El Chacalero

We arrived in Colima unexpectedly while we were trying to reach the beaches of Cuyutlan, a completely different city on the coast of Mexico. At first, we had no idea where we were since we’d been operating with my dad’s sense of direction and his wife’s paper map, and the darkening sky didn’t help our unease as we blindly tried to navigate a completely different country. Expectedly, my dad was being stubborn, as was in his character, so that no matter how many times my step-mom, Carmen, would beg him to just ask for directions, he would assure her that he knew where he was going. I even think that the more we tried to talk some sense into him, the more he shut us out, so during the long car ride between Mexico City and Colima, Dad built an impenetrable fortress around him. So it wasn’t until our rental car was rolling down the bumpy, stone roads of Colima with the sun setting in front of us that it must have hit him how lost we were. He grumpily, and rather reluctantly, asked if anyone had to use the bathroom, and I decided to take this one for the team and said I really had to go. I hadn’t actually felt the need right then, but if everyone declined, Dad would’ve just kept driving towards who knows where.

Thinking back now, maybe we would’ve ended up in Cuyutlan faster if we’d never stopped, but it’s not like we could’ve known it was located just southwest of where we were. If we’d kept heading the way we were going that day, we would’ve at least hit the beach at some point. It didn’t take us very long to find this out, though, because we’d eventually meet someone who knew how to get around Mexico with his eyes closed, and he was quick to inform us we were never really off track. It wasn’t an all too easy feat to find him, though, because after just one round of asking around the locals, who were a bit wary of the family with the funny accents, we discovered that the people of Colima weren’t huge on traveling. Some of them flat out told us that they never even left the city while others tried to point us in directions that conflicted with one another. One man, a street vendor, finally told us about “Jesus El Chacalero,” who had actually lived in Cuyutlan many years before and would definitely remember how to get there. My dad, while not a fan of knocking on a random man’s door and asking for directions, followed the man towards the house of El Chacalero. The rest of us–my step-mom Carmen, my brother Johan, and I – went back to wait in the car.

Letting my dad go off alone is exactly why we ended up getting roped into one of El Chacalero’s parties. My dad, while incredibly intimidating and stubborn with his own family, could be very easily persuaded by others to agree to things he wouldn’t have normally had we been there. Add to that the fact that El Chacalero was a rather persuasive man himself and convincing travelers to spend an evening at his house was just one of the ways he’d made a name for himself around those parts. There were a few circuses, for example, that would stop by his house when they were performing somewhere close to Colima. The performers would finish their last show, wipe off the clown make-up and take off their extravagant outfits, and then make their way to his house for carnitas. Unsurprisingly, we also had carnitas that night once my dad had already doubled over with laughter at many of El Chacalero’s jokes and decided to come and get us so we could dine with him and his family.

That night was so different from any other night I’d ever spent with my dad. Back home in Caracas, Dad was always a bit serious even when he came by our house for Christmas or New Year’s parties. That night in Colima, however, he was dancing to the music the mariachis were playing as I’d never seen him do before. Usually, if he got up to dance at all, it was more reserved and only for a little while, but that time it was like I couldn’t ever see it ending. I was dancing beside him, both of us anticipating the food as the smell of carnitas carried out of the kitchen and into the living area where the party was going strong. For once, as we twirled and kicked and hopped together, I felt the closest I ever had in my life to my dad. He had a large smile on his face that I haven’t seen since then, and in my mind, it established that night as one of my most amazing memories. I wouldn’t have even changed how many strangers surrounded us just to make that night any more perfect. Every odd detail came together to form the best night I’ve ever had, and the stress from the trip seemed to just melt away. I could see it in the way Carmen laughed with El Chacalero’s daughters and cooed over his grandchildren like she hadn’t spent the past few days arguing with my dad in the car. I could see it with how Johan helped set the table with some of the older children even though he’d spent most of the trip sticking to himself. I could see it in myself, too, as I danced carelessly in some random city with some random family hoping it would go on forever.

As the magic of the evening faded and people began to sober up now that their stomachs were full, everyone started to break off into groups so they could talk into the night. I watched Carmen and Dad follow the other adults outside, each one carrying a plastic chair with them to sit out on the street. Johan and I helped the older girls, who were all El Chacalero’s grandaughters, clean up the table by taking dishes out to the sink and tossing the leftovers to the street dogs. I realized later that a lot of the older grandchildren were heading outside with the adults, so I finished up then joined them as well, trying to find my place amongst this family. I hadn’t gotten the chance to talk to many of them myself since most of the conversations during dinner took place between El Chacalero, his daughters, and my dad. I, and most of the children, had just sat there listening and laughing. I didn’t know if I should be in there playing with them or if it was expected that I sit out here like the other kids my age.

