Global warming Gothic? Buried disasters are revealed, as mountain glaciers dwindle. Melting ice is exposing all kinds of wrecked planes and mummified bodies in Bolivia, Switzerland, California, and elsewhere.
The climbers found no treasure at the crash site of the Avro Lancastrian plane flown by British South American Airways. But they did discover a preserved torso and a hand with pointed, manicured fingernails, an eerie fashion relic of 1940s London that served as testament to the fate of the plane’s passengers and crew.
Here's a bit of Andean folklore for future stories:
some climbing guides here respectfully refer to the mountains as “achachila,” a word from the indigenous Aymara language that roughly translates as “earth spirit” or “uncle.” Before each ascent, they make offerings of coca leaves to the peaks they depend on for their livelihood.
“The uncles guard many secrets,” said Mr. González, who found the body of Mr. Pabón, “just like the graveyards in their shadow.”
Think of Frankenstein and his monster, confronting each other in the Swiss Alps, on glaciers:
I suddenly beheld the figure of a man, at some distance, advancing towards me with superhuman speed. He bounded over the crevices in the ice, among which I had walked with caution...
(thanks to Ed Webb; photo from Szeke)
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