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

232 OUT OF CAPTIVITYa few kilometers from Camp Caribe, where the three of us found ourselvesnext to the military prisoners. I met a young man and formerpoliceman named Jhon Jairo Dúran. He was in his midthirties, thoughhe looked much younger with his closely cropped thick dark hair. He’dbeen kidnapped six years earlier and his deep faith seemed to sustainhim and inform all the choices he made about how to conduct himself.I don’t know why he chose to risk talking to me, but he gave me a cottonsheet and a lined parkalike jacket. I tried to gesture to him that Iwould be okay without, but he wouldn’t listen. He gave me some ropeand string, and they, too, proved vital on that forced march.Everyone had it bad, including the FARC. Once again we saw thelower-level FARC guerrillas being treated like pack animals. They carriedheavy propane cylinders, cookstoves, and large bags of food. Theyferried one load ahead, returned, and then set out again with anotherheavy load. They repeated the process over and over again. Our youngfriend The Songster had his own gear and Ingrid’s—she was too weakfrom what she claimed was a bout with dysentery—as well as a largecooking pot strapped to his back. He’d wobble and fall down. Keithwould help him back to his feet. Eventually, Ingrid could not walk at all.She was placed in a hammock like Keith had been on our first march.The FARC weren’t too happy about having to carry her, and at everyopportunity they accidentally swung her against the many spiny treesthat grew near the creeks.Like most people, I’ve complained at one time or another of hungerpains or said I was “starving.” Until this march, I hadn’t really experiencedeither of those. Knee-buckling pain, similar to severe musclecramps, raked our stomachs. We were so weak that our heads spun andour vision blurred and narrowed. Marc and I both had extreme painin our knees and my legs swelled to the point that my kneecaps werea tiny bump of bone anchored in a sea of tissue. Keith’s back injuriescontinued to plague him, but he seldom complained. He said that he