Nando Parrado Interviewed by Geoff Powter — Transcript
Full transcript
- 0:06well Nando PR I want to welcome you to
- 0:08um our archive series here at the at the
- 0:10Mountain film festival I'm thrilled to
- 0:12be able to have this conversation with
- 0:13you I'm I'm thrilled to be here because
- 0:15B the the film festival and the Book
- 0:17Festival have uh they have always been
- 0:20on my mind so I I wanted to come
- 0:23everything happens if you wait long
- 0:24enough everything does happen if you
- 0:26wait long enough yes and just on the way
- 0:27over here you were mentioning you've
- 0:28actually been in this area or near near
- 0:30here anyways because of course you spent
- 0:32quite a number of months during the
- 0:33filming of when the filming of alive
- 0:35took place in the Panorama ski resort I
- 0:38spent like four months in the area so I
- 0:41I learned how to enjoy the mountains and
- 0:44how to love this
- 0:45beautiful part of the world no this part
- 0:47of Canada the west coast is absolutely
- 0:50beautiful well I I wanted to start just
- 0:52um bringing up one of the things that
- 0:54you had mentioned um towards the end of
- 0:56uh your recent book miracle in the Andes
- 1:00in which you say that um the very first
- 1:02time that you gave a a talk to a a
- 1:04corporate group helping motivate people
- 1:07you said um I should not be here I
- 1:10should be dead on a glacier in the Andes
- 1:12and it it just strikes me that that's
- 1:13probably something you could say about
- 1:14every single day of your life right now
- 1:17yeah it's something I don't
- 1:20intentionally think about it but it's
- 1:23people ask me do you really think every
- 1:25day about what happened to you I don't
- 1:27think every day but I think that I'm
- 1:29alive every every day so in a way I
- 1:32think you know yeah and the the first
- 1:35time I I spoke about this ordeal was 22
- 1:39years after after the plane crashed you
- 1:41know I was very busy doing other things
- 1:44so it wasn't so much that you couldn't
- 1:45speak about it or didn't choose to speak
- 1:47about no I I chose not to speak because
- 1:49I didn't have time I was I had the
- 1:51chance to live my my life
- 1:54again and uh I think you should live
- 1:56your life no so I started working and
- 1:59doing my sports my family my friends my
- 2:01dogs everything MH well one of the other
- 2:04things that you said in the book that
- 2:05really struck me was the idea that you
- 2:07um you're at peace in your life now not
- 2:10in spite of what happened but rather
- 2:13because of it can you tell me a bit more
- 2:14of what you meant by
- 2:16that I don't know uh I don't know if
- 2:19people has they have to go through
- 2:21things like limit situations to
- 2:24understand that the most simple things
- 2:25are the the most valuable ones but
- 2:28everybody that goes through something
- 2:29like that can it be a disaster a tragedy
- 2:34a family loss sickness then suddenly
- 2:37they realize that they are at peace with
- 2:38themselves because they don't search
- 2:40anymore for something that they nobody
- 2:42knows what you're searching and always
- 2:44running behind something no MH you're
- 2:47running behind power money uh women
- 2:50whatever but you're always running you
- 2:51know and when something happens you
- 2:53realize Jesus I have to slow down
- 2:55instead of running mhm and uh and
- 2:59luckily I found it uh in a very horrible
- 3:04way because the the the weight of the
- 3:06loss of my family members and my friends
- 3:09was very very big know but it's
- 3:12interesting I don't know if I was if I
- 3:14would prefer to be at peace now or with
- 3:19my friends and my family you know and
- 3:21not at peace yeah although you certainly
- 3:23have also said that you in many ways you
- 3:25wouldn't have traded what happened to
- 3:27you despite the loss or perhaps because
- 3:31it's a
- 3:32balance and it's this is my life with
- 3:36the acccident I mean I cannot pretend it
- 3:38didn't happen MH and because of the
- 3:41accident my life changed it took another
- 3:44route another road and because I took
