::: QUEST FOR PAITITI FIELD JOURNAL :::
ENTRY EIGHT (June 12, 2004) "INCOMMUNICADO"

The following field notes were recorded on Saturday, the 12th of June, after communication by satellite phone was lost. The repeated message "Emergency calls only...Emergency calls only..." We wondered what was going on as communication with Image Studios was going quite smoothly up unitl this point. As we sat around the campfire that evening- not knowing what to think- we all began to imagine different scenarios. Was there some worldwide emergency disrupting even the satellites, that we, in our total isolation, were unaware of? What would those at home think, expecting our calls, and receiving nothing? We were worried about those who would be worrying about us.

And, back to the immediate circumstance, what about the horses?
Without them we were totally bogged down, with more equipment
than we could carry ourselves without making super-laborious double trips to carry things from one point to the other, and then return for the rest of it. And so, Saturday morning, Goyo and Paulino had headed off toward the west and southwest, to try and reconnoiter with some "vaqueros" (cowboys) who would have horses or mules to rent.

The weather had been bad for two days, lots of cold rain. In the afternoon, however, Greg decided to climb up and cut a path through the cloud forest that filled a pocket between two peaks, forming a pass high above us. He almost reached the crest which would lay just after the cloud forest, but decided to turn back at that point to avoid being caught up there by darkness.

~ Greg Deyermenjian