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BBC News not long back reported the story of horticulturist and orchid collector, Tom Hart Dyke, who was
kidnapped in 2000 in the Darien Gap in Panama by Colombian Guerrillas and held hostage for nine months in the South American jungle. He was on a plant gathering expedition with his friend Paul Winder when captured.
They experienced a horrific kidnapping ordeal and were both threatened with being beheaded. During this dark passage, in order to stay sane, Tom expended his time jotting down plans in his dairy and dreaming of a map garden containing exotic plants from around the world.
The basi plan took root, he recalls, when he was threatened with execution: “My guards kicked down the door on June 16, 2000, my sister’s birthday, and said: ‘You’ve got five hours, mate.’ I started scribbling in my diary, drawing the shapes of my garden. It took an AK47 to focus my mind. It was: four walls, begin drawing. The whole garden started with that threat. Five hours later the guards came back and we had iguana and armadillo for supper as usual; there was no more mention of being shot.” [Taken from Times Online, Aug. 4, 2006]
After his miraculous release, Tom set regarding building his dream garden and worked hard on cultivating a neglected two-acre garden at his family’s ancestral home in Kent. His dream garden is now a reality. Like something out of a fairy tale, Tom’s magical walled garden is located in the historic Lullingston Castle grounds. He calls it “The World Garden of Plants,” which is separated into four continents and is now an award winning tourist attraction open to the public.
Think of this article as that AK47 to focus your mind on your dreams. Okay, so this article might not be as threatening, but it’ll spare you the nine months of captivity in the heart of darkness — sans iguana and armadillo.
But seriously, since most of us don’t have guns pointed to our heads and we live in a predominantly free society, there ought to be no excuses for not living our dreams. Take the time now to concentrate your thoughts and focus on your dreams:
* Write out your plans for your magical dream world in a diary as Tom did.
* Re-create your plans by sketching them on paper. Use colors to make your drawing memorable.
* Visit your nearest Staples and get a pin cork board to invent a Vision Board. Tack pictures, quotes, magazine cut-outs, and drawings that represent the dream life style you want to live or the BIG goal you want to achieve. Look at that board each day and see yourself living that lifestyle.
* Create a replica ‘vision board’ by putting similar pictures on your fridge with fridge magnets as a further reminder.
* Put another reminder photo near your bathroom mirror; construct a screensaver of it on your computer; and discreetly, or not so discreetly, put that dream sketch or photo someplace near your workspace where you may look at it daily. During your breaks, you may focus on these pictures with intensity and daydream regarding what it would be like to in truth live out your fantasy.
* Kidnap yourself! Take yourself hostage and go into captivity for a while to focus only on your dream world and the new reality you want to develop for yourself. Go on a two day or week long retreat (or longer) to refresh and renew your mind, body, and soul and use this quiet time of solitude to reflect on your dreams.
* Watch the DVD movie The Secret which provides a powerful and visceral experience of the magic that may take place when you concentrate your thoughts on what you want, visualize your dreams, and feel the excitement of what it would be like to actually be living your dreams right now!
Become obsessed with your dream! Write down all the steps you need to take, all the goals you need to accomplish along the way, and list all the resources you need to tap into to recreate that Shangri La in your mind.
By immersing yourself in an oasis of dream thoughts, your heart will overflow with positive energy that will seep through and permeate each pore, cell, and molecular structure in your body. This is the timeless Law of Attraction that The Secret movie makes so vividly clear, where what you want, wants you, and you attract the very thing that is top of mind. You may use these dream thought projections to penetrate the far reaches of space and in a literal sense construct your own Garden of Eden on earth.
Law Jungle Colombian Guerrillas American
“Truth be told, they were largely in it for the money”
On February 13, 2003, a plane carrying three American military contractors on a recon patrol crash-landed in the jungle-covered mountains of Colombia. Within minutes, FARC guerrillas swarmed the wreckage and killed the American pilot and a Colombian crew fellow member as they tried to escape. The survivors—Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell, and Thomas Howes—were marched at gunpoint into the rain forest. They would live in neverending darkness underneath the jungle canopy as they faced starvation, fights with fellow hostages, and threats of execution—often with their necks shackled together.
The Colombian government sent 147 soldiers to rescue the Americans. Led by a bold yet corpulent lieutenant, the troops expended weeks subsisting on monkey meat and Amazon rodents as they chased the guerrillas deeper into the jungle. But then a soldier on a bathroom break stuck his machete into the ground and pulled out 20 million pesos, equaling $7,000. Pretty soon, the young, poor, and exhausted troops realized they had stumbled upon a buried rebel cache of $20 million. Within three days, the GIs burned through their newfound fortune, splurging on booze, sex, and flat-screen televisions. And altho the cash brought pleasure, for a lot of of the soldiers it would end in criminal prosecution or even death by FARC hit men.