- 3:46that road I found a woman I married and
- 3:49I have a family
- 3:52so if the accident didn't happen I
- 3:54wouldn't have my daughters my family so
- 3:56it's a balance which I I don't even want
- 3:58to consider right you know I just live
- 4:01my life would I change what I had before
- 4:03for what I have now it's it's impossible
- 4:06to to weigh that on a on a scale so I
- 4:11just enjoy what I have it's fascinating
- 4:13though you know because I I
- 4:15hear a lot of people that have gone
- 4:17through really difficult circumstances
- 4:19tragedies like that seem to have become
- 4:22a lot more philosophically settled about
- 4:25some of those kinds of ideas whereas
- 4:27other people they don't have to worry
- 4:28about things like that so much I don't
- 4:29know if it's philosophical I think it's
- 4:32you find that life is simpler than it
- 4:34tends to be you know people tend to for
- 4:37me this table is black you know you're
- 4:39wearing a green shirt we are doing an
- 4:41interview here and I crashed on an
- 4:43airplane why I don't know I mean car
- 4:46crashes usually you have a car crash on
- 4:48a corner on a road and they crash I
- 4:51crash with an airplane and uh we
- 4:53survived something that's not surviv
- 4:56survivable and I have been given the
- 4:59chance to live again so I don't know if
- 5:02it's philosophical I think it's simpler
- 5:03to enjoy every day enjoy the people you
- 5:06have around and uh not run behind things
- 5:10that you'll never get you know because
- 5:13you're always running I was always
- 5:14running and sometimes when I'm still
- 5:16running some days I say Nando stop
- 5:19remember you know put the handbrake and
- 5:20slow down and yet as as human beings
- 5:24were prone to trying to find meaning in
- 5:27things and to second guess things and I
- 5:28know in the in your book you've done you
- 5:30know in a sense you do a lot of that you
- 5:32sort through how natural it was to say
- 5:34what if we hadn't done this and what if
- 5:36we hadn't put pressure on the pilots
- 5:37that day and what if we hadn't booked
- 5:39that flight and all those kinds of
- 5:40things yeah well everybody asks
- 5:43questions but um there are one of the
- 5:47most important truths I have ever found
- 5:51in my life is that there are questions
- 5:54that will never have an answer you know
- 5:56you keep looking for answers you keep
- 5:58looking for answers but they're never
- 6:00there why did I invite my mother to go
- 6:03on that airplane crash and my on that
- 6:05airplane flight with my sister why yeah
- 6:09I don't know and so is part of what
- 6:12you're saying that in the end it doesn't
- 6:13really matter it's not you don't have to
- 6:15look for answers for that just just
- 6:17accept whates I think you you just have
- 6:18to accept what life brings and uh enjoy
- 6:20it and people say why did this happened
- 6:23to me why
- 6:26not but I think that our our or deal or
- 6:31our experience is a little bit different
- 6:33to what happens to mountain climbers
- 6:37when something goes wrong they know the
- 6:40risks they know that something can go
- 6:42wrong and they accept the risks and they
- 6:45buy in into it from the beginning it's
- 6:46their choice to be there it's their
- 6:48choice to be there and we were Beach
- 6:52Boys not from the mountains we had never
- 6:54seen snow before in our lives 95% of the
- 6:56boys had never touched snow in their
- 6:58lives so we were dropped into a
- 7:02glacier and we had to survive which is
- 7:05different that when a mountain climber
- 7:07goes and something goes wrong MH I'm a
- 7:10race car driver I race a lot and I
- 7:13assume that something can go wrong but I
- 7:17if I crash well it's my choice I mean
- 7:20maybe I made a mistake there was oil on
- 7:22the track another guy made a mistake in
- 7:24front of me but it's part of the rules
- 7:26of the game I know if you go to climb
- 7:28there can be an ban weather
- 7:32storms uh your teammate can fail but
- 7:35those are part of of climbing no do you
- 7:39think you came to different kinds of
- 7:40conclusions or or saw yourself doing
