Early in the morning on January 11th, 1976, I caught a taxi out of Santiago. After a few miles, the taxi broke down. I got out and within minutes a VW van stopped. A Uruguayan family traveling all over Latin America in their van, American style, invited me to ride with them. We had a delightful time laughing and sharing stories of our adventures. They drove me all the way to Puente de Inca—far out of their way. The major at the Puente de Inca army base informed me that the priests were already on the mountain, assuming that I … Continue reading
Category Archives: Memoir
The day was clear and crisp and our spirits were high. We were loaded down like pack mules. Miguel carried two full packs, one lashed to the other. The base camp for climbers lay eighteen miles away—a two-day hike. Soon after departing, we entered the narrow Valley of Horcones, named after a fork-tailed bird found in the region. The valley continued all the way to the base camp, called Plaza de Mulas, the place where the pack mules gather while the soldiers unload the supplies. Endless rows of mountains loomed around us in all directions. The awe-inspiring landscape was … Continue reading
The end of my two-year commitment with the Peace Corps loomed on the horizon. I dreaded the day I would have to say good-bye to my Ecuadorian friends whom I had grown to love, especially my climbing partner, Miguel. In the fall of 1975, on one of our weekend expeditions high in the Andes, while lying in our sleeping bags side by side under the stars, Miguel and I reminisced about our many climbs together. Knowing that my departure from South America was only a few months away, Miguel proposed that we organize an expedition to climb Mt. Aconcagua, the … Continue reading
After a year of working in the lowlands with indigenous communities teaching health, nutrition, and home gardening, the Ecuadorian Ministry of Agriculture ran out of funding for further projects such as mine. I had heard the Peace Corps officials mention the serious need for bilingual materials for teaching Spanish to Quechua-speaking indigenous children who lived in isolated villages high in the Andes Mountains. I enthusiastically volunteered to take on this project. It seemed like a perfect fit, given my prior experience implementing bilingual and bicultural education in the Navajo boarding school where I taught for two years. The Peace Corps … Continue reading
After living on the Navajo Reservation as a schoolteacher, I developed a thirst for learning about people and places that were different from what I was familiar with. At the same time, I wanted to be of service in a meaningful way to the local community. Without realizing it, I repeatedly chose paths that would prepare me and bring me ever closer to finding the purpose of my life. Fortuitously, the Peace Corps had somewhat arbitrarily assigned me to teach topics related to health, first aid, nutrition, and home gardening in rural communities—even though I had never received formal training … Continue reading
The gaping crevasses on Cotopaxi continued all the way to the summit. Extreme exhaustion and the hypoxia that comes with high altitude made me want to doze off while climbing, but the fear of falling into a crevasse kept me awake through force of will. Eventually the switchbacks ended as we faced extremely steep terrain where we had to use our ice axes to maintain our balance. With every few steps we swung them into the icy snow above our heads in order to prevent us from falling backwards. Hugo showed me how to kick the hard packed snow with … Continue reading
I haven’t forgotten you, dear readers, in spite of not communicating with you since my book “Medicine and Miracles in the High Desert” first appeared in print last March—coinciding with the time I was in Baja, Mexico, communing with the grey whales. I had no idea how intensely involved I would need to be in order to get my book out into the world after publication—unlike bygone days when the publishing company did most of the work for authors. Even with the expert help from my local publicity team—Israel Sushman and Nancy Murray—it has still been a lot of work … Continue reading
Dear Loyal Readers, Thank you for all your support and encouragement in getting this story into the light of day. For nearly a half-century I have wanted to tell the story about my life on the Navajo Reservation. What happened to me was so out of the ordinary, I felt compelled to tell the world about those experiences that profoundly changed the course of my life. But life kept me busy, especially once I became a medical doctor. Although friends and family urged me for years to write a book about those times, it was only recently that I felt … Continue reading
For the past two or three years, I have been facing the inevitable. All three of my older sisters have had hip replacements on their right hips for degenerative arthritis when they were approximately my age. Now it was my turn. But in my case, metal sensitivities made getting a hip replacement a more challenging problem. For over two years I searched in the US, the UK, and Europe for an orthopedic surgeon who could both relieve the rapidly growing pain in my right hip, as well as accommodate my sensitivities to the metals found in alloys used in hip … Continue reading
Once upon a time, long long ago—in the 1980s—two children were born—Danielle Zuralow in northern Virginia in 1986 and Barrett Dwyer in northern New Mexico in 1989. These two children had no idea that they were destined to meet, fall in love, and eventually get married. Danielle in the early years Barrett in the early years Fast Forward to April 2012 The two children, now grown up, first met by a chance encounter. In April of 2012, Danni had a birthday party that took place in a popular bar in Washington, DC. The owner had offered to close the … Continue reading