And then the floods came....

I've just returned from what may have been the closest I ever hope to come to surviving an apocalypse. 

What's being called the 1,000 year rain and the 100 year floods in Colorado, seemed to have come out of nowhere....but has left a devastating mark on the state.

I can't believe I was there to experience.

And so thankful to have gotten out unscathed.

A number of my fellow road reps and I were in town for the yearly fall study abroad fairs. Little did we know that within 24 hours of most of our arrivals, we'd be madly trying to get out of the state. I had gotten into Denver Sunday night and was on campus Monday morning before the rain began.

We were at an outdoor fair and when it started to drizzle a little bit, we didn't think much of it.

However, the rain started then...and it never seemed to stop. The idea of building an ark didn't seem that crazy 2 days into it.

After making my way down to Colorado Springs, and briefly visiting the Garden of the Gods (you can clearly see the clouds starting to roll in again) before the days event, the real storm of the century began.

I was heading up to Fort Collins, about a 2 hour drive for Colorado Springs, after grabbing some dinner and running a few errands.  I should have left right away, when it was still light out. Lesson learned #1.

It quickly became one of the scariest drives I've ever done. Rain was pounding and blinding and cars were slipping and sliding.

Everything in me was red-flagging the entire drive. I should have stopped. I know that now. But my travel stubbornness took hold (as it usually does) and I powered through and thankfully, managed to finally make it to Fort Collins.

After getting a good night's sleep, I turn on the news and the reports of massive, state-wide flooding are starting to come in. I couldn't believe the photos.

After a bit of confusion, we found out that the day's fair had been cancelled as the campus had been shut down. It was a bit odd, it didn't seem like Fort Collins had been hit that hard....but turns out, everything surrounding the city had.

Most of the reps got out of FC fairly early on in the day. Friend A and I decided to stay in town to have breakfast with the office since our flights weren't until later that night. Knowing what I know now, we should have tried to get out faster.

Regardless, we had a great time with the office, ate a delicious breakfast and headed out for the airport.

Cue: The apocolypse begins.

As soon as I hit 25, I knew the floods were bad. Roads were being shut down up north, traffic was completely backed up and as the minutes passed, less and less options to the airport were there.

This is one moment where I was so thankful for technology, because I could follow the road closures on my phone. The fact that the major highway in the Denver area was flooded was a telling sign. I ended up finding some back roads around Greeley that were still open.

But as I drove on them, they clearly should not have been. You could see the waters rising all around. I've never seen anything like that. Whole houses submerged, RVs floating, road signs practically hidden. 

At this point, the rain had stopped, but I was driving so quick to get out of the area. I was very, very lucky.

In the midst of my drive, Friend A calls me. She wasn't as lucky and had gotten caught in the middle of the Freeway closure. As I made my way to the airport, I was trying to help her around all the closures. We had my boss on the line trying to help as well, most memorable line of the trip: "Just do whatever ever it takes to get out of there. I don't care about the cost"

Friend A finally made it to the airport. But it took her almost 6 hours.

The scene at the airport, once I arrived was something out of Walking Dead or Outbreak or Hunger Games. People everywhere, cars lined up at the gas station, hoards of traveler trying to get out any way possible.

It was insane. Thankfully, Southwest was trying to get passengers out as quick as possible and ended up booking me on a much earlier flight. Kudos to them.  

Everyone I know made it out safe, but I do know that a lot of people had a lot of damage and many lost homes.

It was scary, and thankfully, now it's just a story for the books.

An Amazon-ing Summer

It's been a while since I've been back from Ecuador. I must say, I didn't write about it before because the experience I had there was so incredible-both summers, that I don't think I had the words for it until now. 

First, let me say, I still can't believe that I spent a total of six weeks of my life living in the Amazon jungle.

That actually happened. Somedays, I can't help but ask, "is this real life?" 

And lucky girl, I can say that it is.

I won't get into all of the stories and the sordid details of our time there, but I will say that I don't think I've ever been so dirty, so smelly, so happy and so at peace in my entire life. 

The community that we lived and worked alongside was simply inspiring. They are so young and so filled with a flame of conviction and activism that I wish I too had in me. I couldn't help but soak in their experiences and try to learn as much as I could from their life. 

We bathed in a river, we sang songs in the rain, we sat around an early morning fire and share our dreams. 

I don't know what we left the community with (I hope it was something positive) but I know what I came home with. 

I hate how discredited indigenous communities around the world are. They know how to survive in ways that I don't. They can look at a plant or hear the chirp of a bird and know exactly what it is. They understand the importance of nature and of the land. 

They understand so much more than I do, yet, I'm the one who is given more worldly value.

It's so wrong.

I wish the world could see my friends, get to know them and cherish who they are and their history. 

I'm pretty sure it would change a lot of things. I'm pretty sure it would also help stop environmental destruction...and maybe even prevent global warming. 

(Yes. That is a real thing.)