Five to Doomsday – Day 5: Josh Garcia’s Ek Naab Diary

Guesting today on the blog it’s none other than Josh Garcia.  Delivered this late, after staying up all night at some crazy party in Ek Naab. But I’ll let Josh tell you in his own words.

Best. Night. Ever.

I woke late on the day that was supposed to be the end of the world. I had a little smile to myself looking at Twitter at all the Mayan Doomsday posts, laughing it up. Well, sure, why not? The way we know we succeeded is that no-one outside of Ek Naab knew much about what was going on. The space scientists knew, but you have to expect that…

The preparations for the party were already under way. Benicio and some of the Sky Guardians were going to let people onto their training machine, the virtual reality simulator. It’s a piece of kit that took Carlos Montoyo into negotiations with one of NASA’s major suppliers to get hold of. This was back when the NRO had only the vaguest idea that in the skies of southern Mexico, something strange might just be going on. He pretended that the owners of the plantation above Ek Naab were planning to open a multi-billion dollar theme park and that the simulator was going to be like, our Mission Orange. But that’s another story.

Anyway, Benicio was in the main plaza, setting up the simulator. I grabbed a breakfast burrito and helped out with the guys who were setting up the rolling stage. There was going to be a concert there until two am. There aren’t many musicians in EK Naab so the twenty of us had to take turns playing different sets, each playing two sets, three hours apart. My band’s been together for only three months so we’re not that great, firstly. But worse – we don’t have more than 25 minutes of music we can play! I wanted us to play originals but Leonora, our lead singer, refused. I don’t know why because it’s not as though people in Ek Naab really listen to music but ever since Mum and I arrived, I have to admit, the interest in rock music has increased A LOT.

Ixchel rolled up at around 2 in the afternoon. She had a twinkly look in her eye that I took the wrong way completely. I was all set to finish up, get some lunch and head over to her place until I realised that she had something else in mind. Mum or Montoyo must have tipped her off because it turned out that they’d cooked up a plan to fly out to Tlacotalpan. Now that is also another BIG story but I have been instructed not to write about what happened in Tlacotalpan because of SPOILERS.

So we went off to Tlacotalpan, Mum, Montoyo, Ixchel and me. And amazing, wonderful stuff happened and it was very cool and also kind of romantic, in more than one way, but I’m getting into spoilerish territory there.

When we got back to Ek Naab it was one in the morning. I’d promised Leonora that I’d join in with the band if they waited until the end for me, and amazingly, without hardly any fuss at all, they did.

We played that Gotye  song that everyone is mad about (even here) and also a couple of Green Day classics (Holiday and Good Riddance) and Muse (Supermassive Black Hole) and then specially for Leonora, Fast Car (which she sings really well) and Poker Face (less impressive but then I think that song is less difficult to sing, I mean, even I can do an OK job of that. :)). It’s kind of a weird set, but that’s because we’re mashing up all the different band members’ musical tastes. I guess mainly we’re just going to have to be happy as a cover band. 😛

And then we got off the stage and all the kids in Ek Naab all got on stage and did Ek Naab Style. Which is exactly what it sounds like. Yes I videoed it but no, I’m not allowed to put in on Youtube.

Gangnam Style – one crazy end to 2012. Believe me, back when I first found the Ix Codex, I did NOT see that coming.

Well, I was too tired to join in, just exhausted from the long day. I put my arms around Ixchel and finally, headed home with her.