Pod Insights Real Survival Stories Kidnapped in Colombia: Gap Year Gone Wrong (Part 1 of 2) About this episode A British backpacker nears the end of his gap year in South America. Before flying home, Matt Scott signs up for a guided trek into the mountains of northern Colombia. But within days, the trip will take a sinister turn. As he and his fellow tourists are taken hostage at gunpoint, Matt will be left to wonder: who are these men? And what do they want? Should he do as they command? Or take his chances against the jungle, and run?…
A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins.
Written by Joe Viner | Produced by Ed Baranski | Assistant Producer: Luke Lonergan | Exec produced by Joel Duddell | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Matt Peaty | Assembly edit by Rob Plummer | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Ralph Tittley.
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Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:03 John Hopkins? It's the dead of night. September 12, 2003, in the far north of Colombia.
0:11 John Hopkins? Somewhere deep in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Mata, a group of armed men creep through the jungle.
0:20 John Hopkins? In their camouflage and black flak jackets, the men are almost invisible, blending with the darkness around them, detectable only by the shards of silver moonlight glinting off the muzzles of their assault rifles.
0:35 John Hopkins? They emerge from the jungle onto a treeless hilltop where they spread out, swift, choreographed, weapons poised.
0:44 John Hopkins? Ahead, silhouetted against the indigo sky, are the shadowy outlines of two wooden cabins.
0:53 John Hopkins? The night air is cool as the men steal across the clearing, the ground beneath their boots still wet from yesterday's rain.
1:01 John Hopkins? When they reach the cabins, the twenty or so men divide into smaller units, with one group entering the first cabin, another entering the second.
1:16 John Hopkins? In the hammock nearest the door of the second one, nineteen-year-old Matt Scott wakes with a startled intake of breath. Somebody is poking him in the ribs. He rolls over and sees a dark figure looming over him.
1:33 John Hopkins? Matt recoils sharply and reaches for his glasses.
1:38 John Hopkins? The blurry shape standing above his bed comes into focus.
1:43 John Hopkins? A man, wearing military fatigues, pointing an assault rifle directly at him.
1:49 Speaker 01 I immediately, I think, assumed that we were being robbed and I also, I think, determined instantly that this was not a good situation.
2:00 John Hopkins? But this is not a robbery. These men aren't looking for money or valuables. And however bad a situation Matt thinks this is, the reality is even worse.
2:11 Speaker 01 I'd only seen up to this point the two armed men who'd broken up, not to our nationality. I now saw another twenty. That was the moment where I was dramatically recalibrating what was going on. At that point, things had already gone very wrong.
2:37 John Hopkins? Ever wondered what you would do when disaster strikes? If your life depended on your next decision, could you make the right choice? Welcome to Real Survival Stories. These are the astonishing tales of ordinary people thrown into extraordinary situations. People suddenly forced to fight for their lives.
3:00 John Hopkins? In this episode, we meet British backpacker Matt Scott. In September 2003, he is nearing the end of his gap year, having spent the past seven months travelling around South America. With just eight days remaining before his flight home to London, Matt signs up for a guided trek to the lost city, an archaeological site nestled deep in the mountains of northern Colombia.
3:25 John Hopkins? It's supposed to be one final adventure, a memorable way to cap off seven unforgettable months. And for the first three days, the trip proves exactly that.
3:36 John Hopkins? But everything changes in the early hours of day four, as a mysterious group of armed men storm his camp. As he and his fellow tourists are forced out of bed and into the dark jungle, Matt will be left to wonder, who are these men? And what do they want?
3:55 Speaker 01 About the fifth time of asking him where he was going and how long it was going to take, he says, "We're going to march three days and then the bosses will decide what to do with you." And I thought, "That sounds all kinds of bad."
4:10 John Hopkins? As he has marched through the mountains towards an unknown fate, Matt is faced with a choice. Does he follow orders and potentially endure a lengthy captivity? Or does he take his chances against the jungle and run for it?
4:24 Speaker 01 I thought that by escaping, I retained a lot of agency in my life and made a positive decision to do something, even though it was very dangerous.
4:37 John Hopkins? I'm John Hopkins. From the Noiser Podcast Network, this is Real Survival Stories.
