After her travels in Ireland Jenny vowed never again to stay in a hostel and against her better judgement we did anyway. So............ last week we were in La Paz, Bolivia staying at a $5 a night hotel. (Just to give you a visual- although the $5 a night price tag probably already aided in that- each room has two very thin doors, one to the outside hall and one to a very decrept ¨balcony¨ two stories above the street where we decided to hang our clothes to dry. Each door also had four small windows on it and the door on the balcony has wooden shutters on the inside.) About 3 am this screaming starts in the room next to ours which lasts all night. It sounds like this little kid throwing a tempor tantrum with a parent trying to calm him down. We fell back asleep and didn´t think too much of it until we were awakened a few more times by the yelling during the night. At about 630am the screaming began to escalate so Jay pounded on the wall a few times in an attempt to quiet the riffraff down; this had no effect whatsoever. The screaming continued to escalate over the next half hour until finally we heard glass shattering. Then, the next thing we know, someone begins smashing out the windows on OUR BALCONY door and kicking and smashing it in an attempt to get in to our room. Jen, who is a vocalist with a very powerful voice, begins screaming (justifiably) at the top of her lungs because we think some lunatic is trying to get into our room to do to us whatever he was doing to the person in the room next to ours. Jay runs over to the balcony door and opens the shuttters to reveal a deshelved, drunk, hysterical woman bleeding all over the place and screaming at us to let her in. The door was locked, we didn´t know what the hell was going on and this lady was screaming like a lunatic, so Jay starts screaming back, asking her what she wants and tell her to get the hell out of here. Then there is a knock on the door. Jay screams at whoever is on the otherside of the door and a response comes from the ¨hotel¨ employee that checked us in and wants to help. We let him in and our attention is redirected to the balcony. By this time (15 seconds has elapsed) the girl on the balcony realizes that we are not going to let her in and begins climbing from our balcony to the next one. The problem, however, is that the distance from our balcony to the next one is much further than the distance from her balcony to ours (the distance she traversed to reach our balcony). We watch as she gets over the rail and puts one hand on the wall before falling face first into the concrete- a distance of two stories.
We go outside with the hotel employee and check the crazy woman´s room which is now empty, albeit trashed and bloody. Jen and I go downstairs to check on her and realize that she is, obviously, not moving and bleeding severely from the head. Her body was in this really awkward poisition and it didn´t look good. The cops show up and don´t do shit but watch her body get tossed into what looked something like an ambulance. Then, everyone leaves. No one knew how the girl was doing or if she lived. The hotel employee goes to the hospital with her and we are there with the owners of the hotel, who are as confused as we are. We showered up and got the hell out of that place. As we had previously planned, we left La Paz that night, but not before the craziest hotel experience we have ever had. Cause and result of incident: unknown................and, once again, Jenny has vowed never again to stay in a hostel. Oh yeah, we are fine; no worries.
- Bonnie and Clyde
1 comment:
This incident will definitely be a night to remember forever! Welcome to La Paz, Bolivia! ;)
It reminds me of a time - once long ago... when I was a a young, naive, backpacking, U.S. Flag bearing, long-haired, hitch-hiking 18 year old American entering Paris, France for my very first time.
I was on foot of course and it was early in the morning (around 2:00 am). I was hungry, and tired of course, and had know idea of where I was... (Paris can be very difficult to navigate). I found myself wondering through the city with no specific destination in mind, and was looking for a safe hideaway to catch some zzzz's.
At one particular point, I found myself walking down a dark alley in what can be considered a "seedy" part of town. To my surprise while walking around a corner, I found myself right smack in the middle of two men mugging an old lady in their attempt to get her to release the grip she had on her purse. She was not about to let go, nor was she about to give up without a good fight!
She should have released her grip... because with each swing of their fists... she was getting pulverized. It was a bloody and gruesome sight. Yet she held on and continued to fight like she was protecting her life's savings. Who knows, she could have had a million dollars in that purse... or maybe just an important recipe. Either way, whatever is was... to her, it was worth dying over.
With my 50 lbs. backpack still on my shoulders (the old outer frame type), I tried to intervene and help break up the bloody mismatch and carnage taking place right before my very eyes. It seemed like an eternity before these two men finally gave up, and took off running down the alley way. They disappeared amongst the buildings and shadows, and the darkness of the night.
By the time everything was over... there appeared to be a few other people standing around watching all the commotion, but not interested in getting involved. I remember wondering to myself... "where were all of you when we needed your help?"
Fortunately someone had called the police, and like clockwork, they showed up immediately after everything was over. The police began questioning everybody. An ambulance showed up and two people dressed in white overcoats with a policeman helping, loaded the old lady into it and wisked her away. She was in bad shape.
As she lay there in the ambulance however, motionless... not moving, not whimpering... with eyes closed... I noticed she was still holding onto her purse! I'll never know her name, and I'll never know her outcome. However, as the ambulance drove away I thought to myself... "Hello.........Paris!! - Welcome to the City!"
I hadn't been in Paris more than an hour, and this was my welcoming reception. I have visited the city twice since that incident occurred. And with all the beautiful things Paris has to offer... with all the precious, wonderful, beautiful things and memories I have of Paris... of all the things I've experienced and seen there... there is really only one vivid, lingering memory I have of the city. It's the memory of my very first hour spent there... and my involvement with an old lady getting mugged. ;-)
-Don Rhodes
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