"...as the dust returns to the ground it came from..."

My goodness. Everything has happened way too fast (Well, that escalated quickly). Let me try to get my thoughts together.

When the Priest came across that little town with the people who still cared about religion, I was overjoyed! What seemed like a happy ending sadly only deceived me temporarily; just like the old days, the Priest heard confessions, baptized children, said mass, etc.. Yet, the emptiness and sinfulness that has haunted his poor life for the last 8 years remained. He tried to stop drinking for a short time, but he can't; this simply depressed him even more. I really tried to help him; by now, that man actually meant a lot to me. I really cared for him after following his tragic story for so long, and encouraged him to stop drinking and settle down there. But despair had its hold on the man. There was nothing I could do now but follow him, and follow I did.

He was summoned to hear the gringo's confession. He knew it was a trap, he even told me that. But he just wanted it to all be over. He had seen enough of the world, and was ready to give himself up, no matter what it took. It wasn't even that the priest going to hear the gringo's confession was humble, because humility comes from a place of wanting to put others first. He just wanted it to be over with. The running, the hiding, the suffering. 

I saw his execution.

Only God knows what he hollered before he died. Maybe one last cry out to God for forgiveness that he felt had not been given. That poor man. That poor, poor man. He came into the world empty-handed, and he left it just the same. 

"...as the dust returns to the ground it came from, so the spirit returns to God who gave it..."
Ecclesiastes 12:7

Hope is Temporary

Well, I suppose I got what I deserved... I've been following this priest for a good while now, and it was inevitable that if he was caught, so was I. So, here I am, sitting in jail with the Whisky Priest. Darn it. I'm sure my bail will be posted soon enough, but the priest's fate is unknown.
Something that I thought was interesting- when I was with him in the jail cell, it was pitch black, and we really couldn't see a single thing. All we had to tell us that others were there were their voices. There were many different voices; a religious woman's voice, a arrogant man's voice, a crazy old man's voice, and a few others. At first, none of the voices seemed to have any interest in us, the newcomers. All they wanted was a drink, money, food, and cigarettes. Until the priest spoke up. Then, all attention was on him. The prisoners suddenly had hope! Yet they tell him that he should not have told them, because there were horrible people present in the cell too. But, at this point, the priest doubts his own survival, and has sadly accepted that the police will find him out, so he doesn't care. The voices, especially the religious woman's voice, barrages him with questions. Are you afraid to die? Are you a martyr? How did you end up here? Etc., etc.. The prisoners had hope! But, that all begins to change into dread, mostly dread for their own well being. A priest was among them! But why the change of attitude? Through prolonged dialogue with the priest, the voices realize that this priest is a BAD priest. He is no man of God, and only poses a danger to them. "If you bishop heard you," they said. "The sooner you are dead the better," they said. Man, that's rough.
The fact that the people still have hope in their priests is a good sign; it shows that all has not yet been lost for  the Catholic Church in Mexico. However, the fact that they lost that faith so quickly shows to me that the people of Mexico have lost their faith. In Catholicism, in their own country, in their religious men, in God. It is sad to see. Hope is temporary.

The Fanged Judas- Watch out guys...

I have been following the Whiskey Priest for a long way now. After deciding to turn south at his home village, against the suggestion of the occupants of the tiny settlement, the whiskey priest came to the village of La Candelaria. He inquired a man of mixed race, or a metizo, about the Police's whereabouts in an indirect way so that suspicion would not arise. The metizo's appearance was memorable; I remember the half-blood was missing all of his teeth except two upper yellow canines, making him seem like he had fangs like a snake. Afterwards, the Priest rode on. His eyes were set on the city of Carmen, the city of his birth and the resting place of his parents. As he crossed the river, however, the metizo ran to the bank of the river and waved for him to come back. Feeling something was awry, the Priest ignored the metizo and went on. However, only shortly later, the half-blood caught up with him! The fool swam the river! Anyways, right from the start, something about the metizo set off the alarm bells in the Priest's mind. He knew the man couldn't be trusted. The Priest, somehow, knew that this seemingly harmless man was going to betray him, likely to the Police. He somehow consciously knew the metizo's intents were of plans of betrayal to get the reward of seven hundred pesos , which, in reality, is not a lot of money, but in those times, one could not be picky, and had to take what he could get. The half-blood, no doubt, had evil plans in mind. And the Priest was very aware of it. "I know. I am in the presence of Judas," he told me.
Something that I found ironic about it all was this: the biblical Judas is connected to Satan, who is connected to serpentine creatures. And our half-blooded man had two fangs, almost like a snake would have! Although his appearance really had nothing to do at all with his intents, it is interesting to see how his appearance does connect indirectly with his fangs (I wonder if the author was making an indirect, discreet association. Question mark?).
Anyways, getting back on track (sorry for the tangent; it happens), every time the Priest tries to escape his betrayer's presence, Judas stops him. Whether it be when the Priest went outside to "relieve himself" and the fanged man grabs his ankle (there is a LOT of instances mentioning people grabbing each other's feet, which confuses me... but anyways...), or when the Priest steals out into the dark, looking for the mule and the saddle to escape, and the man grabs his ankle AGAIN, it is apparent that our fanged Judas was fully aware of the Whiskey Priest's "priestlyness". He simply would not allow the Priest to leave his helpless self alone. Out of pure human decency, the Priest puts the man's physical state before his own safety, and allows him to go on with him. But, being the wise man he is, once he reached the outskirts of Carmen, he parted with the sick man, leaving him heading into the city, completely paralyzed and very angry on his mule. Our Priest is very wise to have parted with this evil man, but the metizo will return. I have no doubt he will return.