5:04 John Hopkins? It's early September 2003, Santa Marta, Colombia. A 19-year-old British tourist runs full pelt down a busy street, weaving through crowds of pedestrians with long, ungainly strides.
5:19 John Hopkins? Matt Scott is late. Earlier this morning, he tried to sign up for an organised, multi-day trek to an archaeological site in the mountains. But when he turned up at the tourist agency just a few moments ago, he was informed that the last group of the day had already left. If he wanted to catch up, he'd have to hurry.
5:41 John Hopkins? Matt arrives at his budget hostel and hurtles through the lobby. He sprints to his dorm, throws his backpack onto the bed, and starts stuffing everything he'll need for the trek into his daybag.
5:53 John Hopkins? When it comes to practical footwear, all Matt owns are the Wellington boots he wore during his visit to the Amazon, where wellies are recommended as protection against snakes. Reptile-proof, perhaps, but less than ideal on a mountain trail. That leaves the sandals he's currently wearing.
6:15 John Hopkins? When Matt examines them however, he notices the strap on the left sandals worn away. It flaps about, uselessly. Hardly suitable for a six-day hike. He scratches his head.
6:28 John Hopkins? Alright, new plan. Go buy a needle and thread, repair sandals, then head back to the tourist agency to drop off main backpack before taking the bus into the mountains to catch up with the tour group. Simple.
6:44 John Hopkins? And so, with broken sandals in hand and a bag slung around each shoulder, Matt runs barefoot into the street, scouring the shop fronts for somewhere that might sell sewing supplies.
6:56 Speaker 01 I do have a tendency when I go travelling to get myself into trouble. I've missed a lot of flights. I mean, every time I tell the story, it always seems like it's not my fault, but you don't miss like 12 flights, that's a big, your fault at least some of the time.
7:12 John Hopkins? Matt lives in Clapham, South London, with his mum, dad, brother and sister. He finished school last year after achieving the grades to study engineering at Oxford. But instead of starting university straight away, he decided that he would take a year out.
7:28 Speaker 01 It just sort of seemed like a thing that I should do in some sense, and I guess I was slightly on autopilot. I didn't have any particular cultural connection or reason to go to Latin America beyond the feeling that I should do something between school and university, sort of social pressure, like the dong thing, I think.
7:51 John Hopkins? And so, off he went.
7:54 John Hopkins? Things got off to an inauspicious start, to say the least, when Matt missed his outbound flight from Heathrow. It would set the tone for things to come. Over the course of the next seven months, he lurched from calamity to calamity.
8:08 Speaker 01 I ran out of cash. I lost my card and had to get cash to send to me and had huge administrative problems that took months to resolve in Cali. I got strangled and dumped unconscious on a side street in Cuzco in Peru. I also completely ran out of money in a place called La Tisha. I had to shack up with some homeless people for about two weeks. I also got kicked out of Colombia and Brazil and kind of Venezuela all for overstaying visas because my executive dysfunction often leads me in terrible situations. I'm quite used to spend your life rough in the train station or somewhere and kind of living without any reach of comfort and not complaining about it.
8:54 John Hopkins? Seven months into his travels and Matt's diary reads like a choose your own misadventure. Perhaps it's for the best then that his flight home is next week.
9:05 John Hopkins? Before he calls his gap year quits, however, he is determined to make the most of his final week. In the short time he has left, the hope is to experience something that he'll remember for all the right reasons.
9:18 John Hopkins? Which is precisely why he decided to book himself onto an organised trek to the lost city, the remains of a pre-Hispanic citadel nestled in the mountains just north of Santa Mata.
9:30 Speaker 01 I think I wanted to go to the lost city in Colombia, partially, a lot of it was so that I could do at least one thing, spend at least one week that would be stress-free, organised, like with guides, I'd probably just agree, simple, I think, and get more. So I think if anything, I was looking forward to a week without any major mishaps.
9:53 John Hopkins? And after this morning's rocky start, Matt does get things back on track. He manages to buy a sewing kit to repair his sandals. Then he rushes back to the tourist agency where one of the employees offers to escort him into the mountains so he can link up with the others. Big sigh of relief.
