text: [Themes: edutainment]
  
  There is chaos around you. There are screams of fear, calls for help, pleas of those in need and orders of those wanting to get away. You almost loose your balance and fall down on the cobblestone street when you are pushed aside by a man running for his life. There are quite a bit of people on the street, all are moving in great haste, some with carts containing valuables, others accompanied by their loved ones and some even all on their own. It is dark around you and the air you breath is heavy with smoke and sulphur which makes you cough and burns your lungs. You now immediately understand why the people around you are carrying cloth or rags in front of their mouths and noses! Judging by the buildings - some burning - the clothing of the fleeing inhabitants and the dark mountain spewing fire behind you in the distance, it is easy for you to find out where you currently are: Pompeii in 79 A.D. The street is covered with a layer of pebbles, ashes and rock that are falling from the sky like hailstones. You see the man that almost pushed you down, suddenly fall down in the street, losing the bag of valuables he was carrying in the process. The poor Roman has been struck by a falling rock that has been spewn out by the Vesuvius. Shortly after, one of those rocks also strike you on the shoulder. You cry out in pain as you attempt to find cover underneath the roof a Roman building...one thing is certain: you DON'T want to be stranded here!
  
  Alright contestant, you got it right: it's the late afternoon of the 24th of August 79 A.D. and the Vesuvius has just erupted. Rip off a piece of your shirt and put it in front of your face before you run out of breath and answer me the following: Which Emperor ruled over the Roman Empire when the Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D.?
  
  > Emperor Titus
  That's correct. It was Emperor Titus who reigned in 79 A.D. Titus was the older brother of Domitian and the oldest son of Emperor Vespasian whom he succeeded to the throne at his death in 79 A.D. Titus was born in 39 A.D. and served as military tribune in Germania and in Britannia between 57 and 62 A.D. He gained fame as military commander serving under his father in Judaea during the First Jewish-Roman War. While his father was on his way to Rome to gain the throne in the Year of the Four Emperors, Titus was left to deal with the Jewish rebellion. In 70, he besieged and captured Jerusalem, sacked and destroyed the city and the Second Temple. When Vespasian became Emperor, Titus became the prefect of the Praetorian Guard gaining notoriety for his brutality towards certain senators and for carrying on a controversial relationship with a Jewish queen. Titus became Emperor in june 79 A.D. and, despite his bad reputation, was considered a good emperor by most of his contemporaries. He is best known for completing the Colosseum and for his prompt action in relieving the suffering caused by two disasters: the Eruption of the Vesuvius and a fire in Rome in 80 A.D. After only two years in office, Titus died of a fever in 81 A.D. Cassius Dio, writing hundred years after his death, had a different outlook on Emperor Titus: "His satisfactory record may also have been due to the fact that he survived his accession but a very short time, and therefore was not given any opportunity for wrongdoing"
  
  Alright traveler, let me get you out of here as Pompeii in 79 A.D. is not the place to hang around for too long! You can be struck by falling rock, choke from the poisonous ash and smoke or be crushed under a collapsing building...but let's not ponder on this morbid stuff any longer...
  
  > Gateway through time and space....
  Splash! You land in a body of cold water. What a contrast from your previous destination! When you manage to get your head above water and catch your breath, you notice that you have tumbled into a river. The current is pretty strong, but not too strong to prevent you from reaching the bank aligned with dense trees and bushes. As there seems to be no people, nor any sign of civilization around you, it is difficult for you to assess where you've been dropped in time. A slight mist hangs over river and the trees, giving you the impression that you are in the mountains and of course, restricting your view over the horizon. The sound of movement in the water on the other side of the riverbank alarms you...what just plunged into the water? Hopefully not crocodiles...
  
  I am very sorry my dear candidate, but I'm going to have to leave you here for a while on your own as it seems I'm encountering some kind of disfunction with my time machine. Yes, even in the future sometimes the computers still break down. Damn machine! Just give me a sec please.
  
  So time traveler, what will you do?
  
