On May 5th rescue technician Walter Santos left Belize enroute to K-2 in Pakistan, the second highest mountain in the world and one of the darkest and deadliest environments on the planet. He spent 3 rough and rugged months there and returned home yesterday. We were there when he arrived at the Philip Goldson International Airport.
Alfonso Noble Reporting, [alfnoble@yahoo.com]
A smiling Walter Santos made his way to the VIP room on the eastern end of the International Airport where a throng of well wishers including his co-workers from Cave’s Branch, BDF Officers and the Commanding Officer of BATSUB greeted him. Teary-eyed and overjoyed, Walter could not have been happier as the fanfare was played by the BDF and he exchanged hugs with those who came to see him back. He says that his return from one of the harshest environments in the world was all he could think off over the past 3 months.
Walter Santos, Climbed K2
“I cannot explain it, its very hard to explain, there’s no words to say how I feel being back in Belize.”
Alfonso Noble,
How about the reception you received?
Walter Santos,
“No I didn’t (expect it). It was very shocking and very surprising for me. I thank very much my company Ian Anderson and my sponsors who put me up there. I thank them very much and I am very happy to be back.”
And while he’s now back at home, looking at the expedition he was on he says it’s something he’ll treasure for life even if he believes he was not able to prepare enough.
Walter Santos,
“I didn’t have enough days to get prepared but I got through. I wasn’t mentally prepared for the amount of days that we were spending basically in the middle of nowhere but I’m glad I made it back and I’m very happy I made it back. I wasn’t expecting the extreme cold and also the heat. The weather went from 110 degrees during the day to maybe about -20 at night. Almost everything froze at night and you had to wait until the morning and we were sleeping n a glacier and the glacier was maybe about 600 feet deep and it snowed a lot and rain. If it wasn’t for the job I was doing for the scientists, I would have been pretty depressed, especially when we had days 3 to 4 of not doing much because of the snow so it was pretty dramatic for us.”
But more than being dramatic Santos says the K2 experience has been like no other and it has transformed his life completely.
Walter Santos,
“It has changed my life and I am very humble at this point because out of 250 people that were applied for it only 11 of us made it and I made it and it changed me a lot and now I’m thinking we should start training the youths, putting them out there and exposing them to something new and to new challenges that would change their focus from normal everyday problems that we will encounter.”
Lynwens Griffiths, a British woman who lives in Belize, accompanied Walter. She had her camera rolling throughout the very eventful mission, and is in the UK compiling a video documentary on the experience.