10:13 John Hopkins? He now sits in the back of a taxi with the man from the agency as they trundle towards Santa Mata bus station. Through all the ups and downs of this trip, Matt has become pretty good at rolling with the punches. More often than not, he manages to land on his feet. Speaking of which, now seems a good time to mend his footwear.
10:34 John Hopkins? He reaches into his backpack and his heart sinks.
10:39 John Hopkins? Of course. After all the effort to buy a sewing kit, he somehow managed to forget his sandals.
10:56 John Hopkins? It’s noon the following day.
10:59 John Hopkins? Matt trudges uphill through lush, dense jungle. It’s hot and humid, and his feet steam inside his Wellington boots. He and the man from the tourist agency made good ground yesterday. They caught up with the rest of the group before nightfall.
11:16 John Hopkins? Matt bade farewell to his personal escort, and now he walks in a party of ten, including the porter and guide. He chats with his fellow tourists as they follow a narrow track through the forest.
11:29 Speaker 01 I was on a tour group with, I think, seven other people when I finally caught them. About half of them were Israelis. All the Israelis wouldn’t really talk to anyone else, they just kept themselves to themselves, with the exception of one guy called Erez, who was the person that got on with the best on the way. Also in that same tour group, there was Matisse. I remember a guy from Holland, who was very geeky and a good chess player. He could beat me at chess, we had a little chessboard, he could beat me blind. And we had some other people: Reini, a German girl, she’s a climber, she’s done paragliding. Thomas, who was a pro climber, it was just amazing.
12:09 John Hopkins? Footwear aside, it seems that things are finally looking up for Matt as he gets to know this eclectic group. With a guide leading the way, all he has to focus on is putting one Wellington boots in front of the other.
12:27 John Hopkins? The Sierra Nevada de Santa Mata is a spectacular mountain range which rises abruptly from the Colombian coast and soars to heights of 19,000 feet. Located just 40 kilometers from the sea, the range’s coastal position sustains its rich biodiversity. Warm trade winds blow across the Caribbean and rise as they encounter the Sierra. The air then cools and condenses into a mist that shrouds the peaks, giving rise to a unique ecosystem called the Cloud Forest.
13:00 John Hopkins? It's a landscape of stunning contrasts. Above the tree line, alpine meadows surround snow-capped summits. While down here, in the foothills, you couldn't be anywhere but the tropics. A vast, steamy jungle that screeches, howls, and hisses with life.
13:19 John Hopkins? Matt drinks it all in.
13:22 Speaker 01 There are very steep valleys that come down. With the jungle sort of cascading out of the side. And because it rains every day, and it's very steep, there's very fast-flowing rivers everywhere. It looks so Indiana-dressed.
13:36 John Hopkins? They hike for three days, wading through rivers, crossing deep gorges, and zigzagging their way up steep, verdant hillsides. Matt becomes well acquainted with his companions: Erez, the talkative Israeli, Dutch chess whiz Metis, and Reinie, the German backpacker. At night, in the campsites along the route, they play card games and tell stories, sitting out under the stars until it starts to rain, which it often does, forcing them back to their bunks.
14:08 John Hopkins? On the third day, they ascend a long, stone staircase carved into the side of the mountain. Lungs burning, tourists emerge into an open area where the jungle has been cut back to reveal the remains of an ancient citadel.
14:24 John Hopkins? The lost city was built around 800 AD by the Tyrone people, an indigenous group who lived and flourished here until the 1500s, when the arrival of gold-thirsty conquistadors brought violence, disease, and death.
14:40 John Hopkins? Today, all that's left of this once-thriving civilization is a scattering of earthen terraces connected by a series of walkways chiseled into the hillside.
14:49 Speaker 01 There are these platforms that have been raised and cut out of the surrounding jungle. And you can see underneath where they've been terraced with these big piles of stones. So they've formed these concentric rings that are completely flattened. And there would have been, I think, wooden huts there, you know, back when the civilizations were operating, but those have all gone. So there's just the earthwork that they had constructed, the stone steps that lead up there.
