Adventure in the Andes

Jeff went through the Andes mountains in a truck. This guy did it in a wheelchair.


You may be wondering how three Canadian guys become lost and stranded (helpless, stuck) in the Andes mountains of northern Peru. Or you just may be wondering (thinking), “How the heck did the little guy in the wheelchair get up there?”

“We’re going to try to get to that town right there.”

“Well we are by ourselves...pretty tranquilo” (relaxed in Spanish).

“This is not a place I want to break my arm or leg.”

Meet my buddy Mitch, the little guy in the wheelchair. His condition is called osteogenesis imperfecta. Now without going into too much medical jargon(technical vocabulary), it’s basically a condition where he has extremely brittle (fragile, easily breakable, weak) bones that have kept him small all of his life.

“In the Andes, in the middle of nowhere.” This is Javier, Mitch’s younger brother. He has often been the collaborater (partner, colleague, helper) in many of Mitch’s pursuits and travels. Many of their travel ideas causes their parents back home in Canada to be apprehensive (nervous, afraid). Like the idea of traveling to their mother’s homeland of Peru in South America where we currently find ourselves lost and stranded on the side of this mountain.

“We’re 90 miles from the next town.”

“A ninety-mile walk from the next town.”

“It should be interesting because we are in the middle of nowhere.”

My name is Scott and I have no Latin American heritage (family, roots, history) that I know of but I have grown a great interest in the Spanish speaking continent to our south. I guess you could say Mitch’s desire to return to his roots rubbed off on me (I became interested too) while being friends with him back in Canada.

“Hola.”

After filming a political documentary drama in Venezuela, we decided to continue our trek (trip, journey) further into South America to explore their mother’s native land in hopes of meeting the family they have never had a chance to meet before. But now, with the sun beginning to set (starting to go down) and at an elevation of over 10,000 feet, we begin to wonder how we will make it through the night.

“How am I going to wheel around in this?”

“Oh, it’ll be fine.”

“I don’t think we’re going to get very far until you get a flat tire.”

Just when we thought our situation couldn’t get any worse, Mitch’s wheelchair breaks.

“Damn it, frickin’ (polite way to say f@#%ing) wheelchair!”

“Do you have a screwdriver or a knife or something?”

With the sun going down and the temperature dropping, I was beginning to wonder, maybe this ????? wasn’t the best decision after all.