- 7:42things differently than other people
- 7:43though because it seems like your
- 7:46approach has been a pretty good one
- 7:47whereas some some of the other people um
- 7:50that were involved in the accident had
- 7:52different ways of looking at things and
- 7:53I'm thinking particularly about faith
- 7:55and and a belief in that there's a
- 7:57protection coming from God or that
- 7:58something is is going to be pre-ordained
- 8:00I think that if we we would or I would
- 8:03or we would or they would have found a a
- 8:07fantastic answer to all the religion
- 8:10questions we would be very wise and we
- 8:12would have discovered the the meaning of
- 8:14life and the meaning of the universe and
- 8:15the meaning of infinite and the meaning
- 8:17of God but we just I think we dealt with
- 8:21that uh with more time than usually
- 8:25people devote to that theme Here There
- 8:28we were trapped for for 72 days and
- 8:30every single day we talked about our
- 8:32families and about religion because what
- 8:35do you do there there you cannot go for
- 8:37a walk or for a stroll on the park
- 8:40you're trapped inside a fuselage at
- 8:4212,000 ft so there was a great guy ruro
- 8:47who he liked to read about theology so
- 8:51we had a lot of discussions about
- 8:53Theology and he died and he knew he was
- 8:55dying
- 8:56and he put us to a test he says I'm
- 8:59dying I'm going to get closer to God but
- 9:02you know sometimes I doubt that he
- 9:05exists and the only thing that I'm sure
- 9:10of he says he said is that I'm doubting
- 9:13without
- 9:14guilt you know because here
- 9:18in on Society on you know when you go to
- 9:21church when you do things everything is
- 9:24penalized you know
- 9:26everything you sin you're uh punished by
- 9:31religion you know because you do that
- 9:32you do that and you have to believe
- 9:34believe because of faith and that's all
- 9:37that religion asks you to to believe
- 9:39because of your faith and I think we
- 9:41went a a small step further up there
- 9:45trying to understand why God saved some
- 9:50guys and not other guys they prayed as
- 9:52much as we did yeah you know they wanted
- 9:55to live and they fought as much as we
- 9:57did my mother wanted to leave my sister
- 10:00too Guido my best friend Panchito Alexis
- 10:02Koko they wanted to live and they prayed
- 10:04as much he answered my phone and not
- 10:07their
- 10:08phone who can explain that you know and
- 10:12then the simple fact that you were there
- 10:13in the first place is is a question of
- 10:15for some people would be a question of
- 10:17Faith as well how could God do this to
- 10:18me how could it why would be trash I
- 10:20think that bad things happen in life as
- 10:23you know life is like a pzle with a
- 10:28thousand pieces or millions of pieces
- 10:30and you have nice pieces ugly ones
- 10:33average ones you know and some bad ones
- 10:36also and that's part of life I think uh
- 10:40life is something that everybody wants
- 10:42to be absolutely perfect and nice all
- 10:45the time sometimes it has
- 10:49cracks one of the interesting things
- 10:50about the experience that you had of
- 10:52course was that you in many senses you
- 10:53were also children I mean you were still
- 10:55you were still pretty young man at K was
- 10:5717 you know yeah I think the average age
- 11:00was 18 and a half 18 and not even 19
- 11:05and when you're that age nothing can
- 11:09happen to
- 11:10you you're Immortal you know Sports
- 11:14studies
- 11:16girls studies sports girls you know
- 11:18that's all that exists and for a lot of
- 11:21people that shows itself in in teenagers
- 11:23being very very self-centered that
- 11:25everything is about what happens to them
- 11:27and why it happens to them
- 11:30um I imagine it must have been hard not
- 11:33to feel like somehow this was about you
- 11:35that that somehow you know why why would
- 11:37this have happened to you it's back to
- 11:39my other question but how did you
- 11:40challenge that how did you get past that
- 11:44especially you because you you lost more
- 11:47people more directly than anybody else