15:20 John Hopkins? It's a strange, eerie, fascinating sight. The remnants of this settlement, hidden in the depths of the jungle.
15:29 John Hopkins? But it's now quite late in the day, so Matt's group will have to wait until tomorrow for their guided tour. No matter. The Lust City has been here for over a thousand years. It'll still be here in the morning.
15:43 John Hopkins? The tourists are taken to a hillside clearing a short distance from the site, where two wooden cabins serve as sleeping quarters.
15:51 John Hopkins? Matt goes to the first floor of the second cabin and spreads out his sleeping bag in the hammock nearest the door.
15:58 John Hopkins? Then he heads downstairs to a small courtyard, where wreaths of campfire smoke twist in the dusky air. Dinner is being prepared.
16:10 John Hopkins? There's another tour group staying here, and Matt soon finds himself chatting with some new faces. Among them is an English backpacker called Mark.
16:19 Speaker 01 He lived in Brixton, which is quite close to where I grew up in London. So we had a bit more in common. We then had dinner, played some card games, played some whist, and someone lit a candle with a photo hup on lighter. But I thought, "Oh, that's like the photo hup on lighter I've got."
16:40 John Hopkins? Matt eyes up the lighter. It certainly looks like his, but more likely someone just owns the same one. His was a cheap freebie he picked up when he bought his disposable camera. They're a dime a dozen in Colombia.
16:55 John Hopkins? At about 10 o'clock, Matt says "goodnight" to the others and heads up to bed.
17:02 John Hopkins? Aching from the day's strenuous hike, he stretches out on his hammock and is sound asleep within minutes.
17:17 John Hopkins? It's a few hours later, just after 4am. Matt wakes to the sound of raised voices inside the cabin.
17:26 John Hopkins? His Spanish is pretty good, but in his groggy haze, he can't make out what's being said. Then, a sharp prod to the ribs snaps him fully awake.
17:37 John Hopkins? He rolls over, blinking up at a man pointing a gun straight at him.
17:42 Speaker 01 I think your brain sort of snaps into survival mode and you try and work out what's going on. I immediately, I think, assumed that we were being robbed, which would not have been a huge surprise to me. I also, I think, determined, basically instantly, that this was not a good situation.
18:05 John Hopkins? Matt sits up in his hammock, his heart thumping.
18:10 John Hopkins? Across the room, a second gunman is barking orders at the other tourists.
18:15 John Hopkins? The first intruder gruffly asks Matt what his nationality is. He tells the truth: he's English. The gunman then motions for Matt and the others to get out of bed and go downstairs, taking their belongings with them.
18:30 John Hopkins? Silently, exchanging wide-eyed glances, the shocked tourists follow orders.
18:38 Speaker 01 When I got downstairs on the first floor, I saw something that was slightly worrying. They were tying up our guides, like, hands together, feet together. And then they were instructed with a machete, they were pointed to lie down on these mattresses. And then they tied their hands to their feet behind their backs.
19:01 John Hopkins? Matt hurries past the trussed-up guides and exits the cabin.
19:06 John Hopkins? Outside, he's met by an even more disturbing scene.
19:10 Speaker 01 So, I'd only seen up to this point the two armed men who'd woken us, not for our nationality. I now saw another twenty, and that was the moment where I was dramatically recalibrating what was going on, thinking, "Well, this is a much bigger operation than I had originally anticipated." Surrounded by twenty men, all, I should say, armed with some kind of assault rifle. At that point, things had already gone very wrong.
19:50 John Hopkins? It's almost 5 a.m. on September the 12th, 2003. In the mountains of northern Colombia, a group of bleary-eyed tourists stand in a jungle clearing, clutching backpacks and lacing up shoes in the chilly, pre-dawn light. Surrounding them are around twenty armed men.
20:11 John Hopkins? Nineteen-year-old Matt Scott stands next to another English backpacker, Mark. The two Brits quietly confer, trading theories about who these men might be and what they might want. They're all in uniform, army camo and black flak jackets with assault rifles slung over their shoulders. Obviously, this is more than just a robbery. You don't need twenty armed men to steal a few wallets. So then, what?
20:42 John Hopkins? Matt and Mark look at each other. There is one possible explanation staring them in the face.
