story1535.xml

story1535.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-08-29

I am from Holland but on Sept 11, we were ALL attacked, I guess. I couldn't have been in a stranger place. My girlfriend, another friend and myself were in the Andes in Peru at the time. On the very early morning of Sept 11, we left the village of Chivay in a rambling little bus for a 2+ hour ride to the Colca Canyon, which is a renowned spot for condor watching. We had a marvellous time. This was truly the high point of our 3-week trip. The weather was gorgeous, though cold, as it was very high in the mountains. I remember little clouds which looked most strange, no doubt due to the high altitude. From way below in the gorge, the condors came until at a little after 8am they were flying straight over us. This was 9am NYC time, i.e. around the time when the tragedy unfolded.
About half an hour later after having been at the Canyon for about an hour, we had left the spot and came in a very small village where a passenger of another small bus had heard something on a very unclear radio. A world disaster was taking place in New York. What we heard was so odd we couldn't believe it - 8 (!) planes crashed on New York, a million (!) people wounded or dead. What the hell was going on? We did not have a radio ourselves and in dead silence our bus travelled back to Chivay where 2 hours later we were to have lunch. I had this sick feeling in my stomach. The air was like lead. We were all so anxious so know what had happened.
Back in Chivay, opposite our little restaurant there was a market and one of the stalls sold TV's. They were all on. Everyone huddled around the stall to see what I think was Spanish CNN. I couldn't understand what was said but the images were clear enough. Unbelievable - even though the initial report WE had heard wasn't quite true.
The towers (where my girlfriend and myself had been to just 6 months earlier) had only just collapsed. Everyone was stunned, staring open mouthed at the TV in that tiny Peruvian village. Some in our little group were crying. I realized that whatever would happen next, we would be relatively safe where we are. A thousand thoughts flash through your head at such a time and at such a strange place.
Another long busride later saw us arriving in the bigger city of Arequipa early in the evening. By then we had a hotel room with TV and access to CNN and we were glued to the thing all night. It was only then that we learnt of the Pentagon crash and the 4th plane having come down.
Needless to say in the days afterwards I was a steady customer to Peruvian internet cafes to check on news. Peru was like another world where it had an impact, but not that huge. Whereas we were absolutely dying for news. It wasn't until we got back and saw all the images proper that everything really sunk in.
In october we had planned to go back to New York (we LOVED the city) - my girlfriend, myself and my mother - as a present to the latter after a rough time following my Dad's passing. We were to book this the week after we returned from Peru. Needless to say this never happened. I cherish the memories of the times we were there (October 1998 and March 2001). I cherish the pics taken from the top of the WTC, and the view I had from my hotel in I think Canal Street (thankfully preserved on pics too).
What a waste.

Koen
The Netherlands