I went for a little walk with my son and my wife this weekend.. I wanted to distract us a bit, resolve some issues and also visit a friend. The Christmas vacations are coming to an end. Soon the boy will have to go back to school, so he wants to spend all his time with me walking around.
My friend's house is secluded in a lonely field and for about a kilometer there are only two houses. He lives there with his wife and son. He likes it there because he has a lot of animals to take care of. On his farm he has cows, horses, rams, pigs, guineos, puppies and also some cats.
Arriving at his house we found an abandoned giant. A bulldozer, or as we Cubans say, a buldoza. The boy ran up to it. Look dad, what a big tractor. It's like the one with the little dolls and it's used to push earth.
He was a little scared at first, because it's so big. He kept his childish fantasy and thought he could start that giant at any moment, suddenly, without a driver or fuel. Once he overcame his surprise. He climbed onto the sprocket wheels, with tracks, grooves or chains.
The cab was hermetically sealed and he could not access it to grab the levers he could see through the glass. In fact, even that iron mass is not completely abandoned; from time to time its driver gives it a ride. About three years ago he parked it in that secluded place because a part broke and it has been difficult to get. It also consumes a lot of fuel. To move and perform its functions, it consumes more than 30 liters per hour, especially because its technical condition is not optimal. All this was explained to us by its former operator who was nearby.
We saw the brand of the equipment, it has SHANTUI written on the back in big letters. According to what I saw on the internet, it is a Chinese state-owned company specialized in the manufacture of heavy machinery. Well, we will have to go to China to look for the part. For a long time Julito will be talking about the buldoza. The driver promised him that another day he will ride it, because he didn't have the keys on him. In all the years it has been parked there, he has never ridden it again.
We spent some time talking with the man who has had to change jobs because he can no longer drive his bulldozer. He used to use it to clear the land, clean it of marabú, open roads, make ponds to irrigate the crops, bury the garbage in the landfill. Now he is a punch puncher and we went with him to his punch bowl.
I needed to change a tire on my horse-drawn cart and put a part on the running gear. All of that was taken care of by my son and me. Well, I can't forget to mention the photojournalist, my wife, who was with us. She always helps me in these matters. Now my son wants to be a buldozero, he was very impressed with that iron giant. What do you think? See you on another weekend ride.
The images used in the publication are my property taken with my wife's mobile Xiaomi Redmi 12C. English translation by Deepl Translate.