20:53 John Hopkins? Colombia has a long and troubled history with ransom kidnappings. Since the 1970s, the rise in civilian hostage cases has reflected the growing strength of paramilitary groups across the country. In the year 2000 alone, more than 3,000 kidnappings were reported. Since then, a government crackdown has significantly reduced that number. And while some parts of Colombia remain off-limits to tourists, this mountain range isn't one of them. At least that's what the guidebooks say. But as Matt stands there, warily eyeing the ring of gun-toting guards, the outlandish idea that they're being kidnapped gradually starts to feel more plausible.
21:39 John Hopkins? Finally, after a few minutes, one of the men steps forward to address the bewildered tourists.
21:47 Speaker 01 We did get a story from them at this stage. They said that they were the Colombian army and they were there to help us because there were reports of bandits in the valley. And so we were marching back to Santa Marta across different paths because the area was no longer safe.
22:06 John Hopkins? The story seems dubious. Why would the army wake them up in the middle of the night? Why would they tie up their tour guides? But right now, facing up to reality is too strange and frightening a prospect.
22:20 Speaker 01 There's a lot of denial that goes on because, you know, you just don't really think, "Oh, I've been kidnapped." It's just not a thing that really happens in the real world. There's people come along and say, "Oh, we're from the government, we're here to take you." So I was certainly prepared to hear them out on this.
22:39 John Hopkins? The soldiers start selecting individuals from the group. They make the tourists walk forward, one at a time, and then gesture either left or right with a blade of a machete.
22:53 Speaker 01 We were separated into two groups. I now know that they were people they wanted and people they didn't want. And I was put into the group of people they wanted. They didn't want couples, they didn't want the drama. They didn't want older people, they didn't want people who didn't have good footwear. So they needed people who could walk and walk hard and not complain about it.
23:16 John Hopkins? Matt is selected along with fellow Brit Mark, Herez, the Israeli, Reini, the young German, a Spanish man called Baez, and three more Israeli backpackers.
23:28 John Hopkins? This group of eight is then instructed to start walking down the hill into the next valley.
23:37 John Hopkins? With one last look back at the others, Matt falls in line. They're marched single file down a steep track escorted by a dozen or so armed guards.
23:48 John Hopkins? At first, a nervous silence settles over the tourists. But when it becomes clear that the guards don't understand English, they start speaking openly among themselves.
24:01 Speaker 01 We could speak in English, and we understood Spanish, but they only spoke in Spanish. So we could talk to ourselves and they couldn't understand us. And they could talk to us and we could talk to them. And they could talk to themselves, but we could understand.
24:16 John Hopkins? The tourists discuss their situation in low whispers, reasoning with each other that perhaps, as unlikely as it seems, these men might be telling the truth. Maybe they really are soldiers from the Colombian army, shepherding them through the jungle amid reports of bandit activity.
24:34 John Hopkins? But as they continued down the trail, this cover story feels increasingly thin. Reini has a watch with an inbuilt compass, and after about an hour of walking, she breaks some disturbing news to the others. They are not heading back to Santa Marta like the soldiers claimed, but are in fact walking due south, deeper into the mountains.
24:56 Speaker 01 So we knew that we were walking directly away from civilization. I mean, they told us that they were right just at Santa Marta. And we're thinking, but look, we're going exactly the wrong direction. Like this is straight into the jungle. So that was a bit suspicious. But they're just saying, no, no, we're going back to Santa Marta, like along the paths.
25:19 John Hopkins? The eight tourists and their Colombian captors continue south, following the length of a ridge between two river valleys. As the morning wears on, Matt becomes increasingly fidgety. Whoever these men are, they're lying. Apart from the odd word of instruction, the soldiers don't speak to the tourists. They aren't particularly hostile or aggressive either. In fact, they seem quite agreeable, often smiling and rarely raising their voices. Matt watches the soldier in front of him, his eyes naturally drifting down to the assault rifle strapped across his back.
25:57 John Hopkins? If, indeed, they have been kidnapped, it's still hard to say for certain. Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to try to build a rapport with their kidnappers.
26:08 John Hopkins? Matt steps forward and strikes up a conversation.
