Louis left home about six O’clock to go to a National Park called “Nevado de Toluca” with some fellow-workers, to do some mountain jogging in order to improve their VO2 Max. Once they arrived at Toluca they went to have some lunch at a restaurant near the “Nevado”. Then, they chose a place to put up the tents and when they finished doing it, off they went jogging up the volcanoe. Half-way up, Richard, one of the joggers said: “Hey, Guys, cramps on both my legs are killing me, probably I had too much to eat, so I will go down now”.
Para los que continuaron, el ascenso al Nevado de Toluca (Zinacantepec o montaña de los murciélagos) fue un esfuerzo mayúsculo porque a medida que se va ascendiendo, la cantidad de oxígeno se reduce. Cuando llegaron a los 3,000 metros se decidió que era mejor empezar a tomar fotos porque su respiración ya estaba demasiado agitada. Casi todos estuvieron de acuerdo y empezaron a tomar fotos del "Lago de la Luna" que lucía hermosísimo por su trasparencia y porque debido a que la superficie estaba apenas congelada, servía de espejo a un cielo de azul intenso con algunas nubes aborregadas y muy blancas. En ese momento, muchos dijeron que ya era momento de bajar al campamento y así lo hicieron.
For the rest of the joggers, climbing up was a hard job because the higher they went, the less oxygen they provided their lungs with. When they reached 10,000 ft., it was decided that it was time to take pictures as they were hardly catching up their breath. They took some pix of the “Lake of the Moon” in one of the craters. It was spectacular because it was crystal clear and it was slightly frozen; yet, it was like a mirror reflecting an intensely blue sky that had some white clouds as beautiful decoration. After a while, they started walking down the extinct volcanoe.
Al llegar al campamento, Ricardo ya tenía lista una exquisita barbacoa que había preparado. El caldo sabía a gloria y todos estaban muy contentos. Al anochecer, a alguien se le ocurrió preparar café endulzado con piloncillo y verdaderamente les supo a gloria así como los buñuelos que alguien había traído de su casa. Otros en cambio, prepararon chocolate y lo disfrutaron como si fuera el mismísimo elíxir de los dioses. Todos se sentaron alrededor de la fogata y empezaron a contar historias.
Once they reached the camping grounds, Richard had already cooked a lamb. The soup was glorious and everybody was happy. As the night fell, somebody prepared coffee with brown sugar in small cones, others preferred to have hot chocolate and they all ate “buñuelos” (some sort of sweet freeter) homemade that was so delicious as if it were some gods’ food. So, everybody sat around the fire and started telling stories.
Gerardo, el más joven de todos dijo que había conocido a un amigo que era molestado continuamente por un duende irlandés que le cambiaba todo de lugar. Sofía, una hermosa joven de color, contó una anécdota sobre un tesoro que su padre encontró al pie de una escalera en la Ciudad de Puebla, luego de que muchas personas habían observado luces de colores al anochecer, justo en donde encontraron las monedas de oro. Luego, siguió la narración de Pedro, un ingeniero químico que empezó a contar su historia en voz baja:
Gerry, the youngest of them all, said he had a friend who was continuously bothered by a leprechaun who misplaced everything. Sophie, a beautiful colored young woman, said her father had found a treasure right beneath some stairs in an old house in the City of Puebla. Curiously enough, before the discovery was made, people reported having seen lights of every color coming out of the stairs. Then, Pedro –a chemical engineer- told a story in a very low voice:
"Mi bisabuelo se fue a pelear en el ejército del General Zapata y mi bisabuela se quedó inconsolable porque pensaba que jamás volvería a verlo. Una noche, en el enorme patio de su casa, como a las once, se escucharon fuertes golpes en la puerta del zaguán. Uno de los criados fue a abrir y cuál sería su sorpresa que era el bisabuelo, Don Cosme. Mi bisabuela lo recibió con los brazos abiertos, le preparó un atolito que olía delicioso y le dio a comer un par de tamales que había preparado ese día. Los dos se fueron a dormir contentos por el reencuentro. Al amanecer, mi bisabuela buscó a su marido pero ya no estaba; así que pensó que se habría ido a cazar conejos. Como a las once de la mañana, llegó un soldado zapatista para informarle que traía el cadáver de mi bisabuelo que había muerto en combate el día anterior, como a las doce del día. Mi bisabuela pensó que era una broma pesada de su cónyuge y se asomó a ver el supuesto cadáver. Efectivamente, era mi bisabuelo, en ese momento ella se desmayó. Nunca nadie pudo explicar cómo había sido posible la visita nocturna de quien ya era difunto."
My grand-father joined General Zapata’s army, during the Mexican Revolution, so my grand-mother was extremely sad because she thought she would never see him again. One night, at about eleven O’clock, the huge patio was filled by a tremendous noise that came from the house’s main door. One of the servants woke up and went to see who was knocking at the door in such a noisy way. He was in for a big surprise, it was his master, Don Cosme, my grand-mother could not believe her eyes when she saw her husband. They immediately ran to embrace each other. Then, they went to the kitchen where she prepared some hot beverage (“atole”) made from corn and that smelled deliciously, so, my grand-father drank it as if an angel had served it for him. My granny also gave him some “tamales” (chopped meat wrapped in cornmeal dough, then fried). As he finished his meal, they both went to sleep, extremely happy on account of their unexpected reunion. Early in the morning, my grand-mother woke up and found her husband was there no more. She thought he had gone rabbit hunting. Later on, about midday, some soldiers knocked at the door bearing bad news, they told my granny: “We regret deeply to inform you your husband was killed in combat yesterday and we bring you his corpse to be properly buried”. My grand-mother thought it was some kind of silly joke of her husband, but when she saw the dead body of her beloved one, she passed out. Nobody ever explained how could it be possible for a dead man to pay a visit as a person who is still alive”.
Al final de la narración, alguien comentó que si bien el amor es ciego, también era cierto que el amor es tan fuerte que resucita muertos. En ese momento, todos decidieron irse a dormir. A la mañana siguiente, habría que despertarse temprano para volver a entrenar. Desafortunadamente, quienes encendieron la fogata se olvidaron de apagarla y se produjo un incendio pavoroso. Sin embargo, no hubo víctimas que lamentar porque un anciano que pasaba por allí despertó a todos, justo a tiempo y con ayuda de algunos soldados –que aparecieron, sabrá Dios de dónde- lograron apagar las llamas que parecían incontenibles. Lo extraño del caso es que los que extinguieron el fuego lo hicieron tan rápido que se desparecieron sin que nadie pudiera agradecerles su acción, ni a ellos ni al anciano que los había despertado. Alguien dijo en broma que habían sido los soldados zapatistas del bisabuelo de Pedro y el mismísimo bisabuelo. Pero cuando todos se empezaron a reír, alguien encontró una escopeta antigua y un viejo retrato del General Zapata con el bisabuelo de Pedro.
As soon as the story ended, somebody said that love might be blind but it is certainly powerful enough to bring back to life –if only for a short time- a dead man. Having this said, most people headed for their tents to sleep, after all, tomorrow they would have to wake up early and go jogging again. Unfortunately, those who were supposed to put out the fire did not do it and later that night some of the surrounding trees were terribly set on fire. Fortunately, an old man who was passing by, woke everybody up, so no one was hurt. Some soldiers that showed up from who knows where, extinguished the fire, and they did it so fast that they were gone before anyone could thank them or the old man. Somebody said jokingly: “Surely, they must have been ghost soldiers from Don Pedro’s grand-father’s army and his very own grand-father!”. Then, there was a silence because someone found a very old shot-gun and an old picture of General Zapata and Don Pedro’s grand-father.
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