Bogota, Colombia ? Ruth Morris was more knowledgeable than most people about kidnappings in Colombia, having worked in the country as a journalist for five years. But she says nothing could have prepared her for the 11 days she and American photographer Scott Dalton spent in the clutches of leftist rebels.

Morris, a 35-year-old British citizen raised in southern California, said she was sometimes so scared she had to force herself to eat the rice, spaghetti and fish provided by the rebels.

The two veteran journalists, released to the Red Cross on Saturday, said they were never harmed but were constantly worried what their fate would be and how their families were dealing with their abduction.

Morris and Dalton, 34, of Conroe, Tex., were the first foreign journalists to be kidnapped in Colombia’s four-decade-long war.

Both had been in Arauca on assignment for the Los Angeles Times when they were stopped at a roadblock Jan. 21 by the National Liberation Army and led away.

At one point, the rebels demanded a halt to Colombian military operations in the northeastern state but then backed off the demand.

The National Liberation Army and a larger rebel group are fighting U.S.-backed government troops and an outlawed paramilitary group for control of oil-rich Arauca.

On their sixth day in captivity, the journalists were marched down the mountain where they were being held at a rebel camp. Morris thought she was about to be freed. Instead they were taken to another rebel camp.

“It was as if someone had removed my heart,” she said.

The guerrillas told the journalists they were being held for a $50 million ransom and warned them they’d be shot if they tried to escape.

Colombia has the highest kidnapping rate in the world. Last year, 3,000 people were abducted.

Morris had written extensively about the problem and was even preparing a television documentary on it.

“It never occurred to me that we would be kidnapped by the guerrillas,” said Morris, speaking from a Bogota hotel where she and Dalton were recuperating hours after their release. “It was something that I didn’t think could happen.”

The kidnapping was apparently a spur-of-the-moment decision by a rebel at the roadblock, who remained with them throughout most of the 11 days.

“We were always confident we’d be freed eventually,” said Dalton.

He said he planned to fly to Texas later in the week to see his family.