Pit to Hell

I fell into a hole measuring one meter long and one and a half meters deep a week ago. It was dark out and I walking from the brochette stand in front of my house. I was ever so care freely promenading on the sidewalk when all of a sudden I felt myself falling. I didn't see it coming so naturally I immediately wondered how I fell into a hole. It was too dark to see the damage but it stung...excuse my French, like a bitch. I whimpered and the first passerby who seemed like they were able to lift me pull me out of the hole. Soon a crowd formed, some were genuinely concerned some were more interested in gawking. A young woman even had the nerve to poke at my gushing wound and ask, "does that hurt?" and laugh. Someone flashed a torch at my foot. Blood was seeping from toes and shin. Entire layers of skin were torn off. This was some serious tissue damage. My flip flops lay in the ditch broken and covered in my blood. Some young women helped me limp home and watched me as I cried "mommy" under my breath while simultaneously clean and bandage myself. I really find it curious how the word for shut up (in a rude way) and be quiet (to calm someone down) is the same (mangina). To me it sounded like everyone was telling me to shut up. My back, knee, elbow, and hip are bruised quite badly. Perhaps I sound like a baby. In fact, I know I do. Maybe I'm just not used to this level of pain. I've seen men acidently drop their sycths on their feet while in the rice fields and walk how five kilometers barefoot on rocky terrain without a complaint. But I feel I have the right to complain. This could have been 100% avoided if someone could just fix the sidewalk. Maybe I should have paid more attention to where I was walking. However, this isn't the U.S of A. Entire stretches of roads, even in large metropolitan centers go without go unlight.

I am not a fan of using insulting language but this is one of the dumbest things I have ever witnessed in my life. Why on earth is there a missing cement block at the top of the steps to the main sidewalk? It's like the construction men wanted to play a really sadistic joke on the public or something, or maybe they were just too lazy to lay another slab of cement down, maybe someone pockedted the funds that were meant to complete the sidewalk. At least this is what the woman who runs the bar in front of the hole says. She's already witnessed several people drunk and sober plunge unknowingly into the hole. In fact the very next day my neighbor fell in too. He has a huge bloody gash on his shins and feet too. We joked that we should organize all the people crippled by the hole and march down to the commune building and demand that it is fixed. I understand why there's a cannel adjacent to both sides of the highway. When the rainy season comes the water can run off and avoid flooding the road. but it baffles me that there is a hole at the top of the steps from the restaurants to the main road. It catches you by surprise. I've even seen children bet each other to see who can jump across without falling in.

I wish the internet was fast enough here so that I could post a picture of this hole. It's the most ridiculousthing I've ever seen and I wish you could visually see it to agree with me. I hope to stop limping soon.