#non-fiction, «The Blue Beetle»

There are things in one’s life that are not forgotten, although they may eventually become confused with dreams. And there are dreams that most certainly will turn into memories. Such is the human condition, magical. Are we not complex, yet subtle beings? Sometimes pure of heart, some times purely corrupt. And although we may think of ourselves as the most beautiful things on Earth, we have so often become the most horrifying. However, we are searchers, inquisitive souls who never tire of seeking the connection between the profane and the sacred.

What I’m going to tell you is a memory, but it could be nothing more than a dream, or a fantasy that came true one day. I don’t know. What I do know is that it’s engraved in my mind. I’ve lived it. It is something real, something that was made manifest in my life. It’s part of me, belongs to me. And if it is a memory, aren’t we all a collection of memories? I think we are, so I’ll tell you one of mine.

This happened in Guatemala City.

I was in snug in the arms of Morpheus in those early hours of Wednesday, February 4, 1976, when precisely at 03:01 in the morning, a violent tremor woke me up and threw me from the bed to the floor. At the same time, a noise, devouring the atmosphere of my room…it seemed like a bombing…made everything shake and knock down everything that was on the walls and furniture. Even I ended up on the floor. I tried to get up several times but with the shaking it was impossible. I looked towards the window and saw the street lamp moving like a reed, then suddenly it went out. Instantly, it seemed like every light on Earth went out and finally the earth stopped trembling. The tremor lasted but thirty-three seconds, yet it was an eternity.

At first, I thought that the British had attacked Guatemala because in those days Guatemalan President Kjell Eugenio Laugerud Garcia had proclaimed that Belize belonged to Guatemala and had even included Belize in the official map of the Republic of Guatemala. I thought the bombing was payback, but no bombing, it was a 7.5 magnitude (Richter Scale) earthquake that affected the entire country.

But well, let’s get back to what was happening in my room. I got dressed in a snap. My clothes I always leave ready next to the bed with money and passport in the pockets, just in case. I made a beeline towards the front door. I saw that my few neighbours had done the same thing and now they were all shivering in the gardens. Fear? Cold? I don’t know but it was a cold February night. There were no lights in the entire national territory and for a moment I stopped to admire the millions of stars that in such an orderly fashion vibrated and shone in the sky while we on earth were stumbling through chaos, disorder, and horror. Surreal I thought.

There, in the garden that served as our parking lot, we all gathered to give thanks to God for keeping us safe and sound. No one understood what had happened. I had never felt an earthquake in my life, not even during the whole year I had already spent in Central America. This was a new experience for everyone, since all of us who lived in that neighbourhood were foreigners. But standing there, looking at each other, we knew that the terrifying effects of the earthquake had not fully sunk in yet. We were still surprised and confused, with a lingering question in our minds, will it quake again?

Now that you know what happened, a flashback…

I arrived in Guatemala City on an Aviateca Airlines flight from New Orleans on the first of February. At La Aurora airport, a co-worker picked me up to take me to my home in the neighbourhood of Vista Hermosa No. 2, which was about four kilometres outside the capital city. (I don’t mention the work I went to do in Central America because it has nothing to do with this story).

We tried to leave the capital, but since it was rush hour, the traffic wasn’t moving. I suggested to my companion that we stop at one of the downtown restaurants, grab a bite to eat, and give the traffic a chance to clear up. Besides, Guatemala in those years was full of old cars that emitted so much black smoke, the pollution they caused was unbearable. It made your eyes sting and even left a bad smell on your clothes. My companion agreed, so we parked and walked a few metres to a restaurant in the center, if I remember correctly, it was called «Il Focolare.»

We went straight to the bar and ordered two Gallo beers, the most popular in Guatemala at the time, and perhaps still so today. The only other customer in the bar was a well-dressed gentleman, also refreshing himself with a «gallito». The guy listens to us speaking English (my companion was Israeli and didn’t speak Spanish) and turns around and introduces himself.

«You have arrived in Guatemala at a bad, but a very bad time.»

I thought he was already a bit cocky, but I was intrigued by that comment he pulled out of thin air.

«How does you know we just arrived in Guatemala?»

«I see things and know things that others do not see or know.»

Well to each his own, but I wasn’t in the mood for a drunk so I told my friend that we’d better go sit at a table and have our beers in peace. But my companion, who had much more experience than me, signalled for me to sit and calm down. Okay, I did. I sat down and started to drink my cold and delicious beer. And the guy started to talk…

«Listen, I am an obstetrician, I deliver babies, do you understand? And this morning they brought to the clinic to an indigenous woman from Chichicastenango about to give birth. When I delivered the baby, I was horrified! The child was a monster, and the nurse, also horrified, blurted out a «How ugly!» from the depths of her soul. Then the new-born opened his mouth, full of teeth and filth, and replied, «Uglier is what will happen to Guatemala in three days,» and died.»

The doctor turned towards the bar, finished his beer in one gulp, ordered another, and got lost in his thoughts, leaving us in peace to drink ours and digest the absurdity he had just told us. Afterwards, we left; the streets were already free of traffic and we got home in no time. But what the doctor said kept spinning in my head…

The next morning I set out to explore the surroundings of my community. I walked along the road that leads to the main part of the capital taking the opposite direction, towards the mountain. After about two hundred meters, I saw a small detour where there was a little trail that went uphill, suitable for hiking, and I climbed up to the top of the hill. To the left, there was a path that continued to climb even higher, towards the mountains, and I headed in that direction. Suddenly, I heard a thunder and instantly, like if it had materialised out of thin air, there was a car, a blue Volkswagen Beetle, tumbling sideways downhill on the same road.

Quickly I jumped into the thicket just as the car rolled past. Then, right there, right in front of me, it did one last somersault and came to a stop with all four wheels on the ground. I could not even see dust or a scratch on it. No visible damage. I remained silent and observing. First, one must assess the situation, then take the necessary action. I saw the driver’s door open and out steps a tall, gorgeous blonde and she looked directly at me. She smiled at me and dropped an envelope on the ground. Then she got back in, started the car, and drove off like a bat out of hell, leaving behind a huge cloud of dust that, when it cleared, I noticed the car had disappeared.

«Where to, though? The path was too narrow for a car, even a VW Beetle. Well, there was nothing else I could do but pick up the envelope. It was an A4-sized manila envelope, unsealed. I open it up and inside there was a note: «Guatemala, your greatest enemy is the land you are on. Two days left.»

Conclusion

I’m a practical man, yes, I believe in God, the Virgin, and the saints, but not in oracles or fortune tellers. And at that time I didn’t believe in the supernatural or paranormal phenomena. But now I’m not so sure. After what I experienced that year in Guatemala, I think it’s possible that those things can exist and that, like so many other mysteries that surround us, they are part of our reality. After all, we humans don’t know where we come from or where we’re going. Everything we’ve been taught can be thought of as nonsense. They are stories invented by either priests or scientists, two groups where charlatans abound. We don’t know the truth. But I believe that someday we will come to know it, not here in this plane of existence, but in the next. We will be able to see ourselves as God sees us. And this is not a religious faith-based conclusion, it is simply my opinion.

In any case, the prophecies of those days in Guatemala did come true. The monster baby said on day 1 what Guatemala would suffer in three days. The note from the woman in the blue beetle said that Guatemala had two days left, and that was on the second of February. In the early hours of the fourth, that is the third day, the earth shook in Guatemala. The strength of the earthquake was such that it changed the country’s topography. Tens of thousands of people died during those devastating 30-something seconds that the earthquake lasted. The ground rose up against Guatemala, and it was an ugly, sad, and very unfortunate thing.

CHEERS