T A B L E_T A L K It may be a frightening monolithic media giant, but Disney makes a great theme park. Delight in the wonder of Disneyland in Table Talk's Wanderlust area   Find a world of travel books -- new, rare and out-of-print -- at barnesandnoble.com Search by:  Keyword Title Author     R E C E N T L Y Captive in Kosovo By Susan Milligan A journalist finds herself caught in the middle of the Drenica Mountains with a guerrilla pressing a gun against her head (02/17/99) Losing it in Cambodia By Morrie Erickson Getting a haircut in Cambodia is a good deal -- especially if you like getting more than you bargained for (02/16/99) This week in travel Wanderlust's select guide to the top travel-related news stories from around the globe (02/12/99) You are what you eat By Tim Cahill The foreword from the book "Man Eating Bugs: The Art and Science of Eating Insects" by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio (02/11/99) Backstage on "The Beach" By Rolf Potts A backpacker's quest to storm Leonardo DiCaprio's movie set ends in an epiphany that won't play in Peoria (02/10/99) Browse the Wanderlust Feature archives Wanderlust's Official Travel Book Partner		Don't go near the mountains FROM NARCO-TOURS TO DAILY CHIT-CHAT ABOUT KIDNAPPINGS, A STAY IN CALI, COLOMBIA, IS A PLUNGE INTO THE SURREALITY OF A PLEASANT NATION ENGAGED IN AN ENDLESS WAR. BY DAWN MacKEEN | There was a time when the small, egg-shaped lake didn't exist. And the ducks and geese and swans floating atop it, too. It wasn't that long ago, I am told, but it looks now as if everything has always been there. The bank of the lake and the way it slopes gently downward. The long blades of grass leaning in unison. The trees hanging heavy and low over the water, as if from thirst. Even the perfectly mowed lawn that we're standing on somehow looks natural. On the other side of the lake, half covered by untamed vegetation, a billboard reads "PROPRIEDAD DE TODOS," with a cut-out picture of a smiling little girl beside it. "Property of all of us." It's a big sign, but it doesn't mean much unless you know the story behind it. "A drug dealer lives there," the woman I'm with claims, pointing to the walled-in house across the street. She is taking me on a narco-tour of Ciudad Jardin, where I'm staying. "He made this lake. It was public land, but he didn't care. He brought all the birds, the swans, and just put them in there. Then the city took the land back and had a big public ceremony dedicating the land back to the people. After that, the city built the lake next to this one." While the birds live in one of the lakes, an alligator now lives in the other. Town legend has it that one of the neighborhood drug dealers kept it as a pet until he tired of it and released it into the water. The preternatural lake came with everything else in this Colombian suburb -- the construction boom, the insane cash flow and the drugs. Within walking distance of where I'm standing, three of the Cali Cartel's four most powerful men built their homes. At its height, after the demise of Pablo Escobar and his Medellin Cartel in 1993, the Cali empire oversaw 80 percent of the world's cocaine trafficking. The low-profile Cali Cartel preferred bribery to the open violence of the Medellin Cartel, and invested in legitimate businesses like a national chain of discount drugstores, a pharmaceutical laboratory and a bank. They posed as successful businessmen. "One of the homes was so big that my mother thought they were building a new supermarket," says my guide, smiling. Located just outside Cali, the country's third largest city, Ciudad Jardin is an enclave of grandiose homes, tree-lined streets, sports utility vehicles with black-tinted bulletproof windows (known as Narco Toyotas) and nuevo-rich residents. There are so many drug dealers in this little suburb that the rest of the residents have a word for a street without one living on it -- "sano," or clean. "Come, let's continue our tour," she says. We drive down to the end of Gator Lake to the white compound of Miguel Rodriguez, who, with his older brother Gilberto, helped run the Cali cartel. Although he isn't home -- he and his brother are in jail -- it looks as if someone is. A group of men dressed in dark colors stand around in front of the main entranceway talking. At the corner a man stands guard in a windowed booth. The compound stretches one and a half blocks, hidden behind a 10-foot white wall that presses right up to the walkway. "My friend lives there," my guide says, pointing to where the massive walls are interrupted by a modest-looking house. "When Rodriguez was buying up all the properties around here, he wanted to buy his, but he didn't want to sell. My friend said if there's going to be a safe place to live in Cali, it's here. Look how many people are guarding this area." We briefly slow down to look at her friend's house, but keep moving. We don't want to linger too long in front of any of the houses. The residents, and their bodyguards, probably wouldn't appreciate our narco-tour. 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