Long ago on a small island in the Caribbean, (Puerto Rico) there was a people who worked the sugar cane fields. There was an abundance of cane in the town of San Sebastian.
This town was the largest producer of cane on the hills, in the village of Alto Sano.
The men of Alto Sano lived and died by their machete.

The machete was how they earned their living cutting cane, but it was more than that to them.
Disputes were settled, hunting and gathering done with their machete, children were disciplined with the flat side of it.
Their whole existence revolved around the machete.
These men were known as the Jivaro Machetero.
(Jivaro-indigenous country people Caribbean Indian)

When two men had a dispute over ownership of a pig or a goat,
the elders of the village would take long thin strands of sugar cane bark, about six feet in length and tie the two men by the big toe of their foot, in this way they would be close enough to pelt each other with the flat side of machete. The dispute would end when one of the men would cut the cane strand between them declaring him the loser.

There were rules to these disputes; no one could use the edge sides of their machete.
If one cut the other, the cutter would automatically forfeit.
He could not cut the cane strand and run this action would entitle the other man of the village to pelt him with their machetes, he would be thought of as an outcast and a liar.
If anyone stole from their neighbor the thief would-be hunted down by a selected group of men, when found the thief would be taken to the sea an executed by being hacked to death.

These men were slender with taunt muscular bodes.
The average height was about five feet seven inches.
They were incredibly fast and could run for days with little or no water.

One morning as usual the macheteros awaken at the crack of dawn, setting out with their machetes in hand to work the cane fields. They would cut the cane in a rhythmic way as they sang their ancient words, of the power of the soil and how a man was not a man if he didn't have his machete in his hand. As they cut the cane it was thrown back and the knot men would bundle and tie them after. Cane bundles would litter the pathways made by the macheteros. The master counter would ride his steed behind the knot men.
The bottom of the hill was the base camp where the Don sat under the shade of a tree. The owner of the field (the Don), would wait there for the master counter to send his runner with the count of each section of the hill that had been harvested.

All work would be stopped at noon.
If not the men might dehydrated, because the intensity of the Caribbean sun.
The macheteros would find shade under a tree, eat, drink and relax until two in the afternoon.
To then resume their final run before the day was done.
The afternoon would move swiftly, by four in the afternoon they would see the snake charmers just above them on the hill. Once the charmers stop clearing the way of snake, the macheteros knew their day was almost done.

The macheteros had been hearing a thundering like sound the whole day.
They looked up at the sky, but it was so clear that you could almost see God.
A child of six years in age came running as fast as his bare feet could carry him, yelling “monster, monster!”.
When he reached the Don, the Don jumped up on his feet and asked
“What monster child?”
The child could barely catch his breath as he spoke.
In his broken Spanish, he explained that on the adjacent hill there was a monster that had eaten all the macheteros cane workers, and was now devouring the hill. Without listening to another word from the child, the Don mounted his stallion heading in the direction the child had come.

The news of the monster spread like wild fire on the hill the macheteros were working on, from the hill they could see the Don going towards the sound of the thunder.
They were thinking what to do, while the master counter was yelling,
“Get back to work macheteros!”
They were unsure of what to do, should we go and help the Don fight the monster or stay and continue working. It was as if they were one mind, the macheteros began to run down the hill after the Don. The master counter and the knot men stood there on the hill in disbelief.
The macheteros headed toward the monster with fear in their eyes and a prayer on their lips.
The Don had reached the hill with the monster, when the macheteros had taken off after him. The Don just watched, and he began to curse as the macheteros arrived. They saw what the Don was seeing, but the macheteros saw what was happening in their perspective.
The Don was screaming at no one in particular, “the cane that was on this hill yesterday is all but gone, before the sun has gone down. One man rides this monster, while the knot men follow after, a job that takes three days is being done before the sun has gone to rest. My God what will I do, how can I compete with such a thing.”

The macheteros were transfixed, a hellish monster was eating the cane and throwing it to the after, while the knot men followed giving homage to this huge metal monster.
They all yelled as one voice their battle cry, "a la muerte" charging up the hill with their machetes held high.
The Don yelled after them “stop! but there was no conviction in his voice, maybe he wanted to kill the monster of the cane also, the very one that was killing all his gain. He watched as the macheteros plan became clear to him, as they ran they split into two battle platoons going right and left not on the path the monster had made,
but through the cane so as to remain stealth. Suddenly macheteros were leaping high in the air and landing on the monsters back, like a pride of lions on a unified attack. Their machetes were gleaming in the sun as they hacked away at the monsters life giving veins, hydraulics fuel began to flow like blood. The driver made a futile attempt at stopping them, but the ferocity of their attack made him think it was best to save his own life.
So he jumped off and headed away from the danger. Now the monster was running out of control, some of the macheteros were ran over by the monster from hell. The Don had found a better vantage point, and he could not believe what he was seeing.

The news of the monster on the hill of Alto Sano had gotten to all the macheteros of the village, like an Army of ants he could see them running and leaping on to the monster. Some of the macheteros were carrying large tree trunks to throw in the monsters path to stop it's movement. The Don was amazed at their attack without a general guiding them. It was the most single minded battle operation he had ever seen.
Their machetes were creating sparks as they struck on the metal behemoth. Fire began to rise as the sparks hit the hydraulic blood. Black blinding smoke like arms began to reach for the clear blue Caribbean sky. The attack stopped and the macheteros moved away from the choking and blinding smoke. Explosions began to occur, a cheer rose from the hundreds of macheteros, "muerte al monstro de Alto Sano”. (Death to the monster)

The story traveled near and far across the small island of the death of the metal monster, by the valiant macheteros of San Sebastian. A great pride was felt through the entire town of the power of the macheteros from the village of Alto Sano. Not long after the battle of Alto Sano, these metal monsters took over all the hillsides of San Sebastian. The macheteros had won the battle, but lost the war to progress.

You can sometimes hear the story that was told by the old macheteros of Alto Sano and how the river of San Sebastian grew from the tears of the long gone macheteros, “the able bodied men of the cane”.