For migrants, the Darien Gap is hell; for adventure tourists, it's a magnet

FILE PHOTO: A migrant from Ecuador hugs his exhausted daughter, which is afraid after crossing the Rio Muerto river in the Darien Gap, as they continue their journey to the U.S. border, in Acandi, Colombia July 9, 2023. REUTERS/Adri Salido/File Photo

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Deep in the Panamanian jungle, Venezuelan migrant Franca Ramirez was scrambling to reach higher ground as a rushing river broke its banks, he said, when something caught his eye: a group of young men, snapping photos of the landscape.

The former police officer, who says he fled imprisonment and torture in Venezuela, was surprised.