26:13 Speaker 01 I was walking towards the fronts with this one guy, and I would tell him things about, oh, you know, I'm just going back to England next week. You think I'm going to catch my flight in six days? Nothing. I'm really looking forward to see my family again, my father, my mother, I've got a brother and a younger sister. Nothing. Do you have any siblings? Like, when did you last see your family? Because for me, well, like, since I left, seven months ago. Nothing.
26:41 John Hopkins? The man ignores him, keeping his gaze fixed on the path ahead.
26:46 John Hopkins? Matt falls silent and drops back.
26:50 John Hopkins? Another couple of hours pass. The sun climbs higher, its warm rays threading through the branches and dappling the footpath.
26:59 John Hopkins? Occasionally, one of the exhausted tourists asks how much further they have to walk. The answer is always the same: un hora más. One hour more.
27:11 John Hopkins? Several hours later, at around midday, Matt tries again to get some information.
27:17 Speaker 01 About the fifth time of asking him where he was going and how long it was going to take, I got from him, and I don't think anyone else got this, the first honest answer that anyone had had. He says, "We're going to march three days, and then the bosses will decide what to do with you." And I thought, that sounds all kinds of bad.
27:51 John Hopkins? It's early afternoon. A light rain falls through the jungle canopy, pooling at the feet of the tourists, who sit resting on the trunk of a fallen tree. Their captors stand around, leaning on their rifles and smoking cigarettes.
28:07 John Hopkins? The tourists have all been given a waterproof sheet to keep them dry. And Matt sits huddled under his, listening to the rain drum against the plastic.
28:17 Speaker 01 They also gave us this Choco Baby chocolate bar, it's quite small. And we ate these chocolate bars, and then they went around and picked up all the wrappers. And Eric said, "Oh, it's nice that they're careful in the environment, and picking up all the wrappers." And Mark, who was a bit more switched on, said, "No, they don't want to be tracked."
28:36 John Hopkins? Matt looks at the faces of the others. Surely they can't still believe that this is anything but a kidnapping. Probably at the hands of some rebel militia or guerrilla group. Mark seems to be on the same page, possibly a few others. But the majority still seem willing to accept the story presented by their captors.
28:57 Speaker 01 I think there was just a lot of denial in the group, and a lot of like, "We'll wait and see how this turns out." Because they didn't need to sort of persuade us that they were the army and they were there to help us. They just needed to put enough doubt into everyone's minds that people were willing to say, "Well, you know, I'm not exactly sure what's going on here, but I'll just wait until things become clear."
29:21 John Hopkins? For Matt, however, his earlier conversation has left him in little doubt.
29:26 Speaker 01 When I got the information that we were going to march three days and the bosses would decide what to do with us, I immediately thought that this... I was recalibrating and thinking, "This is more serious than I had thought, and we ought to think about escaping."
29:43 John Hopkins? But what would escape even look like? They're still following a footpath along a forested ridge. On either side of the path, a steep slope plunges down into a jungle-choked ravine. Matt's best chance would probably be to try to slip off the path unnoticed, and to hide in the trees until the coast is clear. With any luck, by the time the men notice he's missing, he could be long gone.
30:10 John Hopkins? He glances left and right, peering through the dense vegetation.
30:16 John Hopkins? Maybe the notion of escape is delusional, but once the idea takes hold, it's hard to shake off.
30:24 John Hopkins? One of the guards barks an instruction at the tourists.
30:28 John Hopkins? Time to move on.
30:30 John Hopkins? They get back to their feet and continue walking.
30:34 John Hopkins? With a new sense of purpose in his stride, Matt quickly catches up to Mark, and begins to tell him his plan.
30:43 Speaker 01 I think that the chance of survival in a two-person group is significantly higher than the chance of survival as a one-person group, where it just takes one thing to go wrong, and that's it. You've got no redundancy. That's why I wanted Mark to come with me.
31:03 John Hopkins? Matt earnestly delivers his pitch. Mark hears him out. But the older man doesn't seem convinced. He reminds Matt that even if they did successfully get away, there would be consequences in the form of reprisals carried out against the others. Maybe violent ones. He couldn't take that risk.
