CHAPTER THIRTYA leather-skinned woman stood mesmerized in front of a larger-than-life sculpture of her Lord and savior. Her dark shawl and long, gray skirt were well-worn from years of raising children and grandchildren in poverty. Deep brown eyes still shone from her wrinkled face as she whispered prayers in front of the ornate golden altar at the massive Santa Domingo Church in Oaxaca, Mexico.
She raised her face to bask in the baroque splendor of the towering altar before putting two arthritic fingers to her lips to blow a soft kiss. Her trance looked to be a grateful plea for spiritual comfort and material mercy in her final years of life.
The old woman made the sign of a cross with the grace of ten thousand previous prayers and left a peso on a wood-carved pedestal in front of the w
