its decades of civil unrest have left vast swaths of colombia relatively unknown, even to its own citizens. to reach a place previously considered a no-go area, i'll fly out of an airport in villavicencio, 45 miles southeast of the capital bogota. on first inspection, this is an airplane boneyard, where unwanted props from "romancing the stone" corrode artfully. but in reality, this sleepy hangar is an important gateway to the more impenetrable parts of the country. the remote settlements in the amazon basin are cut off from the country, with neither rail nor roads connecting them. there are only two ways in, either boat for several days down river, or aboard a jungle bus, which is what locals call the world war ii era dc-3.