Climbing Trail
The Andes tragedy Part 16
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I rested full in the morning. A few days outside the plane gave me a look, now that I have gotten used to seeing this terrible sight every day. There were a lot of bones scattered outside the plane. Parts of a person's body such as the arms, hips to toes are all stored near the entrance of the plane. Pieces of fat are scattered on the roof of the plane to be dried. For the first time, I saw a human skull on a pile of bones.
When we first ate human flesh, we all ate only large portions of meat. Time passed and our food supply began to run low, we had no choice but to manage our diet. Sometimes, we eat the human liver, kidneys, and heart because the supply of meat is just a little, and sometimes the only thing left is to take the inside out of the human skull, which is the brain. As we went, to relieve the hunger, some friends were forced to eat the lungs, parts of the hands and feet, and even to eat blood clots from the blood vessels in the heart.
Something that is difficult for common sense to understand, but not for us, the instinct for survival is so strong, and because death feels so close. But, despite the unbearable hunger, and always the difficulty of finding a dismembered corpse, they never broke their promise to Javier and myself. The bodies of my mother, my sister, and Liliana, were all close to the plane, but no one touched them, they were still lying intact under the snow.
The first week of December, we are preparing to begin our journey west. Fito and his cousin cut meat for our provisions and stored it in the snow, while me, Antonio, and Roberto packed all our clothes and equipment. A strange feeling arose as we prepared for this last expedition, the joy and gloom mixed into one. The strength of the Andes has been discouraging as we failed in the first ascent and on the eastward journey, but the Andes have also trained us to maintain survival over the mountain.
We are still trying to equip our equipment in challenging the ferocity of this mountain, we really understand that this mountain is very dangerous. We are aware of two major challenges that we will face on the way. The first challenge is that we have to climb high places just by relying on our bodies. We learned from experience that the air in the mountains was few and fast able to weaken our determination and stamina. There was nothing we could do, except keep moving before we got weaker, and force ourselves to keep climbing.
The second challenge is to protect our bodies from the changing weather, especially after sunset. At these times, we assume that during the day the air temperature is not too cold, but the nighttime cold can kill us, and we knew that we would not find shelter in the midst of a vast expanse of snow. We had to find a way to survive the cold of the night, and an insulating cloth that we took from the tail was the solution. The insulation is small, rectangular pieces, each piece is the size of a magazine. Although very soft and thin, but can be useful as a coating of clothing to protect from cold.
While brainstorming to plan this trip, we came up with the idea of sewing the insulating pieces of fabric into a large blanket enough to warm us all up. Then by folding the blanket in half and uniting the edges, we also made a sleeping bag big enough to sleep the three of us. With the heat of the three of us squeezing in it, we are optimistic that we will be able to overcome the cold of the night air.
Carlitos took up this challenge. When she was a child, her mother taught her how to sew. Using the needle and thread I found in my mother's bag, she started working. He had to work meticulously, he had to make sure that all the seams were strong. In order to speed up this process, Carlitos taught the others to sew, who then worked in turn, apparently most of us had an agile hand to work this thoroughly. Carlitos, Coche, Gustavo, and Fito were the best and fastest tailors.
While the others were still at work, Tintin and I prepared equipment for the trip, but Roberto was too slow to pack his things, then one afternoon I approached him as he was doing chanting outside the plane.
"The sleeping bag will soon be finished" I said. "Everything is ready. We have to leave as soon as possible."
Roberto shook his head. "It would be foolish to leave while the rescue team is looking for us. "
I looked at him grimly. "We have agreed. Radio can't be fixed, we're leaving."
Roberto looked at me with sharp eyes, then bluffed, "Are we going to leave this place while the rescue team is trying to find us??"
"They're not looking for us. They're looking for our bodies. They're not gonna rush to find us." My answer.
Roberto looked angry and left me.
By mid-December the sleeping bag was finished. All were preparing for our departure, except for Roberto, who always found a crazy reason to cancel the trip.
First, he complained about the seams of the sleeping bags which he said were not strong enough to warm the three of us and force them to strengthen them again. Then, he did not want to leave Coche, Roy, and others when they desperately needed his treatment. Finally, he told us all that he still needed enough rest to recover his strength to be strong enough to continue the journey.
Fito and his cousin forced him to leave, but Roberto turned him down harshly. He berated everyone, and whoever advised him to leave immediately, he made it clear that he would not leave until he was ready.
While all of his friends were getting more and more annoyed with his stubbornness, Roberto became often angry and hostile. He colonized our weak friends. He started a fight for no apparent reason. Once, after a fight over a trivial matter, he suddenly pulled Alvaro Mangino's hair, then banged his head against the wall of the plane.
But eventually, Roberto felt very sorry, he apologized and hugged her, I was tired of seeing her like this. I obeyed Roberto, and waited until we were both.
"It's enough Roberto. You know it's time to go."
"Yes." Yeah." He said, "We leave after the weather calms down. "
"I'm tired of waiting."
"I told you! " He was bluffing, "We leave after the weather calms down! "
I tried to stay calm, but Roberto's rising voice made me angry.
"Look around!" i'm yelling. "We're out of food! Our friends are dying. Coche started raving at night. He won't last much longer. Roy's worse, his skin and bones are getting worse. Javier is starting to weaken, and our younger friends, Sabella, Mangino, Bobby, they are very weak. And now look at us! You and I are getting useless. We must climb before we are too weak to stand and walk."
"Listen to me, Nando," Roberto replied, "Two days ago, we had a terrible storm. You remember that? If it hits us again on this mountain slope, then we'll die."
"The snow can also make us die" I said. "We can also die from falling into the snow. We could also lose our balance and fall into the abyss of rocks! We can't get rid of all the risks and we can't wait any longer!"
Roberto glanced at me, ignoring my statement. I'm standing.
"I'll be leaving on December 12th. If you're not ready yet, I'm leaving without you."
(Connected)
