Tulum

Narrated by a quirky, garrulous, eccentric gringo with a shady past who has been hiding out in Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico, for decades, David Seth Michaels's magical, second novella, "Tulum," describes the beginning of the narrator's friendship with an unusual Mayan Curandero and his becoming an apprentice to him.

The narrator initially seeks out the curandero in desperation for relief from an annoying medical problem. But he later wonders whether the curandero is playing frightening, mischievous tricks on him. Is the curandero making events occur, or is he only predicting them accurately? Is he toying with the narrator? Regardless, will the curandero intervene to help him get what he wants? The doubts are eventually overcome by the narrator's attraction to the curandero's obvious mastery of the unseen and his gratitude for the curandero's repeated assistance in protecting him and helping him fulfill his wishes.

Set in Mexico's beautiful Riviera Maya and Cuba, this story of friendship is a humorous, delightful, spiritual journey in which the hidden is far more important than the obvious, surprises abound, and wishes come true. It is also a love letter to a beloved Mayan town poised on the cusp of enormous global change.