FINDING LOST CIVILIZATIONS This

They usually consist of ancient indigenous clay and stonefigures, many of which have been found locally. I learnedlater that the ancient artifacts in the Compostela museumwere mostly items discovered in the environs of Compostelaand Zacualpan. Before we left I remembered that theunknown artist who exhibited in Puerto Vallarta was supposedlyfrom the State of Nayarit so I asked Rafael to ask themuseum attendants if they knew of any local artist who producedancient clay figure reproductions. They thought aboutit for a while and said that on the main street there was awoman’s boutique, and the husband of the woman runningthe store was an artist. Although it was not clear as to whattype of artist he was, we walked down the main street andentered several women’s boutiques to inquire about the artist.There were many boutiques along the main street andnot surprisingly we received many blank stares in responseto our query. As we stood on the main street trying to contemplateour course of action a lady walking down the streetsaid hello to Rafael. He recognized her as a peanut and coffeevendor who sold her products in Guayabitos and mentionedto her that he was interested in looking at some landthat was for sale. The lady then revealed that she had landfor sale and guided us to her home to look at the land. Whenwe arrived I stood aside while she and Rafael discussed theland. While they were talking a car pulled alongside themand I saw the lady go to the car and receive a plastic bag.She showed the bag to Rafael, who then motioned for me tocome over to look at it. I was intrigued. Inside the bag werewhat looked like five ancient figures. The fellow who hadhanded the bag to the lady parked his car and walked overto us. As we looked at these supposed ancient figures Rafaelpulled out one small figurehead and told the Mexican fellowthat it was a fake. The Mexican fellow looked at that pieceand admitted the piece was not an ancient figure but saidthat the others were. He then told us the ancient figures weheld had been excavated from a nearby mountain he calledMonte de Lima. I asked himto point out the mountainto me and when he did Iwas excited and felt a greatsense of understanding, forit was the mountain range Ihad previously pointed outto my father and Rafael as a32