"Intercol, on behalf of the ESSO company in Colombia, presents another episode of TEMPUS" "THE HEIGHTS OF CUMANDAY" "This is a story, about how I learned to love the fogs and mistery that surround the mountains of Caldas." "I'm from Villamaría, a town that is near to Manizales, the capital city." "My father was one of the first horsemen that came from Antioquia." "He walked from Honda with heavy sacks on his back." "He herded oxen and mules to cross the Central Mountains." "Long time ago, when I was 12," "I was sent to the moor of Cumanday for the first time." "They called me Caloroso, the muleteer apprentice." "I guided the bell mule to lead the others." "I cooked and look after the mules." "We went to Romeral, to get a load of potatos, to take it to Don Asesio's Inn, near to the snow mountain." "I traveled with Boca'eperra, the muleteer." "I wondered," ""What would the moor be like?"" ""Why are men afraid of it?"" "On the Cumanday, the snow falls." "Fog confuses people." "It clears trails." "It upsets cattle." "And, oneself, is taken by the ghost." "Lost in the clouds, I dreamed." "We went through the high forests, approximately 3000 meters, where the clouds are so low that you can touch them;" "where ferns, wild cane and palma boba abound." "There, where lies the guagua, spottedbirds dance, frogs and toads scream." "The mount is voracious." "It gets between abandoned houses." "It grabs the floors, climbs the walls, and it tears them down." "That was the abandoned house, where in passing, I saw a man with his back to us." "What are you doing here?" " Boca'eperra asked." "There was no answer." "What are you doing in Luis Beltran's house?" "Nobody answered." "Suddenly, the muleteer came over me and hit me with the riding crop." "We stopped at a stream and I wondered" "What had happened." ""Who was Luis Beltran?"" ""Why did the muleteer fear him?"" "I did not trust frightened men." "Moreover, only my mother can hit me." ""Well, now he will see, the son of a..."" "Will he be able to kill me?" "Then he told me:" ""Hey Caloroso, that was the house of the best of all horsemen:" "Luis Beltran, my foreman." "With the whip he tended the mules." "By whistling, he rose them and make them trot." "He was very big, and I was so small." "He was restless!" "He sent me here and there." "Until one day I could not stand it anymore and I lost myself in the mount."" "A whistle ruffled the mules And Boca'eperra fell." "I wanted to help him, but he sent me away." "I looked at a trail, where the bell mule was getting away." "I ran that way." "Why had the herd frightened like that?" "I remembered the story of Luis Beltrán, the great foreman, and I was terrified." "The force of the river had cut the rock turning it into a grotto." "The steam of the thermal rose and mingled with the mist coming down." "With my feet in the hot water," "I looked at the rocks painted with alum and sulfur." "Water itched my eyes and made me mourn." ""Who are you?"" " The man asked." ""I am.." "Caloroso, the muleteer apprentice" I answered." ""But, I don't see any mule"." ""A whistle drove them away and they went up."" ""Probably they reached the sky ... but," "I can bring them back for you"." "I ran away like a bat out of hell." "On the trail, the bell mule waited for me." "And a little further, was the entire herd." "We continued our way to the low moor about 3,400 meters above sea level." "Men work the hills and turn them into large potato fields." "The low moor is restless;" "the clouds are running." "They fight the Sun;" "then, it drizzles." "Skies close themselves: it rains." "Waters shed;" "they break the soils." "They drill the earth;" "watersheds and bogs arise." "In the Valley of Romeral, the country house is the hostel." "Its walls can warm and people huddle around the burner." "They eat, speak;" "they forget the harshness of the moor." "Boque'perra was laid on a bed." "His fever rose." "I had to continue my journey, alone." "While preparing the packages and load, beside me, two men talked." ""Today, ten years ago, Luis Beltran died." "A lightning killed him with all his herd." "He is buried at Calvary," "And I've heard some people have seen him wandering when there is a storm." "Listening to them, I was stunned." ""Hey, Caloroso" - they said" "Close saddlebags, healthy mule." "Open saddlebags, dead mule." "Today you are not an apprentice." "But be careful" "The moor eats mediocre muleteers." "On the