A Zurich politician gets lost in the Caribbean jungle

Thomas Marthaler is 61 years old and a seasoned politician in the SP faction of the Zurich cantonal council. But his political involvement was not the reason why the local media took an interest in him while he was in the Dominican Republic for his spring break. The man from Zurich made the headlines because he got lost on a hike and was lost in the jungle for 36 hours.

The newspaper “Puerto Plata Digital” shows Pictures of Marthaler surrounded by orderlies and in his underpants on a deck chair, a device on the finger that measures the oxygen saturation in the blood. He looks exhausted.

The peak that swallowed Marthaler for a day and a half is called Isabel de Torres, is 793 meters high and doesn’t look particularly scary in pictures. “From below it reminds of the Üetliberg,” says Marthaler, back in Zurich, in a good mood on the phone. It should be noted that people have to be rescued from the Üetliberg flank again and again.

He despises the only cable car in the Caribbean

Marthaler, a magistrate by profession, also underestimated the mountain. He left early in the morning without having had breakfast and did something that probably no local would ever think of: Instead of taking the cable car – according to the local tourist experts the only one in the Caribbean – he walked to the summit , which is decorated with a large figure of Christ.

There is a hiking trail, but somehow Marthaler got off the path about halfway, despite GPS and a map on his cell phone. Soon he was stuck. The terrain is extremely steep and overgrown by banana trees, he says. Their shallow roots offer no support.

At least he managed to inform his brother, who lives in Puerto Plata, before his cell phone battery died. But mountain rescue does not seem to be part of the local police’s day-to-day business. Despite the report, nothing happened, although the politician from Zurich had announced his location – directly under the cable car.

Suddenly the light goes on

At ten o’clock in the morning he drew hope when suddenly a bright cone of light illuminated the jungle. But then Marthaler realized that only the Jesus figure’s automatic lighting system had switched on. He spent the night covered with banana leaves. It was damp and cold. The cable car’s website reads: “It can be chilly up here, but walking the winding paths of the botanical gardens will warm you up.”

Marthaler’s night’s sleep was disturbed by the animals of the forest, which had made “an enormous corn”. At least they weren’t in any danger. In the Dominican Republic there are no animals that can seriously harm people.

Marthaler sipped dew from banana leaves, he found nothing to eat. He had hallucinations and thought he heard people talking nearby. His brother and wife in Zurich were worried, especially since the police had mysteriously received reports that he had taken the cable car down to the valley with strangers.

The next day, Marthaler waited for the first lane. He waved, thinking the tourists saw him. But again nothing happened. In order to avoid another night in the jungle, Marthaler slid down the steep terrain in the late afternoon, “on the seat of his trousers and holding me according to the three-point rule,” as he says. That took two hours.

After 36 hours in the jungle, Marthaler was starving and dehydrated. His skin was scratched by the sharp edges of the banana leaves. Other than that he was fine.

At the bottom, he found a motorcyclist who took him in the pillion to his brother’s house. The paramedics were already waiting there – and the local press, which dedicated a headline to the rescue workers. “They rescue a Swiss tourist who got lost while hiking.”

Marthaler did attend the summit the next day to process what had happened. This time he took the cable car.