Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 We were flying over the Andes on the thirteenth of October, the date of our game against the Chilean team. The original itinerary was to fly nonstop to Santiago, but reports of bad weather in the mountains ahead forced the plane to land in the old Spanish colonial town of Mendoza. #2 We were to meet at the airport at 1 p. m. sharp, but we arrived only to discover that the pilots had not yet decided whether or not we would fly. The weather reports warned of some turbulence, but the pilots were confident the Fairchild could fly safely above the weather. #3 The plane was headed to Santiago, which is west of Mendoza. The region of the Andes that separates the two cities is one of the highest sections of the entire chain, and home to some of the tallest mountains in the world. #4 The pilots had charted a course that would take us about one hundred miles south of Mendoza to Planchón Pass, a narrow corridor through the mountains with ridges low enough for the plane to clear. We would fly south along the eastern foothills of the Andes with the mountains always on our right, until we reached the pass.