Miracles and Kindness

April 19, 2014

Earlier this week, Todd and I made a quick trip to Cuenca to take care of some business.  As always, we had a lovely time there, but busy with appointments, so not much opportunity to get together with friends (in particular Mary and Steve Beckman of "South of Zero" fame), though we did run into Nancy and Chuck Watson (“Nancy and Chuck – Retirement in Ecuador") one morning, while having a late breakfast/brunch at Local 5.

It is a six hour trip between Olón and Cuenca.
Three hours by bus between Guayaquil, and then a three hour drive from there to Cuenca, across the Cajas Pass.  We have generally hired shuttle van drivers for that portion of the trip (either direction we are headed).

The Cajas Pass is located in the Cajas National Park, which covers about 71,630 acres, and it is a stunningly beautiful drive; there are over 200 lakes in the park, beautiful waterfalls, llamas alongside the highway, and breathtaking views.
That is if you can see them, because it is frequently foggy across the pass.
AND, this is assuming one is able to enjoy the view, since the usually slick road is full of hairpin turns, steep drop-offs, and maniacal drivers.

I've made at least 17 trips to Cuenca in the last 2 years - meaning I've made that Cajas journey around 33 times (I flew in once from Quito)....After the first few thrilling (and “white-knuckled”) trips,  I've gotten sort of blasé about the commute, until this time.

On Thursday, we hired a taxi to drive us back to Guayaquil, sharing it with a young Ecuadorian riding shotgun, and a very nice older Ecuadorian man riding in back with us. It is “Semana Santa” (the Easter Week, and a much celebrated holiday here).  We left early, hoping to beat the crush of people traveling to the coast for the weekend.

Shortly after going over the peak, our car spun out on blind curve, (we remember at least two 360 degree donuts), and then the car went off the road in the fog (somehow FLYING OVER a 18-inch deep, 43-inch wide culvert)...I know this, because I always keep a tape measure in my purse (don’t ask – I just always have one on me), so I measured the culvert after the accident.

That the car didn't roll is a miracle. It is also a miracle that no other cars were behind us, or coming towards us when it happened.  We landed with barely a thump, facing the direction from which we had just come. For about 30 seconds we all looked at each other in wonderment, before jumping out of the car, into 6-8 inch deep jungle foliage (note to self – wear more substantial shoes than flip-flops while traveling).
Not a scratch on any of us, and on initial inspection, the only damage to the car was two flat rear tires.

It is a miracle that we went off the highway towards the HILL side, because much of that road has a CLIFF side (though where we went off, the road had unforgiving rock hills on both sides)..into an infrequent "glen" of grass along the route.

As we were surveying our situation, it quickly occurred to all of us that we were waaay too close to the blind curve, with virtually no visibility because of the fog, and we had a sudden concern about the possibility of a chain reaction event.

Instead, the kindness and ingenuity of the strangers who stopped to help us was amazing!

Kind strangers returning
with planks and logs to get
over the culvert.

An older couple stopped, said they would be right back with some wood planks; a small semi-truck driver pulled over and parked his vehicle between the sharp curve and our accident site as a warning and as a protection against holiday traffic whipping around the bend. Other people stopped to help push once the planks arrived (needed to get car over the culvert and back on the road). Another larger truck arrived to help rope-pull the car off the road, when 12 people pushing still weren’t enough.

Emilio (the older gentleman) had gone up a narrow uphill path to higher ground to try and get cell phone reception (nope, not in that spot) and I scampered up there to join him (after changing into my old Converse shoes – fortunately easy to retrieve) to get some of these pictures and videos.
To see the videos, click on the YouTube links below:

 "Miracle on the Cajas" and "Miracle on the Cajas 2"

Once the car was back on the road, Todd and I were able to hitch a ride the rest of the way to Guayaquil (with the blessings of our driver and traveling companions) with one of the couples who stopped.  They were brother and sister (Jonathon and Maria) who travel the highway every day; Jonathon owns a “finca” (a ranch) in the Cajas. We had a wonderful time getting to know them, and Jonathon spoke some ingles, because he lived in New York City for a number of years.  He chattily mentioned that a couple of policeman had recently been killed in the same spot a couple of weeks ago.

They took us right to the bus terminal.

We were so very grateful, yet they mentioned several times during the drive how blessed they felt to be able to help us.  We gave them a bag of fresh Loja coffee that we had purchased in Cuenca, and pressed some money in his hand, though he heartily protested the money on parting.

When we finally did get to Guayaquil to catch a bus the rest of the way back to coast, we had 2+ hour wait for it....we bought our tickets, and then made bee-line to the nearby Holiday Inn and promptly inhaled a couple of screwdrivers (with beer-backs) to calm down.

Truly, that I am able to write this now is a miracle, and the kindness of the Ecuadorian people never ceases to amaze me.