The Fanged Judas is bad news- watch out guys. And yes, I just said watch out guys in my blog. Haters gonna hate. Come at me bro. Okay, I'm done now :P

The Lieutenant- A man not to be trusted

I encountered a certain Lieutenant recently as I searched for information concerning a brewing situation down here in Mexico. This Lieutenant seemed to be very into his work, diligently searching for a man accused of treason. I overheard his conversation with the Chief of Police, and learned that he must find this man before the rainy season, or the Governor will hold him responsible. I haven't been able to acquire the all of the exact details about this Lieutenant quite yet; the way he unceasingly approaches his task shows me that he either has horrible punishments and consequences if he fails in finding the man, or he simply ardently pursues his tasks. My guess is that it is a bit of both; he clearly demonstrated both of these when he interacted with a group of native children. While walking through the town, one of the little punk children throws an empty glass bottle at the Lieutenant, thinking he was a gringo, or a white. The Lieutenant at first seemed to react positively; he does not punish the boy, but rather, asks what the boy's name was, shows the boy and his companions his fancy gun, and really connects with them, considering the minimal amount of time he had with them. Through these actions, I saw a police officer who loved his job, and who loved being a role model for others. He seemed like a "cool" cop as well, considering he didn't punish the young boy for the thrown glass bottle. But then, things change. The cop puts out his hand, seemingly as a symbol of affection, but then pinches the boy's ear! Hard! And the children scatter away. From this seemingly harmless act of power, I realized that this Lieutenant has a bad side to him. Many humans do, and the Lieutenant is no exception. Something to be noted is that it is common for officers to have at least a smidgen of power hunger. It was apparent that he was stressed over his task, which may partially explain his uncalled-for behavior, but it seems to me that the Lieutenant may be more power-hungry than I originally had expected. I don't believe this man is to be trusted. Even when encountering the Chief of Police, someone ranked higher than himself, the Lieutenant seemed to be intimidating and controlling in a subtle way. Maybe I'm overreacting, but, like I said, I don't believe this man is to be trusted.  Men who put on a false image of goodness while their real intents are evil are the most dangerous of all men. Corrupt? Not necessarily. Evil? Possibly. Trustworthy? No.

Captain Fellows- A Fortunate Optimist

Today, I met a certain Captain Fellows, a boisterous, happy man, who seems to keep a jolly attitude, regardless of his daunting circumstances. As a banana plantation owner, you might suppose that Fellows is a very wealthy man. Although well off compared to some people's situations, Fellows, his wife, and his daughter, all have struggles of their own, mostly because of Mexico's horrible government situation at the time. Even the wealthy struggled because of the falling value of the Peso, as mentioned earlier in the story.
Anyways, I also got the, *cough*cough* "pleasure" of meeting Mrs. Fellows, a very timid woman, and also Coral, Mr. Fellows daughter, a young girl of about 13, who bears an immense amount of responsibility for such a young child. 
Now, as I observed Mr. Fellows interactions with his wife especially, I noticed a few patterns. 
Concerning his wife, Mr. Fellows communicates at a very basal level; this isn't because he doesn't want to converse with her, but rather that she simply doesn't seem to have the capability to converse about complicated things because she is always so fearful. Fellows and his daughter Coral could not even tell her of the man they were temporarily sheltering in their own barn because she likely would go into panic attacks! When Fellows arrives home from work, the initial conversation is very typical:
"Honey, I'm home!"
"How was work?"
But then, Mrs. Fellows's dominating fear of EVERYTHING takes over, and she begins fretting over small things in the grand scheme of everything. To be honest, if she was my "better half", I'm not sure I could live comfortably without going completely insane. She is UNBEARABLE to live with! Constantly whining and fretting! Poor Mr. Fellows really tries to reach out to her, and to make her feel better. "You'll be alright," he says, "I'm home now." But, his efforts are trivial. I'm afraid he's stuck with her, and will have to just try to live with her as best of his ability. It's good he has such a positive attitude. My attitude cannot match it; personally, I'm not sure if I could live with such a burden. He is fortunate to be such an optimist. Fortunate indeed.