The Dakota Hunter: In Search of the Legendary DC-3 on the Last Frontiers by Hans Wiesman

Author:Hans Wiesman [Wiesman, Hans]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Tags: HISTORY / Military / Aviation: HIS027140
ISBN: 9781612002590
Publisher: Casemate
Published: 2015-03-19T04:00:00+00:00

Derelict PBY-5A Catalina and Douglas DC-6 standing here somewhat forlorn looking. I flew in both aircraft in the 1950´s and they have a very special place in my memory.

“The FARC may be thin on the ground here now but they are still around. You’re the only outsider in town and an attractive target for kidnappers.”

He advised me to stay no longer than two days and then to fly back to Bogota, and never to take that jungle road again. According to his information, the road we had been on the night before was nothing more than a narrow corridor protected by the military, and all of the surrounding jungle was rebel-controlled territory.

If someone at Bogota airport had become aware of my final destination, Juan told me, he could have made a phone call to a friend and FARC could have staged an ambush on the road, despite the military presence. His words underlined exactly what the flight attendant had been thinking when we were stopped: an ambush and kidnapping. “Not the sort of information that will make you very happy, I’ll admit,” he said. “So, shall we get to work on that permit?”

Juan taught me a useful lesson or two. “Take your time; it pays to be patient here. And never raise your voice.” Being deaf in one ear and half deaf in the other, that was not going to be easy for me.

“Just walk around and try to make friends but do not talk openly about your mission to purchase parts. Forget about trying to do any kind of deal straight away; the war has made these people very suspicious and they will only deal with people they trust. So, if you are serious about doing business here, you will have to come back again at a later date.”

His words of caution would govern my every action for the next two days. We stood up and walked to the airport building down the road at a pace slower than I had ever walked before in my life. To him I must have seemed like some kind of hyperactive lunatic with a worrisome obsession for making haste.

Juan was a shy and guarded character and, according to what he told me, had lived through the war years here constantly looking over his shoulder for any hint of danger. His advice was plain and simple: “If they plan to abduct you, it is usually with a car or a taxi. They’ll just happen to be getting into the same taxi as you. Your first thought will be that they have made a mistake by hopping into the same car as you. Not so. It is a well-planned and well-timed trick, and they prepare everything a few days in advance. After innocently stepping into the ‘wrong’ taxi, you will quickly find yourself looking down the barrel of a gun sticking out from under a magazine or a newspaper carried by the man who got in on the other side. Stepping out again is not an option any more.

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