Chapter 13

22.12.2016 - Babette’s birthday

It was two days before Christmas Eve. For our young ladies it was a normal working and school day. In Peru this day was the last day of the school year. We decided to act in the same way; school year was also over for our pupils.

I had prepared myself a cup of coffee and was sitting on the terrace with a cigarette. A wonderful early summer day was ahead of us. The sun peeked over the mountains into the valley and awakened nature. In the distance, a noise inferno began, the courtship of the rock cocks. The villagers had certainly not been able to sleep since 5 in the morning, but they were happy when so many male birds were fighting for the females, because the Rupicola peruvianus, as I had laughingly noted during the film, was the national bird of their country. I played the movie back twice to remember the name. I called him ‘Rupi with Cola’ for me. Alejandra had shown me the birds. They were scarlet, had a magnificent feather crest above the beak and staked with their perhaps forty centimetres in size over the damp meadows to impress and scare off their competitors around the few females. Nature was strange, only the physically strongest animals prevailed in the insemination of females in almost all species, which usually led to healthy and survivable offspring. “Only we humans are an exception. Money, origin, and power often influence the mating behaviour of the females. This means that a certain degeneration of the human species can be expected in the long run and is already visible in some cases.” I philosophised a little.

How was it here in the valley? Smiling ironically, I said to myself, “We are lucky, the healthiest and strongest man also prevails here.” It was perfectly logical if there was only one sexually mature man. To be honest, I had internal problems in the field of offspring generation. Were my genes so good and stable that my children would all be born healthy, strong, and able to survive? I couldn’t wait for Luisa to give birth to my very first child. But she was only eighteen weeks pregnant now. Nevertheless, I was looking forward to the birth date next year, probably at the end of April or in early May. I imagined how bad it would be for all of us if I had inherited genetic defects. Ramona had taken some of these concerns away from me but said that smoking was the biggest risk for my health and my fertility. Otherwise, I would lead an exemplary life, move a lot, eat healthy and stimulate my potency through regular intercourse. Ramona was looking forward to her child and would be sure that she, too, will give birth to a completely normal, healthy child from me.

In the midst of these philosophical and perspective considerations, I winced. Wild drums were heard in the house, I knew the rhythm. “We will, we will rock you.” It was before the time of getting up. The three of us adults hurried up the stairs. Ramona took the camera with her. Apparently, she was initiated. In front of Babette’s room four girls were drumming with homemade percussions. The other girls clapped rhythmically. Mayari and Isabella went ahead to Babette’s room. She had jumped out of the bed and was completely perplexed. Mayari and Isabella sang something in Spanish, the drums easily beat the beat, and then it boomed to the rhythm of “We will rock you.” deafening: “Happy, happy birthday. - Happy, happy birthday.” Again, an intermediate text came from Mayari, where I understood some words only. “Babette, thank you and happiness several times.” Then everyone started roaring again. “Happy...” Babette looked at her friends, beamed all over her face and pressed and kissed Mayari. We let pass all the children on their congratulatory tour. Then I congratulated my dear assistant. She was really special. If anyone needed help, Babette was on hand. She dried tears, helped with the arrangement of rooms, quickly drove girls to the path to the village, helped with carrying heavier baskets or other things, always remaining modest and in the background. She was our angel, the children expressed this today. Finally, Lenya said. “Dear Babette. In your honour, we are organizing a party today, maybe even with live music. We are looking forward to tonight.” Everyone was clapping and cheering. ‘Live music?’ What did that mean? Ramona just said, “Let yourself be surprised.” At breakfast, she made a small speech. “Thank you very much for your effort at school. From tomorrow there will be school holidays. For the next two weeks, you can sleep an hour longer. Breakfast is then only at 8. The party today goes until 11.” she said, laughing.

“Why not?” I thought to myself. The girls deserved it. If it worked out, we would also arrange the Christmas Eve in this way and New Year’s Eve until 1 in the morning. But I still told my lovely wife that I would like to have an arrangement with me before announcing such things. She ended the little dispute with a kiss and a hug. She was right, her smile said it, I was a macho.

At the breakfast table there was the next surprise. Babette’s area was decorated with flowers. The girls must have been looking for a long time, because they were exclusively dark red cantuta, a shrub widespread on the slopes of our valley, whose flowers served as food for birds and insects, since it bloomed all year round, usually in very bright colours, the sacred plant and today’s national flower of Peru is the cantuta.

