Choque de gua gua

So I haven’t been the best about blogging, mostly due to laziness, but since I lost my journal yesterday I need to write a bit somewhere. I also have a big event that I want to talk about a little bit. IMPORTANT NOTE: I am totally fine so no need to worry!!
This weekend, my and 6 other friends from my program went on a trip to the mountain town of Jarabacoa. We really lucked out, getting to stay in an amazing “hostel”, Jarabacoa Mountain Hostel, that was really more like a private house! We cooked some great meals and went on a truly amazing and challenging hike. It was a really wonderful weekend.

On Monday, a group wanted to leave early so they went to buy bus tickets at around noon. Unfortunately, the buses we were planning on taking were sold out so we all ended up buying tickets for the 3 pm bus to Santo Domingo. The bus service is called Caribe Tours and is similar to the US’s Megabus or Greyhound. It is the most established company, in comparison with the more informal gua guas, and is a little more money and supposedly safer. After a delicious, huge Dominican lunch we got on and headed back home.

My friend Sarah and I were sitting next to each other, and spent the first half hour practicing our Spanish conversation. We were talking casually when suddenly it seemed like the bus was going way too fast. The driver was honking like crazy. I thought at first that he was just driving recklessly, but then bags started falling off the top compartments. I asked Sarah if she could see what was going on, and right after I asked we realized something awful was happening. It got incredibly bumpy, like a plane with really bad turbulence. It was dark all of the sudden and I realized that we had driven off the road and were now heading down the mountain through the forest. There were no seat belts (just like coach buses in the US) and so I was bracing myself against the front seat. I was incredibly lucky in that I wasn’t shook up very much, but in front of me a woman got thrown to the other side of the bus by the motion and that was terrifying to witness. The bus flipped to the side and stopped.

The bus was basically on its side, at a little more than a 45 degree angle. It was hard to tell if it was actually on the ground or if it was in the trees still, so at first some people were saying to stay still. However, soon everyone began scrambling to get out of the bus as soon as possible. Despite the confusion, all in all it was incredible how calm and orderly people were. People were patient and let others go ahead of them, and helped guide others out of the bus. We had to climb out of the top (well really the side) window and climb up the mountain back to the road. I wasn’t really able to process any thoughts besides “up” and was holding on to vines to pull myself out. My flip flops were the worst form of footwear so I ended up taking them off and climbing barefoot, which led to some scratches. One of my friends lost a shoe so she was climbing in one flip flop and one bare foot. When we got to the top of the road there were already a lot of people there–I’m not sure how many were from the crash and how many had arrived after hearing the commotion. Lots of people were screaming and crying, and many had broken limbs. Once we gathered all 7 of us and ascertained that we were all okay, we were trying to figure out how to help others but there wasn’t much any of us could do. I think that was a difficult position to be in for some of the other students, but I was mostly too overwhelmed to do anything but observe what was happening. Soon ambulances started arriving, and those who were most seriously injured were taken to the hospital. I was glad to see that all of the children who were on the bus seemed okay as I didn’t see any of them injured. I was worried about an old woman who had been sitting across the aisle from us–she got off with help but was extremely pale, and was taken away in a stretcher. I think she was in shock but didn’t seem to be seriously injured.

After a few minutes we learned that all of the passengers had gotten off of the bus with the exception of the driver, who was stuck in front but alive. There were a ton of rescue groups trying to get him out and there were also many, many interested bystanders. It started to rain but luckily there was this random ranchito right on the side of the road (like a big gazebo) so a lot of the passengers took shelter there. Reporters also started showing up and some of my friends got interviewed on Dominican TV, with various levels of success (none of us really had the vocabulary to describe a crash). There were also a lot of Politur, the tourist police, who took down our names, ages and the hotel we stayed in, and seemed really concerned about us because we’re Americans. It was nice of them, but also still pretty blatant display of the privileges we get from being Americans. In contrast another passenger, a Haitian man, was concerned about the fact that his documents were still on the bus. The consequences for him were much higher than for my friends who also left their passport copies, driver’s licenses etc on the bus as well. I was lucky that the purse I had brought with me had all my important possessions, as I had to leave my backpack behind (containing the aforementioned journal but otherwise nothing I can’t live without).

