Alive

The departure of the first wave of survivors leaves eight left on the mountain plus three men sent from the Chilean rescue team. One new arrival notices the bones scattered around the site and asks whether the condors have eaten the bodies. Zerbino confesses that the survivors have been eating human meat. He is apparently unaware of the terrible stench of rotting human flesh.

The survivors and rescuers eat and drink together before trying to make a landing area for the helicopters. The rescue operatives take photographs, which makes the survivors nervous. The helicopters do not return that day so another night is spent on the mountains. The Chilean rescuers struggle with the cold of night while the Uruguayans are familiar with the freezing conditions. The next day, the helicopters finally arrive to carry them down the mountain. At the hospital, they are reunited with their family members. After a brief stop in San Fernando, the survivors are sent to the Chilean capital of Santiago. The date is December 23, and the hope is that they can be home for Christmas.

The first group of survivors stays in San Fernando. They struggle with the transition to sleeping in hospital beds. Father Andres records statements from the survivors, who talk deeply and reverently about the importance of their faith. They speak to the press and obscure the truth about what they ate to survive. On Sunday, they attend a church service then prepare to leave for Santiago to celebrate Christmas with the other survivors. Their arrival in the hospital is met with applause and joy. Roy Harley, Javier Methol, Alvaro Mangino, and Jose Inciarte are the only patients who must stay in the intensive care ward. The others are filled with high-spirits.

By December 23, all of the survivors are in Santiago with their friends and family, who begin to understand how the men survived their ordeal. They are initially repulsed, especially those whose family members did not survive. The survivors stay in a hotel in Santiago and use the pool and eat as much as they can even though it makes them sick. The overindulgence is tolerated by the family members who understand the trauma of the plane crash. The subject of cannibalism is left unmentioned, but it dawns on some of the survivors that people in the outside world might not perceive the consumption of human flesh the same way as those who crashed in the plane.

Some survivors return to Uruguay while others try to shop for clothes in Santiago. The Chilean store owners refuse to accept any money. The survivors are treated with sympathy and adoration by the Chileans, almost like “the living embodiment of an apparent miracle” (202). A Christmas party is organized at the hotel for the remaining survivors. The joyful hours are the calm before the storm. Soon the media reveals how the survivors ate the flesh of the dead. The survivors try to deny the story at first. But on December 26, a photograph of a half-eaten human leg is published, and the truth is revealed. The survivors hold a news conference for the moment when they return to Montevideo so that they can confess. They reluctantly agree to fly back to Uruguay to escape the clamor of the press. 

The sensational story of the Uruguayans in the Andes ignites the media’s attention. The cannibalism element only deepens the media’s interest in every country except Uruguay. In the home country of the survivors, the press decides to hear from the press conference before printing salacious stories. Daniel Fernandez is the first to arrive back in Montevideo. He gives an interview but refuses to talk about cannibalism until his friends return.

The majority of the survivors board the same flight back to Montevideo. The passengers are nervous to be flying again. They finally arrive back in the country they left ten weeks before a large crowd at the airport. The majority of the survivors attend a press conference. Delgado and others give eloquent accounts of the terror and the pain of survival. The eloquence of the explanation causes the press to burst into applause. No questions are asked.

The survivors return to their homes but struggle to readapt to their normal lives. Their bicker and quarrel with loved ones, they eat voraciously, and they put on weight quickly. The survivors’ loved ones are shocked and unsure how to react. Some try to figure out the psychology of the situation while others view it as an affirmation of religion. As religious figures offer sympathy to the survivors and forgiveness for their actions, a more nuanced view of the plane crash emerges. Certain figures among the survivors becomes celebrities and figureheads. Delgado speaks eloquently to the press and explains their cannibalism. Parrado demonstrates his newfound self-assuredness and readily accepts the mantle of a hero, even though this grates with some of the other survivors. He revels in his celebrity but is willing to step back when the others voice their complaints. The unity between the group remains important to him. Parrado slowly comes to terms with the reality of what he has lost and ditches his newfound celebrity. Many of the others have a more mystical, religious interpretation of their survival. While this worship of God is not shared by everyone, they all agree that the experience has fundamentally changed them.

Of those who departed Montevideo, 29 died and 16 returned. The confirmation of the death of the 29 devastates the victims’ families. They must deal with the reality that their loved one did not just die but was also eaten. Though they may be repulsed, most of the loved ones rally around the survivors in accordance with the wishes of the dead. They defend the survivors and describe the consumption of the dead as a demonstration of “solidarity, faith, courage, and serenity” (213).

An investigation into the causes of the crash determines that human error is to blame. The attempted use of the radio is proven to have been impossible; the batteries would never have supplied enough power. The survivors try to rebuild their lives. On January 18, 1973, a Chilean team attempts to recover the remains of the dead from the mountainside. They bury whatever they find in a spot a half mile from the accident site and build a stone altar fixed with an iron cross. They say a short prayer then burn the plane wreckage. They leave quickly before their sound causes an avalanche.