more about TRAX at t-r-a-x-dot fm.

All episodes of Timestorm are available at TimestormSeries dot com and on all podcast apps. If you enjoy the show, please share it with two friends.

Timestorm is produced in Essex County, New Jersey, which is situated on the traditional territory of the Leni Lenape people.

ATABEY
Witness. Find. Remember.