Are you fatalistic about death?

[desert spirit]

The thread about the gentleman who died on Camelback recently got me thinking about death. (I know, I'm kinda morbid).

Regarding the hiker who died ... we all know it could have been us. Who among us hasn't walked along the edge of a cliff or trudged through the desert in the blazing sun, or done something where even a minor mishap could mean we are dead? What do you think about at such times?

What are your thoughts about dying in a wild place? Do you have the attitude that if it happened, it was fate and there was nothing you could have done? Is dying out on the trail "better" than being crunched by a drunk driver?

Does it matter if your body was consumed by animals?

Would your thoughts be any different if we were talking about your spouse dying instead of you?

What do you think about people who commit suicide in National Parks? There was an article on MSNBC about this not long ago. Apparently, it happens a lot.

Ok, I guess that's enough of this topic ... back to nude hiking now ...

[JimmyLyding]

Blast from the past thread! Whatever happened to Desert Spirit? She floated in like a spirit from the desert, and then disappeared like a cipher. Like a spirit in the truest sense of the word. Sorry about all of the inappropriate haikus, BTW

[azbackpackr]

Pencak, you need to stick around. I'd like to hear some Central America stories! My daughter did study abroad in Costa Rica (Puntarenas) and my husband and I are considering spending a year there sometime in the next couple of years. As for fatalism, don't people in 3rd world countries often have a very different view of death than we do?

Were you in the Peace Corps? I have some acquaintances who are serving in Panama--they have a blog with some good stories. I would consider doing it after I graduate, but hubby is disabled, so that is out.

[Jeffshadows]

Blast from the past thread! Whatever happened to Desert Spirit? She floated in like a spirit from the desert, and then disappeared like a cipher. Like a spirit in the truest sense of the word. Sorry about all of the inappropriate haikus, BTW

You minored in poetry or creative writing, didn't you!!

[writelots]

For some reason, whenever I see this thread title, I hear it spoken by the character of Davy Jones from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

"Arrrrrre u fatalistic about deth-a?"

[azbackpackr]

I have to admit I have become sort of jaded when it comes to poetry. No offense meant to anyone. I used to really like it but somewhere along the way I stopped liking it as much. I still like a good singer-songwriter, though. However if you recall, Desert Spirit was also outspoken and had interesting comments and opinions. Well, anyone who knows who she is, you ought to get hold of her and ask her, "Are your ears burning? They're talking about you on HAZ!"

[pencak]

Pencak, you need to stick around. I'd like to hear some Central America stories! My daughter did study abroad in Costa Rica (Puntarenas) and my husband and I are considering spending a year there sometime in the next couple of years. As for fatalism, don't people in 3rd world countries often have a very different view of death than we do?

I went to Nicaragua so much that I got a house down there. However, my ex is getting it in the divorce. She's got family down there so that's fine.

In my time in Nicaragua I ran across people that traveled extensively in all the other countries. Costa Rica is more violence prone than you'd think. Guatemala is supposed to be pretty dicey. I couldn't imagine it being more sketchy than El Salvador but I heard from a few that it was. I went to El Salvador a week with my son when he graduated high school to go surfing. We hired a local guide and I am glad we did. It seems like everybody had a gun. Not just a gun mind you, but a full auto carbine. We pulled up to the hotel on the beach (a converted house) and the guard had a carbine with a banana clip (60 rounds) with another taped to it (another 60 rounds) and a bandoleer with another 100 rounds. I thought to myself, "what kind of fire fight are you expecting to be packing this kind of heat?" Anyway, the Police headquarters in San Salvador was a fortified compound with a heavy machine gun in a tower surrounded by sand bags. It was manned by a guy who looked frosty and ready. I'd image the safety was switched off on that gun. I heard that beer trucks have a follower pickup truck with a strike team that sets up a perimeter when they deliver beer. Banks, pharmacies, candy stores, everyplace seemed to have a guy guarding it with a machine gun.

So... Death is something so close to the people down there that they kind of accept that life is short. A lot of the people I met and friends of our guide as well as the guide himself, seemed to feel free in a weird kind of way. They weren't overly paranoid or occupied with thoughts of death. It's hard to explain.

As for danger and dying for my son and I, the closest we came was when we were driving down one of the two lane curvy roads with the guide at around 60mph (the speed limit was posted at probably 35mph) and the driver changed lanes on a blind curve because a bunch of cattle were lying in the road sunning themselves and almost had a head-on collision with a propane truck. Auto accidents are the #1 cause of death down there.

I'd recommend Nicaragua. It's way safer than traveling in East Los Angeles, or Compton or something like that. It's a on a whole other planet insofar as safety compared to El Salvador. There are so many cool places to go there that I could start another thread just on that (and I went to most of them.) As for the topic at hand, most of the people in Nicaragua are working too hard to have the luxury to think about most of the stuff we think about.