Latin America
Miles of Dangerous Jungle
In 2019 he flew to the tiny South American nation of Suriname, one of the few countries issuing tourist visas to Cubans. He saved up money working as a security guard then, starting in March, he began a meandering journey, by bus, hitchhiking and the occasional boat, through French Guiana, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and then Colombia.
Vivó struggles through mud on his way to a migrant camp called Las Tecas where he will begin the trek into the Darién Jungle.
Carlos Villalón for NPR
Migrants climb the hilly route through the Darién jungle in challenging conditions with muddy trails and rain in September.
Carlos Villalón for NPR
Initially, we followed a trail along the Río Muerto — "dead river" in Spanish — and had to cross it every 10 minutes or so with the water often reaching our waists. Vivó's small backpack was overloaded with clothes, food and a thick Bible. His gear kept falling out, forcing us to stop and repack. He seemed totally out of place in the jungle.
Yet he kept plowing ahead. Villalón, who has spent years photographing migrants in the Darién Gap, was impressed by the persistence and courage of our Cuban companion, calling him "an incredibly strong human being."
And as it turned out, we made decent progress. By the end of the day, we were in striking distance of the Panamanian border. We set up camp, ate more rice and tuna, then fell asleep in our hammocks to the sound of the rain forest.
Vivó rests at his camp the evening before attempting to cross the border to Panama.
Carlos Villalón for NPR
Before leaving Acandí, the last town we would see in Colombia, we stocked up on food, flashlights and sheets of plastic to protect our hammocks from the rain. There were no roads out of town, so we hired a horse cart and a driver to take us five hours down grassy trails to where the jungle begins. We spent a rainy night trying to get some sleep in our hammocks then ate rice and canned tuna for breakfast and began our hike.
But it was rough going.
The endless stream of migrants and frequent rain showers had turned the trail into a mud slick ....
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