Climbing Trail
The Andes Part 24
Before friends continue it would be nice to help each other. Don't forget to like 👍, comment 📝, and make your favorite stories friends.
Check stories. Enjoyable!!!
-------------------------------------------
One morning on December 18th, the seventh day of our journey, the snow covering our path shrank, and we walked down the icy plain full of sharp rocks and slabs.
Every step requires effort and concentration. My mind narrowed to the point that there was no room to think of anything other than just
thinking about my next move, put each of my footings carefully to keep moving forward. There was nothing more I thought of my fatigue, my pain, the state of my friends who were still on the plane, and I did not even think of my despair.
All forgotten. Even I forgot Roberto, until I heard his voice calling my name and turned to look at him and again he was far behind me.
I was hypnotized by the rhythm of the sound of my breath, by the sound of the steps of my boots on the rocks and snow, and by the series of Hail Mary prayers that I kept in my mind. In my semi-conscious state, the distance seemed to fade and time continued to pass. Sometimes my common sense comes to wake me up and when it comes up all I think about is simple things.
Look at those loose stones..
Did we bring enough food? What are we doing here?Look at this mountain!
Once, I saw the sole of my right rugby shoe peel off. I realized that if the sole came off, my history ended, but my reaction to overcome this problem just appeared strangely. I imagined myself limping barefoot on sharp rocks until my feet bled and could no longer walk. Then I imagined myself crawling until my hands and knees were torn apart, and I ended up falling down and dragging my body with both elbows until my strength ran out. At that moment, I thought I was going to die. In my situation, those shadows didn't bother me. In fact, calm my heart. If my shoes are broken and can't be worn anymore, I have a plan. There's a lot I can still do. There is still room between me and death.
it's these simple thoughts that always fill the moments when I climb. After all, there were times when the strength and beauty of these mountains pushed me out of the void of my soul. Everything was going to happen all of a sudden, I felt that these mountains were very old and I could feel their tired souls, and realize that the mountains have been silent in this place as the civilization alternates.
Faced with the Andes, it is impossible to deny the fact that human life is just a small point in the cycle of time, and I know, if this mountain has thoughts and feelings, it is not, then our lives will pass quickly before they can realize our existence. Although the mountains will not be eternal, this thought disturbs me. If the earth were able to survive any longer, then all the peaks of the mountain would be crushed into dust. So what is the meaning of a human life? Why do we have to fight to live? Why should we endure pain and suffering? What makes us struggle desperately to stay alive if we can just give up, drown in silence and feel peace?
I had no answers to those questions, but when those thoughts bothered me deeply, or when I felt my strength had run out, I reminded myself of my promise to Dad. I will decide to suffer a little longer, just like he did on the river in Argentina. I would go again, and again, and then convince myself that every step would bring me closer to my father, and every step I took was a step I took back from the dead.
On the afternoon of December 18, I heard a voice from afar a terrible sound that became clearer as I approached it, and soon I recognized that it was the sound of rushing water. We were still standing in the snow, but I was trying to speed up my pace, afraid that the whirlpool that sounded so swift it would harm us. I went down the slope, then slid into a shallow chasm of ice. An enormous mountain stretched clearly before me. The valley that guided us during the journey led us to the bottom of the mountain range and ended there, but it split into two smaller valleys that disappeared as if they were surrounding the sides of the mountain.
Is this the shape of the letter Y we saw from the top of the mountain? my thinking. If true, then I'm halfway home.
I turned left, crossed the path, passed through the ice chasm, and headed towards the mysterious voice. While surrounding the ravine it turned out that I was standing at the base of an ice wall that was about five meters high. The flowing water came from tons of ice
the melting was ejected from within the ice wall through a crack about two meters from the ground. The water gushed to my feet, then flowed quickly through the ice and pebbles.
Then, down towards the valley. To an ordinary human, the land was not too difficult to pass, but it was steep enough to drain the water, and several hundred meters away from my place, I could see a small waterfall that suddenly widened into a very swift flow.
