journey into mexico, pt. III

***
CHAPTER III

"¡Usted puede hacerlo, Tío Sam! ¡Rasgúelo a los fragmentos!"

That's my guide, Paulo, who's yelling in Spanish. He's cheering on our champion cock; Tio Sam as we called him.

"What he said!" I shouted. "Only in English! Glorious English, you bastards!"

It wasn't just Paulo and me who were screaming ourselves hoarse in Tio's honor, either. Montezuma Arena was packed to capacity that night, my friends, and nearly half of those 50,000 manic fans were there to root for our boy!

And why not? He was, after all, the underdog contender for the crown jewel of professional cockfighting.

Since the conclusion of our last chapter, Tio had taken us on a whirlwind ride to the top of Mexico's thriving cockfighting industry. And now, after just three of the craziest weeks in my life, we had reached the very Mt. Everest of that sport -- the 2005 Montezuma Championship Cockfighting Invitational in beautiful downtown Mexico City!

The 2005 Montezuma Championship Cockfighting Invitational (Reenactment)

"¡Mire hacia fuera, Tio Sam!," Paulo shrieked, having regressed to his native tongue in his excitement. "¡El Diablo está intentando rajar su garganta!"

Whatever Paulo was saying, Tio was in trouble -- his opponent, El Diablo, lunged forward with one grizzled claw, slicing wildly at Tio's throat... and in that fraction of a second, my highly tuned Haiku Master vision caught the unmistakable glint of metal 'neath the very skin of Diablo's toes!

"Paulo, the fix is in!" I hissed in my guide's ear. "The other chicken -- it's got some kind of weird metal skeleton!"

"I told you, senór. Is no chicken. Is cock."

"Yes, but what about the metal skeleton?"

"Metal skeleton? What metal skeleton?"

"The one," I said, pointing towards the ring, "in El Diablo!"

"El Diablo has a metal skeleton?" Paulo said, following my finger. "But that would be... oh, madre dios!"

I looked, and immediately wished I hadn't. El Diablo had eviscerated Tio Sam, cackling madly as he danced in our fallen comrade's blood.

Montezuma Arena erupted into chaos, with thousands of losing bettors taking their own lives just moments after Tio's horrible defeat. As El Diablo's training staff stormed the ring to accept the Montezuma Cup, I slipped into the crowd, motioning for Paulo to follow.

"Let's head backstage, old friend," I said. "I'd like to get a closer look at that so-called champion..."

---CLICK HERE FOR 'JOURNEY INTO MEXICO' PT. IV---