Strange Happenings

I just watched a man die.

It was surreal and no one could really believe what was happening. No one did believe it.

Today is the birthday of the school, and they had a big party. All of the students and their host families came. There was a ton of food, and drinks and music. Kids were running all over the place and everyone was visiting or dancing or watching. My host family brought rice, and another family brought guacamole and chips and those two families were sitting together under the palapa. The other family was really nice and wished me a happy birthday and when the Mariachi's started singing the husband got up in front and sang with them. I got it on video.

I was sitting with all of them and the husband and wife from the other family went to dance. They were out there dancing and having a great time and I was thinking how great they danced together. The man twirled the woman, and then suddenly his hands dropped to her shoulders and then he dropped to the ground. The wife began to panic and finally someone else noticed what was going on and tried to get help. People crowded around to see what was going on and began to fan him and some people lifted his legs and massaged them and then a man identified himself as a doctor and began to administer CPR. The man seemed to begin breathing on his own a few times, and then would stop, but they were not able to get his heart started again.

The firemen took about 15 minutes to arrive and they didn't seem to know what to do and the man who was a doctor kept yelling at them to pump the man's chest, but they didn't seem to know how so he kept telling them while he was doing it. He was yelling "ya got pump him, ya gotta pump him. He will die without a heartbeat!" Someone else translated for them and they finally began to give him CPR. It took another 15 minutes or so before the ambulance and the paramedics arrived. His wife and son were crying and no one seemed to be going to comfort them, so I did. I just prayed that the man would be okay and that God would be with his family and she would feel like I was Jesus with skin on.

I really didn't have much confidence that the man would live. It took so long, and he didn't seem to be recovering. When I was a lifeguard, they told us if you have to administer CPR, the person has less than a 5% chance of making it.

We don't know what happened. The paramedics finally took him to the hospital and I guess they'll let people know what happened on Monday. Everyone was really shook up and quiet and crying.

There was one young girl, a college student from Ventura...she was on her knees fervently praying Our Father and Hail Mary and Yea, Though I Walk Through the Valley of Death. She was almost in a trance and her prayers were getting desperate. I went and prayed with her and I sensed she was at the edge of panic so I hugged her and she started balling and praying. It was heartbreaking. It's weird, but she looked really beautiful there, praying...she looks a little like how we picture Mary anyway. I don't know why, but it just struck me.

Thankfully, someone had the sense to get all the kids out of there and so they all went to a house down the street and weren't really aware of what was going on.

This seems like a bad ending to a bad week. We leave tomorrow and will be going to Acapulco for a few days, and then on to Puerto Angel for a week or so of relaxing by the beach. We plan to be in Oaxaca for a big festival on July 18.

Sorry for the depressing post! But, I'm trying to stay "real" about what's going on for us and this is about as real as it gets, huh? Please keep this man and his family in your prayers.