Now I have spent many years in placed called boonies, in country, outback, etc., but I am not a country boy. So it came as a surprise to me to learn of the huge number of cattle electrocuted each year around the world.
July and August average 8 thunderstorms in Catemaco. And one of those freaks of nature hit our family mechanic´s life savings invested in a herd of 6 cattle and killed them all. So out came the machetes and the butchering and politicking over who would get the best meat started to broil. Our newly purchased dual AC minivan became the hearse of choice and transported slabs of beef to dozens of family members and other hungry folks.
Of course, the cattle were not insured, and I doubt that insurance was available or affordable to small ranchers. So now the poor mechanic is praying that all our cars require lots of his attention.
Curiously I am now living in a part of Catemaco which was previously a cattle ranch and known as Colonia of the Frogs, before a developer changed it to presumptious Linda Vista. According to my Popoluca the town used to eagerly await the lightning strikes this time of year, because the rancher would donate the electrocuted animals to the populace all eagerly lined up with their machetes at the cattle gates. And then it became party time.
The photo of lightning in Los Tuxtlas is from a forgotten source.