31:22 Speaker 01 Mark also, I think, had this idea of solidarity. He thought, the way we're going to get through this as a group is to all stay together. I think he sort of saw himself in this leadership role, and wanted to keep everyone on the same page, and wanted the whole group to act in concert, and comply or resist together. I've had this idea we'd be more powerful as a unit.
31:47 John Hopkins? It's disappointing. Mark would be an ideal accomplice. But Matt remains undeterred. He approaches others, mentioning his escape plan to Arez. But again, Matt's offer is turned down. Arez wishes him well, but he isn't interested.
32:05 Speaker 01 I seemed to have a much higher estimation of how serious the situation we were in was compared to the other people I was talking to, who often had a sort of a wait-and-see approach.
32:19 John Hopkins? As Matt speaks with his fellow captives, it turns out none of the others think the risk of escaping is worth it.
32:26 Speaker 01 By giving us this official story that we were being marched along back to Santa Marta along different paths to avoid some danger in the area, they gave us an excuse to kind of believe a comforting reality that was not true. And a lot of people would prefer to just believe that reality than to look at the evidence in front of their face.
32:49 John Hopkins? No matter what he says, he cannot tempt anyone else to join his escape attempt.
32:55 John Hopkins? It seems that if he does go through with it, he's going to have to go it alone.
33:13 John Hopkins? It's about an hour later. Matt trudges along the footpath, his rubber Wellington boots squelching in the mud.
33:21 John Hopkins? If he does escape and then gets injured in the jungle, if he slips and breaks an arm or leg, he'll be game over.
33:29 John Hopkins? Going solo is far from ideal. Maybe this scheme is too laden with risk. But as time ticks by, his urge to run away remains undimmed.
33:41 Speaker 01 I had a flight in six days. I'm going to miss this flight. And then I was supposed to start university, like first time Oxford. So I thought, I'm going to miss freshers week as well. I don't want to miss freshers week.
33:52 John Hopkins? But it's not just a desire to get home and start his life as a student. It's also a profound sense of being totally out of control. Even if it all goes horribly wrong, a decisive dash for freedom is better than doing nothing and accepting his situation.
34:10 Speaker 01 I think because I made a sort of positive decision, even if I had died, it would have been easier to reconcile with psychologically and to accept my fate because I had brought it upon myself than if I had been, you know, taken hostage and then randomly shot. Having your own agency taken away from you is really frustrating and very disempowering. And there's a natural human reaction, the kick against that. And I thought that by escaping, I retained a lot of agency in my life and made a positive decision to do something, even though it was very dangerous.
34:59 John Hopkins? It's about half three in the afternoon.
35:03 John Hopkins? Rain pours in the jungle, a deluge cascading through the branches and fronds, turning the ground into a muddy swamp.
35:11 John Hopkins? Matt walks near the back of the group, listening to the squelching footsteps of the armed guard behind him.
35:20 John Hopkins? Over the last few hours, he has noticed a lapse in the soldiers' close attentiveness towards their captives. They've been getting lax, no longer keeping a constant eye on the tourists. They probably don't expect any of them to take their chances against the jungle.
35:35 John Hopkins? Matt is hoping to capitalize on this complacency.
35:41 Speaker 01 I waited till the rains came down because that reduced visibility as well. And we were walking along these ridges. My first thought was, I'm going to just cut off the path, wait for everyone to have gone past, and then get back on the path and go back down the other way.
35:58 John Hopkins? Admittedly, it's not the most intricate of plans. But perhaps its strength lies in its simplicity. The guard behind him is looking down, head stooped against the driving rain. All Matt needs to do is slip off the path and wait. With any luck, no one will notice he's missing until the next head count. By that time, he could be miles down the trail, home free.
36:26 John Hopkins? Matt waits until there's a substantial distance between him and the person in front. He glances over his shoulder. The soldier is a ways back, staring at the ground as he walks, his rifle holstered by his side.
36:42 John Hopkins? Matt calms his jittery breathing and takes his chance.
36:47 Speaker 01 I waited for a time when I wasn't observed too closely and just kind of slipped off the path to the side. And then I waited for all the other people to come across the path.
