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

Proof of Life 165the same name. Holy shit would have been a better name for that pairof irritants, whose stings were like electric shocks.I would not have earned a very good grade in ornithology. The toucans,parrots, and macaws kept their distance, so it was difficult toenjoy them in detail. Marc’s descriptions and his ability to mimic allthree species’ calls were amazing, right down to the clicking of theirbeaks as they closed their mouths at the end of the call. As sad as thetoucan’s call was, the howler monkey and another type whose name wedidn’t know made the toucan seem almost pleasant. If we didn’t knowany better, we would have sworn that sumo wrestlers were sparringoutside our camp.Very few of the FARC took any interest in the natural world. Itseemed as if they divided everything into opposing categories: edible/inedible, poisonous/not poisonous, very dangerous/deadly. Giventheir circumstances, those seemed to be important distinctions tomake. Though by the time we left the Second Mud Camp, we had beenwith the FARC for nearly nine months, we were still amazed by someof their behaviors. When eating rice and beans, we sometimes offeredthem a spoon. They would shake their heads and continue to eat byhand. When they spouted their propaganda and told us that by takingover the country they would end corruption, we asked them howthey could do that when they were stealing from one another all thetime? Their version of a better Colombia was everyone having an apartmentand a television. When we asked them how they would bring thatabout, what specific actions they would take, they fell silent.Being able to talk again and becoming more savvy captives coincided.Having the reading materials we’d received at the POL certainlyhelped. We read and reread all that we had. We had also taken the copyof John Grisham’s The Street Lawyer with us as a gift from Botero. Thatwas the only place, besides in our conversations with one another, thatwe were able to find any semblance of logic, anything that resembledthe world that we had left behind, any kind of people with whom we