Now I felt like I was snapping back to reality where we only had an hour until we reached Cuyutlan according to El Chacalero’s wife, and I wondered how much longer we were going to stay with him and his family. Dad was reclined in his chair, sipping lazily out of a Coke bottle that he’d dumped peanuts in, so I could tell we weren’t in much of a rush to leave. I was sitting on the edge of the sidewalk next to Johan, and we were all listening to El Chacalero tell story after story about what lay in the woods beyond the city. I wasn’t feeling all too scared then. It’s kind of hard to be when there’s so many people around and streetlamps lighting up the area. I could even hear music in the distance like some other house was having their own party. So when El Chacalero’s oldest grandson, José, leaned down to whisper, “Hey, city girl, you want to go find a witch with us?” I wasn’t opposed to what sounded like a challenge, especially with that condescending tone of his.

I stood up slowly, fully expecting my dad to jump out of his seat at the mere implication that I was going off with José and his two brothers and worse still if he knew we were heading for the woods. But a very strange thing happened because instead Dad didn’t even notice I was leaving. El Chacalero had him and everyone else completely captivated by one of his more elaborate stories. Only Johan could put aside his interest to follow us down the street, questioning where exactly we were going. He was the same age as José, but they couldn’t have been more different from each other. Johan was a bit bigger and overall intimidating, but he was very obviously a boy who rushed to catch the bus every morning so he could get to school and have the highest grades out of all the students. Meanwhile José answered all of Johan’s questions while walking backwards, tossing a small rock up and down in his hand. He moved more like someone who’d grown up playing in the mud and stepping on those spiky balls that fell from trees, and even his tan indicated the long hours he’d spend playing under the sun.

“Abuelo always tells us that he used to hear witches laughing out in the woods at night,” José told Johan and I as we neared the edge of town. His brothers, Oscar and Jesús, were balancing on the curb a bit in front of us, their hands stretched out on both sides of them. Oscar turned to look at us excitedly. “You can’t hear them anymore because the city is bigger, but I’ve seen them flying through the sky!” He jumped in front of me, eager to share his experience. “All you ever see are their shadows, but you know it’s them by the way they fly.”

“It’s because they’re on a broom so they’re almost gliding,” Jesús explained, demonstrating what it would look like to ride one. He galloped around José a few times. “They’re a lot smoother than that. You’ll see for yourself, Jeanette. They’re always out there in the woods.”

I pursed my lips thoughtfully, willing to humor them. “And what happens once we see a witch, hm? What’s the plan then?”

“We run!” José said, jumping at me unexpectedly and making me flinch. “If you don’t, she’ll take you just like she takes all the other kids! Then no one will ever see you again.” I thought he was just being silly to scare us, but I quickly saw the expression in his eyes was serious.

“Why would we want to find a witch if she’s going to try and take us?” Johan asked, always the voice of reason. He was definitely skeptical like me, but we’d also grown up hearing these types of tales from our dad’s side of the family. Witches were just as common a legend in the countryside of Venezuela as they seemed to be here, and in more than one occasion, I’d been left with my knees shaking after hearing some suspicious noises in the night. It’s the outrageous stories like this that allowed us to run into the woods that night in Colima, both scared and excited, suspending our disbelief so we could search for witches that we would never actually see.

“Because it’s fun,” Oscar said, answering my brother’s question. He was the youngest of the three brothers, and his little voice sounded so confident that it gave me enough comfort to force myself into the trees. The skepticism I’d been feeling while we were still in the city quickly gave way to fear, though, as the tall, dark silhouettes of trees towered over us. There was very little light around, so even when my eyes adjusted, I could barely see a foot in front of me. The lack of visibility caused me to mostly rely on my hearing, and every single crack or crunch in the distance made me jump. We weren’t very far into the woods yet, and I was already shaking more violently than I thought was possible outside of cartoons. Shamelessly, I grabbed my brother’s hand and stayed close to him, trying to reassure myself that the stories of witches were just that– stories.

“There’s nothing to be scared of, Jeanette,” Johan assured me as we crept forward slowly. All of us were on high alert, but the three brothers had the courage to scan the darkness around us for any possible signs of witches. Meanwhile, I had my eyes tightly shut because I was too frightened to look anymore. “The sounds are probably all animals. This is where they live, you know.”

I’m sure Johan knew this about me, but blaming all the sounds on animals wasn’t much more comforting. I felt a sudden presence to my right and then José’s voice. “You’re right. There are a lot of animals out here, but you have to make sure it really is an animal.” I peeked at him, though I couldn’t see him either way. “What do you mean?” I asked, not really sure if I wanted to know.

