Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
Fish Finder
Social climber
THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART
|
|
Best trip report ever!!!
Oh the Pomp and Circumstances.
If anything Supertopo probably has the best peanut gallery in the world.
|
|
pat
Trad climber
estes park
|
|
Thank you ChiCha!
Crimper-
I've been following this story pretty closely as I am laying here at home nursing a dislocated elbow and going stir crazy. I haven't seen anywhere that they paid 5k for a new laptop. They mentioned they bought a new laptop and I think withdrew a certain amount from their account, but I didn't see anything about spending 5k.
You don't have to look far to fault them for frivolous spending, just look at their blog photos and posts. There is one picture of them deciding which 400$ pair of mountaineering boots to buy for one (failed) attempt at a volcano in Ecuador.
They appear to be making some poor decisions in the wake of the tragedy, and if justice is needed the people who donated should take that up with them (I highly doubt anyone here donated). Then again they might be just laying in their hospital beds with previously unnoticed subdurals and brain swelling, a very real possibility after being struck in the head with rocks. Whatever, they didn't deserve to be stoned, beaten and whipped. That should always be the lesson regardless of race color or creed or money, and that is the lesson always lost in the chatter of modern media and search for reason.
-Pat
|
|
SofCookay
climber
|
|
How else were they going to change their blog to show they are not soliciting for donations if they didn't get a laptop first? Come on, people, think!
|
|
ontheedgeandscaredtodeath
Trad climber
SLO, Ca
|
|
In the early 90s I hooked up with two other people in Ecuador, hired a Cessna and cruised out in to the amazon basin. We landed on a grass strip at a navy base(!) and hired some locals to take us down some river to another base where we would be picked up five or so days later by the plane.
We went down the river mostly without incident, staying in peoples raised huts, drinking banana wine, etc. One place we pulled up and the locals were seriously pissed. Like guys yelling and pointing at us with machetes. Who knows why, they mostly don't speak Spanish in the jungle. Our local guides calmed them down and we went on our way. No money/bribes were paid- the guys were just seriously angry to see us. It was pretty scary.
No real point, but things can go sideways when you get off the beaten track. That said, this story sounds like BS and, though no one should be whooped up on, they and their families should foot any bill.
|
|
Michelle
Trad climber
Toshi's Station, picking up power converters.
|
|
i really, really, don't need or want to see photos of people who have been bruised and battered. i hope they DON'T post photos.
I do! Might make this interesting.
|
|
Big Mike
Trad climber
BC
|
|
Maybe all the cameras got taken, who knows. I do know something for sure. If what they say happened to them, happened to me, I would sure as hell be pressing charges!!
|
|
Fluoride
Trad climber
West Los Angeles, CA
|
|
If I was brutally beaten, terrorized, had a hundred stitches and missing 4 front teeth the first thing I'd want to do is get back to the states and get proper medical help in dealing with the physical and mental injuries. Seems like they just want money to repair their truck, replace their belongings and continue on.
Where exactly are they going to get these stitches removed in remote areas of South America as they do this? How does this guy want to continue his trip missing 4 front teeth? How's he going to eat? Get through the pain? Get his stitches removed in a sterile, safe environment when he heals?
Makes ya wonder.
t*r, I AM curious about these injuries and why no pictures have surfaced, yet we have got full accounts of how much a stolen Nano-Puf jacket costs and needs replacing.
|
|
JLP
Social climber
The internet
|
|
This so last week's news.
Did they bomb the village yet?
|
|
couchmaster
climber
pdx
|
|
SBRphoto said: "They spent 5K on a laptop?" No, the Sony Vaio and software was listed at $4,000. Maybe they wanted to upgrade to 2 Macs.
There are 2 fundraising sites. One is transparent and lists the dollars captured in real time. They pulled $15,000 out of it and the remaining is now at $4,780.90. Can anyone advise how much did the other one haul in?
|
|
Crimpergirl
Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
|
|
What I saw was that they listed the stolen laptop at being valued at 4K.
I later saw they bought a new one for 5K. The 5k stood out to me as I thought it a very expensive laptop (and I wondered what it'd do at that price).
Not that it really matters, but I did not confuse the two items.
Sorry to hear about the elbow Pat. I am sitting here day after day as well - but I'm stuck working. Between runs and things I peek over to the taco a fair amount (i.e., too much). At least I can stop working for the day. Your dislocated elbow remains. :/
|
|
Hardman Knott
Gym climber
Muir Woods National Monument, Mill Valley, Ca
|
|
I went to the Apple site in search of a $5000 laptop. The best I could do was the 15" MacBook Pro with Retina display, processor bump to 2.7 Ghz, RAM bumped to 16GB, and flash drive bumped to 768 GB. It came out to $3749.00. Even if you throw in AppleCare for $349.00, it's quite a bit less than five large...
|
|
Fluoride
Trad climber
West Los Angeles, CA
|
|
Hardman, for them to buy a new laptop on the spot in Cuzco it would have been heavily upgraded in cost and tax as a good new laptop in those parts is not easy to come by. I believe $5K is what they would have paid out there. Cuzco is the only major city in the region. I'd be shocked if there's more than 2 places in that city to buy one on the spot. And they managed to find it right away.
