Dirtygus and the Mayan Equinox

The story

Dirtygus loves dressing like a cowboy, and his face is never clean. He leads Xcitabelle to a secret cowboy town, but when banditos show up, he asks a magic tumbleweed to take him far away.

He lands on a beach in the Yucatán, in Mexico, and meets a baby tapir named Tabitha. A red skull in a tree warns that the Aluxes, ancient clay spirits, do not want cowboys here.

The real place: Chichén Itzá

Three things to tell your kid after the story.

1. 1The great pyramid at Chichén Itzá has 91 steps on each of its four sides, and with the top platform that makes 365, one for each day of the year.
2. 2On the spring and fall equinoxes, the setting sun makes a shadow that looks like a giant snake sliding down the pyramid's stairs.
3. 3Tapirs, with their funny bendy noses, really do live in the forests of Mexico's Yucatán.

Next stop

EP 40 · Japan

Xcitabelle

Gets overexcited.

EP 41 · Vienna, Austria

Goblick

Has terrible table manners.