“My abuelo’s seen some crazy things out here, right where we’re walking, but nothing’s shaken him up like what he saw one night,” José started. He stepped in front of me, moving his hands as he talked just close enough so I could make the movements out. “He’d just gotten off of work with his brother, Juan, and they worked up north in the mines. My dad works there now actually, but his friends give him a ride in their truck and they take this dirt road that’s way over there.” José pointed to my right and I looked instinctually only to be met by pitch black. “But my abuelo and Tío Juan weren’t so lucky back then. They had to walk through these woods every night to get home, and they didn’t have a choice. There was less city back then and more trees. They couldn’t have made their way around without adding hours onto their trip.”

Oscar suddenly popped up next to me, startling me so much I shrieked. “My bad,” he said. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted to tell you that Abuelo is not a coward. He never got scared when he walked through here, even though everyone told him to watch out for the scary things hiding and waiting. They hide everywhere, but they’re usually a lot closer than you think. You don’t think to check behind every tree, but that’s where they are. They hide behind the trees and you don’t see them.”

“Like this.” Jesús jumped out from behind a tree I hadn’t even seen and landed right in front of me. I screamed so loudly that it felt like I’d scratched my throat. The younger boys were doubled over with laughter meanwhile I was thoroughly shaken. I looked around urgently, trying to see if I could find my way back to the city immediately.

“Don’t worry, Jeanette. The scary things that hide in these woods aren’t as bold,” José said, reaching over to grab my arm and pull me along. He seemed to be holding in his laughter, but at least he was being considerate about how much I was panicking. “Now what was I saying? Oh, right. So Abuelo and Juan are just trekking through the woods, and they do this quite often, you know? They finish their day of work at the mine very late every night, so they always have to walk home in the dark. It’s just a routine for them at that point, which is why Abuelo thinks it happened. He thinks because they weren’t expecting anything at all, something decided to mess with them.”

I gave José’s story all of my attention because otherwise my fight-or-flight would’ve kicked in and I would’ve run all the way back to El Chacalero’s house, which now seemed like such a distant part of the night.

“So they’re just walking, right, and all of a sudden, they hear this noise behind them. Click-clack. Click-clack. It’s like there’s someone behind them walking in heels. Click-clack. Click-clack. They’re a bit confused because their first thought is that it must be a woman, but that seemed almost as unbelievable as it being a monster or something. A woman out in the woods that late at night? And in heels? My Abuelo didn’t believe it for a second, and neither did Juan. So now Abuelo's looking at his brother and neither one of them has looked behind them yet, so they want to see if they can hear it better once they stop moving. The sound completely stops the moment they stop walking, and they’re not really wanting to look behind them because they’ve got this bad feeling in their gut. So they start walking again but a bit faster this time. Click-clack. Click-clack. Click-clack. They basically start running now, just to see what will happen. Click-clack-click-clack. Click-clack-click-clack. It’s following them.”

José stops abruptly in front of me and I crash right into him. His two brothers and Johan slow down to a stop around us and stay silent while we all stare at José curiously. He puts a finger up to tell us to wait. He’s glancing around like he’s trying to find something he saw, and I shift uneasily. Finally, he speaks, but his voice is the quietest of whispers. “You hear how quiet it is right now?”

We nod. José grins and his voice sounds so much louder as he starts up again. “That’s what Abuelo and my Tío Juan heard when they stopped the second time. Their heart is beating so loud. So loud. In their ears. It’s all they can hear. They’re shaking, too. They’re brave, but they’re shaking. There’s something behind them. There’s something evil behind them. They look at each other. They’ve got to look now.” José paused and jumped slightly like he was startled by something behind him, and he started turning around very slowly. “They do it at the same time because they’re not that brave anymore. Abuelo’s knees are shaking as he turns around, and behind them, just a few feet away really, is what’s been following them this whole time.” He waited until he was facing all the way behind him, staring into the heavy darkness, and then inhaled sharply. “It’s not a woman in heels. It never was. It’s a donkey, but it’s standing on its hind legs…like a man. Abuelo’s eyes basically pop out of his head. He’s real scared now, but it only gets worse when he meets that thing’s awful eyes because its donkey mouth curves into a smile. It smiles at him like a man.”

“So they start running!” José yells suddenly, taking off in the direction he was looking. I run after him, mainly because I’m acting off of stimuli alone. There are uneven footsteps behind me as the other boys kept up with us, and just like that, we’re sprinting through the woods like something was chasing us. And for all I knew at that moment, something was. I hadn’t been able to think straight since we left the city lights behind, and the adrenaline pumping through my body kept me going and going. José was still outrunning us, and he looked over his shoulder at us to say, “This is exactly what Juan and Abuelo did! They ran away just like this, except they had a demon behind them! We have witches!” His words came out between a bit of panting.

