Day 1: It was a beautiful day - I watched the reflection of the sunset on the water of the lake, when suddenly, something disturbed me; it was a faint odor, unpleasant.
I sniffed again but could not identify it. It was not the usual wood or garbage burning - it was different. Then it was gone.
Day 2: Henry and I sitting on the terrace enjoying our pre-dinner drinks, the breeze from the lake dying down and there it was again, the odor, a little stronger now and more pungent. I asked Henry about it - he took a deep breath and laughed. "You, and your nose! I smell nothing." As a matter of fact, the smell had faded away.
Day 3: We had a busy day of shopping, and visiting friends and returned home after dark. As soon as I left the garage and stepped into the garden, I was overwhelmed by the acute smell - even Henry wrinkled his nose and said: "Dear me, what is that stink?!" I looked at the garden wall. "I think it is coming from that wooded mountain lot behind the wall." It was too dark to go out and investigate. We rushed into the house and kept windows and doors locked all night.
Day 4: As soon as the gardener arrived in the early morning the two men went out into the woods. The sun was already hot and the stench was terrible.
They returned in a short while and reported that they had found a large dead horse lying on the edge of the ravine only about 20 meters behind our wall.
The carcass had already been feasted on by wild animals and by big clumps of large black flies. The burning sun was helping the decaying process.
I rushed to the phone and called the office of our Fraccionamiento and explained our situation, emphasizing the urgency of the removal of the animal. There was a delay and then I was told that, unfortunately, the Fraccionamiento did not have a vehicle or equipment to remove a dead horse, but they would immediately call the Government office that is in charge of cases like these, and they would let me know.
Time passed. By 3 pm Henry stormed to the office. Shortly after he returned telling me that, yes they had spoken to the government office - but they could not come today, maybe tomorrow.
Then he had requested that the Fraccionamiento should at least supply some lime to cover the animal. They had said they would look into that.
All of a sudden I remembered that tomorrow eve I was supposed to give a travel slide show for a few friends. I rushed back to the phone and started calling again. My calls were appreciated, but also caused some amusement. Some sympathized, some chuckled.
One friend declared: "You poor darling, I sure have had a good amount of cancellations in my life - but a rotting horse in the back yard is certainly unique!"
It was almost 6 pm when Harry called me to the window. A little truck stopped on the road above our house near the mountain lot. A little man got out, unloaded a little bag and disappeared. Henry followed him and shortly returned.
The little man had sprinkled some lime on the exposed parts of the horse, but had barely covered them. Yet it did seem to weaken the smell after a while, especially since a breeze from the lake pushed the odor uphill. We were able to air the house for the night.
Day 5: I was awakened by the sound of pouring rain. Needless to say when the hot sun returned Henry and the gardener went to inspect our horse.
It had been beautifully washed clean, the flies were back at work and the sun kept on baking it. Henry had enough, he and the gardener took off in the car and returned with a load of 4 large bags of lime. The horse now rested under a nice white blanket. The smell was smothered. The rest of the day was uneventful. There was no rain during the night.
Day 6: It was after noon when the gardener called us and said a large machine had stopped at the lot next door. We all went to see. It was a huge front end loader. The operator spoke good English and confirmed that he was here to take care of a dead horse. We showed him where it was under its white blanket.
He inspected the situation for quite awhile, walking back to the road, looking at the trees, removing his cap and putting it back on. Then he told us that it was impossible to remove the horse. The government just did not have a dumping place for such a large object. Secondly, he could not drag the horse out because of the woods, but - since the carcass was in a fairly clear spot - his machine could bury the animal.
While the front-end loader scooped up large amounts of earth for the burial, a curious thought crossed my mind: Why had the animal died in such a lonely spot? Had it injured itself and died or had somebody lead it there and killed it? We shall never know! It sure has a lovely grave sight.
