Chapala Anecdote

Anecdote, a really odd word to spell...

But I thought I would just tell a story of living here, in the Chapala 'burbs.

I was doing my daily walk up the hill to the church, I call the Climb of a 1000 Steps or Death of 1000 Steps, what ever, it is a killer... and this is ALL in the poorest part of town, I read also that it is the poorest area in all of Jalisco state.
But one time I got close to the top by the church and on the ground was what looked like a doll, I picked it up and it is... a wooden hand-made doll, with string wrapped around for a "dress", braided hair with beads, boobs sticking out through the dress, but it sure looks manly... It had been driven over, was all muddy, I found some braids that pulled off and even a week later I had found another braid by the church! I kept the creature, carried in my hand and kept going and said "Hola" to some lady with a kid standing by the church, then went to do my stretch/exercises at the top. That lady, sans kid, later called to ME when I was leaving to head down and spoke español to ME, gesturing to the creature.... :-o
What I got out of her (she 'looked' a bit like a 'wild woman') was "Talisman"... all the while indicating up to the sky.... well that spooked ME so I offered the doll for her to keep (she was holding it) but she declined a few times, just telling ME about the spirit or sky or something 'up there' and wanted ME to keep it. So I did.
Brought it home, bathed, cleaned it up and glued what extra braids I had found and now my Talisman sits in a coveted spot here... looks spooky and is heavy. I am not wanting to piss it off....

Any idea what the origin of Talisman could be?