36:58 John Hopkins? Matt crouches in the dripping wet undergrowth and waits. He holds his breath as the last soldier continues along the trail, oblivious.
37:11 John Hopkins? A pulse of adrenaline shivers through him. So far, so good. But he can't get ahead of himself. He stays still for as long as he dares, peering up at the trail through the trees, until he's sure that the rest of the group has moved off.
37:27 John Hopkins? The rain makes it difficult to see clearly, so he takes off his glasses and wipes the lenses with his t-shirt. Doesn't make much of a difference.
37:37 John Hopkins? After a few minutes, Matt begins tentatively climbing back up the slope.
37:44 John Hopkins? He is just a few meters from the trail, when the shape of a person materializes through the rain, partially disguised by his head-to-toe camouflage.
37:56 John Hopkins? Matt freezes, but it's too late.
38:00 John Hopkins? The guard looks directly at him, more puzzled than angry.
38:06 John Hopkins? He calls out, beckoning Matt back to the footpath. Matt strides briskly over, trying to look innocent.
38:16 Speaker 01 I think he and I both knew what was going on, but I felt sorry, like I slipped and fell off the path. And I came back on this direction, back to the path. He kept a close eye on me for a while. So I thought, I'm not going to try that again, because if I try that again, it'll be really serious.
38:36 John Hopkins? Matt feels the soldier's eyes on him as he walks.
38:40 John Hopkins? It's impossible to hide his disappointment. He had one chance and he blew it. Now that he's a flight risk, he'll be under constant surveillance.
38:51 John Hopkins? They continue walking for another mile or so.
38:56 John Hopkins? But then, something surprising happens.
39:00 John Hopkins? The guard who caught him escaping seems to lose interest in keeping an eye on Matt. He falls back once again, letting his gaze drop to the ground.
39:10 John Hopkins? Maybe he believed Matt's story, that he just slipped off the trail. Maybe he assumes he wouldn't be reckless enough to run away twice.
39:20 John Hopkins? Whatever the case, it seems his escape is back on. But this time, Matt isn't going to risk returning to the footpath.
39:30 Speaker 01 After that first fateful year, I decided on a more radical plan. We had crossed this big river, the Rio Buritaca, the previous day that you weighed across. We crossed the river, we walked straight up the side of a valley on these very steep stairs, and then since then, we'd been marched only uphill. What I thought is, we've only gone uphill. If I just come down this hill, I'll still be in the catchment area of the Rio Buritaca. I can just follow the nearest tributary, that'll take me back to the river. Then, when I get back to the river, I'll have my bearings and I can follow it back down the path back to where we came.
40:08 John Hopkins? Matt looks down to his right. The ridge drops away sharply into a precipitous slope, covered in dense brush and small loose rocks. Somewhere down there is a stream. A stream he can follow back to the main river, the Rio Buritaca. Once he gets there, it'll be a matter of following the water back to civilization.
40:32 John Hopkins? He sizes up the gradient of the slope. It's practically sheer, but overgrown enough that it'll be able to slide down, hopefully in a sort of controlled fall, grabbing onto trees and roots for support, all the way to the bottom.
40:47 John Hopkins? Needless to say, it's incredibly risky. For all he knows, there could be vertical drops along the way, waterfalls, cliffs, and crags that could spell broken bones or worse. But then, the danger might be to his advantage. Even if he is spotted hurling himself off the ridge, the soldiers are hardly likely to follow him down. All he needs to do is not die in the process.
41:14 John Hopkins? And so, with a new plan, Matt waits for his next opportunity.
41:20 Speaker 01 I just fell back a bit, looked around until there was like a decent break in the line. And then I waited till I could hear running water. I heard a little stream, some running water on my right. And I thought, let's go.
41:41 John Hopkins? Will he make it down the ridge in one piece?
41:44 John Hopkins? Will the soldiers lay chase? Will he make it out of the jungle alive?
41:50 John Hopkins? That's all next time on Real Survival Stories.
41:54 John Hopkins? You can listen to the second and final part of Matt's epic story right now by joining Noiser Plus. Just click the banner at the top of the feed to get started.
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