February 21, 2009
No amount of books, movies, or newspapers articles on the topic can ever really prepare you for the real life scenario of participating in a shootout. It’s definitely surreal, and I don’t think anyone can understand what it feels like unless they experience it themselves. Anyway, the story:
After arriving in Rio, getting our bags, and passing customs, our group met up with our tour guide and got on our bus. The trip from the airport to the hotel was supposed to take about 20 minutes. However, it was Carnaval and there was bad traffic.
We get to the highway and soon we just stop driving. The police had blocked off traffic in our direction – it looked like there were some people with guns walking around. Being the tourists that we were, we started to take pictures. Initially, it didn’t seem that bad. It looked like someone got shot and the police were just looking into it. People in neighboring cars had gotten out of their cars and were walking around looking at what was going on. Then, we heard the first set of machine gun shots. The noise was quieter than I thought it would be, and not as startling. Nothing at all like you see on TV. At this point, we were still far enough away from the action that it was only mildly scary but still pretty interesting and exciting. Another part of the adventure our group was having, like the delays in Miami.
A bit in front of us, there was a bus that was full of kids and I guess their teachers. That was when we saw them get off and all start running in the other direction. Which is when the people in the other cars starting running away in the other direction. And when the cops with their Kevlar vests and their own machines guns started to run away. I think this is the point where it became a little too real. Our bus was on the far right side of the highway, near the edge of it. Next to the highway was a building. We saw two guys with masks step out from the side of the building holding machine guns. They were joined by a third guy and they started shooting at the highway.
We asked our bus driver if it might be a good idea for us to exit the bus and maybe run in the other direction like everyone else was doing. He said that we were too close to the guys with the guns and we were better off inside the bus but we should all get down on the floor away from the windows. And then the guys with the guns noticed our bus and started pointing to it. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what they were thinking. Their best bet to get away was to hop on a bus, and a bus full of tourists was probably even better. Hostages always help with escape plans.
After another round of shots, they started to advance toward us. Luckily, the police noticed this and figured out what they were thinking. Seeing that an international hostage situation would not be the best idea, they lifted the roadblock and waved the cars and our bus forward. However, this meant that we needed to drive right by the gunmen. We did so quickly, all the while kneeling on the ground, hoping we didn’t get shot at. A few people did hold up their cameras to the window so I will post pictures and video soon.
No amount of books, movies, or newspapers articles on the topic can ever really prepare you for the real life scenario of participating in a shootout. It’s definitely surreal, and I don’t think anyone can understand what it feels like unless they experience it themselves. Anyway, the story:
After arriving in Rio, getting our bags, and passing customs, our group met up with our tour guide and got on our bus. The trip from the airport to the hotel was supposed to take about 20 minutes. However, it was Carnaval and there was bad traffic.
We get to the highway and soon we just stop driving. The police had blocked off traffic in our direction – it looked like there were some people with guns walking around. Being the tourists that we were, we started to take pictures. Initially, it didn’t seem that bad. It looked like someone got shot and the police were just looking into it. People in neighboring cars had gotten out of their cars and were walking around looking at what was going on. Then, we heard the first set of machine gun shots. The noise was quieter than I thought it would be, and not as startling. Nothing at all like you see on TV. At this point, we were still far enough away from the action that it was only mildly scary but still pretty interesting and exciting. Another part of the adventure our group was having, like the delays in Miami.A bit in front of us, there was a bus that was full of kids and I guess their teachers. That was when we saw them get off and all start running in the other direction. Which is when the people in the other cars starting running away in the other direction. And when the cops with their Kevlar vests and their own machines guns started to run away. I think this is the point where it became a little too real. Our bus was on the far right side of the highway, near the edge of it. Next to the highway was a building. We saw two guys with masks step out from the side of the building holding machine guns. They were joined by a third guy and they started shooting at the highway.
We asked our bus driver if it might be a good idea for us to exit the bus and maybe run in the other direction like everyone else was doing. He said that we were too close to the guys with the guns and we were better off inside the bus but we should all get down on the floor away from the windows. And then the guys with the guns noticed our bus and started pointing to it. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what they were thinking. Their best bet to get away was to hop on a bus, and a bus full of tourists was probably even better. Hostages always help with escape plans.
After another round of shots, they started to advance toward us. Luckily, the police noticed this and figured out what they were thinking. Seeing that an international hostage situation would not be the best idea, they lifted the roadblock and waved the cars and our bus forward. However, this meant that we needed to drive right by the gunmen. We did so quickly, all the while kneeling on the ground, hoping we didn’t get shot at. A few people did hold up their cameras to the window so I will post pictures and video soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment