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They found themselves up to their thighs in snow. Bobby Francois, the first to leave the plane, climbed onto a suitcase and lit a cigarette.
‘Then you’d starve to death. You can’t climb mountains on a little piece of chocolate and a sip of wine.’ ‘Then I’ll cut meat from one of the pilots,’ said Parrado. ‘After all, they got us into this mess.’
‘It’s like Holy Communion. When Christ died he gave his body to us so that we could have spiritual life. My friend has given us his body so that we can have physical life.’
To Pedro, God was the love which existed between two human beings, or a group of human beings. Thus love was all important.
‘Tell me, commander,’ said Walter Harley. ‘What are the chances that the plane became trapped in the mountains and made an emergency landing in the snow?’ ‘With a bit of luck,’ said Massa, ‘two in a thousand.’ ‘One is enough for us,’ said Harley.
Rotten flesh, which they tried later, tasted like cheese.
After eight days away he saw with some objectivity just how thin and haggard the bearded faces of his friends had become. He had seen too, with a fresh eye, the horror of the filthy snow strewn with gutted carcasses and split skulls, and he thought to himself that before they were rescued they must do something to tidy it up.
‘Carlitos? Is that you?’ It was Colonel Morel. ‘Yes, it’s me,’ said Páez Vilaró, in a tone of mild irritation. ‘And I appreciate you calling me like this to say good-bye, but the plane is waiting for me … I’ll see you after Christmas.’ ‘Okay,’ said Morel. ‘I’m sorry to keep you. It’s just that I thought that since you’ve been looking for those boys of yours for so long, you might like to come and see them.’
Carlitos Páez said a special prayer to his uncle, who had been killed when his plane had crashed some years before. The next day, December 21, would be the anniversary of that accident, and he knew that his grandmother would also be praying to her son for a special favour on that day.
Zerbino and Sabella began to talk about what they would do when the rescuers arrived. ‘I know what we’ll do,’ said Moncho. ‘When we hear the helicopters we’ll go into the plane and wait there. Then, when they come to find us, we’ll say, “Hello. What do you want?”’
Carlitos opened them and read first that which was for them all. ‘Cheer up and confidence,’ it read. ‘Here I give you a helicopter as a Christmas present.’
Ruthlessness comes from necessity.
I have learned that life is love, and that love is giving to your neighbour. The soul of a man is the best thing about him. There is nothing better than giving to a fellow human being …’
If anything, the experience had made him less religious; he now had a stronger belief in man.