- 11:49on that plane did yes all the other guys
- 11:51were there and they were suffering the
- 11:53consequences of being stranded abandoned
- 11:57left to die you know you know the same
- 12:00that I was suffering plus I had to bury
- 12:03my mother and my sister and my best
- 12:04friends with my hands on the on the eyes
- 12:07so I think
- 12:09that the fact that your mind changes its
- 12:15wavelength over there because it's not
- 12:18the same feelings the same way that you
- 12:22think here that you're thinking there
- 12:24instantly Everything Changes Everything
- 12:26Changes in a in a way that I even now
- 12:30uh confuses me a lot because I couldn't
- 12:32cry as I say in my conferences why
- 12:34couldn't I
- 12:36cry and uh that voice which I say it's
- 12:40instinct told me not to
- 12:43cry and I had to cope with the situation
- 12:47and I said as soon as the sorrow goes
- 12:50away I I'll have to keep on fighting to
- 12:52get back to my father I can't allow this
- 12:56sorrow to overcome my capacity of
- 12:59thinking you know
- 13:02and it amazes me a lot of times how can
- 13:05you be so
- 13:06cold at those moments you know and I'm
- 13:11not a psychiatrist I'm not a
- 13:14psychologist I'm not a shrink I don't
- 13:15know but something happens in your mind
- 13:18that the instinct to survive overrides
- 13:21the
- 13:22feelings because if you slow down if you
- 13:25stop you're dead absolutely dead I think
- 13:27you you change
- 13:30your brain adopts
- 13:32another type of thinking and you in a
- 13:36way you're simpler you're just like an
- 13:38animal surviving on Instinct you know
- 13:40you cannot stop to to
- 13:42suffer
- 13:44and yet at the same time you set up an
- 13:47incredibly complicated social structure
- 13:49when you were there I mean people played
- 13:50very different roles or were very
- 13:52different levels of emotion people who
- 13:55are stronger people who are weaker
- 13:57people who have to do things people who
- 13:58would rather sit back and wait did that
- 14:00just kind of fall into place do you
- 14:02think I think it everything F fell into
- 14:05place
- 14:06perfectly um we were a fantastic team 10
- 14:10years before the plane
- 14:12crashed and I don't know if that seen
- 14:15from the outside but we knew each other
- 14:18at least 12 years 13 years before the
- 14:22plane crashed we had been playing rugby
- 14:25in the same school for 10 or 12 years
- 14:28together yeah uh playing soccer first
- 14:30when you're young you know when you're
- 14:32seven 8 nine you play soccer then you go
- 14:34into rugby and we had been playing rugby
- 14:36for 10 nine 10 years together and the
- 14:40rugby is also something that's a big
- 14:44part of the social structure of our
- 14:46community you live a very nice teenage
- 14:50part of your life there with rugby and
- 14:52rugby is a sport that tends
- 14:54to make you
- 14:57very give a very tight friendship ship
- 14:59to your friends because you you you
- 15:00suffer and you fight a lot on on the
- 15:02field mhm and the fact that we were team
- 15:06allowed us to be a
- 15:09team even minutes after the plane
- 15:12crashed so it it really struck me as
- 15:14interesting that the positions on the
- 15:17field started playing themselves out on
- 15:20the glacier as well yeah and there was a
- 15:24fantastic guy Marcelo per Castillo he
- 15:26was the captain of the team
- 15:29a guy who was a strong player a
- 15:31fantastic Sportsman he was 21 22 years
- 15:35old I mean but he had such a great
- 15:38ability to lead you know on the field
- 15:41and outside the field he was a the
- 15:43perfect captain and uh he led us from
- 15:47the first instance after the crash he
- 15:50led the team all the way
- 15:53and according to the actions of some of
- 15:58the survivors and some or some of the
- 16:00guys that were in the crash the torch of
- 16:03leadership passed from hand to
- 16:06hand uh four five six times we had four
- 16:09five six different leaders all through
- 16:11the this ordeal and nobody wanted
- 16:14to be a leader just happened you know
- 16:18who wanted I always say who wanted to be
