Mañanaland

Max leaves a note for Buelo explaining where he has gone. He packs provisions for himself and Isadora, then sets off for the tower with Lola. Max meets Isadora in the tower and finds she’s timid and very young, no more than five or six years old. Max tells her he is a “pilgrim, true of heart” (144) so she knows she can trust him. Max was expecting to escort a woman. He worries about how he will take care of Isadora since she’s so young. Isadora is carrying a kitten named Churro. Max worries the kitten will get in the way and suggests they leave it, but eventually agrees the kitten can come. As they leave the tower, Max notices a message in the stone:

DEVOTED SISTER, ROSALINA

WAITING FOR ISADORA

IN MAÑANALAND (147).

Max wonders what Mañanaland must be like. He passes a mural in the tower depicting scenes of war in Abismo and people fleeing, depictions of Santa Maria, and then a utopia of a “lush, sunny landscape” (149) with the word Mañanaland written above it. Isadora and Max both look at the mural hopefully, longing to be reunited with their loved ones waiting for them there.