*Disclaimer* if you have a tendency to worry about my safety and security in El Salvador, do not read on. If you were thinking about visiting me but worried about public security, do not read on. OR just accept that the world is a dangerous place and read all about my exhilarating experience.
The last month of PST 2 was packed full of firsts. First time at a waterfall in El Salvador, first time the departments of Ahuachapan and Sonsonate, first time seeing Yolanda and Loudes after PST 1, first time seeing a dead body, first time surfing in El Salvador, first time getting robbed on a bus.
Let´s start with the good stuff, and by good stuff I mean really scary stuff. It was almost the end of PST 2 and we were driving back to San Sal from Sonsonate. We were in a micro van with about 8 volunteers in my group. We hit a little bumper to bumper traffic and didn´t think much of it until someone said ¨is that a car crash? Why is someone laying in the road?¨ Right then and there I knew something was a little up. As we approached the body we had to maneuver around it because it was in the middle of the street. As we all glanced out the window, we immediately all regretted the decision. What we saw was our first dead body. Cause of death you wonder? Well I can assure you it wasn’t a car crash. What I saw and what all the other volunteers witnessed was a dude lying in the street with a bullet hole in his head. Now the part that was a little freaky was that he was still kind of alive as we passed which means that it must have happened within minutes of us arriving. Freaky. And the upsetting part was that the body wasn’t covered, there were no cops, no ambulance, in fact, nobody in the streets acted as if there was a dead body lying in the middle of the road. If you weren’t to see the body you would think that it was some normal traffic and every thing was just gravy in the city we were driving through.
Naturally I was a little shaken up by this encounter, but nothing could compare to my next encounter the following week.
I was heading out to Chinameca with 3 volunteers for a volunteer basketball game then we were heading to Carnaval that night. We were about an 1.5 hours into our 2.5 hour bus ride. We just crossed over the Rio Lempa and our bus driver thought it would be a good idea to pick up two guys on the side of the road that had bandanas around their necks. The two men boarded the bus and took their seats. About 5 minutes later one of them stood up and the cobrador (fare collector for the bus) told him there are seats and he could take a seat. While this was happening the other guy jumped up (with bandana around his face now) grabbed the cobrador hostage style with a knife up around his neck. (SIDE NOTE: while this is all happening myself and the other volunteers were chatting up a storm and laughing our heads off. But I knew something was wrong cause my heart rate jumped through the roof and my body was overcome with a rush of warmth. I really knew something was up when I looked up and saw the other guy with a cowboy hat and a bandana on his face waving a gun in the air.) At this point we went into survival mode. We stuffed our backpacks under the seats, sat on our cell phones and the rest of our money. But as I reached in my pockets to get out some money to give I realized I didn’t have any money in my big pockets, so I had to dig through my tiny pocket where I had $50. As I was scrambling to break a few ones free the guy with the knife and the cobrador were making their way down the bus with a bag collecting from everyone on the bus. I managed to scramble in time and pull out $1.10 (haha, I am such a cheap ass.) The guy with the knife made one pass holding the cobrador hostage, the guy with the gun stayed at the front waving his gun in the air screaming PISTO (money) Rapido!!!! After the first pass they made another one for cell phones. We were not about to give up our cell phones so we sat tight as they passed, but just as they reached our row the guy with the knife motioned at my friends watch and my friend quickly took it off and coughed it up. After that they pretty much packed up the bag and jumped off the bus. All in all they were on the bus for about 3 minutes. I was expecting to be robbed at some point during my two years. I was starting to feel too comfortable on the buses and I think it was a good reality check and reminder that the country I live in is dangerous and preparation is always needed in order to avoid being a deer in the headlights.
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