Peru has massive import tariffs and unless the business has a Western owner or benefactor, Peruvian business folk have to pay a ton for the stuff we buy for half the cost.
The fact that a new laptop is the first thing they bought and their most essential need is what speaks volumes to me. They could have had family buy them a new one here in the states for thousands less and ship it to them in Cuzco. But that would have taken time. They obviously wanted to get their story out ASAP.
|
|
Fluoride
Trad climber
West Los Angeles, CA
|
|
t*r, you don't get whipping slashes from a car accident. They claimed they were whipped. Their injuries will help tell the story of what really happened.
|
|
WBraun
climber
|
|
We need to see everything.
Now go hide .....
|
|
fear
Ice climber
hartford, ct
|
|
I just don't see why any strangers would give them a dime to replace anything... Are people really that stupid? Wait... scratch that....
Very clever though I must admit...
|
|
Fluoride
Trad climber
West Los Angeles, CA
|
|
stzzo, they said they bought a new laptop. They weren't sitting in an internet cafe posting on an hourly rate basis.
|
|
Alexey
Trad climber
San Jose, CA
|
|
While reading this thread from beginning to the end my feeling toward the victims has changed from big sympathy to questioning the validity of the story they posted.
Some asked on this thread that "[w]e need to hear story from another side (villagers)". This other side's story we can read indirectly in Jennifer Wolfrom report when she says that they were forced to sign the papers of accident report basically under gun point with the following statement explaining the car damage and their injuries :
Their accident report, written in Spanish, essentially said that we had been drinking and crashed our car, which is how the car got destroyed and how we got our injuries. However, the extent of our injuries and the condition of the car far surpasses anything that could happen by driving into a grassy ditch
If at some point we finally get the story from the dwellers of Pallcca we can except that it would be similar to this accident report.
So where is the truth ? Does it lie somewhere in the middle?
In my mind, there are many things which affect the truthfulness of Jennifer story . For instance this part:
There were at least 30 people chasing us and throwing rocks at us at one point. We were running for our lives for between 30 minutes to an hour through the village hills and rivers. We were each struck multiple times by rocks in the head and all over our bodies. We eventually were surrounded by villagers who continued to beat us until they decided to bring us back to the Presidente of the village.
Try to imagine this happening in complete dark. If the mob of 30 locals were chasing the trio with rocks within striking distance - how could this chase be so long (30 min?) What is the reason to strike rocks in the dark if you chasing someone?
If an angry mob of 30 people really beat them they would be dead or severely injured …
The other thing which surprises me is that in the pursuit to collect more money they did not post/submit their photos showing the injuries they got from the beatings, stoning and whipping. Why? Such a photo could answer some questions about the incident - whether in their favor or disproving the story.
Reading her story more and more I trust it less and less. For instance, the reason for driving inside of the village and not back to main road is not explained
The number of beer bottles they had two between tree - not worth to mention unless it was something much more they had been drinking ...
And one more thing: If this terrible life and death experience would happen to me and my wife and my sister - it would be so traumatic that at first possible chance we all run back home, next day.
So if they remained there, collecting money, posting on blogs - it implies for me that their traumatic experience was not so dramatic as they try to make it to be.
And back to original post on this tread.
Patrick Compton registered on ST one day before posting some nonsense on Boobs thread and then 24 hours later dropped a link to donations
https://www.crowdtilt.com/campaigns/peru-fund-help-jenny-meghan-and-jed
Patrick Compton has never chimed up again.
|
|
aspendougy
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
|
|
It easy enough to weigh in and give one's 2 cents worth. A more difficult, time-consuming and valuable approach would be to interview a number of the villagers in the attacking group, and get their side of the story.
|
|
Fluoride
Trad climber
West Los Angeles, CA
|
|
t*r, if there were any gruesome photos of this and the injuries they sustained, it would be all over the internet by now. Every major media source is checking on this story. The UK Daily Mail alone has been looking into pictures to go along with this incident. Hospitals would have the photos and those that work there would easily sell them to a Western media outlet for great money.
They are reporting on an international incident and want proof of what went down. Which is why this story has not gained legs in the world media. Initial reports from what they claimed yes, follow up with proof of it, no.
|
|
Fluoride
Trad climber
West Los Angeles, CA
|
|
"And one more thing: If this terrible life and death experience would happen to me and my wife and my sister - it would be so traumatic that at first possible chance we all run back home, next day.
So if they remained there, collecting money, posting on blogs - it implies for me that their traumatic experience was not so dramatic as they try to make it to be."
Bingo Alexey! I said the same thing just upthread.
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!