Prisoner of Nature

The whistle blows and we all perk up. “He is found!” the man yells in his broken English. What should have been shouts of joy and cheers turned into wails and silent weeping. The man in his child like snorkel mask had a rope tied around his waist that was connected to another long rope, strung from one tree to another, over rocks on a waterfall. Men came from up the path, if you would call the steep mountain lined with slick mud and tree roots a path, with a stretcher and a sheet. The rope around the man broke, leading the Thai rescuers and onlookers to throw money into the swirling whirlpool. 1000 baht to release our friend. We had spent all morning searching up and down the falls, climbing on rocks, wading in currents, and getting dirty sliding down mossy cliffs. We had hoped that when our friend slipped yesterday, he had merely hit his head and washed ashore downstream, crawled into a cave or cavern and waited for us. We expected to find him hitchhiking on the road, complaining that he had lost his phone or his shoes, yet again. Instead we find him trapped under a ledge of an angry whirlpool, at the bottom of a waterfall. The crowd that had gathered thought it was appropriate to take video and pictures of the crying foreigners waiting for the water to release its prisoner. The crowd of random people, children, and the rescuers wasn’t above taking photos as well, as they pulled our friend out with a rope.

We arrived at the hospital with no room for us, as the Thai circus crowd decided they were more important, and were in the viewing room gawking at the rivers prize. Again with the cameras. Another girl, who is blunt like me, decided she had had enough, while she shoved cameras out of the way and closed the curtain to pay some respect, I went to the Thais and showed them the door. They cleaned him up a bit, and put some clothing on him that he would have never worn in real life, and we were allowed to see him. We all gathered around and the director of our school, who is actually in his 60’s along with his wife, who climbed up the steep slick and dirty terrain in their church clothes this morning, said a prayer and we said our goodbyes to this man with a now purple face. They placed him in a Pepto-Bismol pink lined coffin with gold holograms decorating the outside. At least it is air-conditioned, as the funeral will last three days and they don’t embalm.