Friday, October 03, 2008

The whirlybird coincidence

My friend Joelle and I were returning from a shopping trip when we saw a neighbor out walking her dog. We stopped to chat, but our brief conversation was interrupted when a thunderous, low-flying helicopter flew right over Joelle’s car and—to our complete surprise—landed in an empty lot right here in the neighborhood.

We all looked at each other in disbelief, and then of course I had to get out and take a couple of pictures—because really, this was a very unusual thing. A man got out of the helicopter and hurried down the side of the field; then the pilot took off. It all happened very quickly.


Later we told friends about the helo, and everyone agreed that it landing in this area was a weird occurrence. We all wondered what the helicopter was doing in our neighborhood and who it belonged to.

Fast forward to a couple of days later … Dan, the girls, and I went to a surprise birthday party for our friend Angie. The fiesta was up in the hills of EscazĂș at the home of friends Angie knows from church.

Shortly after the party began, we introduced ourselves to the hosts, David and Laurie. We found out that they are developing houses in our neighborhood, just down the street from here. I told David about the crazy helicopter sighting and asked if he had an idea what was going on.

He had an idea, all right. A really clear idea. Because—as it turns out—David is the helicopter pilot. He was dropping off an employee to work on the construction site in the housing development.

Before we even moved to Costa Rica, we learned in our cultural training and from other Ticos that one has to be very careful not to insult other Costa Ricans or businesses or restaurants, because Costa Rica is a little country, and at times it seems everybody knows (or is related to!) everybody else. Someone is always a friend of a friend, a cousin, a best amigo … I mean really, here we are not even Ticos and it is just such a funny coincidence that we met the helicopter pilot and figured out the connection to his landing in our neighborhood so quickly. In Costa Rica, it really is a small world, after all.

He was pretty amused that I took pictures of his helicopter, too!

¡ Pura coincidencia!

5 comments:

Lisa said...

I love it when this big, big world gets small like that.

Irlenborn family said...

It really is a small world! Next time Dave flies in you need to ask for a ride! P.S. Thanks for helping with the party!!

Justine said...

Geez, when I saw the picture, all I could think was that he had just committed a crime and this was his getaway! LOL

Justine :o )

Anonymous said...

Sounds like life in a small town! Everybody seems to be connected in some way.

Unknown said...

Love the blog! Great to have you you four up to the house and to meet you. The chopper has been a blast for things like this! Enrique, the employee that I droped off, felt like a celebrity when I told him you had wondered who was getting dropped off in a chopper!

Take care,

Dave (The Pilot)