Law of the Jungle places the Colombian hostage story in it is full context by exploring the inner workings of the FARC, the U.S.-backed war on drugs, and Colombia’s attempts to free the rebel-held prisoners. John Otis, a veteran journalist on the Latin American beat, spins an edge-of-your-seat adventure narrative that offers a shocking cautionary tale in regards to the pursuit of fortune in one of the world’s most dangerous places.
From BooklistIn July 2008, Colombia’s army foisted a brilliant ruse upon it is Marxist enemy, the FARC. Masquerading as humanitarian workers, soldiers tricked the FARC into handing over it is most worthful hostages: three American military contractors whose plane had crashed into the jungle (FARC murdered their two comrades on the spot); Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt; and various Colombian police and military personnel. Journalist Otis’ intensive depiction of that operation culminates his chronicle of how the victims fell into the clutches of the FARC, the ordeal of captivity, and their relatives’ pressure to obtain their release. Otis frames such specifics with the decades-long rebellion by the FARC and it is resorting to extortion, drug trafficking, and kidnapping to finance itself. A Colombian army unit that ran into a stash of FARC cash while searching for the hostages is a story told in parallel to the prisoners’ messages that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events of abusive treatment. With it is Conradian atmosphere of jungle-induced madness and an immediacy stemming from consultations with a good deal of of the participants, this will engage all who follow Colombian politics. –Gilbert Taylor
Review“Amazing…Mesmerizing….[John] Otis has accumulated a yarn that would make a magical naturalisti blush, finish with outlandish characters, tragicomic twists of fate, and far-flung deeds of derring-do…. Riveting.” (Boston Globe )
“An impossible-to-put-down read with as some twists and turns as a summer blockbuster…. Otis, a journalist who has worked in Latin America for more than 20 years, skillfully weaves this unbelievable tale of attempted—and finally successful—rescue by Colombian soldiers….Fascinating.” (Very Short List )
“Compelling…Wild.” (New York Post )
“Has the feel of a John Huston movie, with it is mix of tragedy, intrigue, black comedy and, ultimately, heroism….fascinating. (BookPage )
“Gripping and funny…[Otis] tells an amazing story in his initial book….Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell were in the long run freed for the duration of the summer of 2008, and Otis tells their story in the sort of rich detail you’d suppose of an experienced print journalist.” (Minneapolis Star Tribune )
“Law of the Jungle is a well-reported, highly informative account of the chase, which was undertaken largely by the Colombian army….[A] thriller-opera of a story….Otis’s story rises beyond popular reporting: He manages to condense recent Colombian history into a clear, digestible narrative.” (Washington Post )
“With it is Conradian atmosphere of jungle-induced madness and an immediacy stemmingfrom consultations with a heap of of the participants, this will engage all…” (Booklist )
About the Author
Born in Minnesota, John Otis has worked as a reporter in Latin America for more than two decades, and served for eight years as South America Bureau Chief for the Houston Chronicle. His 2001 investigation of Colombia’s FARC guerrillas was honored by the Overseas Press Club as the best reporting out of Latin America for that year. He now reports from Colombia for Time magazine, GlobalPost, and the BBC/PRI radio program The World, and lives in BogotÁ.
Law Jungle Colombian Guerrillas American Photo
Law Jungle Colombian Guerrillas American Photo
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Most helpful client reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful.
 Spellbinding Tale
By Theodore B. Yasi
Law of the Jungle is a outstanding read- it actually lays out the complex web of narco-politics in Colombia through the story of three “gringos” shot down over the jungle interwoven with the strange adventure of the Colombian Special forces team who were sent to find the Americans. The story would be difficult to believe if it were not true- and that is the mutual thread through out the novel.
I have often wondered the back story of the whole war on drugs- particularly as it has played out in Colombia, Law of the Jungle brought me up to speed in a thoughtful and agreeably diverting way.
The author’s in depth noesis of latin america, both culturally as well as politically show through in the narrative, Mr. Otis ought to carry on writing on this subject, I can’t wait for his next book!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
A complex tale full of untold stories
By R Lawrence
John Otis wrestles with great success with a elaborated subject that remains largely ignored by most of the world – outside Colombia. Complex stories require reader patience, and this one was hard to crack – which I think caused another reviewer to down-rate the book. I learned a outstanding deal with regards to the FARC, Colombian politics and government since the 1970s. The tales of three American contractors, and of Ingrid Betancourt, bookend sad stories of the hundreds and thousands who have suffered at the hands of Colombia’s right, left, and center. Otis’s book explores and enlightens, approaching a crescendo in the last ten chapters that held me up reading late until I finished.
1 of 1 humans found the following review helpful.
A real page-turner
By Eric Kayne
Two friends of mine who worked closely with John Otis in South America in the past told me regarding this book and I had likewise heard regarding it on a radio consultation here in Houston.
Otis brilliantly weaves the lives of three Americans held hostage in the jungles of Columbia versus a backdrop of international politics, buried treasure and a harrowing rescue. The book narratively clarifies the conflict amidst the government of Columbia and the FARC. A real page-turner, this is a good book for a long plane ride or a bedside book good for pre-sleep adventures.
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