“Dude, That’s Toxic!”

Santiago and I were looking at an office a few days ago and commented to the owner that the large pile of rubble and trash in the front courtyard was really unsightly and that the house would show better if he were to clean things up.  He nodded like he understood, and disappeared out the front door while we were wandering out the house, trying to envision how things would work if we took the place.

I was standing in one of the back rooms, stepping off the dimensions to see if it would accommodate an executive desk and sitting area worthy of someone known as a ‘Don’, when the most acrid smell overwhelmed me.  Not having had any emergency digestive problems since my trip to Monterrico and the huge bowl of ceviche I ate, I thought something must be on fire.  As I walked towards the front of the house, the smoke and toxicity got much worse, and I could hear Santiago screaming obscenities.

There in front of the house the owner had directed some lurker to pile all the leftover construction stuff, all the trash and anything else lying around and had started a fire, which was really going.  The smoke coming off it was multi-colored and the fumes were sickening.  Even Santiago with his four pack a day lungs seemed to be effected by the mess and was yelling at the guy that the fire was “toxic” and that this was “ridiculous”.

As I was fashioning my handkerchiefs(thoughtfully brought by a mule last December and normally reserved for little boy noses or female tears), around my face, the guy stoking the fire responded to Santiago in the most amusing fashion, “Si, es muy toxico” and continued to throw more plastic trash and buckets half-full of unknown chemicals. Santiago looked at me as if to make sure I was seeing the same thing he was.

I had a little flashback to the guys working in the finca next door who were burning huge piles of rubbish at the base of my back wall, doing everything they could to stay upwind without thinking anything of the smoke filling my house, and ignoring my pleas to cease “por que es muy malo para mi ninos”.

I realized immediately that so many of the uneducated people here are basically like children, intuitive enough to realize the danger and threat to their health, but not aware enough to consider that their actions can be detrimental to others.

Santiago had now stopped making observations and began giving orders:

Santiago:  Put this fire out, immediately!

Hombre:  El dueño me dijo que me queme toda la basura.

Santiago:  I’m telling you to put it out, muy rapido!

Hombre:  Está bien, pero yo no tengo una manguera …

Santiago:  Take one of these buckets and fill it up with water!

Hombre:  Muy bien, ¿sabes dónde está el agua?

Santiago:  Probably in the pila.

Hombre:  Bueno, eso es una buena idea.

Needless to say we didn’t rent the space.