“I’ve been up all night worrying,” Lutsko told CNN Saturday from her home in Columbus, Ohio. “I’ll be so happy to hear she’s back on US soil.”
Lutsko says her daughter, Madison Spellman, a graduate student and travel nurse, was at a coffee shop when a group of protestors took to the streets. The employees locked the doors and encouraged everyone to hunker down, Spellman told her mom.
Lutsko said she sent messages to both the White House and US Embassy to ask for assistance in bringing her daughter home.
“I feel helpless,” she said.
Next week, Lutsko is expecting family to arrive from out of town for the holidays. Spellman was supposed to fly to Ohio on Christmas Eve to join the rest of her loved ones.
“This is our chance to see and spend time with her,” Lutsko said. “Right now we’re just waiting to see if she’ll be able to make that flight.”
“You can start to see the panic in some”
Brian Vega is among those stuck in Aguas Calientes, a town that serves as the main access point to Machu Picchu. As days pass with those stranded still unable to leave, Vega says some are beginning to panic.
Vega, who has been on a solo travel trip since November 28, was supposed to leave town on Tuesday, the day demonstrations started.
“It’s been an evolving situation,” he told CNN. “You can start to see the panic in some.”
There has been talk of a pending shortage of food and water, as well as a noticeable lack of medicine, he said.
Vega, a Miami-Dade Fire Rescue captain, says he’s trying to remain level-headed and may attempt to hike out of the city like others have over the past few days.
The trek would be an 18-mile hike along the train tracks, which Vega says he’s heard many have completed successfully. His plan after that would be getting transportation to the airport.
Vega has been in contact with many back home, including his colleagues at the fire department, who he says are doing everything they can to bring him home.
Like many others, Vega hopes to make it back home in time to spend Christmas with his family.
“I love Christmas and my kids and wife,” the father of two said. “It hurts, so hopefully I’ll make it back.”