FINDING LOST CIVILIZATIONS This

who seemed perturbed that I had taken several photographsalong the Stations of the Cross. In our continuing conversationhe told me that of his ten brothers,he was the only devout Catholicand that none of them helped himconstruct the memorial. He explainedthat the thirteen Stations of the Crosswere built from the donations of thirteenpeople and that the cross hadbeen erected by the good grace anddonations of five other donors. Thegrand archway forming the entrancehad taken several years to build andwas still a work in progress. Pedrowas the soul and life of this memorialand was not supported or helped byhis family or the local Catholic parishpriest. He explained that the old parishpriest had initially been helpful, butthat for the past five years the newly assigned young priesthad not helped him with the project and declined to offerhim any assistance whatsoever. Nor would the young priestHilltop below Pedro’s Cross with a view ofJaltemba Bay, Nayarit, Mexico.visit to bless the memorial. I thought there was some sort ofestrangement between he and Pedro, and reflected on howman’s emotions and personal feelingsoften dominate a greater good.And that jealousy, wrongs perceived,self-righteousness, superiority, dominance,and a whole host of humanfrailties often control mankind’s relationshipwith each other. Pedro’shomage was a personal offeringopen to all believers to share in. But,here it stood guarded and closed offwith a chain-link fence. How muchhave we actually changed over theages? I wondered. And if in the end,we shall all become like fragmentsin the earth at our own hands.At the time I had no idea thatmy chance encounter on that hilltop andseveral pottery fragments were the beginning of a wonderfuljourney of discovery as I followed a thread weaving its wayalong the path of lost civilizations.8