I think I am am dying of smoke inhalation caused by my Popoluca, in beautiful downtown Catemaco..
For the past few days I have been inundated with smoke from a comal, burning sticks of wood which waft throughout the house. Apparently there is a "muerto" present, who needs to be chased away.
A "muerto"apparently is a dead person who is bored and wants to collect a few friends, and his appearance is generally only seen by dogs, brujos and crazy people. My Popoluca attributes her conviction to the recent crazy behavior of our dogs and her favorite gringo.
I, of course, think that this smoke stuff stems from my mention of seeing a giant blue butterfly on my Milpa. My caretaker had carefully explained to me that this beautiful insect is a harbinger of a nearby death, and unfortunately I repeated that information to my Popoluca.
So, of course, our maturing puppy got sick to the tune of 500 pesos from the veterinary, and I fortunately survived an extreme chronic bronchitis attack.
I live in the house of an old friend who died after being abandoned by his local family. He alledgedly continued to rattle the security bars of his windows to be let out, even after his death.
Before moving in, I enjoyed a few days of candle burning, prayers and wafting of green twigs throughout the house. And, of course, my Popoluca forced me to spent a small fortune replacing all windows and doors.
A few months later, the windows rattled. So, I promply went to my old amigo´s favorite raunchy bar "El Infierno" and bought the house a drink.
Since then I heard no more rattling.
So, I wonder, who is this latest "muerto" who is dying for a drink.
