I sat on the little silver-painted stool in the middle of the room, having agreed to a cleansing by Francisco, the herbatero (Maya shaman)

"Teach me about the goddess Xtabay (esh-ta-bay)." We were riding on a taxi-bike with Jose, our Maya tour guide and valiant peddler. There were two of us riding, Maria and I, and I know Jose got his workout for the day as he transported us down jungle paths, past sacred trees, Maya bees, and to the base of the tallest pyramid in Mexico. "Esh-ta-by " he corrected my pronunciation. (My spelling here, Xtabay, is correct. But the way I said it was a bit off.) "Xtabay is a bad god