“Witches?” Johan called doubtfully. I was afraid he would stop running and we’d leave him behind, but then a large shadow passed right over us. The younger boys screamed and sped up, passing and pushing us in their panic. I glanced up and only made out the faintest shape sweeping over us in the night sky before I, too, ran faster. I’d never been so scared before in my life, and I ran like it was only a matter of time before the witch swept down and took me. I didn’t even know where I was running to. My brain wasn’t really thinking about how we were only running farther into the woods and closer to the foul creatures that stalked us like man-like donkeys. It was like my vision had zeroed in on José and as long as I followed him, I would be safe. He had to have some idea where he was going, or at least I hoped.

The trees gave way to an open field, and José, Johan, and I ran right in without much of a thought for the coverage the trees gave us, but Jesús and Oscar seemed to give that some consideration before breaking off in the opposite direction. I didn’t really realize they were gone as we kept going with tall grass brushing against our legs. In front of me, José looked up at the sky, a grin on his face that I didn’t fully register. I wasn’t registering anything at all until we were halfway through the field and José did one of his seemingly common sudden stops. I slammed into him and sent him tumbling to the ground while Johan held me to keep me from falling as well. I basically pushed José up and yelled, “What are you doing! The witch is going to get us!” Then I tried bolting, but he got a strong grip on my arm and pulled me back.

“There’s no witch,” José said with a laugh. I looked at him over my shoulder, unsure if I heard him correctly over the sound of my heavy breathing. He pointed towards the sky and I tilted my head up slowly, scared of what I’d see. A shadow glided through the sky gracefully, occasionally blocking out a few stars. I couldn’t make out what it was, but now that José was giggling beside me, my mind was able to come up with the reasonable idea that it might not be a witch. Johan and I stared into the sky in wonder, trying to catch a good glimpse. It took a while, but the figure finally swooped over the moon and showed us its winged silhouette. I couldn’t even begin to express the relief that flooded me, and I gave José such a wide smile before smacking him on the back of his head.

“Why would you scare us like that?!” I exclaimed. I was still shaking and my heart was racing, but the worst part was that I was feeling a bit embarrassed after all my freaking out. I honestly had never been that scared before, and I was fuming that it was over absolutely nothing.

“I was really trying to get my brothers,” José explained with a bit of laughter still in his voice. “They’re terrified of witches. Abuelo’s been feeding them a lot of spooky witch stories lately, so I knew it would really scare them. And they scared you earlier, so I was trying to get them back for that, you know. They think they’re so brave, and now they’re running back home to our mom probably crying and everything. Oh, and I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you guys so badly. You guys just seemed to not really buy into all the witch stuff, so I thought you wouldn’t really get spooked.”

I smacked him again. “You shouted ‘witch’ and took off running! How were we supposed to react?” I pointed at the sky. “And seeing that stupid bird didn’t help. That’s what really got me.”

“Jeanette, look! It’s not just a bird. It’s an owl.” Johan tugged on my shirt to draw my attention. He was gazing at the sky with his mouth open in awe. I looked up again, taking in the soaring beast as it flew through the sky. Seeing it like that, I felt silly for thinking it could’ve been anything but an animal doing what it does best. It looked so peaceful up there, which was such a contrast to the sheer panic it had caused in us down below.

“She’s a lechuza. I call her Nochecita,” José said, following the owl as it moved through the air. “She’s always somewhere around here, but I don’t usually see her so deep into the woods. I was surprised when I saw her perched in one of the trees while I was telling that story. Nochecita usually just hunts around here for mice and stuff then takes it back to her nest. I try following her out there but I always lose her. But I’m pretty sure her home’s in this abandoned barn house out there. I think she might have chicks, but I’m not too sure.”

I look at him sideways. “Was your plan always to bring us all out to see Nochecita?” José half shrugged. “I thought you and Johan would enjoy it, but my brothers would’ve run the moment they saw anything fly. She’s pretty cool though, right? I see all kinds of animals out here when I’m with my Abuelo. We fish chacales and fish and stuff in this creek just over there, and then up here I can catch some scorpions or snakes–” He stopped when he saw my eyes widen dramatically. “Um, not that we’ll run into anything like that.”

Tensely, I turned to look at Nochecita, though I wasn’t quite as in the moment as before. “Have I mentioned I’m not very good with animals?” I did not want to have yet another heart attack tonight, especially since this threat was definitely real.

“I could tell by how you reacted to the street dogs earlier,” José said. “That’s why I thought the donkey story was going to really get to you.” He slapped Johan on the back. “But I’m impressed with you, chamo. You don’t scare easily, except for all that running and squealing you did.”

“I don’t remember doing anything like that. I just didn’t want to get left behind,” my brother countered, crossing his arms defensively.

“Right,” José said agreeably. He started heading back, giving Nochecita one last glance before turning to us. “We should head back. I bet Abuelo’s told your dad that all he needed to do was keep going west and he would’ve gotten to Cuyutlan in about an hour. We go all the time. I think you guys’ll like it.”