My Stupendous Fall

Walking around La Yacata has always been a bit of a treacherous endeavor. The roads are uneven and filled with what my son and I call “ravines” from the intense gullywashers during the rainy season. The sidewalks are about as safe as any sidewalk in Mexico, meaning not very. Ramps to garages make steep drop-offs. Sidewalks broken to lay water or drainage pipes and then reset are accidents waiting to happen. Tree roots push the cement nearly vertically, and so on. 

Well, that accident waiting to happen finally did. I was walking along with Cocoa, and I stubbed my foot on a piece of sidewalk that wasn’t level. I didn’t fall immediately. No, that would have been less spectacular. Instead, I stumbled along for another 10-15 feet, gaining momentum until I finally fell. My head hit a rock just off the edge of the sidewalk. I saw it clearly as a was hurtling through space and time towards it. 

I may have blacked out for a second, because I don’t remember sitting up. Or maybe I do. It’s a little hazy. It couldn’t have been for more than a second, though, because my head laceration hadn’t started to bleed yet. 

Super Prez and one of his workers were up the road doing some road measurement things when I fell. They approached while I sat there on the sidewalk, a bit stunned. Cocoa wouldn’t let them get very close. 

My Spanish flew out of my head and I started what must have seemed like babbling to them in English. My husband was working down at the corner and I knew Cocoa wouldn’t let anyone but him approach. With a conscious effort, I switched to Spanish and relayed this information to them. Then the blood started gushing from my head.

My glasses were missing a lens and I couldn’t see with the blood in my eyes anyway, so I just sat there until my husband arrived. He tried pulling me up, but that wouldn’t do. I got up myself. Then he took my arm to shuffle me to the house. Again, that wouldn’t do. I could walk fine; I just couldn’t see. I gave him Cocoa’s leash and put my hand on his shoulder to guide me. 

After the bleeding stopped, my husband left me with Cocoa and went back to work. My son didn’t get home until later in the afternoon, even though I tried calling him. He immediately cleaned and dressed my head, and I went back to bed. I contacted my teaching job and sent them a picture of my face to explain why I couldn’t teach that day. I had five classes that afternoon, so it was a financial disaster, but it just wasn’t going to happen.

I probably should have had stitches. The wound on my head took several days to scab up, and I’m pretty sure it will leave a scar. I used Árnica Mexicana (Heterotheca inuloides) and sábila (aloe vera) to treat my injuries, with some cola de caballo (Equisetum hyemale) wash for inflammation.

The following day, I let the people of La Yacata know I would be unavailable. While that didn’t completely stop them from bringing questions or documents, it did lessen the number of visitors. Not that I could see them anyway, as my eye had ballooned up quite a bit. I received a few kind messages wishing me a speedy recovery and telling me that I was “needed” by the community. It’s always nice to feel valued and essential.

I requested that I be allowed to teach without my camera on over the weekend because my eye was still so horrible. The company said I could as long as I started the class with it on and explained why I was turning it off to the students. The whole point was I didn’t want them grossed out, but I did what they outlined because I was just too tired to look for another job. 

The following Thursday, my shiner was still vividly purple, but the swelling had gone down enough to manage tasks and send out the message that I was back in business. There were so many Yacata things to get done and nobody but me to do them.