Thus began an arduous trek through jungle and swamp and ravines and mountains in an area of Nicaragua that was controlled in part by the so-called re-contras.
A few weeks later, my wife Maria, who wasn’t my wife at the time, suggested that we write a fictionalized version of the search, but with a female protagonist. As the story grew, we incorporated our other Nicaraguan adventures, fictionalized of course.
The result is The Girl in the Glyphs.
Almost all the locations exist more or less as described, including the islands on Lake Nicaragua with their glyphs and ruins, the dungeon of Coyotepe, and the furnace-like emissions from Volcán Masaya. The exception is the cave on the Island of Zapateras. No pirate gold and no glyphs. These things exists only in the imagination of the authors.
Many of the incidents also occurred as described (though not in conjunction with the plot), including the Spanish Embassy reception, the squatter uprising on Zapateras, the assassination attempt on the mayor of Managua, the occasional shakedown by soldiers, and the settling of old scores for war crimes and atrocities.
The only unsettled mystery for me is the old Indian couple on Volcán Maderas. No one lives on that mountain, and they were too old and fragile to make such a difficult climb. Yet there they were at the edge of the tree line, exactly as described in the book. They glanced from me to my crazy guide, who was blasting away at sea birds with her revolver, and then disappeared into the forest before I could take their picture.
Others have also seen them, but no one knows who they are or where they came from.
My guide suggested that I was hallucinating from the sulfur emissions.
I know what I saw.
Acknowledgments
THE GIRL IN THE GLYPHS would not have been possible without the support, encouragement and critical eye of many friends, university associates, embassy personnel in Nicaragua, Treasury agents, MAAG contacts, spooks, fellow writers, family members, former students, returned Peace Corps Volunteers, Sandinistas, and even a Nicaraguan comandante. Many have requested anonymity. Other omissions result from a lapse of the mind rather than the heart.
Among our Chile IV Peace Corps friends who listened, read chapters, or otherwise shared their thoughts are George Pope, Bill Callahan, Mary Ellen Wynhausen, Karen Mitchell, and Myrna Gary. Thanks also to John Coyne and Marian Haley Beil of Peace Corps Writers Worldwide and the Peace Corps Writers imprint, who helped launch my debut novel, Lily of Peru.
In Louisiana, we were assisted by Cynthia Thomas, Karen Burlet, Bea Angelle, and many other friends, relatives and colleagues at UL/Lafayette and LSU/Baton Rouge.
Thanks also to our many friends and associates on the Latin American campuses of the University of Mobile, Ave Maria College, and Keiser University in San Marcos, Carazo, Nicaragua, who gave us ideas for Glyphs. Among these are Dr. Audrey Eubanks, Dr. Patrick Werner (who knows a thing or two about the ruins of Zapateras), Dr. Maria Gallardo de Anzoategui (former director of the Nicaraguan Cultural Institute) and Fabiola Sims of Masatepe, who gave us the wonderful gift of an introduction.
We are no less grateful to the Tarpon Springs Library Writers’ Group and fellow travelers for their critiques—Bob Dockery, Georgia Post, Mary Dresser, Rebecca Roberts, Claudia Sodaro, Sonia Linke, Stephanie Geddes, Lloyd Wilson, Ann O’Farrell, Margaret Saxon, Abe Spevak, Denis Gaston, Jerry Grant, Susan Ingold, Mickey Davis, Barbara Harrington, Carol Gilardi, Gwen Hamlin, Sarah Pletts, John DiSanza, Meg Skinitis, Brian Roth, Heather McCauley, Sali Dalton, Louise Collins, Joseph Mendonca, Dexter Jerome, and Lourdes Brindis.
Ditto for our friends in the FWA Tarpon Springs Fiction Writers’ Group. Thank you, Gino Bardi, Dianna Thiel, Mark Turley, Bill Frederick, Tina Forcier, Bill Ciaccia, Linda Rodante, Laura Kennedy Bell, Liz Drayer, Ken Dye, Lee Blimes, Jean Gogolin, Roger Hoffine, Beth Hovind, Dorte Zuckerman, Donna Lengel, Shannon O’Leary-Beck, and Eleni Papanou.
The TS Library director, Cari Rupkalvis, deserves credit for putting up with us over the years.
Thanks also for the support of our dear friends with a St. Petersburg College connection—Barbara Glowaski, Dr. Kathleen Griffin, Susan and Terry Parcheta, and Dr. Vilma and Joe Zalupski. And to our associates at the Hispanic Leadership Council and Intercultural Advocacy Institute —Sandra Lyth, Mari Rodriguez, Andrea Vendetti, Joanna Boruck, Blanca Gonzalez, Ramon Carrion, Judge Myriam Irizarry, Neil Ruiz, Odilon Mesquite, Rolando Lopez and Felipe Herrera. And our Rotary friends—Joan Tobey, Ruth Bebensee, Ron Haddad, Ramona Pletcher, Jeff Ganiere, and Bill Vinson.
A special thanks to Pamela Lopez and Kim Duncan, who put a gallon of red ink on the pages, to Elizabeth Indianos, artiste extraordinaire, who beat the drums for us, to Nat Mara of Rijeka, Croatia, who never let us down, and to our son, Chris Edmonds, who spent many hours rendering our glyph photos into pencil sketches.
Finally, thanks to all our wonderful children and grandchildren for their love, support and encouragement: Leza and Mark Ries, Julie Edmonds and Riccardo Boccanegra, Chris Edmonds, Alex Edmonds, Davy Edmonds, the Ries triplets—Alina, Isabella, and Juliana—and the Boccanegra bunch, Lucas, Elijah, and Olivia.
DR. DAVID C. EDMONDS was raised in Louisiana and Mississippi and is a former Marine, Peace Corps Volunteer, Senior Fulbright Professor of Economics and academic dean. He studied at Louisiana State University, Notre Dame, Georgetown and American University. He has spent considerable time in Latin America as both a US government official and a scholar. He is an active Rotarian and head of a writers’ group.
MARIA NIEVES EDMONDS was born in Puerto Rico and holds an MS in psychology from Florida State University. She studied at the University of Puerto Rico, University of South Florida, Florida International University, and Florida Atlantic University. She served as Assistant Provost for International Education at St. Petersburg College (SPC) and the Associate Provost at SPC/Tarpon Springs. She is currently the chair for the Hispanic Leadership Council of Pinellas County, Florida, and is a governor-appointed member of the Juvenile Welfare Board.
OTHER BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR
Lily of Peru
Yankee Autumn in Acadiana
The Vigilante Committees of the Attakapas
The Guns of Port Hudson: the River Campaign
The Guns of Port Hudson: the Investment, Siege and Reduction
The Conduct of Federal Troops in Louisiana
TO BE PUBLISHED IN 2017
The Heretic of Granada
Father Antonio Escofet, SJ, is on the run, condemned to the stake for trying to protect an Indian holy site from religious zealots. All he wants—other than escape—is to return to Nicaragua and rescue his two children from a liaison with a native wife. But his efforts are hampered by agents of the Inquisition, hurricanes, native uprisings, rumors about chupacabras, an Irish beauty from New Orleans named Molly, and even a pirate named Vampire Jack.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Fact or Fiction
Acknowledgments