Professor revisits memory of kidnapping in Peru

Machu Pichu, the mountain Professor Daniel Cozrt crossed while in Peru where he was kidnapped, not once, but twice during his trip. Photo courtesy of Erik Cleves Kristensen

Dan Cozart, professor of Latin American courses at UNC Charlotte, took a not-so-average vacation in Peru. Most people explore the ancient sites, visit friends and family, eat traditional food from the area and make it home without a scratch. Some people are not as lucky.

Cozart visited Peru and spent time visiting local sites such as Machu Pichu and getting kidnapped. Twice.

“I first started out going to Argentina, specifically to Buenos Aires. I wanted to explore the Andes mountains and then eventually head on over to Peru,” said Cozart.

He started his adventure in a restaurant. He had just met a guy there and as he was walking back to his friend’s apartment, everything went blank.

“About 17 hours later, I woke up having no idea where I was. The guy I met must have put something in my drink. I woke up in a taxi with all my stuff robbed, including my travel gear, clothes and cash. Luckily, I had my passport and sleeping bag,” said Cozart.

By this time, Cozart was ready to get on over to Peru. He always loved Cusco, a city in Peru, and even though he managed to get robbed, he was still determined. He had his parents wire him some money to be able to see the Incan ruins, backpack and hike up Machu Pichu.

Cozart said, “Before I hiked up Machu Pichu, a few, local Peruvians said to me, ‘Close your eyes, open them up and the image of Machu Pichu will be ingrained in your head.’ I thought that was pretty cool.”

Without a travel guide, Cozart went to Lake Titicaca and got on a bus to head over to the city of Puno. American tourists told him not to travel on July 10, but he did not care enough and did it anyways. The bus kept stopping and around 3 a.m., there was a tire fire up front.

“The bus driver announced that a national strike was occurring and that he could not provide for any of us on the bus. He asked us if we wanted to turn back and if not, we had to convince the town to let us through,” said Cozart. “The people in the town were in protest mode, so when we got off, screaming matches went back and forth.  Convincing the labor strike activists was tough.”

Cozart and the other tourists linked up in chain formation and tried to get the bus to move. People threw rocks at the tourist bus. As the bus kept going, everyone had to jump on and stay as safe as possible.

“All of this was so surreal to me, but I managed and went a long with it,” said Cozart.

The bus never made it to Puno, so Cozart and four college students from Colombia did not want to wait around. Cozart had no money and did not have much time left to spare. All five of them decided to hike the route to Puno. On the way, they hit a village where nothing was open. The Colombians eventually got tired and wanted to take the taxi, but Cozart said no because he knew a lot of them were pirated and fake.

“I feared taking a taxi especially after being kidnapped once. Well, of course, the Colombians bargained with the taxi driver and got a cheap deal. I had to go along with it. As we were driving to Puno, I could understand the driver. He was saying something along the lines of ‘we are on our way.’ He then pulled up at some random spot in the desert,” said Cozart. “Four men ran to the car and I remembered my friend telling me to knock a guy out immediately if he opens the door to the taxi.”

The guy who opened the door was loaded with a gun and Cozart could not try to fight the man. All of the Colombians and Cozart were trapped at gun point. Hours went by and the situation escalated. All of them were interrogated about what school they attend.

“I told the bad guys I teach English in Colombia. The criminals kept saying they would not take our money. They searched our bags as we kept our heads covered. The criminals even said they were with the police and thought we were a part of trafficking. They told us not to tell the police and let us go. Of course, we were not in Puno, so next, we headed to Juliaca,” said Cozart.

The students and Cozart were never able to report the problem because the police station was closed. Luckily, the guys found a hostel and did not have to pay. They had not eaten in three days.

“On the plus side, a tiny store happened to be open. I had some of the best soup, it tasted so amazing,” said Cozart.

Later, he returned to Cusco and then Lima having made it to the U.S. Embassy.

“Even though the Embassy did not give me a new passport because I had no police report, eventually, I got a new one. Once that was taken care of, I left Peru and went straight back to Buenos Aires,” said Cozart.

Cozart gives his students advice about traveling in countries in which they are not familiar. Although he had some tough times, he would still willingly return to Peru some day in the future.

“I tell students to not take drinks from people they do not know. I even tell men to be careful because it is not just women who fall for it, men can too. Believe it not, all the things I experienced made me more interested in Peru. I got to witness a strike overseas. I have never seen that in the United States,” said Cozart.