- 16:20the leader of a bunch of guys condemned
- 16:22to Die the most horrible death you can
- 16:27imagine that's interesting way to frame
- 16:30it just when you say that because
- 16:31there's in your book there're both
- 16:34elements of knowing that that could even
- 16:37be the likely outcome but absolutely
- 16:39refusing to believe that that's going to
- 16:40be the case and and you particularly
- 16:43knowing that one of the things you could
- 16:45not do is just sit there and wait I
- 16:48think that in a way uh I don't know why
- 16:52and it just happened to me when we
- 16:56listened on the 10th day that the search
- 16:58had being abandoned you know I saw what
- 17:01was going to happen you know immediately
- 17:04I said Jesus we are dead we are
- 17:06condemned we're going to die and this is
- 17:08going to be
- 17:09horrible you know imagine dying inside
- 17:13that fuselage you know of starvation
- 17:15cold fear what could happen this is
- 17:18going to be
- 17:19hell so I looked to the mountains and I
- 17:21said I'm going to die but I'll try to
- 17:24die
- 17:26um nobler or um
- 17:30if there's a better way to die you know
- 17:33I'm going to die but I'm going to die
- 17:34fighting trying to get out of here and
- 17:38that's what I instantly just happened to
- 17:40me seconds after I listen to that on the
- 17:43radio whereas for some several other
- 17:45people with you they just said no don't
- 17:48don't leave don't go it doesn't make any
- 17:49more sense it's no more noble to go no
- 17:53and that's why I always try to tell in
- 17:56my conferences that nobody knows the way
- 17:58they would react yeah and it's
- 18:00fascinating for the people to think how
- 18:02would I have reacted there you know
- 18:05and nobody knows nobody
- 18:08knows instantly I looked at the
- 18:11mountains but a few minutes later an
- 18:14intense
- 18:15fear caught me you know because I knew I
- 18:19was dying I knew there was no way
- 18:21out we didn't have had any food
- 18:24for four days already and the last food
- 18:27I had was a peanut one peanut you know
- 18:32and the cold The Thirst the hunger and
- 18:35now the confirmation that we were
- 18:37condemned to die that puts your mind in
- 18:40a in a different level puts your mind on
- 18:42a kind of stress that's very uncommon to
- 18:46find on on society nowadays you can lose
- 18:49your job your house can burn down you
- 18:52know you can crush your car you
- 18:55can you know break a leg but it's this
- 18:59is your dead yeah the choices that we
- 19:02make or the things that we face in life
- 19:04are often quite abstract now there's no
- 19:06relationship necessarily between what
- 19:08you do today and whether you live today
- 19:09but for you it it became very black and
- 19:11white very black and white yeah live or
- 19:13die including a very difficult decision
- 19:16to make about how you're going to feed
- 19:18yourselves
- 19:19yes and you know the or maybe not maybe
- 19:22not a difficult decision well not
- 19:24difficult for us it's I think it's a
- 19:27quite an interesting question or
- 19:30subject seen from the outside but on the
- 19:34global aspect of our
- 19:36survival if you have a circle that's
- 19:39just you know maybe 30% we had to deal
- 19:43with all the other 70% of of you know
- 19:47climate water
- 19:50cold uh thirst depression fear you get
- 19:55very afraid uh decision making and you
- 19:59have to decide when to go and how to go
- 20:01and where to go mhm it's like being
- 20:03dropped in the middle of the ocean and
- 20:05say okay which way do I swim you have to
- 20:07decide so that decision came very
- 20:11naturally I it's it
- 20:13just Falls in a slot and it's cluck
- 20:17Jesus that's the decision it's so
- 20:19naturally made that everybody started to
- 20:22think about it at the same moment but
- 20:25it's it's aren't some of the decisions
- 20:27that you had to make more moral
- 20:29decisions than other ones and doesn't
- 20:30that complicate them a little bit more
- 20:31no no not to me I mean maybe not
- 20:34everybody has the same character and the
- 20:36same