  > get out of the water!
  As you swim towards the riverbank, you quickly feel the pain on your shoulder from the piece of rock that hit you in Pompeii. Man it hurts! You are glad to reach the muddy side of the river and get on land so that you will not have to use it anymore. Needless to say you are drenched from top to bottom. You soon realize that you are in a wilderness - there is no road, nor sound of people around, just the sound of all kinds of wild animals, reptiles and birds. They hastily take flight or crawl away once you disturb their habitat. If it had been a little warmer and had the sun shone, you would have sat down to enjoy the sight of nature around you. But it is cloudy and the cool climate prompts you to keep on moving. Having hiked from shore for about 10 minutes you decide to open what's left of your shirt and have a look at your shoulder. It does not look good. Your right shoulder is badly swollen and bruised. It would be best for you not to use it too much...
  
  So what will you do as you wait for word from your host?
  
  > move on...
  Despite the pain of your shoulder, the cold and the wilderness around you, you decide to move on. After a few minutes, the hill you are on begins to slope and you start to descend softly. Stumbling upon a series of cliffs and rocks, you decide to carefully crawl upon them in order to get away from the trees that obstruct your view. Although the panamora ahead of you is slightly obstructed by a hovering fog, you manage to make out a valley stretching out below and...there seems to be movement a little further down. Finally civilization...or at least human beings. You immediately decide to head towards them in order to finally find out where you are...
  
  Ignoring the pain you are suffering, you head down the hill, grasping the trees to prevent yourself from sliding due to the muddy soil. After a few minutes you have descended close enough to make out who is traveling towards the valley. The sight surprises you! Ahead of you is an army of 300 men, moving in single file along a muddy path in between two large hills. Although most of them are on foot, you also notice some cavalrymen here and there. All of the group wore armor, either cotton armor or iron breastplates, but when you see some indians pulling and pushing an artillery piece it all becomes clear: you are not in ancient times anymore! These are conquistadores! Excited you try to move closer in order to find out who is leading them: Pizarro, Cortes, Ponce de Leon, De Vaca, Orellana?
  
  As you move even closer, one of the companies is ordered to halt by a commander on horse. Suddenly you see one of the indian allies in the group pointing towards where you currently are hiding...have you been noticed? Now also the commander on horse is looking towards you...
  
  > Are discovered!
  You can feel your heart beating in your throat when you see the Spanish commander on horse ordering some of his native allies to check out to see if you are there. Yes, they've seen you! And by now, the entire army of conquistadores has halted. Three natives - Aztec people or Inca people - are running up the slope towards you accompanied by some barking, mad-looking dogs...no way you'll be able to outrun them, it's their own territory!
  
  I'm sorry for the inconvenience participant, but I believe I've fixed the problem. We can continue. Seems I'm just on time because you are about to be taken prisoner by Cortes' indian allies: three Totonac scouts. Yes, you've arrived in Puebla, Mexico, in the late summer of 1519. You have approached the army of Hernan Cortés on his way towards Tenochtitlan. It was my intention to send you to the Minoan civilization in 1519 B.C. but something went wrong, as you can see...
  
  So now, answer me this question: which of the following civilizations is the oldest civilization of mesoamerica?
  
  > The Zapotecs
  No it weren't the Zapotecs, but admit, the name of these people is pretty catchy, not? The Zapotec civilization had its beginnings in the Valley of Oaxaca in southern Mexico around 500 B.C. Their civilization was centered around the ancient city of Monte Alban, one of the first major cities in Mesoamerica. The civilization flourished at around 200 B.C. when the rulers of the Zapotec civilization started to expand outside of the Oaxaca Valley. Since the surrounding territories could not compete with the Zapotecs politically nor militarily, the civilization expanded their influence from Quiotopec in the north to Chiltepec to the south. From 200 A.D. on, the Zapotec civilization began to decline and had problems maintaining their borders. Although the Zapotec people survived until well after the Spanish conquest of Mexico, it had stopped being a leading civilization by the 9th century A.D.
  
  I'm sorry contestant...I'm not only leaving you in the year 1519, but I'm also leaving you in the hands of the most famous conquistador in history: Hernan Cortés. No doubt you'll be captured by the Spanish dogs and the Totonac scouts, but I do wonder however how you'll manage to explain your presence here. It is likely that Cortes might see you as some sort of spy from the Governor of Cuba as the relationship between the two was strained to say the least. Do you even know how to speak Spanish?