Help Climbers Attacked in Peru

for the record my first though was: this story is a scam! anything with DONATE HERE seems fishy.

if their MO was driving around finding remote camping spots, without local support, and asking complete random strangers if they could camp...shocked they made it this far without being robbed, raped, and, murdered. They acknowledge it was dangerous to drive at night, but what about turning down unknown dirt roads, where you don't know the local language (Quechua probably), don't have a local with you, have no protection (guns), AND refuse to show documents or offer to pay for camping immediately....in hopes it all turns out ok? Just driving around with a pimped out vehicle, expensive gear and electronics...might as well have a big sign that says: RICH GRINGOS HERE...PLEASE ROB US! I can totally see the wrong place/wrong time, not showing documents blowing up into a "lets teach these rich gringos a lesson" The entire course of human history is a lesson in haves and have nots. Doesn't fully explain it, this wasn't a simply robbery, but I agree it factors in.

On the other hand, many inspiring adventures come with a bit of risk. Seems like they just ran out of luck. Aren't all of us armchair quarterbacks a little jealous that this dude has spent the last 9 months surfing, climbing, and making sweet love to that hottie in some remote, beautiful far off lands. Big Ups if you ask me! Then when the shit hits the fan family and friends collect over $17,000 in donations (last time I checked) for recovery. I'd say in the end it was worth 4 teeth and a few stitches.

The movie deal alone and speaking engagements will pay for another 10 of those trips.

I was also put off by asking to donate for replacing iPhones and down jackets, however I can totally picture sitting in an internet cafe in Cuzco, licking my wounds, taking an account of what was stolen, and posting it and the story online. They took down the list, but still have a donate link up...

I am not sure David, honestly to me it more or less checks out. Regardless the validity of their story is not what I was addressing in my reply to Holden.

There are actually a few "facts" in this case that are brought up over and over again, and drowned in the conversation. On a side note I think the misrepresentation of these facts say a lot more about us as Americans than what happened to them in Peru.

First:
They did not ask for money. Their friend set up an account as a way to help them. Actually, they have never asked for money since the incident happened.

Second:
The list of items and narrative was a police report, probably of little value in Peru, but say they did find some of the items in the village, a list might be nice to have? no?

Third:
It makes perfect sense to post a police report as an account of their story, its a quick cut and paste and they don't have to relive the experience. They are not obligated to write out the whole narrative again just to please MP and Supertopo.

Fourth:
When it was brought to their attention how the list appeared to the public, they took it down.

Fifth:
Nowhere did they state they spent 5k on a laptop after the incident.

Sixth:
The 4k for the laptop they lost was not for the laptop, it was for the laptop and software.

The narrative of them directly ASKING FOR MONEY TO REPLACE THEIR STOLEN GOODS simply doesn't exist, it has been created on the internet.

-Patrick

Their story and posts are littered with $$$$$.

"huge financial burden for the three of us."

"separate and they stripped us of our possessions on our persons which included my iPhone 5"

"estimated $10,695 in gear, clothing and documents taken from them."

There was a call for financial help. Big time.

Crowd tilt was linked in almost every web page the story ran.

The TRIO did not tell Rachel to stop and they TOOK the money!!

$20,000

"A friend, Rachel Segien, has set up a fund to aid them online, and the effort is in its second phase at CrowdTilt.com."

Supertopo
Mountain Project
truck camper magazine
Jackson Hole News & Guide
adventure-journal
Rockclimbing
ETC

Pat,

Here's the original post:

supertopo.com/climbing/thre…

It wasn't a police report. It was included in a letter apparently written to solicit support from any number of people or organizations.

The way I read their blog post is that they are pissed as hell at the audacity of these Peruvian people who were probably defending their turf and view themselves as total innocent victims. They are probably psyched to get the cash, heal up, fix the car, replace the iPhone5 (maybe with a Samsung Galaxy though so they can trade playlists by having their phones mate) and get back on the road.

Hopefully this time they will buy some traveling insurance.

I have posted quite a bit to the Supertopo forum, and read their account and blog more times than I care to admit.

Their account and list was not written for the public, and it still stands that they did not ask for money from anyone, that is what WE are assuming. Saying, "this has been a huge financial burden" is not saying "we want money to replace our IPhone." We are making assumptions, those assumptions in the context of the overall scenario say more about us than about them, even if they are true.

-Pat

pat vernon wrote:Their account and list was not written for the public

It clearly was, because it was included within a letter asking how they could obtain financial and emotional support. Read the whole original post that I linked.

pat vernon wrote:it still stands that they did not ask for money from anyone

Not true. Again, read the whole thing. The entire point of the letter was to tell their story AND solicit financial support.

original blog post wrote:While we are working with the US Consulate and Embassy, as well as the Policia National of Peru, we are currently seeking financial and emotional support from any resources that are available to us

I also want to clarify that I'm not jealous or arguing for the sake of arguing. I don't like seeing people conned out of their money, and I suspect that's what is happening.

edit: unless y'all actually do want to buy them new ipods, laptops, etc. in that case, go for it.

If they aren't asking for money why does their blog contain a DONATE link on the home page!

of course it was written for the public - it is right on their blog site!

Tony, the donate link was provided before the incident for family and friends to help them out and is completely separate from the campaign for money after the incident. The solicitation for money after the incident was started by a friend, not them, and does not even appear on their blog, and was shut down last time I checked.

