COSTA RICA
Constantly changing clouds
Float above
Windy mountain roads
Greens blend into greens
Today was an interesting and yet difficult day for me. We went to a volcano and then had lunch. After lunch we were on our way to the canopies to swing through the trees like little monkeys. We were so carefree. We were playing games and singing songs in the back of the taxi. The traffic slowed and we realized there was an accident ahead. Usually, once traffic is backed up enough that people have stopped, there is no need for you to stop, so you try to avoid rubber necking while taking a quick peek and drive on your merry way. Someone stopped our taxi and asked if the taxi driver spoke English because there were gringos in the car that had crashed and they didn’t speak much Spanish. We dashed out of the car. I remember thinking, as I hurried toward the mangled car, that I wasn’t prepared to face what might be in there. Car accidents are bad. I’ve never been in a serious one. I’ve never seen a serious one. I understood that as I approached, and yet I approached. There was a blond haired guy sitting on a log next to the car bleeding profusely. Blood was dripping everywhere. Someone had given him a t-shirt (or maybe it was his own). We helped him closer to the road and I held a washcloth I had in my bag to his head. We tried to put pressure on it, but the blood just soaked through everything. There were too many cuts for us to do much good. I have always hated blood, and I suppose it is good that when the moment came I didn’t cringe but I did what needed to be done. His name was Chris. The ambulance came finally, it couldn’t have been more than a minute or two, it seemed like forever. They wrapped him up like a mummy, but there was still blood everywhere. The 3 guys were from America. They just graduated from university and had driven down from America to look for teaching jobs, or just hang out. All 3 of them were in shock. 2 of them went to the hospital and one stayed behind to figure out the luggage and the car, which had to be towed out of the river it had fallen into. Everything was a bit crazy. People coming in and arguing in Spanish, saying various things had to be done. Pressuring him to do this or that. Finally we got him out of there and took him in our taxi to the hospital. We dropped his bags off at a hotel. We said a short good-bye and good-luck. All of the guys were fine and are going to survive. It made me think a lot though. About how lucky I am. About all of the risks I have taken that probably didn’t need to be taken. About how precarious life can be. And about luck. I am disappointed that we didn’t go to the canopy. Obviously the day did not go the way I had envisioned it. However, I’m glad that we were there to offer whatever assistance we could. The guys would have survived without our help, but I like to think that we made the ordeal a little bit easier for them. If we had eaten faster at lunch, if we had stayed at the volcano a little bit longer, if we had asked to go to a different canopy, we wouldn’t have been there at the exact moment that perhaps we were needed. I really do believe that things have a way of working out for the best and in way that they are supposed to work out. I didn’t swing through the jungle, but perhaps I did something more important in the long run. At any rate, it was an interesting and difficult day.
Constantly changing clouds
Float above
Windy mountain roads
Greens blend into greens
Today was an interesting and yet difficult day for me. We went to a volcano and then had lunch. After lunch we were on our way to the canopies to swing through the trees like little monkeys. We were so carefree. We were playing games and singing songs in the back of the taxi. The traffic slowed and we realized there was an accident ahead. Usually, once traffic is backed up enough that people have stopped, there is no need for you to stop, so you try to avoid rubber necking while taking a quick peek and drive on your merry way. Someone stopped our taxi and asked if the taxi driver spoke English because there were gringos in the car that had crashed and they didn’t speak much Spanish. We dashed out of the car. I remember thinking, as I hurried toward the mangled car, that I wasn’t prepared to face what might be in there. Car accidents are bad. I’ve never been in a serious one. I’ve never seen a serious one. I understood that as I approached, and yet I approached. There was a blond haired guy sitting on a log next to the car bleeding profusely. Blood was dripping everywhere. Someone had given him a t-shirt (or maybe it was his own). We helped him closer to the road and I held a washcloth I had in my bag to his head. We tried to put pressure on it, but the blood just soaked through everything. There were too many cuts for us to do much good. I have always hated blood, and I suppose it is good that when the moment came I didn’t cringe but I did what needed to be done. His name was Chris. The ambulance came finally, it couldn’t have been more than a minute or two, it seemed like forever. They wrapped him up like a mummy, but there was still blood everywhere. The 3 guys were from America. They just graduated from university and had driven down from America to look for teaching jobs, or just hang out. All 3 of them were in shock. 2 of them went to the hospital and one stayed behind to figure out the luggage and the car, which had to be towed out of the river it had fallen into. Everything was a bit crazy. People coming in and arguing in Spanish, saying various things had to be done. Pressuring him to do this or that. Finally we got him out of there and took him in our taxi to the hospital. We dropped his bags off at a hotel. We said a short good-bye and good-luck. All of the guys were fine and are going to survive. It made me think a lot though. About how lucky I am. About all of the risks I have taken that probably didn’t need to be taken. About how precarious life can be. And about luck. I am disappointed that we didn’t go to the canopy. Obviously the day did not go the way I had envisioned it. However, I’m glad that we were there to offer whatever assistance we could. The guys would have survived without our help, but I like to think that we made the ordeal a little bit easier for them. If we had eaten faster at lunch, if we had stayed at the volcano a little bit longer, if we had asked to go to a different canopy, we wouldn’t have been there at the exact moment that perhaps we were needed. I really do believe that things have a way of working out for the best and in way that they are supposed to work out. I didn’t swing through the jungle, but perhaps I did something more important in the long run. At any rate, it was an interesting and difficult day.
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