The parched mountains clove the blue sky in two. We watched the jeep racing out to meet us, a trail of dust in it’s wake. It was the only movement on the edge of a village lost in time. San Juan was far from the modern world yet startlingly beautiful.
Edwin, our local guide, arrived still wiping sleep from his eyes and hitching up his jeans. He had a mane of dark black hair and the air of someone who met tourists often, but rarely on time. He apologised for his lateness and we waved away the courtesy. We hadn’t even expected him and had been ready to stroll the cemetery alone. Thank goodness we didn’t, or else we’d have missed a story stranger than any fiction.
Edwin, shielding his eyes behind dark glasses, began to speak with conviction. He explained that some 20,000 years ago, this driest of bone dry places was a mighty salt lake. In fact, the entire…
Full story and more stories on 10,000km Arriba: https://open.substack.com/pub/jackgreenwood/p/the-coral-necropolis?r=1e0k8c&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
by Wise_Engineer4500