Spirits of the air

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We came from the coast — three friends looking for quiet.
Everyone told us the Bolivian highlands were beautiful, but they also said strange things happen here.
Spirits of the air.
I thought it was a joke until the mountain started watching us.

At first, everything was fine. We laughed, we drank tea, we took photos.
Then Lucas stopped smiling.
He said the air felt heavy, like breathing through fabric. He vomited twice.

A farmer saw him and said, “It’s the spirits of the air.”
He gave him a small pill (acetazolamide) and he said it would make him breathe faster to confuse the ghosts. And said we have to rest because it was going to be a long night.
Two hours later, Lucas looked better so we decided to keep walking, a little concerned this time.


Then Daniel started coughing. It was just dry air. He said something was pressing on his chest but the worst thing is that his lips turned blue.

We came to this hospital.
The doctor put a small device on Daniel’s finger, and whispered something to the nurse:
“Seventy-six percente.”
He pressed a mask on Daniel’s face and gave him a pill called nifedipine.
I asked if it was holy medicine.
He said it was to lower pressure in the lungs — to stop the air from escaping.
I knew what I saw, but decided to keep to myself: something was trying to steal Daniel’s breath, and the doctor had pulled it back.
The nurse told me to rest at the hotel near to the hospital.
I just was thinking where to find the nearest church.

It was past midnight when I heard a whispering.
My heart was racing. And then the laughter started - It was mine. Loud and unstoppable. I was laughing about nothing.
Lucas looked at me, terrified. He said my eyes were wide, my words wrong.
I was not wrong, He was wrong! He did not see the soldiers outside, the big monster, marching in silver lines through the fog.
He tried to grab me, but I was sure the spirits were pulling him too.
He dragged me back to the hospital. But what I really need is a church or a priest.

I tried to explain everything to the doctor but my mouth was not moving.

The doctor turned to the nurse and said,
“Ataxia, confusion, hallucinations — start oxygen. Prepare dexamethasone.”

Then the mask came down.
And suddenly, the spirits disappeared.
No spirits.
No monsters.
Just quiet air.

💨Luks AM, Auerbach PS, Freer L, et al. Wilderness Medical Society Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Acute Altitude Illness: 2024 Update. Wilderness & Environmental Medicine. 2024. doi:10.1016/j.wem.2023.05.013.

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