Mother of a stranded tourist in Peru hopes her daughter makes it home for Christmas, as hundreds grounded amid protests
“I stayed up all night worrying,” Lutsko told CNN Saturday from her home in Columbus, Ohio. “I’ll be happy to hear that she’s back in America.”
Lutsko said her daughter, Madison Spellman, a graduate student and travel nurse, was at a cafe when a group of protesters took to the streets. Staff members locked doors and encouraged people to bend over, Spellman told her mother.
Lutsko said she sent messages to both the White House and the US Embassy asking for help getting her daughter home.
“I feel helpless,” she said.
Next week, Lutsko is expecting her family to arrive from outside the city for the holidays. Spellman was supposed to fly to Ohio on Christmas Eve to reunite with the rest of her loved ones.
“This is an opportunity for us to meet and spend time with her,” Lutsko said. “Right now we’re just waiting to see if she can make that flight.”
“You may start to see panic in some people”
Brian Vega was among those trapped in Aguas Calientes, a town that serves as the main entrance to Machu Picchu. Days passed and those trapped still couldn’t leave, Vega said some people began to panic.
Vega, who has been traveling alone since November 28, was supposed to leave town on Tuesday, the day the protests began.
“It’s a developing situation,” he told CNN. “You may start to see panic in some people.”
He said there were discussions about shortages of food and water, as well as obvious shortages of medicine.
Vega, captain of the Miami-Dade Fire Brigade, said he is trying to stay calm and may try to walk out of the city as others have done in the past few days.
The ride will be an 18-mile hike along the train tracks, which Vega says he’s heard many have accomplished. His plan would then be a shuttle to the airport.
Vega has been in contact with many people back home, including his colleagues at the fire department, who he says are doing everything they can to get him home.
Like many others, Vega hopes to return home in time to spend Christmas with her family.
“I love Christmas, love my kids and my wife,” the father-of-two said. “It hurts, so hopefully I’ll get it back.”
