Another thing that the chaneques are famous for is getting people lost. We had another similar experience, when we are going in a four-car caravan through a forested area.
At a certain point, when we were on a short stretch of road with no secondary exists, we realized that one of the cars was missing. When we arrived at our destination, we went back to look for the missing party and ended up finding them way down the road.
When we asked them what happened, they told us that they had driven for a long time but never seemed to arrive at the destination. The lost party also saw no signs of the rest of caravan, which were previously only driving a few meters ahead. After going on for what felt like eternity, they decided to retrace their steps, but could not seem to even find their point of origin.
At this point a little girl who was part of the party said:
“It is the chaneques, we need to put our clothes on backwards!”
All the people in the car followed the little girl’s advice. They flipped their shirts, back to front and even their pants.
When they started driving again, the road seemed to shorten, and they immediately found those of us who had gone looking for them.
The chaneques are masters at getting people lost, making people lose their tracks. It is for this reason that you need to fool them! By putting on your clothes backwards, the chaneques do not know what is backward or forward anymore, and you manage to escape their playful web.
~ Alejandro
Illustrations Blake Lavia