When I first walked through a cantuta grove, I had expected an intense scent. But the mostly man-tall plants were almost odourless. Why it was the sacred plant of the Peruvians, I did not understand. However, I saw that more sprightly women of our village collected seeds of the plant on the slopes. Carmen could not or did not want to reveal what they were using for.

Cara solemnly brought a large cake with a burning candle to Babette. Everyone was delighted when Babette blew out the candle and, using a kitchen knife, cut the cake into sixteen parts. This was also a special feature, we were sixteen people in the headquarters, and so it was very easy to divide by halving several times.

Today I had noticed for the first time what special reputation my assistant enjoyed in the group. Contrary to her manner, she got up, said not a word, and began to hum. It was our song of paradise. Babette was not so fond of singing, but Lenya and Ramona picked up the melody and sang solemnly. Everyone, including me, came in cautiously. There was no shouting; each brought the line from paradise well accentuated over the lips. Then Babette pulled out a piece of paper and wanted to sing a self-composed second stanza, but she failed at the melody. Immediately Lenya and Esther jumped in and sang the new verse from the note. I turned bright red. It was a song of praise for me and about my care for everyone. I was embarrassed, but everyone clapped and repeated the verse as far as they had kept the text. Babette came to me, tenderly said “Thank you, thank you for everything.” I got a sweet kiss. Her eyes spoke of the highest admiration for me, yes, sure, love. I pulled the dear Romanian girl to me and hugged her warmly. What luck I had found here. It was Babette’s birthday and I was flooded with a sweet well-being. Again, I realized; whoever gives the other feelings of happiness, often gets them back several times. Somewhere I knew the saying “If you make others happy, you will be happy.” Hopefully our happiness will last for a long time.

While the children had lessons, I drove to the container camp. Just behind the entrance I set up our Christmas tree, a smaller araucaria of nearly three metres, that pointed upwards, which I had chosen days ago. The araucarias are the only kind of conifer here in the valley, not as dense as our conifers, but strong in growth.

Then I distributed the twelve bicycles and an electric scooter in a semicircle behind them. The lot should decide who gets which bike. I decorated the tree with ribbons and flowers. It looked quite solemn from a distance. I quickly stowed the four boxes with the in-liner blades and some boxes of protective clothing for the skaters in the buggy, accidentally it thundered for the first time. Startled, I saw, as I stepped out of the massive, large cave that the sky had turned very dark. I quickly rushed to the headquarters. The first fat drops were already raining down. Then an inferno began. Lightning flashed all around us. I saw several lightning strikes in the northern mountains. All the air seemed to be electrically charged, my ears could hardly stand the high-pitched squeaking. I put the slightly soaked boxes under the table tennis table to dry. The wind blew so strongly through the entrance gate that I could not close the double-leaf door alone. The children had noticed it during their lesson and jumped to assist me. We locked the big door to the terrace for the first time since I lived in the main house. On the terrace, the storm played havoc with tables and chairs. Some girls trembled anxiously. Sula, who was usually always brave, clung to Babette and Ramona. She certainly knew from her homeland how ominous such severe thunderstorms could be.

Otherwise, weather extremes only lasted for a short time here, but this time there seemed to be no end to it. There was no thought of teaching. Suddenly water came down the stairs. Obviously, we had not secured the roof exit properly and the storm had completely the heavy metal plate opened. It was unthinkable to close them in the weather. While I was thinking about how we could catch the incoming water, it rattled unspeakably. A lightning had struck right next to our house. Fortunately, the mountains were much higher than our two-story building and attracted the flashes. Below, the whimpering and crying became louder. The last lightning strike had already scared me badly, but all fifteen girls and women were in a panic, maybe even in fear of death. I had to hold Luisa in my arms to calm her down. Then I was worried about the rather detached guesthouse and about the villagers. Damn, I hoped the haunting is over soon.

But it lasted. When the storm and the lightning finally subsided, it rained even harder. Nevertheless, now I managed to close the roof hatch, dressed only with pants. The girls calmed down and began to clear the water. One third of the main room was almost five centimetres under water. Esther knew advice and handed out four dustpans and buckets. The children took turns scooping the water into the buckets. Hopefully the sewer is still running, I thought as we emptied the buckets into two toilets. Otherwise, the basement will be under water and our supplies will spoil. I immediately ran to the basement, but all the water inlets were secured with check valves, I found out. So, some water had penetrated into the cellar, but fortunately only insignificantly.

