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

Changes in Altitude31In spite of the pain, I had to count my blessings. I always broughta fleece jacket with me on every flight, and when we got to higher altitudes,I’d put it on. I’d had the presence of mind to take it with mewhen we fled the plane, and on that first overnight march, I reallyneeded it. Even while we were walking, it got ball-shatteringly cold,but with the fleece, I didn’t have it as bad as Marc and Tom did. Thewhole time they shivered uncontrollably, especially when we stoppedfor a rest.At one point during a break, we were all sitting in a small cluster onthe side of the mountain, trying to catch our breath. Planes were flyingoverhead, and in between shivers, I used my thumb to probe my side.Gritting my teeth and poking deep, I felt my second and third ribs shifting.I figured that the jagged bits of bone were catching on the cartilageand other soft tissue around them, causing the pain I experiencedwhenever my lungs filled with air.One of the guards, a squat little guy named Uriel, was sitting nextto me with his girlfriend perched on his lap, and they were lookingat me like I was some kind of zoo animal they’d never seen before. Ilooked away because their staring bothered me, and if I focused on itI might lose control. Tom and Marc were huddled together shivering,and between my pained breaths, I couldn’t help but think how uncannythis whole scene was. The night had become crystal-clear, the moonlightwas dripping over everything like cake icing, and here we all wereclustered up like a pack of monkeys.Uriel whacked me on the shoulder with the back of his hand andpointed at Marc and Tom. I thought he was going to make some wiseassremark about the two of them trying to keep warm, and I thought offlipping him off, until I saw him wrap his arms around himself, makingthe signal for “cold.” I nodded my head, thinking, Thatta boy, Einstein,you figured out they’re cold. Move on to the bonus round. Then he didsomething unexpected: Uriel reached into his backpack and pulled outa sheet. Tom and Marc had zonked out by this time, and Uriel took the