Errrr ..... Help!!!

What do you call out in an emergency when you are in another culture? For me, what comes naturally of course is my mother tongue... HELP!!

We dropped Martin off at the bus terminal last night so he could travel to Buenos Aires for an ABUA meeting. This caused our kids to reflect on the last time they were at the terminal with my parents ... exhausted from 9 hours of overnight bus travel, the eight of us were leaving the terminal laden down with heavy suitcases. Rather than take the stairs, we loaded onto the escalators in two groups of 4.

Next minute we heard screaming and noticed that a young woman holding a baby had fallen at the base of our escalator and we were all moving down on top of them. A huge pileup started to occur, as our bags and some of our group were loaded onto them. Higher up the escalator, some of us were able to turn in time to run up against the flow, dragging kids and bags.

It´s at moments like these that one needs to remember the local word for HELP. AFTER the event I now am more prepared to yell SOCORRO or AUXILIO!!!

And yes, the woman and child survived the fright as a security guard finally pressed the emergency stop button on the escalator.

But I imagine we will be opting for the stairs next time we travel!

Posted by Julie