02 Touching The Void
Several months before, I had gone to see a movie with my wife, Touching The Void, a true story of two British mountain climbers who had both suffered serious injuries while scaling the heights in Peru. Images from that movie and the recall of their determination to make it despite the circumstances came to mind, which I clung to and tried to focus my full energy on.
Ironically, here I was in Peru, and had just sustained a broken leg from a fall. However in my case, the fall was not from Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes, but from the roof of a house in Lima!
My work had brought me to Peru 10 days earlier, and I had just finished site visits to humanitarian programs that the organization that I work for funds. Peru was my last stop, after having visited Mexico and Chile. Today I was meant to fly back to the States. In fact, I had just been minutes away from getting in a taxi to take me to the airport, my job now completed.
Praying out loud for God’s support, and trying to keep my mind off of my broken leg trailing behind me, I crawled inch by painful inch, using my forearms to move me forward, first across the ornamental pavement, up the stairs to the outdoor dining area, and then through the grassy backyard where days before I had studied a large tortoise slowly maneuvering along.
Now traveling at a speed slower than that tortoise, I knew I had to press on. I fought to stay conscious as I continued on my protracted path through the back garden. When I eventually reached the maid’s quarters, I glanced down the long driveway leading to the garage door. That was my projected portal to the outside world, and the possibility of finding someone to rush me to the nearest hospital for medical attention.
Ironically, here I was in Peru, and had just sustained a broken leg from a fall. However in my case, the fall was not from Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes, but from the roof of a house in Lima!
My work had brought me to Peru 10 days earlier, and I had just finished site visits to humanitarian programs that the organization that I work for funds. Peru was my last stop, after having visited Mexico and Chile. Today I was meant to fly back to the States. In fact, I had just been minutes away from getting in a taxi to take me to the airport, my job now completed.
Praying out loud for God’s support, and trying to keep my mind off of my broken leg trailing behind me, I crawled inch by painful inch, using my forearms to move me forward, first across the ornamental pavement, up the stairs to the outdoor dining area, and then through the grassy backyard where days before I had studied a large tortoise slowly maneuvering along.
Now traveling at a speed slower than that tortoise, I knew I had to press on. I fought to stay conscious as I continued on my protracted path through the back garden. When I eventually reached the maid’s quarters, I glanced down the long driveway leading to the garage door. That was my projected portal to the outside world, and the possibility of finding someone to rush me to the nearest hospital for medical attention.
<< Home