FINDING LOST CIVILIZATIONS This

eral Chinese restaurants and learned that Guadalajara has asmall Chinese community. To our delight we ate at an allyou-can-eatChinese buffet for thirty-five pesos, which isabout $3.20. The food was very good.One place I wanted to visit in Guadalajara was SanJuan de Dios, which has reportedly one of the largest coveredmarkets in Mexico with hundreds of stalls and vendorsselling all manner of interesting items.While strolling in the market I came upon a booth displayingherbs and a multitude of medicinal plants. I noticeda pole across the top of the booth from which numeroussmall clay figures were suspended. I began recognizingmany small figures similar to those I had seen in museumsand in books about the indigenous relics of Mexico. I askedthe man behind the counter if any of the ancient figures werefor sale. He quickly said no and then continued about hisbusiness. After several minutes he returned and I mentionedI had seen the petroglyphs of Zacualpan and had found severalpottery fragments in a field. He indicated that he knewwhere Zacualpan was and that he had traveled through thatregion many times. We then started to talk about the HuicholIndians of Nayarit and their culture. Now, rememberthat this conversation was taking place in broken Spanishand English, with a lot of hand movements, head nodding,and facial expressions. I learned that the herb man was anIndian who had traveled throughout Mexico and had studiedthe herbal medicinal secrets of many of the local indigenousinhabitants throughout the country. During ourconversation I believe we both felt a true appreciation ofthe wonders of lost civilizations and the exciting journey ofrediscovering and learning about them. As the end of theday drew near, the herb man indicated he had many moreartifacts and invited my father and me to his home, whichhe said was located near the market.When I entered the herb man’s home I felt as if I hadbeen transported in time. Ancient relics covered walls andany other available space that could hold an object. Therewere figures, pottery, stone carvings, jewelry, masks, ancientrocks, tools, weapons, and many other objects thatone would expect to find in the finest museums. The herbman was very proud of these artifacts and would pick upcertain items and explain to me their origin and how hehad acquired them. Often, he would hand me an ancientobject and let me examine it. The exciting thing about23