Tell ITN about the funniest thing that ever happened to you while traveling in a foreign country. There are no restrictions on length. (ITN prints no info on destinations in the U.S., Canada or Mexico.) The ITN staff will choose each month’s winner, who will receive a free one-year subscription to ITN. Entries not chosen cannot be acknowledged.
This month’s winner is WES PERRIN of Bend, Oregon:
We were vacationing in Belize, and Carlos, our savvy guide, was showing us through the tiny museum at the entrance to the Maya ruins at Lamanai. As museums go, it was poorly lit and pretty primitive, but Carlos made sure we noted the nice collection of pre-Columbian Maya pots.
As we were about to leave, I spotted a splash of bright color among all the terra-cotta hues. It was a fuzzy blob of purple, red and yellow and seemed connected to a slender wooden stick. Hoping to impress Carlos with my ability to discover an item of archaeological importance, I pointed it out and inquired if it might have been some kind of ceremonial implement used by Maya priests.
“Not exactly,” he replied. “That’s the museum’s feather duster.”