Greetings,
On Tuesday, January 8, 2008, the funeral of Asher Zeev Green of blessed memory, my wife's brother, was held in Jerusalem. As you know, Asher disappeared about two months ago in Peru in the area of the Colca Canyon. During this time, the family set in motion an enormous effort, spanning continents, to find him alive and well. To our great grief, the hoped for result of finding him alive, safe and sound, was not achieved. Asher was found dead. However, some consolation may be found in that we brought him back to Israel for burial.
After my return from Peru about a month ago, after two intense weeks during which I oversaw the searches for him on the ground, several groups remained in place and continued working. The most significant of these was that of the High Mountain Police of Peru, with whom I had worked during my presence there. Fifteen members of the group, under the command of Robert, continued to look for Asher every day without cease, including their holidays. The searches were concentrated at that time in isolated canyons and gorges, inaccessible by foot, where we had not managed to search while I was there; these places require the use of ropes and special means for rappelling and climbing cliffs; our comrades progressed slowly, because it is possible to survey only from one to three hundred meters along the cliff every day – but they persisted. The work was done according to a plan that I had prepared with Robert, the commander of the unit, before I left Peru; after my return to Israel, every evening, Israel time, I spoke with the office of the unit in the city of Chivay, and I brought the maps in my possession up to date. After analyzing the data, I would decide, with the full cooperation of Robert, the commander of the unit, on the way in which the searches on the ground should continue, taking the weather conditions into account as well as the number of men available for the searches and many other factors.
About two months after his disappearance, a forty-three-year-old resident of the village of Cabanaconde named Diego found Asher. Diego, who earns his living by collecting herbs for the cosmetic industry, happened to be walking along a trail, which is inaccessible in Western terms, having taken a shortcut home because rain began to fall, and he came upon Asher's pack. Afterward he discovered his body. A two hours hike—which would take more than six hours for other people—brought Diego back to the local police station in the village of Cabanaconde. This picturesque village is the point of departure for most of the treks in the canyon and apparently was also Asher's point of departure.
Because the rainy season had begun, it was not possible to recover Asher's body immediately, and the operation was postponed for two more days. Finally, the members of the High Mountain Police set out for the place where Asher had been found at three a.m. on Thursday morning, January 3, 2008. After about three hours of descent, using mountaineering techniques, they reached Asher. After another two hours, they began his removal to the village of Cabanaconde. This difficult trail, which does not serve as a conventional hiking path but is mainly used by wild animals, presented enormous challenges to the rescue team. Moreover, a few hours after the beginning of the recovery, steady rain began to fall, increasing the great danger facing the rescuers. Finally, after approximately another twelve hours from the beginning of the recovery (it began around seven in the morning and ended only toward seven in the evening) the rescue team reached the village of Cabanaconde on the top of the cliff.
At the same time, Boaz, Asher's brother, and I left for Peru. The goals of our trip were to assure the swift and proper transfer of Asher's remains to Israel, in accordance with Jewish law, to present the reward that we had promised to anyone who found Asher, and more than anything else to thank the members of the High Mountain Police, who worked tirelessly during the past two months and were those who ultimately removed him from the canyon.
After I landed in Lima, the capital of Peru, on Friday night, we went to identify Asher. The process was long and shocking for me, and at this time it is very hard for me to estimate its long-range influence on me. Immediately afterward, at four a.m. on Saturday, I took a flight to the city of Arequipa. From there I traveled another four hours to the town of Chivay, from which I had made the searches on my previous visit to Peru a month earlier. It took me another three hours to reach the village of Cabanaconde. After examining the contents of the pack that Asher had carried with him, mainly the travel journal that he had written, I was required to leave it in the police station. Immediately afterward I went out with the members of the High Mountain Police to the nearest point to the place where Asher had been found. Because of the weather conditions, it was not possible to enter the canyon safely and reach the exact point where he had been found. When I reached the place, I received a detailed description of the process of recovery from the members of the unit, and especially from their commander Robert. Later, I held short a personal and religious ceremony where I read Psalms 91. I choose to quote verse 12 to you: "Lest your foot stumble." It is astonishing how appropriate those words are to what ultimately happened to Asher.
Later at night I performed a ceremony in which I gave Diego, the man who located Asher, the sum of fifteen hundred dollars. This was done as had been promised in a poster that we had published before leaving Peru. During the ceremony it became clear to me that Diego and his family are desperately poor, and his work, which unbearably hard, does not permit him to live a decent life. I found great consolation in knowing that the prize was finally given to a family that needed it desperately and not to someone affluent.
Even later I met with Alejandro, a local "wizard," who had walked with the High Mountain Police during the entire period. This amazing man was not willing to accept payment for his work, and I compensated him by buying him basic foodstuffs (rice, flour, sugar, oil, and so on). Such a gesture was one that Alejandro could not refuse. During the time of searching, quite a few mediums were in contact with us: Alejandro and some Western psychics. In the end I found that of them all, Alejandro was the closest with respect to the description of the event—both with regard to the circumstances and also with to the location where we found Asher. I leave it to you whether this is significant.
The following morning, Sunday, January 6, 2008, I spent with the fifteen members of the High Mountain Police, who had worked for almost two months in searching for Asher. During that time, the members of the unit had truly risked their lives more than once. My personal debt to them and that of the whole family is enormous, impossible to estimate. This sense of obligation led me to try to compensate them in every way possible. However, the honor that characterizes mountain people was revealed here in its full power: the entire group, headed by their commander, refused adamantly to take money from me. This, I must point out, is in absolute contrast to other official bodies in Peru.
