The Valley of Tears, the geographical point that forever marked the lives of the survivors of Flight 571 of the Uruguayan Air Force, has become one of the most requested tourist sites of the season. The furor over the film The Snow Society has managed to double the number of sales of excursions to go see the remains of the Uruguayan fuselage in the province of Mendoza, Argentina. There, in the middle of the Andes mountain range, an area historically inhospitable and hostile to man, thousands of people come, eager for curiosity, to try to understand the miracle that took place in 1972. “What the film did was globalize the history. This year we have received requests from Vietnam, Australia or Ireland; countries that they had never consulted before,” explains mountaineer Eduardo ‘El Tuiti’ Molina to this newspaper. Although there are multiple private companies with which you can do the expedition, Molina, owner of Tuiti Trekking Mendoza, is one of the authorities on the subject. He has been to the Valley of Tears 59 times and in 2024 he will celebrate his 60th expedition. “I still cry every time I go.” His first visit was in 2005, when it was not yet so common to make this journey on foot. “It was like invading a sacred place,” remembers ‘Tuiti’.
The expedition lasts approximately three to four days and can be done on foot or on horseback. It travels along winding paths, endless slopes and crosses four rivers: the Atuel, the Rosado, the Barroso and the Lágrimas (round trip). The temperature changes are extreme, so it is recommended to take the tour between November and March, the warmest months in the southern hemisphere. “Going outside of that season makes no sense, the probability of intense cold is very high and the days are shorter; To trek you need more hours of daylight,” explains the guide.
Those who arrive in the province of Mendoza can hire the expedition from the city center or go in their own vehicle to El Sosneado, the last town where there is a signal. From there you enter the Andes mountain range and according to 'Tuiti' Molina, "you cease to exist for three days." As in the story of the survivors, the muleteers play an essential role. They are the ones who transport the provisions, tents and equipment. They are in charge of supporting the expeditions, both walkers and horseback riding, and that everything runs in a safe environment.
Although the fuselage that served as shelter for the survivors was burned, some remains still remain on the mountain, along with a monument in memory of the victims of the accident. There are also some belongings of the passengers. “There are irons, seats and I even saw rugby boots hardened by the passage of time,” recalls Argentine Bruno Manini, 24 years old. A sports lover, Bruno decided to undertake the journey with his father and other friends in December 2020. “Before going I read the book and watched several documentaries, you get the idea but when you get there it is totally different.” Nowadays during the summer, the landscape is not white but gray and brown. “The mountain range is very dry, there is no water, it is a very hostile terrain.” Due to global warming, the same amount of ice is no longer forming as it was 50 years ago. “The path is hard, you have to be physically prepared, it is a trek of intermediate difficulty.” Upon reaching the top, at more than 4,000 meters above sea level, what struck him most was the pure silence in front of the immensity of the terrain. “I would go again a thousand times,” he says.
“Absolute silence” and “a lot of peace”, but above all, “a great presence of God”, was what the Uruguayan Soledad Yaquinto felt in February 2023 when she arrived in the Valley of Tears. “It was a very special trip.” There were eight women, including Gochi Páez and Male Methol, daughters of the survivors Carlitos Paez Vilaró and Javier Methol. “Male had never been, so we decided to organize the trip and accompany her.” They came all the way on horseback. "At first it's a little scary, you have to be cautious and responsible, but the horses are very trained." The women let Male Methol be the first to go up to the memorial. There, there is a monolith with all the names of those who remained on the mountain, among them, that of her mother Liliana de ella. “I don't want to talk about her for her, but I know that she felt it was a moment of great connection, it cannot be conveyed with words.” Although it is a trip that requires completely abandoning any type of comfort, Soledad has no doubt that she will do it again. “I'm waiting for the fury of the movie to pass a little. It is an experience that must be lived with the five senses, it is not a tourist trip, it is a journey inside oneself.”
Over time, much of the remains and objects left on the mountain have disappeared. Some have been buried underground with the passing of the seasons, while others have been taken by visitors who decide to take a souvenir from the place. But occasionally, some of these lost items reappear. In February 2005, the Mexican mountaineer Ricaro Peña found, more than a thousand meters above the level of the accident, a piece of blue fabric between the rocks. It was a coat. Inside was the wallet of survivor Eduardo Strauch. “It was a very exciting discovery,” explains Peña. Also in the pocket was Strauch's passport, with a stamp marking the date Friday, October 13, 1972. “The jacket was there for 33 years until we found it and returned it to its owner.”
In 2020, the Old Christians Club of Uruguay, to which the passengers of the plane that crashed in the Andes belonged, organized an expedition to pay tribute to its players. “It was a pending account that we had and the club decided to go with the entire rugby team,” explains Uruguayan Patricio Cattivelli, 34 years old. Accompanied by more than 100 people, they made the trip with the survivor Gustavo Zerbino. “Having him with us to ask questions and hear firsthand testimony from him was very moving.” The players walked up together. “Although it involved a bit of suffering, you actually connect just a little bit with what they experienced for 72 days. It is an opportunity that I would take advantage of again if it presented itself.” To this day, the club continues to celebrate the game that the passengers never got to play in Chile. “We go to visit our Chilean friends and they come to us. “We continue to maintain that symbolic match.” This year, according to Patricio, it is time to play it in the month of October in Uruguay, on the date of the accident.
The Argentine Tomás Fellauto, 25, made the expedition to the Valley of Tears also on foot with his rugby team in 2016. “When I returned from the first trip I said 'I'm never coming back,'” Tomás recalls. As much as he had been very mobilizing, the physical demands and the drastic temperatures had worn him down a lot. Even so, in 2020 the athlete returned to his club, this time as a coach. “The energy you feel there cannot be experienced anywhere else in the world.” He made both trips during the month of February, when the temperature is almost 30° during the day, but at night it drops to 2° or 3°. “I couldn't sleep because of the cold, it seemed impossible to me that they had been there for 72 days, at -20°.”
In his almost 20 years as a mountain guide, Eduardo 'Tuiti' Molina' has witnessed the most diverse reactions from the people who undertake this expedition. “The mountain teaches a lot, it makes you look humble, tiny, in the face of such great immensity. It's beautiful but it's still disturbing." His recommendation, for those who want to know the Valley of Tears, is to do the expedition on foot. “I am convinced that when goals are difficult, people are happier.” Nobody goes down the same way they came up. “For those of us who dedicate ourselves to this, no matter how many times we go, it is incomprehensible how those young people managed to survive.” There are stories that, no matter how much humans try to understand, have no explanation.
