T
O
Nando Parrado talks about survival, hope and living life with the
Nando Parrado hasn’t had a
problem in 36 years. Not a
single worry. Nothing to get
upset about. No reason to fret.
“I’ve already had all of the problems
and stress I’ll ever have,” says Parrado.
“People ask me why I’m always so positive. Well, simple. I’ve already suffered
all of the stress a human can take. All
of the fear, all of the panic, all of the
crises.”
Parrado lives life to its fullest. He
doesn’t sweat the small stuff. He truly
believes every day is a gift. He also
knows he’s very lucky to live this way.
Then again, if anyone has earned this
gift, it’s Parrado.
The 59-year-old native of Uruguay
is one of the 16 survivors of Uruguayan
Air Force Flight 571, the doomed air-
liner that crashed into the Andes
Mountains in October 1972. The
crash killed 12 passengers instantly
and left nearly everyone else on the
plane that day either near death or
severely injured, including Parrado,
who suffered such massive head
wounds that his friends believed him
to be dead. When Parrado finally
awoke, he found his mother dead,
his sister dying, and himself living a
nightmare that had only just begun.
Surviving the crash was only
the first challenge for Parrado and
his fellow survivors. They would
ultimately spend the next two
months stranded in the snow-cov-ered Andes, nursing their injuries
while battling freezing temperatures, acute thirst and starvation, a
deadly avalanche and, eventually,
