Will to Live: Dispatches from the Edge of Survival Read Online Free PDF Page A

ease the pain, he swallowed a pill from a box labeled uppers in the first aid kit, then made his way back up the Tuichi.
    I’ve found that strong pain medications can be very helpful in a survival situation. I usually take Demerol with me, in case of a major pain-inducing injury like a broken femur. It not only erases the pain, but also helps calm you down, thereby preventing the shock (which can be as dangerous as the pain) that often accompanies such serious injuries. As long as you are trained in the proper use of strong painkillers (and it’s vital that you are), you can get yourself through some pretty debilitating injuries.
    Yet the drug, combined with Yossi’s relatively empty stomach, was too much. Like a man possessed, he ran through the jungle with reckless abandon for hours on end. At one point he came to a sheer rock face. The Tuichi flowed some two hundred feet below, but Yossi—determined to find Kevin and fueled by a feeling of invincibility from the drugs—scrambled up the cliff, putting himself at great risk. At one point, he even fell off the wall, but had his fall broken by the pack on his back.
    In those first few days, Yossi was often stricken with fear at the thought of the many potential dangers lurking around him, but he took active measures to stave it off. He looked for a stick that he could use as a club or spear, an excellent choice in a survival situation as it can be used for many tasks, including protection from jaguars—the main large jungle predator. Unable to find anything suitable, he practiced using his insect repellent as a flamethrower, another brilliant bit of innovation.
    Yossi settled down on a plateau not far from the river and waited for five days before concluding that he was not going to find Kevin. In the meantime, his feet began to heal and his fever settled, so waiting proved to be the perfect strategy. Too often, people ignore their bodies and try to push through the pain, when they should instead stop, rest, and take care of themselves before moving on. Five days later, Yossi was in much better condition, and he decided to walk downriver to a small seasonal camp called Curiplaya, where he hoped to find people.
    As Yossi started his journey to Curiplaya, he could not stop obsessing about food, a classic reaction in these situations. I have done the same thing during every one of my survival episodes. Usually, around the fourth day without food, I start craving big, hot pieces of pizza dripping with gobs of melted cheese because my body is craving fat, and melted cheese is the perfect solution. My mind makes the connection, and dreams of pizza invariably plague me on long nights alone in the wilderness.
    Yossi soon decided that traveling along the riverbank would be too slow and arduous, so he made for higher ground and meticulously picked his way up the steep mountainside that fell sharply down to the river below. After his close call on the cliff nearly a week earlier, Yossi realized that getting injured would have been the kiss of death. He was right. Even something seemingly as minor as getting poked in the eye with a branch—not to mention tearing an ankle ligament—is enough to turn someone from survivor to victim. All movements must be measured and calculated and made calmly.
    Back near the top of the mountain, Yossi realized he had no idea which direction to travel, as he could no longer see the river, which had been his only reference point. Dejected, he decided to return down the treacherous slope; he seemed to have no other choice than to pick his way along the steep banks of the Tuichi. That trip had to wait until morning, though, as darkness was setting in. He was near panic when he realized there was no suitable place to find shelter and he was unable to make a fire. He fashioned a makeshift tent from the mosquito netting, armed himself with what few items he had in his pack that he could use in self-defense, and sat nervously as total darkness fell.
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