A Trip through the Land of Volcanoes

Me and my chief of staff, Reginald worked tirelessly for these coordinates, they lead us to the Land of Volcanoes, in a city called San Miguel, where the population of mestizos immune from the hazy air and scorching tropical heat called it home. The massive behemoths in the foreground, they watched me suspiciously in the distance the second I arrived.

I waited outside of the busy airport unwillingly offering my arms as a hors d'oeuvres to the mosquitoes, while I scoured for the taxi drivers aggressively crowding the incoming travelers to win a fare. I thought to myself, these people must be mad to live somewhere where the Earth could at any moment, abruptly throw it's tantrum of smoke and ash and swallow it whole. Life for these people acted like granite mortars and pestles grinding them down to a pulp by their civil wars and disasterous weathers, but they were survivors who came out stronger in the end.

"¿Buenas tardes! A donde quieres ir, amigo?"

A humble cab driver said sitting calmly in his cab reading a newspaper. I entered and in my broken Spanish described the direction to a Mediterranean Restaurant called La Esperanza.

From the countries only airport, I made it to the city center, a place bustling with tourism, local merchants hustled about in numbers. I found a bench across the street from a view of the restaurant entrance. There was a smell in the air that smelled of cinnamon milk calling out for me. After waiting perched for about an hour under the blaring sun, I couldn't resist it any longer. I walked to a friendly old woman selling a drink from her large orange cooler nearby. She dipped her ladle into a tub of the delicious brown beverage, then poured it down in a plastic bag, tied it up tight and handed it to me with a straw. It felt like holding a water balloon in my hand.

I took a sip and my eyes rolled back, it more than quenched my thirst, it was like discovering heaven. It's taste was that of pudginess, sweet and rich with a cinnamon pulpy aftertaste, I devoured the plastic bag until it turned into a sad damp thing in my hand.

I quickly handed her a few more cents and happily demanded. "Uno mas, porfavor."

After sitting back in my bench, I may have drawn attention from the other vendors and stuck out like a sore thumb, the other street merchants came rushing in. Pushiness is an understatement in a world where selling your home-made souvenirs and sweet treats could make a difference in keeping your family eating comfortably for the day.

"Mr. Harris, will you be needing assistance in the next coming days?"

"I've only just arrived, Reginald. Give me some time."

"Very well, sir. It's just -"

"Thank you. That'll be all Reginald." 

Reginald had been pestering through my earpiece worrying for me. It was the first time I had been so far from home, too far away from his comfort. He meant well though, but I've done my homework, I wasn't jumping into the abyss blindly. I realized I went during a state of emergency and against my publicist's wishes. However, as head of a billion dollar company, I would act on my own interests discreetly. The shareholders would be none the wiser. My stubbornness also played a large role in my actions, besides I needed to find a conclusion in this important mission. I needed to find the murderer of my beloved nanny, Rosa who acted like a second mother to me.

The Judicial System had failed her in the states by letting her killer out on a technicality. I had more influence here though, and enough evidence to get him locked up for good. I saw Rosa everywhere through the many wonderful stories she had shared with me so long ago.

A kid about eleven-years-old holding promotional material for the restaurant, skipped over curious to confront me.

"Hola. Te apesta la cola?" he laughed. 

"Sorry, I'm not interested."

"Do you espeak espanish, Mister?"

"No."

"When someone is so serious, I like to tease him. Make them smile."

"Like, I said. I'm not interested."

"I just like to meet foreigners, y'know?"

I tried to bribe him with a dollar. I couldn't let him jeopardize this mission.

"Get lost, kid." I handed him a bill.

"Oh, for me? Thank you, Mister."

It frustratingly didn't help.

"It brings me much joy to see strangers in my country, Mister. So many reasons to visit this beautiful place of mine. We have so many good food and good culture too..."

He ruffled into his apron pockets and pulled out a bag of corn-curl Churritos chips.

"No...thank you."

"Please, take this Mister. It is my favorite. From me to you. A small taste of my country."

I accepted it and watched him leave elsewhere to speak with another lost tourist. A well worth trade, some snacks for some peace and quiet.

The tattooed man finally exited the place, his name was Gustavo. I repeatedly viewed his footage on the police tapes, and remembered his ink, skull shapes on his neck with obscenities and tribal patterns on the sides of his face fitting suitably for his character. Those types of tattoos were evidence of affiliations to the countries most dangerous gang. Even if he did pathetically slither away from the judges grasp like a snake, he would be in this country's less forgiving prison system shortly. Remembering Rosa's gravestone made me upset, she was a woman who had never given up on humanity, who gave something special to a corrupt city filled with greed.

I watched as he walked towards the street tilting his sunglasses to reveal his two reptilian eyes, that even in his normal state appeared to have lacked empathy. I remembered a short story in my Red Eye flight flying in that reminded me of him, it was called El Tabudo, loosely translated to The Man with Big Knees. He was a monster who pretended to be human. He appeared as a humble fisherman, to win over the confidence of the local villagers, he'd then lure them out to sea and made them disappear. Gustavo lured his victims in as a wedding photographer, it was his ruse to gain the confidence of Rosa and other victims who hired him for wedding work, as part of a rehabilitation program. He pretended as if he turned a new leaf then he would murder and steal from his victims. Much like most places in the world, it is ironic how good and evil could be birthed from any given place, even as beautiful as this one.

