Two weeks ago I couldn't get out to Buena Vista for five days. The Iguana Creek Bridge was about ten feet under water. It has been raining here off and on for quite some time. At times little mini-rivers appear out of no where. The down-pours are tremendous and we have many times when the rain doesn't even stop when the sun is shining.
This evening Dennis and I went to check on the bridge because he has his electrical class tonight. All the students live on the other side of the river. How unfortunate is that? So now this class will probably take much longer than Dennis thought. So, anyways when we get to the bridge you can still see the very top of the side rails which are about ten inches above the base. People are still crossing. Large oil tankers hardly slowed down before going over. I guess if you can see the rails then its on!
So, we got out and decided to watch the show. This really made me nervous. This is a very low bridge, and the water is rising and it's early evening with the sun just starting to go down. Fortunately the rain had slowed down to a light sprinkle. People were driving up and deciding whether or not to cross. Most of the pickup drivers seemed to be confident and they just zipped over. The semis and dump trucks were clearly undaunted and just plowed on through.
When we first arrived there were a couple guys on bicycles who made it about half way then had to walk the bikes the rest of the way. I could see the current start to push their bikes. The water was just to their knees. Then a group of about five vehicles came over together lead by a dump truck.
As we are standing there a school bus full of kids starts over. It stopped right in the middle! It stalled. All these high school kids were looking out the window and waving. I even saw Lauren! She shouted and waved at us. All the while the water is rushing on and getting higher. Then Dennis ran to the Bronco and got out his tow-rope. Some guys in a dump truck from the other side drove onto the bridge and tied the truck to the bus. So now there was a loaded dump truck and a school bus full of students out on this bridge. All I could do was pray. Now, I don't know if anyone else was praying but my prayers were getting intense. I was really worried and I looked around and everyone else was hanging out watching the show. Of course they pulled the bus across with out any problem. And a couple of guys even brought back Dennis' rope.
A few minutes later a Menonite man rode his horses across. There was a few moments there when those two horses were clearly not happy to be on that bridge. They made it across just fine but now the man had to get his family and their wagon over. About this time a backhoe came over the hill on the other side of the river. If this was a movie the crowd would have cheered. He started taking motorcycles across in the bucket. He went back and forth a few times and then the Menonite family had a turn. There was a grandma, a mother, a baby and a little girl all jammed in the cab of the backhoe. They tied the wagon to the back and all made it across just fine!
I asked a few guys standing there if this was normal. They said yup, happens every year.... So this bridge is under water on a regular basis and I'm not so sure it gets inspected near enough. Everyone just figures that if the big trucks can make it and it doesn't fall in then it's just fine. The words, "structural integrity" are not even mentioned.
This is life in Belize!
Sorry, no pictures.
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