The Search for Julio Gonzalez

About the Book

"The Search for Julio Gonzalez" is a humorous adventure story about Paco Menendez, a poor, ten-year old Venezuelan boy who runs away from his home in Chachopo, a village in the Andean region of Venezuela. Together with his old white horse, Pedrito, that once belonged to his beloved uncle, Julio Gonzalez, he travels to Caracas, the capital of Venezuela to search for his uncle who left Chachopo several years before and has not been heard from since. Julio had broken with tradition by refusing to work in the cornfields like the other men in Chachopo. Instead, he preferred to spend his time riding on Pedrito while playing his guitar and singing. Paco was charmed by this and everything else that his uncle did, including his wonderful magic tricks, such as making coins disappear right in front of Paco's eyes, and pulling an endless stream of colorful kerchiefs right out of his ear. He was also delighted by his uncle's eccentricities, such as sleeping in a lopsided mud hut with his horse sleeping on the floor next to him. The other members of the family did not regard Julio's eccentricities as charming; instead, they regarded him as lazy, as a dreamer. Paco is heartbroken when he wakes up one day to find that Julio has left Chachopo. He makes up his mind that one day soon he will go to Caracas to search for his uncle, and decides that a perfect time to make a trip there would be during the Carnival holiday in Venezuela when schools are closed. He tells his mother about his plan to go to Caracas with Pedrito during the Carnival holiday to look for his uncle. His mother thinks his idea is ridiculous; she tells him he's too young to make such a trip alone, that Caracas is very far away and furthermore, that the old horse could never survive a trip like that. Paco is very determined, however, to make the trip, in spite of all the stumbling blocks his mother confronts him with. He is not worried about making a trip to Caracas alone; he is worried about his horse, though; maybe his mother is right. Could Pedrito make the long trip? When Paco rides on him through the streets of Chachopo, the horse walks very, very slowly; his head is always down, his eyes are always cast on the ground. Paco feels sure that the horse's downcast demeanor is not due to old age, but because he misses Julio. He feels sure that when they go to Caracas and find Julio, the horse will be the alert, spirited horse that he was when Julio was in Chachopo. Paco leaves very early one morning when everyone in the family is sleeping. The night before, he wrote a note to his parents telling them he would be on his way to Caracas with Pedrito before they woke up. He told them he loves them and not to worry about him. That night he also had wrapped some clothes for himself in a small sack, included some corn patties, a few slices of bread, several bananas, and a bunch of carrots for himself and his horse. Then he hid the small sack under his bed so no one in his family would question him about it. Paco begins to shiver from the piercing cold as soon as he steps outside his house. Way up in the Andean mountains of Venezuela, which he feels sure are on top of the world, he can feel the cold air pushing right past his skin and into his bones, but as soon as he puts on his heavy wool cape, it spreads warmth through his body. Though it is morning, it is still very dark outside and dangerous to ride on a horse through the narrow curves that wind through the towering mountains. The roads look black in the darkness, and the moon, mostly hidden by wispy clouds, casts only some faint light over them. Paco is not daunted by this, but Pedrito is afraid to take a step in the dark. Finally, with Paco's coaxing, the horse begins to walk around the sharp curves, but very, very slowly. They make their way around the mountains, until it is almost daybreak at which time the horse's gait becomes bolder. No one else is on the road until a truck comes

About the Author

Judy Elton Dunn is a native of New York City. She lived in Caracas Venezuela for twenty years, where she wrote humorous fiction and non fiction articles for the magazine “Paginas” and contributed regularly to the Caracas Daily Journal. Her fiction and non fiction articles have been published in French, Venezuelan and American magazines and newspapers. During her stay in Venezuela, Judy traveled extensively throughout the country, and considers the Andes to be a magical place. She currently lives in Florida, and is still an avid writer for various publications.