He blew smoke from his nostrils after a deep inhale of his cigarette. I got up and walked across the street minding my peripheral view of him. He stood by the sidewalk now watching the cabs whiz by with the crowd of short tuk-tuk vehicles.

I tucked a powerful taser on my waist and prepared for the moment to strike.

Then something loud screeched.

It was a dark vehicle with tinted windows pulling to the side to pick him up.

In an instant, he was gone. Reginald would find this amusing. He'd scoff at my pride getting me nowhere again.

The young street merchant sat on my bench, as I returned back.

His eyes staring at me worriedly. "Mister, you look upset, like you saw Chupacabra."

"Kid..." I heavily sighed. "Do you know that tattooed man?"

"Señor Gustavo?"

"How do you know him?"

"He's probably headed to my Tio Pedro's party by the next village.

"How do you know that?"

"I see him with my Uncle all the time...Are you one of his American friends?"

"Yes something like that. Where can I find this village?"

He smiled and nodded. "Just pass the river, a place called Miraflores."

"Thank you, kid. I owe you one."

Rumor had it, Gustavo had been connected to one of The Fourteen Families, oligarchs that controlled the majority of the wealth in the country.

I thanked the kid again and quickly hauled a cab to continue in my pursuit, but first a detour to the gas station. It was harrowing to see a man in a security T-shirt holding an shotgun almost as big as him where people are buying their coca cola and chocolates. 

After filling up the tank and driving out of the suburbs to a rural area, I asked the driver to stop. I handed him enough cash to purchase another vehicle, and hitch a ride back. I didn't trust myself to return it in good shape. He had no quarrels with the trade and happily handed me his keys. 

For the remaining part of the journey, I found myself in front of a road junction with buzzing telephone lines above. There were birds hanging chirping out painful screams from the electrocution, but they refused to fly away. I wondered why this place was less merciful to the innocent creatures that resided in it.

I kept driving quickly until I sensed the dark clouds hanging over me, they were teasing a particularly terrifying form of rain. I drove until the paved streets turned into dirt roads, until my headlights were the only thing divulging the rural passageway of the dense vegetation of heavy trees.

"Mr. Harris? Unless the reception of your tracking device is faulty, I see you headed away several kilometers from the suburban areas by the mountainside. Am I to assume this is correct?"

"Yes, Reginald. You'd assume correct."

"Sir, I do recall you mentioning this task would be handled "As Fast as Greased Lightning, in a matter of half a day..."

"I know what I said, Reginald. This is just a mild inconvenience. Nothing to worry yourself with."

"Very well, Mr. Harris. I'll be rescheduling you a new flight back to the states...let's say tomorrow evening. "

When I arrived, it was a rowdy festival. If you were anywhere near the town, you'd' know there was a party going on. It was loud and very clear that the extravagant costs of the event was much higher than the local average income of the villagers and farmers nearby. Gustavo wasn't an average heathen after all, but a well connected one.

There had been a a few hired security guards around the entrance packing heavily.

Then a van pulled up shortly after to the driveway.

It's filled with working women wearing tight skirts and short tops. 

The place was getting too crowded as more guests started flocking in, so I opted to blend into the night, I found an abandoned building nearby and changed into a more comfortable wardrobe, all black wearing my bulletproof vests. After returning, I singled out and lured some of the guards who fought like uncoordinated amateurs. Then, I climbed the roof tops of the Spanish-style homes to evade the rest of the guests.

Suddenly, I see him walking down with two woman towards a separate quieter building. It was serendipity calling out to me, saving me from having to figure a plan to get him out.

I quickly brought myself down to confront them. After a quick confrontation, I tied up the women and hid them in a garage.

Gustavo, I wasn't too kind to. After I was done with incapacitating him, I dragged him over the fence, then tossed him inside of the trunk of the cab I had waiting for me a short walk away. His stacks of dirty money left a trail from his pockets, I'll use it to pay an honest prosecutor, but I'll have plenty left over too.

After getting him in the trunk, I quickly drove back trying to remember the same route. Then through the pitch darkness, the sky opened up and a thundering rain began to pour like leaks from an ocean. To add to an already chaotic evening, he chewed through the tape around his mouth.

"You're making a big mistake here, Güero!"

He kicked from the inside of the trunk. "Shut your mouth, you're going away for good."

"Big fat mistake, Güero."

Who do you think these policemen answer to? Who do you think the courts answers to? You're wasting both of our valuable time here and you know it. This won't end well for you!"

He doesn't know I too, have connections, one of the toughest by-the-book judges in the country will make an honest call. Gustavo will spend the rest of his life behind those iron bars, a fair trade for his heinous actions. A real fair trade would be burying him in these isolated jungles, but I would never cross that line. I sped up on a pothole to try and shut him up instead.

Suddenly, a bubbling explosion sounded. The Land of Volcanoes had spoken to me, and I took it as a sign, my short duration here was soon to meet its conclusion. I was not wanted any longer.

Tomorrow, Reginald will fix me up a new itinerary back to the states, but first, I'll take one last detour to the city center where I need to pay a friendly old woman and a young merchant boy a visit.