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

Proof of Life 147door of the room we were in and they were staring at us. Most of themput on a big macho display of anger directed at the gringos until theFrenchman and the Fat Man put an end to viewing hours and led us toanother small room with tablas supported on sawhorses. So much fornice beds and a turndown service at night.In an adjoining room, there was a large plastic water barrel. Becausewe’d been communing with the pigs at the Mud Camp, their indiscriminatepissing and shitting in the mud at our swimming area made uswary of water of any kind. We pulled the top and couldn’t believe whatwe were seeing—the bottom of the barrel—for once literally insteadof figuratively. We’d been so used to drinking and bathing in cloudybrown water that the sight of the bottom of that barrel through thecrystal-clear water had us staring like we were reading the formula forturning lead into gold. It was so pristine we were tempted not to use itall, but hygiene and vanity won out.After our baths, we were fed french fries and asked if there was anythingelse we needed. I’d developed some kind of jungle rash and Iasked for medicine to treat it. To my surprise, I received it—the entiretube and not just a single treatment. We bedded down on a platformresting on sawhorses, and with the exception of a rat living up in therafters, we were pretty much left alone the whole evening. Outside, wecould hear the FARC conducting some kind of meeting. They sangtheir “We Love the Peace” song and the “Legalization Is the Solution”chant while speakers addressed the crowd on some aspect of FARCness.We estimated that about thirty to forty guerrillas were there, andthe general tone of the place was much more orderly and military-likethan it had been with the field units. They all had on the same uniforms,they were more disciplined about wearing their hats, and theyseemed to be better squared away generally than the guys we’d beenwith in the jungle.The Fat Man seemed a bit on edge and we saw all kinds of activitygoing on in the room next to ours, where they were setting up for the