Costa Rica (Part 2)

(sorry for the wait!)
The continuation of the earthquake...
Everyone was being directed to a parking lot, which was just a cleared area, for safety. It was on high ground and only a precarious power line would be able to fall on us (which it didn't---thank the Lord!). Everyone began huddling in groups, finding the people they knew and checking for wounds. Througout all this time and all through the night there would be little tremors, repercussions of the earthquake. For the most part in those first few hours you saw the goodwill of mankind, as strangers comforted strangers and offered anything they had: an encouraging word, a tissue, a bottle of water, a band-aid, etc. It was indescribable seeing the aftermath chaos of a natural disaster. Children clutching parents, people calling out someone's name to find them, some people with blood wounds, everyone trying to find answers to what was going on and what was going to happen. The staff at La Paz Waterfall Gardens ran around trying to help, keeping people calm, even though they had bigger worries than us. Many feared for their families who lived nearby or friends and fellow staff members. I am forever impressed by them and grateful. Marieke improved and no longer panicked with the little tremors. Our group stayed postive; to keep spirits light one girl from our group showes us the dance she had learned earlier that week and we started to play charades with Disney movies. It helpes us to laugh and pass the time. Jose was everywhere helping people. The whole time I saw him, he never stopped helping. He brought chairs from the hotel for people to sit in. We soon learned that all the roads to enter or exit by were blocked and so we had no way out. It was not safe to try to walk our way out as things were still falling and we did not know the impact on neighboring areas. When I realized we would be stuck for the night it was saddening but it kind of made me buck up and just deal with reality. We made tents with tarps by hanging them behind two cars/vehicles. After all, it is Costa Rica and the rain was inevitable. Some from our group began scouting for some wood and debri to use for a fire. They found pieces of chairs and boards and made makeshift benches inside the tent. Of course, other people saw what we were doing and had the good sense to copy us. I am very proud of our group and our resourcefulness and usefulness. One girl in our group had jokingly stated earlier in our trip about how we would be bonding on this trip, she had no idea just how much bonding we would have after being stuck with each other for over 36 hours straight! Workers at La Paz allowed some people to go raid the gift shop for snacks. Some people ransacked the gift shop for actual gift tiems (which I think is ridiculous!). So we munched on chocolate covered macedania nuts and mike and ikes all night.

It rained a little bit off and on so other random people came into our 'tent' to stay dry, like some older French women and a mother with her two little boys. Two girls (and our professor) speak French and were able to use their language skills and talk with them. Other people boarded our tour bus to stay out of the rain. We preferred not to be in the bus in the case of another earthquake or large tremor it seemed safer on the ground with space to move. I remained under our 'tent' while others from our group started a fire. While the fire started it smoked alot. That's when things really started to get bad.

The smoke caused one girl in our group to start having an asthma attack. (we'll call her penelope). It's hard to remember what exactly happened or what I did but Penelope and I went to a 'tent' towards a building that had tables set up and some benches. It was the farthest away from the small fires and there were Costa Rican workers congregating in that area. I had her backpack and the professor came with us. We flagged down a worker and explained the problem and he helped clear a place on the bench for Penelope and gave us a few white sheets to wrap her in. I had never observed someone having an asthma attack before. It was very scary for me to recognize that she was not breathing correctly. I tend to avoid most medical issues because I have a tendency to feel light-headed. A Costa Rican worker found his mother who was there because she had an inhaler, even though Penelope had her own inhaler, it wasn't helping. I tried to keep Penelope calm (I tried to keep myself calm) and encouraged her to slow her breathing down. After much time, she was not improving. I felt very helpless because there was nothing I could do to make it better. Since we lacked the ability to take her to a hospital it was up to sheer will power and the grace of God for her to get through. I never felt such relief as when Penelope's breathing became normal. Penelope and I tried to sleep on some cardboard on the ground. She fell asleep and I made my way back to the fire where the rest of our group was. Everyone seemed in fairly good spirits. I didn't realize how drained I had become from being with Penelope through her attack until I was at the fire with everyone else. Time passed and Penelope appeared in the 'tent' by the fire. This worried me because I didn't want her to have another attack. Sure enough, after awhile she was coughing again. Another girl and I walked with Penelope back towards the other 'tent'. Our professor came back to check on her. She got worse fast. I think in part it was due to the cold. Away from the fire it was cold and none of us had dressed appropriately for sleeping on a mountain. My professor and I sat with her, once again trying to help her to slow down her breathing and keep her warm. She no longer responded to us when we asked her questions, her eyes were closed. A kind woman offered us her blanket (which was a bed comforter) and she helped us to wrap Penelope in the blanket like a baby. I held her upper body in my arms and tried to warm her up. Her breathes were shorter and raspier each time. I felt like we were holding on to her life by a thread. I don't know how long I held her and modeled breathing in and out. I was in a daze. Everything around me faded to the background. I could only hear her faint, quick breathes and my own slow and even breathes. My professor gathered a towel and two sweatshirts from the others in our group to put around my legs and shoulders. I was so focused on Penelope I didn't think to take care of myself, but I'm glad that he did. It seemd like forever until she finally got her breathing back to normal. She was sweating because I think she had a fever. When she was able to talk, she said she couldn't feel her left hand. Eventually, she got feeling back in her hand. We tried to sleep by leaning against each other (a most uncomfortable position). I went to check on the others (really I needed to warm up by the fire) and when I went back to check on Penelope she was lying on the bench sleeping. Every few minutes I would wander back to check on Penelope and about the 3rd time I went, she was gone. At that moment I think I felt like any mother who has lost their child...worried! I didn't know if she was strong enough to walk. What if she collapsed somewhere? It was dark, I would never find her! I ran back to tell our professor. We found her lying on the makeshift bench in our 'tent' by the fire. I then very forcibly told her to go inside our tour bus to sleep for the rest of the evening because I didn't want to risk the possibility of another asthma attack. She went on the bus with the blanket and slept and at last I felt like I could sit and let my mind take in everything that was happening.

It rained, so some of us huddled under the tarp with our bodies shaking, huddling together to try to get warm. We were so exhausted that we laughed at anything and everything. If we didn't laugh, we would have cried. We just kept reminding ourselves how lucky we were to be alive. Putting things into perspective helps. We held onto the hope of leaving. I had flickers of hope when the sky began to lighten ever so slowly. It was a new day!