At Santa Eulalia Rio (Fiesta and Dance of the Yunsa Murder!)

The Poem

At Santa Eulalia Rio

The Eulalia Rio-is wild today-

white waters high, rapidly

slapping, rushing, leaping everywhichway

from bank to bank, and then some.

On the mountain skirts-

the village of Santa Eulalia resides

cuddled by the Andes of Peru!

I love the smooth sound of the Rio

as it passes me by,

the warm sun, warming my old bones

of the late morning,

makes me feel alive-

A butterfly, flies by, a bee

is busily, buzzing nearby-

Another day, just another day

to be alive ...

(that & # 39; s how it is this morning

at San Eulalia Rio).

No: 2919 ((3-26-2011) (11: 11 am))

I did not know why they all did not scream at the time. We were in the dance area of ​​& # 39; Paradise Recreo , & # 39 likened to a countryside restaurant, along the Santa Eulalia Rio of Peru (an hour & # 39; s drive from Lima) (it was 11: 11 am), all fifty-two of us, within the group, and there are other folks at this outside restaurant (we all had ordered Pachamanca, a food dish, that is cooked in a fire underground, covered with dirt and hot stones: potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans, chicken, pork, lamb, and Humita or smashed corn).

We were all on the dance area, after having eaten Pachamanca, drank some wine, the sun was hot, and the Rio was high and the rapids were wild, rushing by-you could hear the sound of the white water rush, it was no More than a hundred feet from where we were. There was a stage to the front of us, a man was singing to background music, and no one started screaming.

Before the incident, Manuel pointed to me to give the ax to someone in the group dancing around this tree that was in the middle of the dance area, it has been cut down, and put into a hole with rocks holding it in place, gifts It attached to the tree branches as were also balloons, once cut down, the fifty of us would rush to get those attached gifts, it was called the Dance of the Yunsa, mean every person in the group would get the ax once or twice or Whoever cut the tree down, that is, when the tree fell down because of the last person & # 39; sometimes even five or six times like I had it, s ax thrust, he or she was the person who would be the next year, pay for the next fiesta. It & # 39; s how it worked.

Manuel he pointed to me, the preacher & # 39; s deacon you may say, and a friend, a most pleasant friend and chap, to my wife and I, said with with smiling face, "You Mr. Evens take it and hand it to someone! "

I could not imagine who, then I saw a lady right in front of me, of Peruvian-African origin, and handed it to her and her mate, and she took the first swing.

"This man is dancing crazy like, swinging the ax everywhichway, we need to back up!"

And sure enough he hit the tree so hard, the tall somewhat hefty tree with all the gifts on it started to fall. This man had ran over to the group from out of nowhere, and someone unthinking, handed him the ax, and as that tree hit the ground, he started stabbing, that is, axing people over the head, in the groin area, in the back, legs, torso, neck: eighteen people injured, killing at least seven. Workers from the restaurant and soon after them , rescue workers from the Municipality had gathered to help the injured.

"The worse," he said-that evening on the television, the newscaster "were the women with dead children."

However the gender of the seven dead was not quickly known, with two critically injured, Oh yes, most rigorously, I said to myself. and eleven others were wounded. Manuel told the police, and the media:

"The suspect, came here to kill people, none of us knew him."

And some other person told the reporter, "Early on, he sat at our table, and he said, & # 39; m tired of life. & # 39;

And still someone else said, "He had rented a car in Lima, drave out fifty miles to the restaurant, and it appeared he just grabbed the ax from someone dancing, and he was jumping, leaping while dancing, and chopping on the tree- "All simultaneously, and the next thing he was killing people with that ax, and ran off and into a crowd, jumped into a vehicle, and drove off."

"There said this old lady," I said "sitting in a wheelchair, and I said I could not be true, that I was lying, and I he had swung the ax at her, but never hit her, and she went absolutely stiff. Her legs sketch upward automatically, her I will press my point. I have pressed my point. I have pressed my point.

It was as if if there was an earthquake or that some sort of thing - a phantom, had appeared in broad daylight, one we never knew about, they never knew what hit them.

I had sat by the river that morning, at 11:11 am, awaiting for the Pachamanca , to be ready, ordered some cheese and corn for my wife, wrote out this poem called "Santa Eulalia Rio," The river was up, the wind was blowing my hair - I had grabbed the moment you might say - a poetic moment indeed , I got up walked close along along the Rio, saw a dog getting wet, drinking from its fresh cold water from the sierras, because of the white water. I had gotten so dreamy about things. Surprising how a few hours later, it is all covered over with something else; the dark cloud hell has to offer.

No: 784 (3 - 26 - 2010)