Locked Up Abroad

So "why are you posting about this" you say? Well i'd like to tell you a story of how we were "almost" locked up abroad.

Have you ever seen the show? It's where people are usually smuggling drugs and get caught doing it and then they get put in jail in a foreign country. There are the rare occasions where someone is innocent and is taken hostage. I'm not even sure if this show is still airing. We use to watch it back in the days of cable....oh how I miss those days sometimes.

We went on vacation with some friends a few years ago to the BEAUTIFUL Mayan Riviera. It was amazing! J and I went there on our honeymoon and couldn't wait to go back and take people with us!

We got to the same resort where J and I had previously stayed and it looked a little different than we remembered. We knew that a hurricane had come through since we were there and that remodeling had been done. What we didn't know was that they sold off half of the land and now the resort was literally less than half the size that it was! They also sold off all of the good stuff! Like the great beach access and beautiful little snorkeling inlet!

Now of course we had anticipated this trip so much that we weren't going to let anything get us down. We decided to go "exploring" over to the side that was sold off so that J and I could show Brent and Heather how great it use to be.....BAD IDEA!!!!!

We start walking over and realize that nothing had been restored on the "other side". All the once beautiful bungalows and restaurants were still sitting in ruins from the hurricane. The resort is very topical and secluded. You wonder down small jungle covered paths. It was a very eerie feeling walking through an abandoned and wrecked resort.

We are about one curve away from the beach access when J and Heather spotted a massive hermit crab and stopped to stare. Brent and I were apparently not interested. We kept walking a head of them. We both suddenly looked up and saw and electrical line running from somewhere into the top of one of the bungalows. Then we saw some snorkeling gear. Then we heard a radio. (not clicking yet) We turned the corner only to hear what sounded like a multitude of voices. We saw clothes lines with lots of clothes hanging on them. Then we heard a very loud HEY!!! We saw a very scary man and heard lots of other voices yelling at us in spanish (which none of us speak). We turned around and started walking as fast as we could to get out of there.

Now people, I AM SLOW! I am NOT in shape. Heather is like a road runner. She is so far ahead. The boys are having to go slow to stay behind me.

THE MAN IS CHASING US!!!!

We round a corner and are in an all out sprint!!! SO IS THE MAN!!!

I've never been more scared in my life. EVER.

All of these thoughts of how stupid we were for going over there are running through my mind. We were about to die. No one will ever find us. Who are these people? Do they want to hurt us? Why did I not listen to that gut feeling? Did anyone else have that feeling? AHHHHHHHH

My body was totally numb.

Now obviously i'm still alive and not featured on the show so yeah we didn't get caught. We made it back to our resort. But we were so scared that we went and changed clothes so that if for some reason that guy came looking for us maybe he wouldn't recognize us amongst all the other american tourist. Seems silly now but at the time it was the right thing to do.

We started talking to the staff at our resort about what was over there. The only thing they really said was DON'T GO OVER THERE!! with a very serious and half scared tone of voice. NICE, should have asked that before we went frolicking through the abandoned resort that was apparently not abandoned!

Why is it that when you are on vacation you think you are invincible? It makes no since yet somehow I always feel like that.

We still to this day laugh and kind of shiver. We could have been caught. Locked up Aboard. They could have done anything to us.

Hope you enjoyed my story. Maybe you've had a much closer encounter with a life altering situation than this but either way, it makes you remember that you aren't invincible and we don't need to take our lives for granted. Anything can happen any time. So lets live each day to the fullest. Live it with joy and love! Thank God for your blessings!!!