Every year 100.000 heavy storms and 10.000 floods take place. Thousands of landslides, more than 100 devastating earthquakes, hundreds of forest fires, hurricanes, cyclones, typhoons, tornados, volcanoes eruptions and droughts.

But only once, 35 years ago, a plane crashed in the Andes mountains, where thank God, a group of Uruguayan people survived to show that the way in which one human being loves another might be the toughest evidence, the highest testimony of ourselves, the finest piece to which, all previous ones, are mere preparations, (quoting Rilke- the great Austrian poet).

This way I managed to overcome the pain I felt when seeing the most beloved ones die, probably the best of us. Surviving, overcoming starvation, which was what made us feel prisoners in the vastness of the mountains. Survive to the lack of appropriate physical responses, trying to fight. Survive to the certainty that the search has been cancelled ten days after the accident. Survive to living together with death. Survive the terrible weather conditions just with the support of our faith. That faith that showed us a way to keep alive. Survive to find leadership, team spirit, solidarity ability to come to decisions dealing with life and death. Courage and boldness not to surrender even under the worst imaginable conditions.

Filled with fright, we had to be brave .As each of us depended on someone else and each of us was up to a certain extent responsible for the others lives. Despite adversities, life was still the best thing known by us and we grabbed life in all possible ways. Certainly we would not surrender without fighting for our lives because everything was taken from us, even the lives of our beloved ones, but under no circumstances would we loose faith.

There was a shield, a sort of intangible wall, which protected us to achieve our aim: LIVE.

And that’s just what the ones who once crashed into the Andes Mountains learnt, that God gave us an extra day to cry our dead and rescue the ones Alive. That’s what we did thirty-five years ago. We would do exactly the same under the same circumstances, as one of the highest challenges we had to go through was, just that, to live. And we managed to by ourselves. Neither pain, nor hunger not even the terrible weather conditions or the immensity of the mountains made us surrender. As God knew we would use our arms to hug and caress would sow for the future so that new generations would respect life, the main essence of the human being, maybe the best way to face all things. Including those things, which appear to be impossible to reason and to logic.

Find your faith and you will find mountains of snow that melt to let you see the green moss growing rapidly, to show there is always a sign to make life’s presence felt.

"Se logran grandes cosas cuando el hombre y la montaña se encuentran"
-- W. Blake