- 20:37personality but um I think I I was
- 20:42educated in a way
- 20:44that I always looked at the way my
- 20:48father reacted into some situations and
- 20:51he always told me you know things are
- 20:52black and white you know and he was not
- 20:56very religious he said okay if you need
- 20:59money you have to work if you are
- 21:01thirsty you have to drink water if you
- 21:03have to get there you have to walk or
- 21:05take a bus or drive the car you know he
- 21:08was a very simple man in his thoughts
- 21:11but very efficient you know don't look
- 21:13for things that don't exist so I said
- 21:16okay I have to
- 21:18eat I have to eat something and the only
- 21:22proteins that we have are the dead
- 21:23bodies of our
- 21:24friends and uh it's a thought that comes
- 21:28very very simply to your mind after
- 21:31remember not sitting here somebody
- 21:34watching this this tape you have been
- 21:36stranded on a glacia for 12 days you
- 21:39have
- 21:40been hoping for rescue which never came
- 21:44and then they answered by the radio that
- 21:46you were abandoned so now you're afraid
- 21:50thirsty freezing so hungry you cannot
- 21:54imagine
- 21:56desperate and you're going to die so at
- 21:58least let's do something yet you did
- 22:00draw the line at the bodies of your
- 22:02mother and your sister I didn't draw the
- 22:05line I said which is very difficult to
- 22:08put somebody in my mind at the
- 22:10moment when we started the track out
- 22:13which was a track that now I am alive
- 22:16now it's easy you know when you read the
- 22:18newspaper on the Mondays you know who
- 22:19won the game on Sunday MH no so I'm
- 22:22alive but when I started that track
- 22:24which was 50 miles across the whole
- 22:26Landes I never knew I was going to get
- 22:28there
- 22:2999% I thought I was going to die and I
- 22:32told the guys look if you have to do it
- 22:35you have to do it but I knew also that
- 22:39if that moment had come that would be
- 22:43the last that would be the hell the end
- 22:47you know there were those were the last
- 22:49two bodies what happens after that yeah
- 22:51what happens okay I'm gone they use the
- 22:54bodies of my mother and my sister and
- 22:56then what happens I'm not going to be
- 22:58there I'll be dead on a glacier but not
- 23:00there and maybe I saw the script of this
- 23:04story ending in that way I was not going
- 23:06to be there and maybe the script also
- 23:08includes you would you know by by making
- 23:11the decision to leave you also avoid the
- 23:13decision making of course I if I have to
- 23:16do that that's the end of the line yeah
- 23:19you know that's the end of line I what
- 23:22happens after that
- 23:24M there's no more future it's death
- 23:28immediately it's
- 23:30because we would be so weak at that time
- 23:35we would be walking carasses you know MH
- 23:38because that would be three or four
- 23:39weeks after maybe yeah three weeks
- 23:43later what would happen and so many of
- 23:47the decisions that you ended up having
- 23:49to make you build in in your story
- 23:51around family and and the uh another
- 23:54point that you make in the book quite
- 23:55strongly is your sense that the opposite
- 23:57of of death is love not life and that it
- 24:00really was your father as the other
- 24:03person in your family poll that that
- 24:04pulled you back to civilization again
- 24:07somehow that's the way that you decided
- 24:08to to keep moving can you tell us about
- 24:11that there were so many moments that I
- 24:13was so close to death you know the plane
- 24:16crashed I was knocked my head out the
- 24:18plane fell down the Avalanche you know
- 24:21so many things then we climbed all these
- 24:23mountains and I look to the west and we
- 24:24are at almost 18,000 177,000 ft and some
- 24:30and that's when I realized that you
- 24:32think that life is the Eternal thing
- 24:35that's the most important thing in the
- 24:36word and when you see death so close and
- 24:38you are confirmed that you're going to
- 24:41die you just realize that life
- 24:45is it's a second that the eternity is
