The guide and I had covered 15 miles of walking on our first day on foot in the Darién Gap. Still, we hoped to have covered more ground that day to reduce as much time spent in this hostile jungle as possible. The longer you stay, the faster you begin to break down, as though the wild slowly digests you.
We were no longer on fresh legs as we had been on day one. Now it all depended on willpower to push through on day two, where we made it into the most remote, mountainous and central region of the jungle between the start and end of this journey.

I've lost track of the number of times I'm asked how and what I eat in those situations. There is an idea that people that explore or spend extended times away from villages towns or even people, like me can rustle up a meal from the wild in any situation. Popular TV channels have reinforced this idea repeatedly over the last decade. However, the truth is that learning how to survive on wild fruit, berries, and bugs is a complex and often dangerous process. Unless you know what you have stumbled across, without any doubt, there is a good chance of poisoning yourself.