Detroit woman missing in Peru wanted to see world before going totally blind, family says

Carla Valpeoz is a savvy traveler who hasn’t let vision impairment keep her locked inside any comfort zone.

Relatives of the Detroit woman say she’s traveled the world and wrote a travel book called “Visionless Adventures.”

“I’ve had the opportunity to travel to many different parts of the world, as a blind person, as a female, as a Latina and been able to see how people live together, even with the diversity, and grow together and learn from each other,” Valpeoz, who is 35 and uses a white cane for assistance, says in a 2017 YouTube video.

But now her family is worried. Valpeoz traveled to Peru to attend a wedding and has been missing since Dec. 12, leading to an investigation by officials from the U.S. State Department and authorities in Peru, according to the Detroit Free Press.

“I know Carla is out there and I know we are going to bring her home safe and it’s only a matter of time,” her brother, Carlos Valpeoz, told WXYZ in Detroit.

“I just want to continue to putting her photo and her description out there and getting as many eyes on this as possible. I love you Carla.”

The last anyone heard from her was on Dec. 12, the Free Press reports. “She has missed her flights home, her phone has been off for days and investigators are looking into her credit card activity for clues as to her whereabouts,” the newspaper writes.

Her brother told CNN she was last seen in Cusco, Peru, when a cab driver dropped her off at a spot where buses pick up passengers. But there’s no record of her getting on a bus, he told CNN.

“Carla is a very determined person, a humanitarian in her community, a leader devoted to life, to travel and immersing herself,” he told CNN on Tuesday. “Since an early age, our family has prepared her for when she would lose her sight and that’s why she wants to see so much.”

She was 7 when she started losing her vision, though it wasn’t until she was 10 that she was diagnosed with optic nerve atrophy, she says in the YouTube video, explaining why she set out to travel the world.

“It’s my adventure spirit (that) challenge me to step out of my comfort, giving me the opportunity to live among different cultures and communities,” she says in the video.

“I want to create a platform and I want to bridge communities of cultures and carry on presentations and workshops so we can learn to work together.”

Her brother told CNN that she has been to Egypt, South America and lived in Yemen and Papua New Guinea.

“She has had a challenging life but she doesn’t fall in the category of just being a blind person and wants to experience the world before she can’t see anymore,” he told CNN.

According to WXYZ, Valpeoz works at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. On Tuesday, the museum posted a missing person poster and a plea for help in finding her.

“A member of our AANM family, Carla Valpeoz, has gone missing while traveling in Peru. Carla has extremely low vision and was most likely seen with a cane (pictured below). She was last seen on December 12 at the Pariwana Hostal in Cusco.”

Friends and family members are also putting out a call for help on social media.

Valpeoz’s friend, Alicia Steele, was supposed to meet her at the airport last Thursday to fly home, the missing woman’s brother told CNN.

He told WXYZ that a group of tourists his sister met on a trip to Machu Picchu were the last people known to see her.

Steele stayed in the country to help in the search, and Valpeoz’s father, Carlos, arrived in Peru on Monday, according to CNN.

He issued a public plea in Spanish on Peruvian TV, CNN reported: “Call me, my child. Let us know where you are.”

In a statement reported by WXYZ, the State Department said it was “aware of media reports regarding a U.S. citizen missing in Cusco, Peru. The U.S. Department of State and our embassies and consulates abroad have no greater responsibility than the protection of U.S. citizens overseas. Due to privacy concerns, we have no further comment.”