Out of Captivity : Surviving 1,967 Days in the Colombian Jungle

96 OUT OF CAPTIVITYcalled our “hooch.” It was about sixteen by twenty feet and walled onthree sides. The fourth wall was made of chain-link fencing. At least ithad a roof, so that if this was where we were going to be bunked, we’dat least be mostly out of the weather. I resented Sombra’s thinking weshould be appreciative because they’d opened a prison camp for us.Thanks very much. We’ll be sure to tip our guards accordingly.I wanted to cut through the crap, so I rolled out my best Spanish,“¿Quién es el jefe aquí?” I wanted to know who the boss was. We’d meta bunch of different FARC that day and I wanted to know who wasdirectly responsible for us.Fat Man gave us the party line: There are no bosses. Everyone isequal here. I cut him off and flat-out said, “That’s great, but if we needfood, who do we talk to.”Sombra jerked his head toward the man standing next to him: “Ferney.”His name was pronounced like the words fair and nay as in negative.We immediately dubbed him the Frenchman, and the immediateimpression that he made was that he was a no-nonsense kind of guy.When the Fat Man had been entertaining the other troops earlier andgetting them to laugh at his jokes, the Frenchman was the only onewho remained stoic. The guy seemed to have no soul at all; he was deademotionally. It was the Frenchman who led us into our new home awayfrom home.As we walked up to the building, I knew immediately that thismarked the end of our days as kidnapped contract workers and beganour life as prisoners. The whole morning had been filled with meetingsand conversations about our situation, but now reality was the threehundred-poundgorilla who sat wherever he wanted. He chose to sitright on us. I felt something deep in the pit of my stomach, a kind ofdespair that I hadn’t ever felt before, even when the march was at itsworst. Glancing over at Marc and Tom, I could tell they felt the sameway. The place was just depressing. The canopy of jungle foliage andtrees didn’t allow any sunlight to enter, the building had clearly been