Day 3 - is he going to die down here????

I guess everyone needs a good scare and I got mine today!!! But it really made me stop and think about what you would do if the person you are traveling with died in a foreign country. OK, Kerry is just fine. But we think he had an angina attack today. However, when it happened, he thought he was going to die and we were in the middle of the jungle, about 1 1/2 hours inland, and absolutely nowhere close to any type of medical services.

I have often asked myself (and mom) how you now when to stop doing certain things as you age. Mom says, "you will just know". And oh my, is she ever brilliant or what? After today, we will no longer be booking any excursion that includes walking of any type at all. Kerry is past that point.

This is a tour that I wanted to do the last time we were here. I've heard about the Copalita river and wanted to go see it. Well, we got to cross it, but this is the very beginning of their rainy season and it's pretty low....and very muddy at the moment.

We stopped at a coffee plantation and while neither of us drink the stuff, it's good to know about it.  We saw a gas powered roaster in action.  I have to say, the smell was wonderful!  Elaine & Mom, we're bringing coffee beans back to you guys!  If the taste is half as good as the smell, you will like it!  The coffee plants are in full bloom right now, but I didn't get any shots as it was too dark - we were in the middle of a jungle.

We got to our destination and it was a 15 minute hike to the waterfalls.  I was happily shooting photos - the water is absolutely stunning at this point and lots of little falls and ripples along our path.

But we were down on the bottom with absolutely no air circulating anywhere.  And about 98 degrees with 98% humidity.  Pretty stuffy.  The people ahead of us were walking at a pretty fast pace and Kerry was trying to keep up with them.  Finally he had to rest.  And that was when he realized he wasn't getting any air.

Of course, he didn't tell me that then!  Duh!  He was determined that I go ahead with the group and get photos and movies of the waterfalls.  And he promised to just sit there and wait for me.  So I ran.  Yeah, not so bright am I?  Running with no oxygen, in that heat with that humidity.....but I did it!  Up and down hills and steps built out of dirt and roots, I caught up with the group and made it to the falls.  They were stunning!  

You need to realize that I've taken about 400 shots so far.  I will never download them all - they just get burnt to a DVD taht will get added to the journal that I create with these notes.  We can conert the photos to a slide show and enjoy them any time we want to.  So easy with an apple!  :o)

Anyway, I got the photos and then RAN back to where Kerry was supposed to be and he wasn't there.  So I just kept on going and finally caught up with him.  He was, once again, walking too fast for those conditions so I got in front of him and made him slow way down.  And we stopped about every 5 minutes for a break.  Absolutely sweltering and I really didn't need to even look at him to wonder if he was going to make it or not...I could hear it in his breathing.

We finally made it back up to the top and parked on a log bench.  That's when he told me he thought he had had an angina attack and was going to go see the doctor as soon as we get home.

We still had a 1 1/2 hour drive back to town after we got out of the river bottom.  And about 10 minutes into the ride, it started pouring down rain.  Flash flooding all over the place.  Our tour guide did a fabulous job of driving us back....but once again, those thoughts kept running through my head.  What would you do if there was an emergency in a place like this?

 I want him to go see a doctor here.  They have excellent medical care in Huatlco....but he says no, he will wait til we get home.  I immediately cancel everything in my mind that I want to do on this trip and have decided that we are going to do absolutely nothing except lay by the pool and vegge out in our room.

OK, I HAVE to take a cab to the marina and get my shrimp cerveche!  But we will not be doing the other ATV ride, nor will we be renting mopeds....or even going snorkeling unless it's right in front of our hotel.  

We are in the room for the night and ordering room service.  I swear, I think I'm going to be the one who has a heart attack down here....I don't need this much "excitement"!    So I've informed Kerry that he can just knock it off for the rest of our trip!  And he says to me, "you're the one who wanted to go see the waterfalls!!!"

Why is he always right???   LOL!