Looks like they made enough money to pay for expenses AND continue their travels!

adventureamericas.wordpress…

"Jenny will be on a return flight home as soon as possible, and Jed and I too are looking to leave the country as soon as possible. We have yet to decide by what means this will be, but we will in no way go in a direction that we feel will jeopardize our safety. There are many hoops we need to jump through before we get to that point. I can say though, that we will be home sooner rather than later as originally planned."

David, I appreciate your response, and I had exactly the same reaction when I read their story for the first time. Now, I have scoured it multiple times, and followed it closely and I think the popular perception of them asking for money to replace stolen goods, or scam people is also due to a miscommunication on their part. Communication is not their strong point.

"Below is an account of the incident written up by Jenny to an agency who is set up to help travelers who experience violence abroad."

The original account was not written for the public as I stated. It was later given to the public as I am well aware as their account of the incident. I believe this makes perfect sense, they are not going to want to write about it in that amount of detail again.

This is the part of the account written directly to the public:

"As many people are already aware, Jed and I and my sister in law, Jenny have been through a very traumatic experience here in Peru. I wanted to put this out there to first of all let everyone know that we are safe and recovering in Cusco. We have suffered injuries, but we will all be able to recover fully physically. Below is an account of the incident written up by Jenny to an agency who is set up to help travelers who experience violence abroad. We have yet to hear back from them. We have had a lot requests from people who want to help. We have a meeting with the tourist police, Cusco police, Consolate in Cusco and the police from the small town this afternoon. Based on what we learn from this, we will update you on ways you could help. Thank you for all your support and please share the story epecially to any travelers."

No where here do they say, "wee need money to replace our stolen items." The closet they come is saying, "we will update you on ways you can help." Which they never actually did. The crowdlit campaign was started by a friend.

Tony,

Pat is right. The donate button was there all along, a pretty standard feature on blogs of overlanders on the road for a long time. Here's another blog by some folks I met down in Mexico a couple of years ago:

lostworldexpedition.com/

Button's on the right.

Pat, I agree. It is bizarre and kind of creepy to watch this parallel narrative unfold.

David Barbour wrote: It clearly was, because it was included within a letter asking how they could obtain financial and emotional support. Read the whole original post that I linked. Not true. Again, read the whole thing. The entire point of the letter was to tell their story AND solicit financial support. I also want to clarify that I'm not jealous or arguing for the sake of arguing. I don't like seeing people conned out of their money, and I suspect that's what is happening. edit: unless y'all actually do want to buy them new ipods, laptops, etc. in that case, go for it.

Been avoiding posting since either way it's a crappy sequence of events however I do think it's a new phenomenon to reach out for financial aid on the internet when in a bind. Not that it's a bad thing to ask or recieve help, but it always seemed to be reserved for people with cancer or some other massive diseases that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in hospital and treatment bills.

Again not to say it's wrong, but heck I'd sure like to open a donation site everytime I got hit with bills that cost thousands. I just go deeper into debt.

All in all, good to see that they made it out alive regardless of the facts.

touche Pat!

they do seem bent on the money/stuff lost from reading the blog post, but wouldn't any of us be!!! If friends/family set up the donation site - I don't think you can be pissed at them for that or for taking the money.

they just seem a bit out of touch with reality - talking about "bad people" and such. the real world isn't so kind to everyone and some get bent on it after a while.

Thanks Brad, and for the record I do not think they are without fault in any of this by a long shot. Many of these misconceptions are explained over and over again here and on Supertopo, but the knee jerk reaction of almost everyone reading this story for the first time (and my reaction too I will admit) was that they are asking for money to replace their Iphones and Nanos.

Also as stated in the Spanish news article above, they have left the country and left their truck behind. I wish they would update us, but they are under no obligation to do so.

Maybe I'm just looking at this with my eyes as someone who tends to focus on spending what little money they have travelling and climbing but suppose they were specifically posting just to get money to replace the items they lost and get the hell out of there. Why would that be so unreasonable?

I dare you to ask that question on Supertopo;)

I don't have an account there but am reading through the thread. Maybe I haven't gotten to the good part but it doesn't seem unreasonable to take as many avenues as possible to recover yourself to the point before the incident.

Tony Hawk wrote:touche Pat! they do seem bent on the money/stuff lost from reading the blog post, but wouldn't any of us be!!!

THanks for pointing this out, the ST posts seem to hint at money is pure evil and that they aren't manning up enough after being stoned nearly to death. Focusing on the money is not what I would choose, but I don't think it is inherently wrong (and now I am arguing it is not exactly what they did either). We don't really know how bent they were on these things either, the letter was written to an unknown "organization". We don't know the capacity of the organization to help and in what way. Did the organization request an itemized list of items lost? It is possible. This would have a lot to do with what they wrote in the letter.

Edit to add:
I do take back what I said about not soliciting money from anyone:

"While we are working with the US Consulate and Embassy, as well as the Policia National of Peru, we are currently seeking financial and emotional support from any resources that are available to us. Please let me know what next steps need to be taken to apply for your support services and determine our eligibility. Additionally, if you know of any other resources that could be available to us we would greatly appreciate any advice and guidance."

What I was getting at was they did not solicit money from the public which the vast majority of people are assuming. Much less ask the public to pay for their lost goods, which they being blamed for repeatedly. This is the only place they themselves directly solicit support that I have seen, it is not directed at the public, and it was removed from their blog days ago though they are still being criticized for seeking money from the public. I am still interested to see what organization they were writing to.

Basically their home was destroyed by angry villagers and they barely escaped with their life. And now they stand looking at the ruins in a foreign country.

One of the only things left to think about is how to rebuild and that will take money.