"Surviving the Darién Gap: A Harrowing Journey Through One of the World's Most Dangerous Regions"

Para calmar sus ansiedades — "Me pongo muy paranoico en este lugar" — Keyber agarra una linterna, rebusca en su mochila y saca un libro, *Pequeños Ángeles Atrapados*, de Andrés Caicedo, un escritor colombiano que se quitó la vida a los 25 años. Era a finales de los años 70, una época en la que los jóvenes anhelaban una muerte temprana y soñaban con dejar un bello cadáver. Keyber tiene 17 años y disfruta recorrer librerías de segunda mano, tocar la guitarra y compartir historias graciosas en Instagram. En medio de esta oscura selva, repleta de peligros, se aferra a la vida con desesperación, tan joven, tan apasionado por la música y la literatura.

He reads Caicedo and for a few moments his life is cleared of fear and worry. He focuses on the pages with a dim light due to the lack of batteries, careful not to wake his mother and his 10-year-old sister, who sleep next to him in the tent. The three of them embarked together on crossing the Darién jungle, one of the busiest border crossings in the world. Keyber wanted to bring more books, but his mother took them away to pack cans of tuna, bottles of water, energy bars, and mosquito repellent instead.

He says he has the mentality of “a machine; damn, a cyborg,” leaving sentimentality or negative thoughts aside. He hasn’t cried, he hasn’t laughed. In his eyes, nothingness, an empty look. He has come across people sitting on rocks, talking to others, and his blood boils. “This isn’t a vacation, damn it.” Romantic as he is in other circumstances, he is not immune to the grandeur of nature: “I wanted to relax for a while because the jungle is beautiful, but it deceives you with its beauty. You sit there contemplating it and it kills you.”