Keeping Track of What’s Important

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One time in Belize, because Mr. Hubby and I miscued on who was in charge of whose bags, my backpack with all my camera gear and SD cards—all of our pictures from the whole trip—took off in the small airplane for the next village.  The camera could be replaced. But not the photos, not my travel notes.

Dangriga Landing
Dangriga Landing

Exiting the tiny terminal to wait for our connecting fight and say goodbye to our guide, we explained our sad situation.

He lit up like in only the way a warm Spaniard can.

“This is Belize, man. Let me talk to my friend. He’s a taxi driver in the next village. Maybe he can meet the plane and intercept your bag.”

My heart started racing.  What were the chances I’d see our photos again?

We waited on the curb and chatted with the guide, hopeful but still in a bit of a pall because of our stupidity.  The stupidity of not communicating correctly.

Sure enough within 10 minutes before we were to board our flight to Belize City, a taxi pulled up to the curb. A real taxi – not a pickup truck like so often used down there. The driver grinned and held the bag out the passenger’s window.

The story made for a fun adventure, but I will be more careful next time to keep track of bags and communicate more clearly.

Have you almost lost something important because you weren’t paying attention to what you should have been?

22 thoughts on “Keeping Track of What’s Important”

  1. I love this! This is one of those priceless moments that make the journey- those times when people are kind are step out of their own lives to do a kindness for others. You must have had a smile on your face that day!

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  2. That’s wonderful! Love this post. These small events- acts of kindness from good people- make life better. It’s especially nice when travelling outside our home turf. You must have been smiling for days after that!

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  4. Hey old pard… been there.. only my fault as I left my camera bag at a cheap hostel in Kansas. .never saw it again .. Lost 100’s of old film shots back in 77 when I was traveling and hiking Yellowstone, Rocky Mt. Nat. park etc. As you and M know, I don’t fly so the plane mix up will never occur but nice to know theres a bit of good camera karma left in the world, ot at least in Belize.

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  5. Small communities are the bomb, I adore hearing stories like this. Yes, I have hurried to leave my brother in-law’s home in Seattle and set all our gear on the side walk to be loaded in the the car but 20 min into our drive I had a sinking feeling we had left my computer. Sure enough we didn’t have it and upon our return to the sidewalk, someone else decided it was theirs. Heavy heart, stomach dropped and that unmistakable feeling of wanting to rewind and do over flooded me.

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  7. Miscommunication between husband and wife? That would NEVER happen in our household! Ya, right…totally happens all the time, especially when we get out of routine. We pretty much go over everything twice now…camera? check…bags? check. Leaving cameras on top of cars to unlock the car (before those nifty remotes were ever invented) has happened. As is leaving town, driving a couple hours only to find we left the house without the passports. That added a bit of time to our drive. Aaaah, memories!

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  9. I know that yucky feeling of having to control your panic over a situation you brought to yourself. My absent minded trip was only to Macy’s at PV Mall a few years ago. I was in a huge hurry and needed “something nice” to wear that evening. I was pulling clothes on and off at the same pace a actor changes outfits between scenes. Frustrated and empty handed, I headed towards the parking lot trying to think of something I could pull together from my closet. When I went to look for my keys is when I realized I had left my purse in the dressing room. That was the last time I jogged a long distance without stopping. Long stressful story made short, my purse was waiting for me at Customer Service! That feeling of tremendous relief is so emotional, isn’t it? Unlike your story, Renee, I wish I could have thanked the stranger who acted out of kindness and honesty.

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  10. What a lovely experience. Does put back our faith in the intrinsic goodness of fellow humans does it not? So how did you acknowledge this taxi driver who brought back your priceless possession? And how did you celebrate?

    Blessings

    Shakti

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  11. I certainly can understand your agony when you thought you had lost your photos. As you said the equipment is one thing, but the photos? I did once lose 50 rolls of films (back in the times before digital imagery) because I sloppily let my little bag with exposed films out of sight in Bolivia. I was devastated. I am glad you recovered your photos. And I am sure you won’t do the same thing again in the future.

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    • Thanks so much for understanding what that’s like. There is a sort of brotherhood of folks who have endured this… and vow to never again! I’m enjoying cruising the blogosphere once again after unexpected knee surgery knocked me out for a while. Hope things are going well with overseas photog class prep. I’d love to join you at some point! – Renee

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