悬崖边的秋千

Every morning before the sun rises, 75-year-old Carlos Sánchez says a prayer in his one-room hut, grabs a pair of binoculars and slowly climbs up into a lonely treehouse that leans precariously over the edge of a mountain.

每天太阳还没出来的时候，七十五岁的卡洛斯.桑切斯就会在他的单间小屋里念一段祷词，拿起双筒望远镜，慢慢爬到危栖于山边的小树屋里去。

From his perch high above the misty folds of the Ecuadorian Andes, Sánchez peers across the emerald valley’s patchwork fields towards the towering 5,023m-tall crater of Tungurahua, a wildly active stratovolcano whose name means 'throat of fire’ in the local Quechua language.

从他俯瞰着厄瓜多尔安第斯云雾缭绕的山脉的小屋中，桑切斯的视线穿过碧绿山谷里成片的田地眺望着高达5023米的通古拉瓦火山，这是一座危险的复式火山，它在当地的盖丘亚语中是“火焰之喉”的意思。

He then scans the deep ravines and twisting chasms that shoot dangerously down Tungurahua’s slopes towards his family’s hometown of Baños, until they disappear into the clouds below.

他又往下看着深谷，和沿着通古拉瓦山坡朝他在巴诺斯的家方向蜿蜒而下的沟壑，知道它们消失在云端。

“Right now she’s taking a rest,” Sánchez said, turning away from the crag and carefully bending his bad knee down the steps.

“她正在休息，”桑切斯说，从岩壁上转过头来，然后小心翼翼地屈膝下着台阶。

“Better feed the chickens before the whole world arrives.”

“最好在大波游客们来之前赶紧把鸡喂了。”

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改变

But in the last few years, something strange has started happening: people from all over the planet are coming to what was once a quiet cow pasture to find Sánchez’s monitoring station – all because he decided to dangle a wooden swing from his treehouse in hopes that his grandchildren would come visit.

但在过去几年里，奇怪的事情发生了：这个曾经安静的奶牛牧场上，来自世界各地的人们都来找桑切斯的观测站—全是因为他决定在他的书屋上挂一个木秋千，这样他的孙子们就会来看望他了。

They did.

他们真的来了。

Soon, a few strangers began showing up to ask if they could go for a ride, too.

很快，几个陌生人也来了，问他们是不是也能坐一下。

Then in 2014, two members of a visiting group of tourists were taking turns on Sánchez’s swing when Tungurahua suddenly erupted.

然后到了2014年，两名观光旅游团的游客轮流坐桑切斯的秋千的时候，通古拉瓦火山突然喷发了。

The pair bolted down the mountain, but not before one snapped a photo of the other gazing up at a surging 8,000m-tall ash plume while appearing to swing over an abyss at the edge of the Earth.

这两人火速下山了，不过走之前其中一个拍了一张照片，照片中另一个人在准备坐秋千荡过地球边缘的深渊的同事遥望着喷发出是8,000米高的火山灰云。

The image received international recognition in a National Geographic photo competition and quickly spread around the world.

这张照片在一次国家地理摄影比赛中获得了国际关注，迅速走红全球。

Now, hundreds of people every day are following the trail at the edge of Baños, hiking 2.5 hours up the sharp side of a mountain and pushing each other off a 30m ledge at what has become known as La Casa del Arbol (The Treehouse).

现在，每天都有上百人沿着巴诺斯边缘的小径徒步2.5个小时爬上山的陡坡，然后现在被称为La Casa del Arbol（树屋）的地方相互给对方推台高30米的秋千。

“The swing just started as a simple idea to help bring my family together on the weekends,” Sánchez said, looking out from his chicken coop as the day’s first throng of tourists arrived. “But sometimes things explode unexpectedly.”

“这个秋千本来只是为了让我们家人在周末团聚，”桑切斯说，一边从他的鸡笼里探出头来看着今天第一波到达的游客。“但有时候事情会发展得超出想象。”

That’s what happened in October 1999.

意外于1999年十月发生了。

After an 81-year nap, Tungurahua roared to life with a series of violent eruptions.

在沉睡了81年之后，随着一系列猛烈的爆发，通古拉瓦火山重新咆哮着复苏了。

As hot gas, ash and rocks rained down on nearby villages, the president of Ecuador ordered Sánchez’s family and the 16,000 other residents of Baños to evacuate, giving them just four hours to collect what they could and not telling them when or if they could return to their homes.

随着炽热的气体，灰尘和岩石毁掉了附近的村庄，厄瓜多尔总统下令桑切斯一家和巴诺斯的其他16,000名居民紧急撤离，走之前只有4个小时收拾行李，也没有告诉他们什么时候或者是否他们能够重返家园。

Against the government’s mandate, Sánchez drove back to Baños on 20 December to discover a ghost town.

违反了政府的强制撤离规定，桑切斯开车于12月20日返回了巴诺斯，却只发现一座空城。

The buildings were abandoned, the streets were coated with ash, but his home and town were miraculously spared from any damage.

建筑物人去楼空，街道盖满了灰烬而他的家和小镇却奇迹般地躲过一劫。

Unsure if his animals had survived in the mountains, Sánchez slowly drove up the dizzying road towards his pasture.

不知道他山中的家畜是否也幸存了，桑切斯沿着昏暗的道路慢慢开车前往他的牧场。

When he arrived, he saw that his cows were grazing peacefully and his neighbours’ farms were unharmed.

当到达时，他看到他的牛正在悠然吃草和邻居家的农场也安然无恙。

He knelt down, crossed himself and promised the Virgin Mary (the patron saint of Baños) that he would remain there to watch the volcano and help protect the people living in the valley until the eruptions ended.

他双膝跪地，双手合十，向圣女玛丽（巴诺斯的守护神）许诺说他会留在这里看着火山，帮助保护山谷里的人们一直到火山喷发结束。

“Eighteen years later, she’s still active,” Sánchez said. “So I’m still here.”

“八年过去了，她还活跃着”，桑切斯说，“所以我还在这里。”

As another swarm of strangers descended on his property, Sánchez walked away from the crowds to the edge of the mountain, looked down over the valley and removed his hard hat.

随着又一波陌生人来到他的小屋，桑切斯从人群中走到山边，俯瞰着山谷，摘下他的硬边帽。

“This is the spot where I knelt, swearing to help others leave in time even if it meant that there was no time for me,” Sánchez said, struggling to lower his knee 18 years later. “A promise between people is serious, but an oath with God is sacred.”

“这就是我当初下跪，发誓要帮助他们撤离，哪怕我自己没有时间逃生的地方”，桑切斯说，十八年后又颤巍巍地跪了下去，“人与人之间的承诺是严肃的，而与神的誓约则是神圣的。”

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