- 24:47death that the real thing that exists is
- 24:50death not life you know we think that we
- 24:53are going to live forever and suddenly
- 24:55when you confront yourself with death so
- 24:57many times and you touch her and she
- 25:01grabs you and you know I was theread
- 25:04three or four times without any hope
- 25:07whatsoever and I lived I shouldn't be
- 25:09here by any means I shouldn't be here
- 25:11and then I realized that life is not
- 25:13Eternal we think and suddenly I'm there
- 25:16at8 almost 18,000 ft looking to the West
- 25:19surrounded by mountains and say I'm dead
- 25:22I thought I would live forever but the
- 25:24real eternity is death you know and how
- 25:27can I fight against this death what's
- 25:30the most important thing for me it's not
- 25:32life life will be gone it's love the
- 25:34love for the people I love the love that
- 25:36keeps me going to my father the love
- 25:38that now I feel for my daughters for my
- 25:40wife for my friends that's the most
- 25:42important thing in life money power what
- 25:47for I mean you can work I work I like
- 25:50the best things in life but I wouldn't
- 25:52jeopardise my family and my friends and
- 25:54my the love and my dog I love my dogs
- 25:58for more power more money I have enough
- 26:02what's interesting to me is that you
- 26:03would go through all of those
- 26:06chances and still enter into a world in
- 26:09race car driving where you're putting
- 26:11yourself back on the line again how yeah
- 26:13how do you understand
- 26:15that it's a very complex thing to
- 26:19understand my father he was the
- 26:21president of a uian racing drivers Club
- 26:23his passion was racing cars he took me
- 26:26to a racetrack when since I was 2 or 3
- 26:29years old you know so I was bred into
- 26:32racing and I love the smell and the
- 26:34noise and everything and I wanted to
- 26:36race cars but I didn't dare you know was
- 26:39too dangerous to my father always wanted
- 26:41to race but he he thought was too
- 26:44dangerous you know he loved the sport
- 26:45but I really wanted to race but then I
- 26:47crashed in the airplane and I came back
- 26:50and I lived and I said Jesus I almost
- 26:52never I almost died and never did what
- 26:55for me was so important M it could have
- 26:58been being playing tennis being a lawyer
- 27:00playing chess being a painter being a
- 27:04doctor but was racing cars so I said I'm
- 27:08going to do it because this is very
- 27:10important to
- 27:11me and it was such a big decision that
- 27:13because I started
- 27:15racing I met my wife in Europe and I
- 27:18have a beautiful family because I
- 27:20started racing but I didn't start racing
- 27:21thinking I'm Immortal because I survive
- 27:25a plane crash no no I approach racing
- 27:27with the utmost ECT techn
- 27:30technicality knowledge it's an art it's
- 27:33like any profession that you have to
- 27:35train dedicate study know and I enjoy
- 27:40it it's kind of a liberty at a terrible
- 27:43price isn't it Nando I mean you've
- 27:44you've been freed up through this
- 27:46experience in a way that most of the
- 27:47rest of us in our lives would never ever
- 27:49be able to Freed it up is is that been
- 27:52true for other people that were there as
- 27:54well the other
- 27:56survivors yeah I would say that some of
- 27:58the guys three or four or five more than
- 28:00others not
- 28:02everybody has this behaves in the same
- 28:04way on the same situations but uh I
- 28:08would say that you know Roberto Gustavo
- 28:11those are guys that probably you see
- 28:13them once and you there are like any
- 28:15people any person you you meet but I
- 28:19live with them they are my friends and I
- 28:21know that they are free guys you know
- 28:23Roberto especially he's very free he's
- 28:25a a guy that uh
- 28:28um a lot of energy power and there no
- 28:32limits for him mhm I lost everything
- 28:35andt I I lost my family my future my
- 28:37studies everything I had I was an animal
- 28:40on a
- 28:41glazure so I'm not afraid of losing
- 28:44everything because I already lost it mhm
