COLOMBIA

"We found Juana in Puerto Aziz where she was stopping over on her way to Legizamo, at the far south of the Putumayo. Planes scared her far more than terrorists. She was going to the river port of Puerto Aziz, nicknamed 'Hong Kong,' to board the fast boat that would take eight hours to reach the city in the south. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, the voyage is comparable to the one in Apocalypse Now.

The river is crisscrossed by Ejército military boats while the banks are rife with rebels, from one side or the other, hiding in the jungle. The Putumayo is a tributary of the Amazon, marking the borders of Peru and Ecuador, then that of Brazil. Gringos are advised against making the 'crossing'. Even though we were placed under their protection, the OSIP (an indigenous organization respected by the FARC) categorically warned us off from making the trip."

Extract from Zoé Zoé, Femmes du mondes, 2007, Éditions Gallimard