hill, I was thinking:" ""How can I alone carry the herd?" "if in our jargon it used to be said," ""For a single mule you need 4 horsemen, a foreman and a landlord"" "In the meantime, the spotted mule accelerated the march." "And I heard she spoke to the white mule:" ""What's up, partner?" "How's your day?" "The white mule answered:" ""Too bad, dear sister."" ""That mediocre, Caloroso, set the burden too tight."" "Who could kick him hard, so the devil takes his soul, and gives him two pebbles rather heavy as a packsaddle, plus a girth made of barbed wire, that holds the overload, and it will be you, spotted sister," "who drives him with the whip." "Where are the mules?" "Would they be lost behind the esparto grass?" "Or, would it be Luis Beltran again?" "If a lone apprentice can never lead a herd to any place," "Why did Boca'eperra allow me to do it?" "Suddenly, I heard the bell clearly." "My white mule was not far, and with her, all my mules." "Close, where the fog disappears, again, the bell rang." "Against rain and cold," "I came to a strange forest." "The frailejon plants threatened me." "I was scared by their green-hairy heads, full of hanging fangs." "I was chased by frailejones, the giant-elderly guardians of the moor." "I was not going to die between their shaggy green heads." "I was not going to die between their hanging fangs." "Up, always up, the bell rang." "I crawled up the walls." "The quinine and the arnica plants glued to the rocks." "Behind, it came the breath of the moor." "The cold burned my meat." "Humidity made my bones useless and heights drank my blood." "By the creek, I walked on the frost." "Up, always up, The bell rang." "There I could find my mules." "From the snows, from the rocks, the snowmelt seeped." "In this cushion garden, as bells, the birds sang." ""It was them and not my mules!"" "Damn!" "Damn!" "Again, the bell rang." "I felt rage." "If the moor swallows men," "If it swallows beasts, then fungi, nags, flowers, have no right to live either." "At over 4,000 meters the bell rang." ""High desolate moor, where the bear alone crosses, inhabited by stones and sand, the ears buzz, and lungs start to weigh." "Feet sink." "They get buried." "They get lost in the dust from already-dead lavas." "Desperate, I implored, "Surly moor, give me back my mules!"" ""Wild moor, my bell mule!"" ""Cruel moor, I want my mules back!"" "In a strange stone plateau, sat in volcanic rocks in between the fog," "The bell rang." "The wind followed me, the cold, the altitude." "The moor chased me." "Its fog took me away." "I shouted." "The cry stopped in fear." "The moor took me away." "Its winds dragged me." "I shouted." "The cry stopped in asphyxia." "The moor drove me crazy." "Its height freaked me." "I shouted." "The cry stopped in vertigo." "World spun around me." "It spun and spun." "I shouted." "The cry dissolved ...in the dream." ""Moor, who are you?"" "I asked." ""I am the memory of million stagnant years, of perpetual ice caps, melted by subterranean fires." "I'm the memory of the indefinite, in the beginning and the end." "I am the barren and cold vastness."" "Then I said:" ""Moor of Cumanday, in your vastness, in your desolation," "in the distance of the snows, will I find my mules?"" "The moor stopped talking and again I was afraid." "I became mad by asphyxiation." "I was freaked out by vertigo." "Rocks fell." "I shouted." ""I'm not going to die!"" "Then, spoke Luis Beltran, the ghost:" ""To fight with a machete you will have to face me." "The machete can do nothing against the moor." "It does not kill the wind." "It does not kill the cold." "It does not kill fear"." ""But .."" " I said" "".." "I'm standing on my feet, and you are well mounted"" ""Take my apprentice's mule"" "I looked at the bell." "It was my bell mule's." ""I accept your challenge"" " I replied." "And so, the duel began." ""Remember, Caloroso"- Luis Beltran, the great foreman, said," ""The machete is not the weapon of the muleteer." "It does not kill the cold, it does not kill vertigo, it does not kill fear." "I am not the ghost of the moor." "The real ghost is fear." "To conquer the moor, the muleteer has 3 weapons:" "Enduring the cold, enduring loneliness, and loving the barren and desolate vastness"" "So spoke the owner of Cumanday," "When I dreamed." "That was long ago." "Intercol, on behalf of the ESSO company in Colombia, presented another episode of TEMPUS," "THE HEIGHTS OF CUMANDAY"