Desert Blood: The Juárez Murders

Ivon goes to see Father Francis at his church before crossing the border with William to look for Irene. When Ivon complains that William wants to walk to Juárez, Father Francis tells her to “walk the strip” (176) of nightclubs around Ugarte Street, where many of the girls have disappeared. When he asks if she knows that the strip, or “[t]he Marsical area” (176), is the red-light district, Ivon reminds him she used to live there and recalls that she had a friend, Magda, who worked in the Red Canary. 

Father Francis gives her flyers about Irene to pass around in Juárez, and Ivon is initially annoyed that he used a different photo of Irene than the one she had given him. He changed it because Irene was wearing too much makeup in Ivon’s photo, explaining that he is not “passing judgment” but people “won’t have sympathy for her” if they think she’s a “bad girl” who “got what she deserved” (179). Ivon admits to herself that he is right.

Father Francis gives her a list of nightclubs to visit. One of them, Casa Colorada, will be hard to find and “may not even exist” (179). She notices the Sayonara Club is on the list and remembers seeing it on the Borderlines tourist website, and he says he has asked them to remove the link that leads to the advertisements for girls.