So everyone was kind of milling around, processing everything. We called the program and they were concerned, but glad to hear we were all fine. They sent a mini van to come pick us up, but it was coming from Santo Domingo so it was going to take a while. This was fine because I don’t think any of us were in a hurry to get out of there. We all wanted to see what would happen to the driver and also to our bags. It was hard to know what was happening because the only info we got was from people around us.

It was pretty scary to look at the path the bus had taken. It had gone directly between two giant trees, which would have been awful to hit. It also avoided a river. After talking to many people, we learned that the brakes had gone out and the driver had realized about a kilometer before the crash. He must have been waiting to ditch out in that specific spot because if he had gone over any earlier, the bus would have gone down a much steeper drop and possibly into the river. It was very sobering to realize how much worse things could have been, and on a certain level I am still kind of in awe that I am here writing these words.

Everyone around us was incredibly nice and helpful. My friend and I had to use the bathroom, and there was a house across the street that seemed to be the only option. There were a ton of people standing around watching the goings-on. We went up to the house and there were a bunch of kids and a cake on the table! It seemed that they were having a birthday party that got interrupted by the crash. The kids were really funny and cute so they brought up everyone’s spirits, and the woman of the house was generous with her bathroom.

One moment that I found the most surreal was seeing the 4:30 bus, the one I was supposed to be on, drive by the scene and perfectly make the turn that we could not. It was strange to think that in some alternate universe, I would be on the bus watching from the window, not knowing what was going on.

Finally the van arrived for us after 3 hours. At this point we still didn’t know about the bags or driver, but everyone was really ready to get back so we climbed in to the van. Unfortunately, the driver was driving in classic Dominican style, AKA crazily, which was not the best way for 7 people who had just been in a traumatic accident to travel. Finally we asked him to go really slow and he went to a moderate level, so that helped. On the ride home we were all kind of loopy, everyone was laughing hysterically at everything. Then our driver told us “Now you know how Dominicans live. Something bad happens, but if it all turns out okay, we CELEBRATE!” It definitely felt like we were all in that sort of mood.

We got back to the central program office and all of our host moms were there waiting for us. We were so happy to see them and hug them. The funniest thing was that everyone wanted us to take pictures, which, after 3 hours in mud and rain, wearing a giant soaking wet men’s sweatshirt (thanks Ted!) was not exactly what I had in mind. But it felt amazing to get home, eat some tostones, shower and skype with my parents. We also got excused from classes today so it’s been great to rest.

It’s been weird to check the news today. The driver eventually got out, but he died on the way to the hospital which I am really sad about. The only info that I can find about him is his name: Julio Lugo. I wish I knew more. Also, some of the papers are saying that the 7 Americans were injured, which is wrong, and also just making a big deal about us being on board the bus because of our nationality. It is upsetting that American bodies seem so much more valued than Dominican, which I want to talk more about in a later post.

A last thing I want to say to everyone is that even though this happened, I felt like it was something that could have happened anywhere. I worry about feeding into the stereotypes of developing nations as unsafe and threatening. I feel that there are risks you take when you travel anywhere, and don’t want to paint a picture of the DR as especially unsafe. While it is undoubtedly true that mistakes were made, I still plan on traveling more. After this I will switch the focus to a much more positive view!

Sorry this post was the longest! If you are reading this I am sure I love you very much (even if you are a stranger? I hope all you readers know me). Hasta luego, besos y abrazos!

PS this article is in Spanish, but the video shows some of what happened in the aftermath if anyone is interested: http://www.noticiassin.com/2012/01/al-menos-7-heridos-en-accidente-de-autobus-de-caribe-tours-en-carretera-jarabacoa-la-vega/