"We contacted the Minister of Defense and a helicopter was about to take off from Ibague to start searching for you. We had two marine boats and one police boat, two canoes and our boat looking. We were whistling and yelling... now I want to hear your side of the story," my mom approached us and stood watching us with her hands on her hips.
I was shocked. The Minister of Defense? Really? Marines? What?
The shock produced laughter in me. I looked at Carina and Deepika and just started giggling. There was a real, actual search party... searching for... me and Deepika.
So, I took a deep breath and launched into "my side" of the story...
While in Prado, Deepika and I were sitting in the lake around dusk, watching Carina ski. She got up on the third try and as we cheered wildly for her, we finally lost sight of her and kept talking. If you've ever been to Prado, you know how easy it is to get lost in conversations while floating in the lake surrounded by glorious scenery. However, it soon began to get darker... and darker... and darker until Deepika nervously asked me if we were ever going to get picked up. I figured something happened to the boat and suggested we start swimming back toward the island. So we started swimming... and as we continued talking we witnessed the first stars appear in the black canvas above us. The water reflected the glimmering lights and the slight waves were relaxing.
But all this wasn't enough to loosen the knot growing in my stomach... Why hadn't my dad picked us up yet? If a boat came straight toward us, we'd have no way of swimming out of the way fast enough... I began feeling more nervous and I could sense Deepika's panic quickening. We decided to pause and pray for peace and protection. The sense of relief was almost immediate. We figured we might as well keep swimming toward the island.
For the next hour and a half, Deepika and I continued swimming and talking about everything and anything. The quiet night was only interrupted by our voices and frequent giggles. Then, we were shocked when we heard a small boat motor approaching and turned to see a spotlight blinding us.
My memory is a little blurry about what happened next, but I heard Deepika frantically saying, "Vivi, oh my gosh. Vivi. Oh my gosh. Vivi..." and then her voice began to quiet as her gripped on my arm tightened. I was laughing. I was laughing because I was so scared. I tried swimming out of the way of the boat, but felt my legs as heavy as lead. I wondered if my arms had turned into spaghetti... and I imagined what it would feel like to be run over by a boat. And I couldn't help laughing... it was laughter triggered by frantic nervousness.
Somewhere along the way, I managed to find my voice and began shouting, "Ojo! Estamos aqui!!" (Watch out! We're here!). And the motor stopped. And we could hear voices... They were murmuring to one another. I picked up something like, "There they are! We found them."
We were asked to climb into a dug out canoe with these strangers who claimed they had been looking for us everywhere. I obeyed as quickly as I could, struggling to climb into this canoe without tipping it. Once Deepika and I were safely in the boat they began telling us about how worried my parents were...
But it wasn't until I got back to the island that I realized just how worried they had been.
The Minister of Defense?
Marines?
Policemen?
Stopping every car leaving Prado to make sure we weren't stuffed in the trunk?
A helicopter?
For the next hour I was answering phone calls from worried friends making sure we had been found. Apparently our pastor's wife had sent out an email asking for prayer.
Deepika and I tried to think back about our night swim, when we were so oblivious to the panic consuming everyone else. We really had been surrounded by God's peace through all these prayers.
What a day!
ha
ReplyDelete