Survive The Insanity: The Circle Asylum – Wk 3, Thursday – Arrival in Selvadorada-Alum Museum of Archaeology

In the last chapter, The Circle Asylum residents traveled to Selvadorada. Barbie’s overpacking of her “glamping gear”, had the residents sitting with pieces of gear in their laps on the way to the lodging. The Belomisia Field Station was a pleasant surprise for the group but had limited running water and no electricity. A letter from The Director to Viviana outlined the itinerary and they were booked for a tour of the Alum Museum of Archaeology. As Viviana passed a crate under the stairs, she spied something on the floor. It was a map…a torn piece of a treasure map. Viviana was suspicious of The Director and wondered if this was the real reason they were in Selvadorada and not for some therapeutic effort.

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Thursday afternoon, same day.

They arrived at the Alum Museum of Archaeology in the afternoon. Viviana’s heart sank when she saw it. The museum certainly wasn’t what she was expecting. It didn’t even have a sign out front. Anyone passing by would think it was just an old house, with cracked walls, in the middle of nowhere.

What happened to the thriving art community that she had heard about? Was this the only museum in town? This must be a mistake.

Viviana made her way inside and announced her arrival to the sim seated behind a computer.

The museum curator, Samuel Jiménez smiled, and spoke to her in flawless Simlish, “Ah, yes, Senõr Director L’Ernitage sent a letter of introduction. We are pleased to have you visit our humble museum. Please feel free to explore and my staff and I will be happy to answer any questions you may have. I will let the head archaeologist know you are here to volunteer. We have an on-site excavation encampment at the back of the property to give volunteers an idea of what it would be like on an archaeological field trip in the jungle.”

The museum curator waved the others inside and excused himself to head out the back door.

The group trooped in and noted that the museum was a lot different than the museum they had visited in Willow Creek. As the group looked around, Barbie remarked, “Why the heck did I come all this way to see some broken pottery?” She was obviously not impressed.

Some tourists had wandered in and the museum was getting busy. Viviana saw Finn near a glass display case, and as Viviana moved towards him, she glanced at an impressive gold plate in the display case. Everything was well labeled and she read that it was an actual Omiscan treasure – an ancient Omiscan gold calendar plate, which had been donated to the museum by Sir Vincent Skullfinder of the Simsonian Institute.

Not everyone went into the museum right away. Toby had stayed out front and was intently looking at some pots as if he was searching for something or someone. Maybe he just liked the pots.

Mowgli was more interested in heading outside and painting the beautiful landscape.

Hannibal also headed outside and looked at some ruins that were on-site.

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After exploring the museum for a bit, the museum curator came back and handed Viviana a bag which contained some archaeology tools. He escorted her to the back of the property. Some other volunteers were there and they were given a tour of the site.

The head archaeologist, Juliana Orozco, explained that work “in the field” could be time-consuming and take days, weeks and sometimes even years to excavate a site. In the jungle, they had to be self-contained and often slept in tents.

Some make-shift rooms had been constructed. One such room was where excavated artifacts were brought to an archaeology table to be further studied. Juliana explained that archaeology was a very detail-oriented job and most nights were spent authenticating artifacts on the archaeology table, logging their finds and writing field notes. There was really no recreation, other than reading or playing cards, and their only means of communication was a satellite phone.

Juliana then discussed the tools that they had been given and what they had to do when they excavated a dig site. She brought the volunteers to various areas and left Viviana to excavate on her own. Viviana worked slowly but diligently, using the mattock to break through hard earth, a hand trowel to remove earth, and a brush to sweep away dirt close to an object. She was excited when she found something and waved for Juliana to come over and look. Juliana pulled out a measuring tape, made some notes and took a picture of the object before reaching down and slowly picking it up. From her pocket, Juliana pulled out a bag, labeled it with a permanent marker and placed the artifact inside. Juliana praised Viviana for her work and told Viviana that she was ready to work on an established excavation site. [Author’s Note: Viviana found a Fossilised 3 Toed Footprint worth $76 simoleons]

While Viviana worked at one of the established dig sites, some of the other residents wandered over to look around.

Mowgli, Toby, and Erik asked if they needed extra volunteers, and Juliana was more than happy to have them help out. After giving them instructions and a tool kit, she brought them over to an established dig site and left them to excavate. [Author’s Note: You can use the Club Gathering at the museum and one of their activities is excavating. On an Established Dig site, you can click on it and it gives the option to Excavate or Excavate Together. I had Viviana choose to excavate together, but these three went to a different dig site.]

Barbie came over momentarily to see what they were doing but was more busy swatting mosquitoes. She had enough of the outdoors. “I hate bugs!” she exclaimed as she headed back to the museum.

