we camped at night and expected to be in colombia the following day. the next morning we woke up, we had breakfast. hey, robert, are you all packed? all packed. what about your hammock? and we continued. we knew that we were probably going to cross into colombia that day. right around noon, we decided to stop for lunch. and while we were eating, three men we knew from paya passed us. they were headed to the same village, and they were moving quite quickly. they had heavy bags, but they were moving much faster than we were. exchanged pleasantries and they were off. we knew we wouldn t see them again until we got there. so after lunch, we grabbed our stuff and we got back under way, and slightly after that, we were up on a ridge line.
they wanted to see our maps. and they had some questions about paya and who was there and what was there. they decided that they were going into panama for themselves, but they needed a guide to retrace our steps. what did he say? he says they want to take victor with them to panama. there was a brief argument. tell them there is no reason to take him to panama. we were pretty emphatic about it. but victor didn t really say much of anything on his behalf. i think at that point he realized that things were beyond his control. [ speaking spanish ] i mean, we really pleaded with them, but they assured us. they said it s not to worry. we re just going to secure the area. a situation that i put myself in, decision after decision led me to this point of running into the farc.
ounces of water stored in the tree. it was like a tremendous relief. we hiked all afternoon, and that afternoon we arrived in paya. coming into paya was much different than pucuro because they were expecting us. we made it to the last stop before you cross the border into colombia. that evening, we attended this tribal meeting. i can remember there is a group of young men kind of dancing in circles, playing their music, enjoying themselves. we ate fish and then rice and some bush meat, iguana. you eat what is served. and it was good. it was good. by that time, things were moving along pretty well, and we were able to negotiate with the chief for guides.
okay. the next day, victor negotiated guides for ui think . the next day, victor negotiated guides for ui the negotiated guides for us.i thin. the next day, victor negotiated guides for us.>i thi. the next day, victor negotiated guides for u>i think. the next day, victor negotiated guides for u i think. the next day, victor negotiated guides for us. the plan was for the guides to take us as far as paya, which was the last panamanian village. inside days we would be inside colombia. i certainly didn t think we put the most difficult part of the trek behind us. we had yet to enter the border region, the real heart of the jungle, if you will. we hiked all day through the jungle. i remember victor kind of laughing with the guides about the amount of water we were drinking. and then we did run out of water. at first it s like wow, i m really thirsty. i would like some water. and then it s i don t feel well. i feel light-headed. we need to find water soon. eventually, we found a
they were going back to paya. end of story. in moments, they were gone, and robert s gear and our food and everything were just on the trail. mark, are you okay? and now it was victor and meg and robert and myself. before we could talk about what we wanted to do or what our plan was, two of the men who had passed us earlier in the day showed up. one of them was bleeding, and they were completely terrified. apparently they had been cutting bamboo and people had just started shooting at them. that s all they could say. and then one of them sort of showed where the third man had been shot, that they had killed him. and they continued back to paya, where our guides had just run off to. i was trying to delay panic. i figured there would be time