In Cusco now. The birding portion of the trip other than a few hours tomorrow on the coast is done. Had a great guide who I will post more about at another time, but I am pretty sure he is glad to see me leave! Not that I am THAT obnoxious a person, but Im pretty sure I scared the hell out of him. The two of us had climbed up a steep, wet, muddy, rocky, slippery path to a ridge where there is a canopy tower. I was wearing a pair of rubber boots that were a bit to big for me. And some of you know that I have a birth defect that affected my right side, making my right leg weaker and less flexible than it should be. Well the combination was near deadly, twice. The first time I slipped and fell about 7 feet into a ravine, landing on rocks on my back. When I came to a stop my feet were higher than my. I lay there for a moment waiting for pain to register in my brain. Alex scrambled down to help me but I was unhurt except for a bruise on my forearm. So off we went. About 20 minutes later I again slipped on the rocks and went over the edge of the cliff. Now if it had been on the dry side of the Andes it would have been a 70 to 100 meter free fall. But since we were on the wet side there is a lot of vegetation. About 5 feet into my fall I came to an abrupt halt. I, well at least my pants, were impaled on a piece of bamboo. The bamboo went into my pants about 2 below the crotch and out through the right pocket. One inch or so lower it would have caught the femoral artery but instead a torn pair of pants but not even a scratch. ... Now that I think about it Im disappointed! I dont even have a scar to show from when I fell off a cliff! This all happened over a week ago. I must admit it has played head games with me. After that when stepping out of boats onto muddy shores or climbing rough paths I found myself more hesitant than before and willing to accept an offered hand when before I was often the one offering the hand. But the bad news is Im still alive so I gotta keep on trying! :-)
Posted on: Fri, 16 May 2014 00:51:39 +0000
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