When the rain after five more hours finally subsided, I jumped into the buggy in the soaking wet pants and drove to the guesthouse. Fortunately, it had been spared from the lightning, but the basement was almost forty centimetres under water. Olivia, Alejandra, and Carmen had not yet calmed down from the anxiety, although they were fine. I raced to the container warehouse to look for the electric pumps. The storm had knocked over the Christmas tree and all the bicycles, but that was half as important now. We had to pump the basement of the guesthouse empty. Fortunately, I had also taken the manual pump with me because the water had now triggered a short circuit. The house was without electricity. The distribution room in the basement was also under water, so I could not get to the main fuse.

While Carmen was pumping, Olivia was scooping buckets of water from the basement. Alejandra brought it upstairs and I poured out the buckets across the street. I was quickly out of breath because of the long distances. And who came to our help again? Sula and Babette joined in as a matter of course. After a good two hours, the basement was accessible, only ten centimetres of water height. But I did not dare to press the main switch for the power again. Maybe it was life threatening for me, standing barefoot in the water, to turn on the electricity. So, everyone took a break. Meanwhile, Kira and Mayari had joined us. They alternately continued to pump water from the basement until the pump could no longer find enough water. Now the water had to be collected with a dustpan and bucket like we used in palazzo.

In the meantime, I had taken a pair of rubber boots from the construction workers’ shelters in order to switch on the electricity again with a little more safety. It succeeded, but another fuse flew out. Fortunately, the fuses were designated. It was the big washing machine that obviously had a short circuit. That’s what I had to deal with later. The ventilation system worked. The women plugged in two large vacuum cleaners. I already wanted to scold that they would also break when sucking up water, but the women blew with the air outlet under the shelves and the machines to let the water evaporate. Obviously, they had experience with damp rooms.

The women and girls continued to dry the cellar while I was on my way to the village. It looked bad there. The water was almost knee-high all around the village. Two huts were pushed away from their foundation by the storm; three huts were without a roof now. The residents were lazy, they said they could not do anything; they waited for the water to drain away. I got a little angry. Miguel had to wade through the water together with me. We quickly found the place where the water was congested. With Miguel’s hands and one shovel, we opened the tangle of branches, leaves, soil, and foil. Gurgling, the water made its way towards the cemetery. It took almost an hour before the water level gradually dropped. Some fish from the ponds swam in the floods. So, the ponds had also overflowed. What a huge natural event had happened two days before Christmas. At such moments, it was only then that we realized how we little people could be at the mercy of nature.

Fortunately, the three huts without a roof were uninhabited and in poor condition anyway. On the other hand, it had pushed Alonso’s hut almost two meters further and twisted it a little. As a result, it was no longer higher on the stone floor and the water had done more harm than in the other huts. As I noticed, of course, the power line was torn, but what was worse was that the water pipe was also sheared off. In an arm-thick stream, the water poured onto the foundation where the hut had stood until now. Fortunately, my workers had installed four shut-off valves in May, but I had to disconnect five huts from the water supply.

Suddenly I felt terribly cold. I stood in the cool wind in soaking wet pants and rubber boots. I tried to make it clear to the residents that the water must remain blocked off. Then I hurried along the dirt road to my buggy. I was getting colder and colder in the wind. I took off my dirty boots in front of the house, but still made dirty tracks as I walked through the freshly mopped hall. Ramona looked at me with concern. My teeth were already chattering a little and I had a kind of chills. She helped me to get in the bathtub. It was a real salvation when I was able to get into the warm water. Today I completely realized what a luxury a bathtub was under these conditions. After some time, I dried myself off and dressed warmly with one of the particularly attractive tracksuits from ‘The Rus’. A hot tea brought my spirits back faster.

As always, Cara helped Luisa in the kitchen. The other eight girls were cleaning the upper floor. The four helpers from the guesthouse had not yet returned. It was still dripping from the skylight. Obviously, the water inlets were clogged, but I didn’t want to look now and could get a cold shower again. Someone had placed a bucket so that it caught the water droplets.