Hannibal invited Juliana to a game of cards and asked Juliana’s advice on what Selvadoradian dish he should order at the Puerto Llamante Marketplace.

Back at the museum, the museum curator was chatting with Sunny, while one of his assistant’s was cleaning the exhibits.

Sunny was soon joined by Barbie and Erik and they struck up a conversation with a local named Fernanda Dávila. [Author’s note: Hmmm…Fernanda looks rather familiar. Oh, this is the sim that kept looking at Louis when he was at the cantina. Who is she?]

Erik finds out that Fernanda knows Louis. Small world. Now don’t get any ideas there Erik. Luckily Viviana is done with her volunteer work and the jeeps are back to bring them to the marketplace for dinner.

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It was dark when they arrived at the marketplace. And they were very hungry. Viviana and the other residents couldn’t wait to sample some tasty Selvadoradian cuisine.

But first they all took a moment to admire the Statue of“Madre Cosecha” in the square. They later found out that she was the founder of Selvadorada.

Toby wandered over to some potted plants and started conversing with a gecko. Do you think this is one of the Lizardmen who told him he had been chosen and to wait because they would be back for him?

Who knows, but Toby seemed rather happy after that conversation.

Hannibal wasted no time and headed over to the food stall and ordered Empanadas de Verde. The archaeologists’ recommendation was delicious.

And it looked like everyone else had the same idea.

Pretty soon, everyone was eating dinner and having a good time.

Well, everyone except Barbie who was swatting at more mosquitos. They seem to have followed her from the museum.

After an amazing dinner of Arepa Rellena con Perico, Viviana decided to head to a vendor’s table and see what was for sale. She recognized one item, a machete. The vendor explained some of the items on the table, from a Plasma Bat Bait to a waterfall in a bottle. Another vendor came over and told her about some of the insects in the jungle.

Viviana gulped, “Are you serious about the spiders?” she asked. The vendors both nodded and recommended she purchase Dr. Parker’s Spider Repellent. Viviana quickly bought one. She looked at everything again and decided to purchase all the wares on the table. “It’s best to be prepared,” she laughed nervously. No one had told Viviana about all these natural dangers.

As the marketplace was closing, Augustín Escobar, the vendor, asked Viviana if she would like to have a drink at the El Arbol del Jaguar Cantina. Viviana thought that would be a nice way to end the day and let the others know where she was going.

As she sat down with Augustín, he told her tales of the jungle that sent chills up and down her spine. But he also told her of a beautiful waterfall across a rope bridge. “Some locals go there with someone special, as it is quite romantic. I go there sometimes…” He paused to look at her, “…alone”, he emphasized, “For me, it is more for the scenery. It is a beautiful place to paint.”

“You’re an artist?” exclaimed Viviana, “So am I!”

And the conversation went from there with Augustín telling Viviana that he was single and lived in an artist colony not far from there. Viviana felt renewed hope that she would find refuge here. They continued their conversation in hushed tones.

Pretty soon, the rest of the residents came into the bar ordering drinks, singing, playing guitar and just having a fun time.

Of course, some of the residents came because “nature called”. Well, at least they are using the indoor restrooms in the cantina.

Hannibal wandered over to the docks near the cantina and did a bit of fishing. He was soon joined by Toby, Finn and a local. Finn made a great catch!

As the bar patrons dwindled, and Augustín bid her goodnight, Viviana realized that it was nearly morning. She had been so wrapped up in talking to Augustín that she hadn’t realized the time. Where were the drivers and the Jeeps? The bartender motioned to her and Viviana went over to talk to him. “Senorita, your drivers left hours ago, but I will call them for you. Sí?”

“Sí”, responded Viviana. She started rounding everyone up.

As they headed outside, Viviana saw that the marketplace was still closed. She wouldn’t be able to purchase any more “protection” items. They would have to make do with what they had.

But there was one thing that Viviana could do. She walked over to the statue and asked for Madre Cosecha’s protection in the jungle. She needed all the help she could get.

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When they arrived back at their lodging, everyone was exhausted.

Some of them didn’t even make it to their bed and just collapsed on the floor. Today was the day they were to head to the Belomisia Trailhead National Park and into the jungle. The day was not starting out well at all.

 

 

 

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Author’s Notes:

Thanks so much for stopping by to read the chapter.

I had made an addition to The Alum Archaeology Museum at the back to resemble an archaeology camp. However, my game crashed and when I went back in, it wasn’t there. So, the only pics of the addition are in this chapter. I did use some debug hidden object dig sites to make this, but only screenies were done and no objects were found. The only legit item that was found was the fossil from the dig site which is located in the Maxis build.

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