In Search of the Camera

May 7, 2008

The real adventure of the vacation was the day we hiked to see the La Ruidosa Waterfall. At the last minute I found a guide to take us since we were not sure about the quality of the trail or how isolated it was. It turned out to be very well maintained and a guide was not really necessary but he provided some interesting facts. I learned that termites (of which we have an abundance at camp) are good for insect repellant if you rub them all over yourself. I may try it because nothing else keeps the mosquitos away. This guide, Efrain, was the second person in two days to tell me that termites are rather tasty and so I decided to try one. The first person had said that they tasted like carrots but it was more like wood to me.

All was going well on the hike (we were hoping for about 2 hours of hiking since we had to head back to the city the same day) until we reached one of the last bridges before the waterfall. I saw a lovely flower along the path and decided to take a picture. Shana had my camera and in the process of passing it off, the camera somehow fell and though we were still on the trail, the camera fell into a small hole at our side. And as we reached down for it, it continued to tumble and plummeted into the darkness. I watched the whole thing as if in slow movement and in horror wondered how we could retrieve it. To me, it sounded as if it had fallen all of the way to the creek bed.

The guide and I scrambled down under the bridge to look for it while Shana checked out the hole. Efrain proceeded to crawl under a huge boulder that created a cave like area and went to the far corner to search for the camera. As he did so the bats flew out and about, clearly disturbed at having someone in their home. I decided that I should be willing to risk getting dirty or attacked by bats for the sake of my own camera so I attempted to cross over to the “cave”. The problem was that I was moving too quickly and did not notice the water until I stepped in it. Wet shoes, uugh! Efrain found nothing in the far corner but came out filthy, completely covered in dirt. He went off to search for another hole while I tried to check out his previous spot. I avoided getting dirty though. There were many small crevices, and I did not fancy the idea of sticking my hand into a dark hole in a country where venomous snakes are prolific.

I returned to the upper hole and looked in it again trying to judge where the hole would lead to. The probability of the camera having fallen in the hole in the first place was so small and now the chance of finding it was even smaller. My flashlight, of course, was back in the car and not with me. (Why do I never learn to carry it no matter what?) My cell phone was there too so I could not even use it for light. We were all praying by this point (or at least we girls). I knew that the camera was replaceable but not the photos stored on it. The question was, how much time and effort was it worth to search for it?

We tried calling into the hole to hear where the sound went and also threw pebbles down into it but nothing seemed to help. At long last Efrain said that he saw the camera way down in a hole. But when he tried to access the hole from one of the crevices, he found that he could not crawl into the area. That meant it was my job to crawl in. Since it was my camera I could hardly complain. And so I entered the little cave, crawling deeper and deeper into the darkness. Small shafts of sunlight reached me from the gaps between the rocks – enough that I could see the spiders scurrying in front of my face. I had to ask myself, is this worth it? I knew that a spider, scorpion, or snake could bite me and inflict much damage. But still I pressed on (praying all of the way). Efrain had entered back into the hole from which he first saw the camera and so he tried to guide me as I felt around. I could see nothing. He eventually got his cell phone which gave a little more light. I held dearly to it, not wanting another missing electronic. His instructions were pointing me to a hole in which I could see nothing, but finally I put my hand in it and reached around, positive that I would find something nasty there. I certainly did not have much hope when it came to the camera. But low and behold as I fingered the rocks and dirt, my fingers suddenly touched cold metal, and I pulled up the camera. What relief and joy! I quickly passed him his cell phone so as not to be responsible for it and began to worm my way out of the crevice since by now I had been completely swallowed up by the darkness. While I was exiting I heard Efrain exclaim that he had dropped his cell phone. My thoughts immediately turned to prayers and thankfully he found the phone within seconds. There was one moment when I feared I might not be able to get out but I changed positions/angles and crawled out.

I was now filthy too though still not to the degree of Efrain. It seemed as if the search had taken close to 40 minutes. So much for our intended two hours of hiking. We continued on and soon came to the falls which were beautiful and worth the journey. The camera, by the way, at first did not work because the shutter would not open but after prying it open twice, it was fine and is still working. Even as I re-wrote this story a second time I realized the life applications when I think of my time in the cave. I was reaching for something I could not see and having to trust the guide that he had actually seen the camera though I had my doubts. Sometimes I feel the same way with God’s directions because I cannot see the end or the outcome of what He is saying. But He can and He knows exactly where and why I am putting my hand in a certain place. He knows whose lives I will touch and whose lives will touch me. Even in the dark I am not alone and He guides me.