Things have been rather blase here in La Yacata. Not a lot going on. However, on Sábado de Gloria this year, we were treated to an episode nearly as exciting as “Cops.”
The day started out ho-hum enough. We had some chicken soup culled from our flock. This one happened to be an egg eater, and you know, once an egg-eater, always an egg-eater. So it had to go. My husband was having a high time cooking with his barrel grill (it’s literally just a barrel with a hole cut in the side to add the wood).
Anyway, as I was getting ready to go on my daily swim, my husband called me over to the back porch. It turned out that someone had started a fire and the entire section of La Yacata behind the house was on fire. That someone most likely belonged to the crew that had a late-night party on the lot with a “pool” and pavilion area. Perhaps trying to clean up, they lit a fire that quickly got out of hand. It is the dry season, after all.
The blaze was enormous and fast. It moved along the lots at a breakneck pace. Then it hit the lot where the owner had piled up about 100 tires, and the neighbor had been dumping his cow poop, and man, did it ever gobble those up. Clouds of billowing black smoke covered the sky.
The black smoke was enough to alert someone from town who sent Protección Civil. They arrived first, followed by the police. The third to arrive was the fire truck. When they saw that it was now a tire blaze, they set to work.
Or, more accurately, they sent a woman to do a man’s job. You know, it’s all about equal opportunity and all. Although it may have something to do with the fact they only have one firesuit, and most of the firemen’s bellies were too big to fit in it.
So anywhere, here’s this girl that weighed maybe 100 pounds soaking wet out there in the field with the fire hose battling the blaze. The buff police officers were busy taking videos. The other firemen were still sitting in the truck.
A few other police vehicles arrived, and even more officers with bulging biceps were milling about. A second fire truck arrived. The new man they sent out into the flames was at least 70 if he was a day. The second truck had some hooks that the fire guys started to use to move the tires out of the way, but it was mostly too late. I saw a few consider using their wet mops to beat out the fire, but I guess they figured it would have to burn itself out.
The fire continued on up the road and up the hill, at least a mile. Eventually, the fun was over, and everyone left. I went out for my swim finally.
Although the fire was put out, those piles of cow poop continued to smolder overnight. The air quality was horrendous the next day and the next. We did make the local news site, so there’s that!
Maybe La Yacata needs a theme song….
Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?
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