Finally I found the appropriate formula: after a long discussion with their commander, Robert, I managed to make him agree that accepting equipment was not a blow to their honor, because it would improve their ability to locate and rescue people in the future, both Peruvians and tourists, who might encounter danger in the region. In the light of this agreement, I took a number of actions:
First, I paid to have their vehicle fixed, for it was not in condition to be driven according to the lowest Western standards.
Second, I bought them a large quantity of cold food such canned goods for use when they went out into the field. It is important to point out that during the entire period from the time I left Peru until Asher was found, the members of the unit performed searches without eating during their time in the field, because the police only buys them unprocessed food such as rice and flour, and not products that can be carried when they go out into the field.
Third, I bought uniforms for them, because these friends had to purchase their official police uniforms with their own money.
Fourth, I bought them other professional equipment such as high quality ropes. This was because their ropes had been worn out during their searches for Asher.
In addition, I performed a kind of group therapy: I sat in a circle with them for more than an hour, and I let them pour out what was on their hearts in front of me and in front of their comrades, in my presence. After they saw me weep profusely more than once, they could overcome the macho inhibitions typical of the local culture and share the difficulties they underwent during the time of searches and mainly during the long and significant recovery of Asher's body in the village of Cabanaconde with me and with the others.
At five p.m. on Sunday I flew back to Lima. At midnight I took another flight to New York, and on Tuesday morning, January 8, I returned to Israel.
After my return to Israel and before the funeral, I made a deep investigation of the photographs and videos that my friends, the members of the High Mountain Police, and I filmed during the time of locating Asher and recovering the body. After summing up matters, I can conclude the following with quite high certainty:
Most probably Asher took the wrong path immediately after leaving the village of Cabanaconde, and he entered a gully that is not frequented by tourists and hikers. This is apparently the reason why we did not locate even a single person who had met him.
After entering this challenging path, he apparently continued his descent, since he did not assess correctly the degree of danger he was facing.
Asher slipped down to his death at a waterfall of forty to eighty meters in height, and he was found beneath it.
The fall gave him no chance of survival, and he ended his life immediately. This conclusion completely negates the dreadful possibility that he might have been lying on the ground, waiting for rescue.
He was found by chance. Indeed, the path he was walking on is not used as a hiking trail, and Diego passed by only by chance.
According to the plan of operations that I laid out, the men of the High Mountain Police would have reached the point where Asher was found about ten days after he was actually found.
However, it is very probable that if Diego had not found Asher, we would never have succeeded in locating him. This is because we are now at the beginning of the rainy season. This season is characterized by many days, sometimes entire weeks, during which heavy rains fall, and they do not allow entry to the canyon and certainly not complex and dangerous search operations. Dry days, in contrast, are very rare. Furthermore, Asher was lying beneath a high waterfall that is now flowing moderately. The heavy and frequent rains greatly increase the flow of water, and this would apparently have led to his being swept down into the Colca River, which is about two hundred meters below, and it flows on to the mighty Amazon, and from there to the Atlantic Ocean.
A full summary of this intense period after such a short time is apparently impossible. Nevertheless, I will lay out certain conclusions:
First, the greatest aspiration of all, to bring Asher home to Israel safe and sound was not achieved. For Asher fell to his death. However, we can find great consolation in that we brought him to Israel for burial.
Second, after penetrating deeply into Asher's thoughts and fantasies by a detailed reading of his journals the letters he wrote, as well as from the emails that he sent to friends and members of his family during his time in Peru, I can state almost with certainty that Asher was having the happiest time ever. He was in the midst of a process of self-knowledge and self-formation. He got to know many people in his time in Peru and they liked him, and he returned their affection.
Third, Asher did not suffer for a moment. His fell from such a height left him no chance. This conclusion was perhaps the most significant one for me. During the first weeks, I was never abandoned by the horrible thought that he was wounded on the ground and waiting for his "soul brother"—indeed that is what we called each other—to come and rescue him. Evidence of that kind, had it been discovered, would probably never have left me in peace.
Fourth, Asher loved that marvelous continent and the people he met in Peru. These people returned his love during his stay there. I state this on the basis of specific words that he wrote in his journal. Indeed, even after his death, so many local people devoted a very significant portion of their lives, more than two months, to find him. This was with real danger to their lives. This point is no less significant for me. For my great love of this continent, especially the Andes region of Peru and Bolivia, made me fear greatly that Asher had fallen victim to some act of violence on the part of the local people. The elimination of that possibility greatly strengthened my love for the place.
In conclusion, my "soul brother," Asher, in the past two months we were all in a terrible circle of expectation of the worst possible outcome. We did everything possible to bring you back to Israel safe and sound, but in the end, the result was horrible from our point of view. I myself have lost a soul brother. However, I found fifteen new blood brothers. These are the members of the High Mountain Police who risked their lives to find you. I, you, and all the members of the family owe a great deal to them.
I firmly hope that in this message, I have reported the main points as precisely as possible. I also hope that I have transmitted my great appreciation for the help you gave to Eden and our three wonderful children during the past time.
With friendship, Ofer.
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