Sad Day in Mudville

Today the Red Queen and I went on a hike up into the lush rain forests on the Northside of Maui with some friends of ours
. We meandered around a stream that winds its way down from the cloud forest above the Iao Valley. I managed to ramble over slippery rocks and muddy banks without a slip.

We crossed hill & dale, forded streams and hopped long rock shoals. We dashed through vine choked forest, hacked our way through bamboo forests, and tiptoed along precarious mountain paths. All to see some waterfalls.

I was carrying my digital camera in my backpack, removing it only if I was going to take a picture (I took many) along the way to the waterfalls we were looking for. Well, I managed to get all the way to the waterfalls (and even scaled a fifty foot tall wall to reach the final two waterfalls) without dunking my camera into the stream.

Not more than 400 yards from returning to the car, I fell. While my camera was out. Hanging around my neck. This might not have been bad except I had pushed it around toward my back so that if I fell forward, it wouldn’t be smashed on the rocks. I fell into the water… back first.

The camera was submerged for the briefest of moments, but as my grandfather was fond of saying, “They don’t build them like they used to!” Only he said it in spanish and the direct translation uses many more curse words.

I did manage to save the memory card which had all the days images. I’m trying to dry out the camera for a few days, see if she’ll still capture the moments of my life. Of course, I was already in the market for a new camera but with my low income status, buying a new camera wasn’t a priority. Guess you get what you pray for.