November’s Book Review “Out of the Silence: After the Crash” by Eduardo Strauch and Mireya Soriano
As I sit down trying to write up this book review, I am full with mix emotions, it’s hard to determine where and how to start. As a wise person once said I should start from the beginning. I didn’t know about this tragic accident until now; I feel as if I had been living in another world. Other reasons of my misinformation are; first, I wasn’t born when this happened, and second, as the author himself believes in “time” I too do so. I believe I found this book at a perfect time in my life.
“It was in the Cordillera of The Andes where I learned to understand the true face of fear and pain.” Eduardo Strauch
Out of The Silence is a book about human resilience, friendship, love, hope and gratitude. Based on a true story of a plane crashed in the Andes on October 13th 1972.
A trip that from the beginning didn’t or couldn’t follow the schedule. The purpose of the trip was to bring a Uruguayan’s Rugby team to Santiago de Chile for a match. But they chartered the plane from Montevideo and then the flight had a layover at El Plumerillo Airport in Mendoza-Argentina.
It was a Fairchild F-227 airplane from the Uruguayan Air Force in which the team were flying. As the author explains they were forty-five passengers all from Uruguay. They were mostly family related, friends or acquaintances. It is important to mention that most of the people in the plane were young guys, and I would assume in good shape.
Despite the weather warnings the plane took off to crash in the Cordillera of the Andes. Leaving these young guys stranded in an unknown area for 72 days. Later on, they would learn that they were trapped between the Sosneado mountain and the Tinguiririca volcano. This glacier area would be named the Valley of Tears in the border of Argentina and Chile.
I won’t get into details of the gruesome accident, and the survival. That is a personal story I will leave that to the author himself to tell it, he does a good job in this book. All I can say after reading the first pages is that it brought back memories to me of the Donner party who were trapped in a cruel winter in California in 1846. We used to visit Donner Memorial State Park.
It is hard to stop reading this book because you want to know what happens next. Although we know the outcome, it is hard to resist the need to learn how these guys would come out of the mountain.
We also had an experience in much less gravity, we had a car crash that ended up totaling our car. Experiences like the one we lived or like these group of people went through are very hard to judge and I won’t even attempt to do so. We as human beings are unpredictable; we really don’t know how we will react under hard and difficult circumstances until the circumstances arrive. The same goes for people we know. Only when you experience something similar is when you discover who you really are deep in within.
As a reader, my curiosity took control over other emotions. Twenty-nine were the first survivors. But only sixteen would be able to tell the story. After they found out they canceled their search, it was up to them to decide between death and life. I can’t imagine that. Most of these guys were teenagers, who had to make those decisions, it makes for a transformation in their lives. I consider it as if “young guys” crashed into The Andes and “men” got out of there. No one-as the author believes, who came out of the mountain could have ever be the same.
Conditions changed for them after few expeditions. They concluded that it was only up to themselves to get out of there because nobody would find them. The area in which they were trapped was completely out of sight.
Their plans changed and life hit them hard again after an avalanche came down on them killing seven more members of the already vanishing group. Also, with a new season coming upon them they had to leave once and for all.
I would like to have more on Roberto and Nando’s account. How they climbed out of the mountain for example. For us as a family very familiar with alpinism, mountaineering, rock climbing. Especially with James M. Wise’s geology knowledge is easy to understand the difficulty and the magnitude of what these two guys went through to get help for themselves and the rest of the group.
As a mother this Book was hard to read, one can only imagine being in the position of not knowing if your son is death or alive. But faith played a big part on both groups the survivors and their families back in Montevideo.
There are many articles written on “El Milagro de los Andes.” Because the rescued took place on December 22nd. the newspapers of the time were calling it that “The Miracle of the Andes.” They welcomed the survivors in the town of San Fernando in Chile, and later on they transferred them to Santiago de Chile. Allowing the reunion of the sixteen survivors with their families for what I suspect was a very Merry Christmas.
“And then I would seek solace in the contemplation of my mountain, and I would tell her this: I don’t know if I will get out of here alive, but even if I do, I will never be the same. You have trapped me here forever, and whatever happens, from now on a part of me will always remain here in your stillness.” Eduardo Strauch.
I believe Mr. Strauch it is a true artist, because only a true artist would find beauty in the most gruesome circumstances. He found peace where there should only be desperation. Found love, true friendship and gave life a whole new meaning. Between the mountain and its solitude, he found enlightenment. Now Mr. Strauch has an art gallery where he has expressed all those emotions on his canvases. For more visit Eduardo Strauch Art.
The author mentions how after all these years people are still interested in his story. He continues giving lectures of this odyssey; he has connected with people from all over the world and I be of the opinion it is because the mountain now has become a symbolism for many people. Now in this mountain there is a Memorial site to where people like to visit and pay respects to the death.
The outcome of this tragic event is good, all the survivors remain close friends, many of them have written books from their own stories, and it has inspired many movies based on The Miracle of The Andes.
Yanira K. Wise-November, 2019
Links:
Out of the Silence: After the Crash
Miracle in The Andes book by Nando Parrado
Fundación Viven a foundation created in 2006 by the survivors of The Andes
Andes Museum 1972 located in Montevideo-Uruguay
Do connect with us:
ResearchGate: James M. Wise
Author´s page: James M. Wise
Photography page: JamesM.Wise.com
Author´s page: Yanira K. Wise
South America seems to refuse to show its inexhaustible creative force.
