November / 2009

Harry Lake csc:
A Summer Misadventure in Peru

Machu Picchu

Retired cinematographer Harry Lake csc had itchy feet. He decided a trip was in order. No ordinary jaunt to Florida or Europe. Harry wanted a fantasy holiday, somewhere he had never been and always wanted to visit, Machu Picchu, the world heritage site and famous ruins of the pre-Columbian "Lost City of the Incas," high in the Andes Mountains of Peru. It was to be the experience of a lifetime, but it almost killed him.

Harry, who had a distinguished 50-year career as a director of photography on features, documentaries, commercials and music videos (see CSC News, September, 2008) said, "It all happened so fast." One second he was just about to take one more step up to the plateau, about 8,000 feet above sea level, on which fabled Machu Picchu sits, the next he was tumbling 10 feet or more down a steep embankment.

"I stubbed my toe and lost my balance," said Harry, "and I felt myself falling, rolling down a hill. A medical team on site rushed to my aid and gave me a shot of morphine. The medics put me on a stretcher, loaded me into the back of a pickup truck and transported me down to the base of the mountain. I was transferred to a makeshift ambulance - more like a delivery van - and taken to a clinic in the nearest city, Cuzco. It turned out I had broken three ribs, punctured a lung and lacerated my liver. The doctors told me they siphoned a litre of blood from my lung. I was lucky to be alive."

After a week and a half in Cuzco, Harry said he was transferred by air ambulance to a bigger hospital in Lima, the Peruvian capital, for another couple of weeks. "Everything was covered by Blue Cross," he adds. "It was amazing. They even paid for a neighbour of mine in Oakville (Ontario) to come down to visit me - the insurance covers visits for up to six relatives or friends. And when it came time for me to go home, Blue Cross paid for a doctor to fly home with me to hospital in Oakville - for another three weeks."

Harry, who maintains his dry wit, said his neighbor was taken on a tour of Lima in a fully equipped ambulance by one of the drivers. "He got to see Lima from a modern ambulance. I got to be transported to hospital in Cuzco in a van."

The 70-something DOP, who is up and about and able to drive his own vehicle, is being "well-looked after" by his younger granddaughter, "who does my cooking," and by his friendly neighbours. His chief regret? "I didn't get to see anything of Machu Picchu, at least of the ruins. I had only been in Peru for three days. And I didn't much care for the Peruvian food in the Lima hospital."

He said it may be a while before he tackles Mount Everest.

[ Magazine ][ Archives ][ Search ]