"Here is the river." I told Roberto when he was near me. "This stream of water will show you the way out of here."
We walked back, following the stream, convinced that he would lead us down through the plateau and lead us to civilization. But our journey was no easier than walking on the snow because the waterlogged land on both sides of the river was blocked by large, high rocks, we have to find our way through those big rocks or jump on them.
It took me about an hour to jump over the boulders, but eventually the road we were on was flattened out and we walked again with great difficulty because of my chipped shoes and because the path we were on was full of melting snow.
The river grew wider and flowed more and more rapidly until the terrible sound eliminated the other voices. As before, I walked in a semi-conscious state, living life from one step to the next, and as each kilometer passed by, he said, I felt that the only truth of my being in this realm was the small, impassable path, the surface of the rock that would be my next foothold. For hours I kept watching my surroundings, and all I saw were rocks, snow, and ice tracks under my feet.
Then, all of a sudden, there was a snow border like the end of a carpet, and we ended up walking on dry ground.
We walked until sunset, and as we rested, Roberto showed me a stone he took on the way.
"I kept this stone for Laura" Roberto said. Laura Surfaco is Roberto's fiancee.
"She must be very worried about you" I said.
"She's an amazing girl. I miss him so much."
"really?" She laughs. "What about all the girls you're after with Panchito? Can no one steal your heart?"
"I don't think I ever gave them a chance" I said. "I once imagined a girl who would one day marry me. He is living his life well. Sometimes he wondered who he would marry next, where he was, what he was doing now. Did he ever think that the man was on this mountain, trying to get out of the Andes to meet him? If we don't make it, I'll never see him. That girl will never know me. He's gonna marry another man, and he never knows that I ever existed."
"Not to worry" said Roberto, "we're going home and you're going to find a woman. You'll make her happy."
I smiled because of Roberto's kindness to me, but didn't feel comfortable with his words. This mountain has taken away all my hopes.
December 19th is a good day for us. That morning we hiked for a few hours, and as I waited for Roberto to catch up with me, I checked the soles of my boots. The stitching of my shoes has been torn and feels uncomfortable when worn walking. I saw the jagged stones that were on the surface of the valley. I was thinking, will I make it through or fail because my boots were broken first? We've made it through all the dangers, we're no longer freezing to death, or dying in the fall.
The problem now is only in endurance, luck, and time. We walk towards death, and hope we can still ask for help before draining all our remaining energy and dying.
The next morning, we saw some trees across the valley, and Roberto felt, he saw something moving there.
"I saw something moving near the trees. " He said, with his eyes closed. "It looks like it's a herd of cows."
My vision was poor, I couldn't see clearly from a distance, maybe Roberto was hallucinating from exhaustion.
"Maybe it's a bunch of deer" I said. "We have to keep walking."
A few hours later, Roberto leaned over and picked up something from below. Then he showed me, it turned out to be a tin of soup that had rusted.
"There are people who have been here" he said.
I'm reluctant to hope, "Maybe this can has been here for years" I said. "Or may have fallen from a passing plane.
Roberto got angry and threw the can. "You're really stupid." Said Roberto,
"Who's the fool who opened the plane window?! " He seemed to be grumbling with my original answer.
Then we found a horseshoe, and saw a pile of animal dung. We both squatted watching the dirt enthusiastically. Roberto insisted it was cow dung.
Roberto asked me, "So how did cow dung fall off the plane?"
"Let's go again. If we meet the farmer later, then I'll be happy." My answer.
"Carajos! You're really dumb." Roberto cursed behind me.
And at last as we went around the valley, from afar I saw a bunch of cows that Roberto saw this morning.
"Don't tell me those cows also fell off the plane." Roberto laughs at winning.
When we rested at night, Roberto's spirit was very high, but his body was so weak.
"The injury to my leg is getting worse. Sometimes to just lift my legs I feel like I can't. " Said Roberto weakly.
"Rest, "I said to him.
"Maybe tomorrow we'll find help.
(Connected)
