“I mean, if MY HELMET broke into two, what would my skull have done?”

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"A different staff member from the resort ran out from the front office and started yelling at our driver, who wouldn't get out of the car. We don't speak Spanish, so we didn't know what was going on, but as soon as they started yelling at each other, more staff members came out and surrounded the car. The driver tried to move past them, and one of the staff members threw themselves onto the hood of the car to stop him. We kept trying to get out, but the locks wouldn't let us. After a few minutes of yelling, attempted drive-offs, and more staff members blocking the car, the driver eventually let us out. We were shaken and still had no idea what was happening; we just knew it was bad. The resort called the police, who told us the car didn't belong to the resort and that the driver wasn’t registered to pick anyone up. It was a stranger. How the driver got our last name, we’ll never know. But we assumed the staff member we had made arrangements with the night before was involved. It was terrifying. We could’ve been trafficked, hurt, robbed, abandoned...or worse. We’ll never know. But we’re so thankful that someone on staff noticed us getting into an unmarked vehicle and came to save us." 

"I climbed back down and grabbed his hand, sticking out of the water right after the eddy pulled his head underwater. Adrenaline is a heck of a thing because I was hanging onto this rock with my toes and the fingertips of one hand, but yeeted my 6'7", 250ish lb brother high enough that his armpits were level with the top of the rock face. Don’t mess with rivers. If you find yourself swept up in one, try to keep your wits about you. Keep your feet downstream, and your knees slightly bent to absorb the blows from rocks and push off of them. Try to paddle with your hands to one side or the other. Don’t fight the current to get out; paddle with it. I saw that on Man vs. Wild, and I think it helped immensely.

"They had to go up at least 100 feet into the air like a freaking bullet. All the legs popped out, and the tables were spinning. They could only do one thing: come back down. They fell to the ground with almost as much force as when they got launched. I didn’t have many options for avoiding these tables. One table landed directly in front of my car, top down, legs up. I somehow hit my brakes, then accelerated, and swerved just in time to avoid hitting it or the other cars. If I hadn’t hit my brakes when I had, it would’ve landed directly into my windshield and probably killed me. The other table landed in the middle of the lanes, so the cars in the right lane were able to narrowly avoid it, too. The third table flew across the grassy median and landed in the southbound lanes. The truck didn’t even stop or slow down. I had to pull over and call my Mom, shaking because of how close I had come to death."

"Fortunately, less than 5 minutes later, some guys came by on off-road dirt bikes, and I got their attention by saying 'Necesito ayuda, por favour!' They told me not to worry, this happens a lot, and helped put the rental back in the right gear, and reverse it back in the direction of the real paved road. I profusely thanked them and made it to my destination that night. Like the line from A Streetcar Named Desire: 'I’ve always depended on the kindness of strangers.'"

Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.