After lunch I asked the four girls, who had already helped in the guesthouse, for their cooperation in the village. I told the girls and women what it looked like in the village. Everyone wanted to join. I asked Esther and Priya to stay here to do some more cleaning and examine the basement, especially the stored goods. I had also noticed that it was absolutely necessary to sweep and wipe there once. I checked the two cold rooms before eating. They cold stores were fine thanks the Lord.

Meanwhile the sun had come out and was burning the wet streets dry. An eerie humidity surrounded us as usual only at lower altitudes in the tropics. Olivia stopped us in front of the guesthouse. She was already putting the damp boxes and other things from the cellar in the sun so that they could dry off. I doubted whether all the clothes could be saved. Quickly I drove together with Babette to the container warehouse, where she was startled to see the overturned wheels and my Christmas tree lying. We didn’t have time for that. With a few nails and hooks, plus two long thin ropes, a clothesline almost forty meters long was quickly created on the terrace of the guesthouse. Alejandra even had a box full of clothespins in the laundry. “Many hands – a quick end.” Soon the laundry, which was to be dried, fluttered in the light wind. “Hopefully the humidity won’t make it any wetter.” I told Carmen. She reassured me, “In less than an hour the air will be as usual.”

Together with nine helpers I reached the village. Ananda and Zarina helped Olivia to further clean the casa-basement and tidy up the terrace. I almost had a tantrum when I saw that someone had turned up the water again. The water rushed in a high arc to the foundation of the torn-away hut. Isabella had to tell the villagers that in two hours no one in the entire valley would have any water, because the tanks at the spring were running empty. No one came forward who had turned up the water against my instructions, but I decided to prove it to everyone. We cleaned up the defective hut and assigned the remains of the roofs to the damaged houses. Some girls managed to get rid of the washed-up rubbish between the huts. It smelled strongly of alpaca and turkey manure. The village was located just below the alpaca enclosure. The brushwood brooms were almost unusable after a short time. The two existing shovels were also not enough to get rid of the grossest debris. The wife of Alonso was crying. Many things had fallen into the dirty water, while the couple had saved themselves in the saloon. Fortunately, I still had some of the rope with me, that Alonso could hang his things on a leash stretched between two trees to dry.

There were still three empty huts in a reasonably usable condition. Alonso and his wife were allowed to pick one out and clean it up so that the furniture standing in the sun could later be furnished. Meanwhile, Kira and Daja caught guinea pigs that the water had flushed out of the fence. The vineyard and the wine fermentation hut were also severely affected. The water stood on the mini fields. The onions and carrots were mostly exposed, as the water had washed away the earth.

After the coarsest dirt in the huts was cleared, my lesson for the village came, despite the chaotic state. I told the girls that the water pressure was dropping and I had to check. A short time later, many in the village groaned. I had deliberately closed the water supply at the turn-off to the village. There were enough other things to do for the people. I informed the villagers that from now on they would have to use the water sparingly. “I have to go up to the water tanks. Maybe there is also something defective.” Of course, that was my worry, but an hour without water would be a good lesson. In addition, they had the well where they could get water with the pump. That’s when the power went out, obviously all over the valley.

Together with my assistants, I rushed to our wind power plant. It had tilted. The foundations were submerged. Fortunately, it had emergency shut down. It would take several days to realign the wind power plant and strengthen the foundations if it could be done at all with our modest means. The accumulators had supplied power for a while until their capacity was exhausted.

On the opposite slope, thick downed branches lay on the solar collectors. A tree had fallen so unfavorably that it had torn off a cable to the distributor. It looked to me like Christmas without electricity for everyone. Fortunately, the solar system I had built in addition was damaged only a little. I put it back into operation and directed the electricity into the line of the main house. The guesthouse and the village had to get by without electricity. I sent Sula to headquarters. They should turn off all unnecessary consumers, including the easier cooling of the supplies in the basement, so that we could hopefully turn on the guesthouse next. Again, I cursed at myself, because the walkie-talkies had not yet been charged and put into operation. They would have been perfect now. This was planned for the 27^th of December because we wanted to do a fire safety and security exercise the following day. Sula informed Olivia in the guesthouse that they could expect electricity again in an hour at the earliest, but they were only allowed to use a few lamps and the electric stove with only two hotplates on the ground floor.