- 28:47I know what's to be condemned to die
- 28:50without anything you know and to be
- 28:54blessed with the chance to have a life
- 28:58and a family and friends and dogs people
- 29:01say this guy speaks about dogs I mean I
- 29:03love my dogs you know and how much I
- 29:07would have given 3 4 years ago to have a
- 29:09house with
- 29:10dogs one of the um one of the things
- 29:13that along the line that we were just
- 29:15speaking about though that that really
- 29:17strikes me in the way that you look back
- 29:19now and particularly the way that you
- 29:21talk about this to other people is that
- 29:22you
- 29:23say don't call me a hero don't say I
- 29:26succeeded don't call this Glory to have
- 29:28succeeded because as you put it it was
- 29:30nothing more than ugliness fear and
- 29:33Desperation yeah I I have understood all
- 29:36through these years
- 29:38that people because I look at people and
- 29:42I think they are the way I think they
- 29:44are you know and seeing from the outside
- 29:47things look different you know I didn't
- 29:50want to be there yeah you know I just
- 29:53had to do what I had to do and I
- 29:55succeeded by chance by God by whatever
- 29:59happened and seen from the
- 30:02outside people say oh these guys were so
- 30:05courageous and they conquered what's not
- 30:08conquerable and they did this epic
- 30:11Traverse of the Andes and they survived
- 30:13two and a half months on a glacier how
- 30:15fantastic I say how horrible I it was so
- 30:19ugly you know so stressful I was so
- 30:22afraid there Jeff I can tell you so
- 30:24afraid that the fear is in your stomach
- 30:26it never goes away never you're always
- 30:29tense you
- 30:30know and I remember when I got to a
- 30:34hospital helicopters dropped me into a
- 30:36hospital they take my clothes off they
- 30:38cut my clothes off and they wash me and
- 30:40they make some tests on me and they put
- 30:42me on a bed that was the first time in
- 30:4673 days that I relaxed my muscles you
- 30:52know it's the fear it's never ending and
- 30:56from the outside looks like Cor
- 30:59you know and I I never thought about the
- 31:02word courage there I every time through
- 31:05that track every day every night I say
- 31:07how am I going to die the only thought I
- 31:10had in my mind
- 31:11was how does it feel to fall from 2,000
- 31:14ft and crash against a rock you know
- 31:17will I freeze at night will I die of
- 31:20hunger the only question was how will I
- 31:23meet my death that was the only one I
- 31:26had so if if you weren't
- 31:28with all you went through if you weren't
- 31:29courageous if you weren't heroic what do
- 31:31you think a courageous hero looks like
- 31:35maybe they don't exist I don't
- 31:37know I think
- 31:40that uh everybody is a hero when they
- 31:43have
- 31:44to confront a situation that really puts
- 31:48them to the test I'm sure that you if I
- 31:52don't know if you have a family you have
- 31:53a daughters Sons or something
- 31:56happens something arises from inside you
- 31:59if somebody wants to harm them that you
- 32:02when these things happen limit
- 32:03situations you you yield to what you
- 32:07have beneath MH and sometimes you don't
- 32:10want to find what you have
- 32:12inside cuz it sure strikes from the
- 32:14outside that your
- 32:16journey all the way through it was a
- 32:18journey of
- 32:21will I can accept
- 32:24that and with Roberto when we were at
- 32:27the hostal
- 32:28hosital and he looked at me and he said
- 32:32it was tough no I said yeah but we made
- 32:35it no so it was that was the last
- 32:39sentence that we had over there at the
- 32:41hospital
- 32:44Jesus what Stu yeah but here we are you
- 32:48know so that's was those are some of the
- 32:52most beautiful moments that I remember
- 32:54you know when you look at your friend
- 32:56you have died with him and
- 32:58we made it yeah and it it was tough
- 33:01maybe the understatement of the century
- 33:03it was tough it was simply Jesus it was
- 33:06tough though yeah but we made
- 33:08it great thank you thank you
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