Derrumbo Day

It all started with a night at Karaoke.

Thursday night was a birthday celebration of a compañero in Zamora. We gathered for chicken, papas and homemade pizza (sooo good) and then headed out on the town. It rained in the morning on Thursday, but the afternoon was gorgeous and sunny. I even went for a run and got a little sunburnt on my cheeks...but it was a great night, cool but no clouds. Then at 10ish it started to pour. I was with my friend Dr. Rumi and he was nice enough to drive me home.

I didn´t think much of the rain as we were driving, because it seems like it´s always raining here but Rumi was really worried we would get stuck in a derrumbo, or landslide, as the road to Yantzaza from Zamora is carved out of the mountains. We passed the dangerous parts and then got to Zumbi, both of us thinking we were in the clear as it´s only 15 minutes from Yantzaza. As we passed the traffic circle, we see water just rushing down the street, almost as if we were driving in the river. Water and mud was pouring down the mountain, the bridge to Zumbi completely covered in mud. Realizing we couldn´t pass, we decided to wait alongside the road for a little bit. I was pretty scared, hoping that the water wouldn´t lift the car up and float us away, but Rumi assured me we were safe in this spot.

Then I had to pee. I was like, come on corrie...this is not the time nor the place. So, now being an expert at peeing outside, I squatted outside with an umbrella. My pompis got a little wet, but it wasn´t like I had a choice. However, when I was outside, I looked over at the road and I saw these giant rocks, just tumbling down the street like bouncy balls. The water was just lifting up everything in it´s path. So I hurried back in the car.

After an hour-long nap Rumi woke me up saying it had started to dry out. So we carefully drove to the gas station which we could see from where we were parked before and then saw the road was completely blocked by fallen trees. By now it´s about 12:30 am. Great...well it looks like we´re just gonna have to sleep here. But Rumi is determined to get back to Yantzaza, so he says we´re walking. I was like ¨Jigga-what?¨ I was not dressed for a landslide, let me tell you. I had these pajama pants-turned-capris on (which I was wearing when there was another derrumbo and we got stuck...coincidence?), with a t-shirt and these Ecua-sandals I bought that were not suitable for wading through mud and JUNGLE that was strewn across the street. But then I was like well, good fodder for the blog, so why not.

We joined up with two other people who were on their way home from a political meeting and got stuck, as well. They wrapped their green Correa flags around their heads like ponchos and we started the trek to Yantzaza. We hadn´t even left the gas station and my sandals broke, so I had to carry my shoes while wading through the mud. I wasn´t happy when the guy we were with was like ¨watch out for snakes...¨ gee, thanks señor. They were all laughing and joking the whole time, so I felt better that we were walking in middle of the night...with no shoes...in the pouring rain...and no light whatsoever. It helped lighten ¨the mood¨. We walked about 20 minutes and then saw a scooper truck clearing the road! We were going to be saved! They ran up to tell him that there was a tree in the road, and could he help us. Good thing, because he was going to leave after this derrumbo he was clearing.

We returned back to the car and I couldn´t believe how many people were stuck, as well. It hadn´t been that late when it started raining, but still. A lot of people were stranded. They cleared the road and we were able to return safe and sound to Yantzaza.

Zumbi was hit the hardest; a lot of people had flooding in their houses and the river is still really, really high. Yantzaza´s water got knocked out and we still haven´t had any since Thursday night. They are saying we´ll get it back on Sunday...we´ll see.