The lost city

It was a new week, volunteering was over, I’d packed up my belongings from my apartment in Santa Marta, and Roh and I were heading off for the famous lost city trek through the jungle of the Sierra Nevada. With these sorts of tourist activities your group can make or break your experience, so we were happy when we arrived in Taganga and met the people we’d be trekking with: Chris and  Sinead, from Ireland, and Zoe and Andrea, from Canada. The four of them had signed up for the four day trek and Roh and I were planning to complete it in five days, but early on we decided we would stick with them for as long as possible.

Day one involved about five hours of walking, including a couple of stops to swim in the river. Unfortunately Andrea twisted her ankle early on, which made it tough going as she battled through to the camp site where we’d stay for the night. The landscape was stunning as we made our way through dense Colombian jungle and mountainous backcountry. We passed time playing celebrity guessing games and I had a bit of fun on our guide Gabi’s walky talky trying to locate our mules. The guides keep walky talkies for safety but there hasn’t really been any trouble from the paramilitary groups who once controlled this area since the mid 2000’s. Apparently during the Pablo Escobar era this farmland was mainly used to cultivate marijuana and coca for cocaine.

Day one, taking a break for a swim in the river

View across mountains of the Sierra Nevada

Gabi and Alexandra with one of our Mules

Day two we were up at 530 am with another long day of walking planned. We left Andrea at the camp as she decided her ankle was too bad to continue and the five of us headed off. We kept a good pace and got to the campsite next to the lost city by mid afternoon. Day two involved more beautiful jungle, river crossings, the most difficult hill climb and rain, which was actually a welcome relief from the suffocating humidity and stench of sweat permeating the air around us. The camp site next to the lost city was dank and pretty disgusting, with the mattresses a breeding ground for blood-sucking insects. That night Chris the Irishman was in fine form, sharing a bottle of Rum and Aguardiente with the reluctant Zoe. Roh and I weren’t partaking in the drinking due to unsettled stomachs, with everyone suspect about how well the purification tablets were working on the river water.

Day 2, following the river upstream

Indigenous village where the Kogi people gather for reunions

The team post river crossing

Day three we were up at day break to cross another river, climb 1000 odd mossy, fairly dangerous steps and explore the lost city. I had lowered my expectations substantially after hearing from people that the trek itself was ‘better’ than the ruins. As a result I was both surprised and impressed when we got there. Granted, it’s not Machu Pichuu, Palenque or Tikal in terms of the magnitude of the ruins, but it’s still a beautiful site with the foundations for the city set deep in the jungle on the side of a mountain. The mosquitoes were the worst I’ve experienced anywhere so far as we reached the shadows of the lost city so Gabi moved us up into the sun as quickly as possible. Sinead and I interpreted for the group as Gabi explained both ancient and recent history of the lost city and Sierra Nevada. After a couple of hours wandering around the lost city we returned to the base camp for lunch before trekking back to camp two to reunite with Andrea. That night we played a lot of games of ‘shit head’ whilst some local indigenous girls enjoyed pinching our legs under the table for their amusement.

Found it

Posing on the mossy stairs

View from the top looking down on the lost city

Two girls from one of the Kogi tribes

On day four we walked with the others for two hours back to the first camp but then said our farewells, with Roh and I deciding to chill out for a day by a waterfall and read a book in favour of rushing back to Santa Marta. We were taken down to a secluded waterfall that most people wouldn’t visit as part of the lost city trek and spent a couple of hours relaxing. The final day we made our way back along the same path in what can only be described as a casual stroll. It’s definitely a four and not five day trek if you want to get a decent amount of exercise in each day. That being said a short walk on the last day meant we were fresh and ready for one final night out with the crew back in Santa Marta. After having dinner at Paulie and Emma’s place there was no other option than a trip to Pachamama for half priced cocktails followed by a dance floor session at Mirador. Fortunately I don’t have any photo evidence from the night.

Hidden waterfall in the sierra nevada

Bearding it up at the natural pools

Emma and I spent our final day in Santa Marta trying to tie up loose ends and sort out our ticket to San Gil. We had dinner at Lulo with Charlotte and Claudia before boarding the bus for San Gil, the ‘adventure capital’ of Colombia. There are a lot of activities to choose from in San Gil, but we decided we’d go do something more chilled after the overnight bus trip, so went out to a 180m waterfall near town on Sunday afternoon. The next day we thought we’d up the ante and go hydroboarding. Hydroboarding involves going down rapids on a something resembling a body board. Both Emma and I managed to smash our knees on rocks as the river level was a bit low but still really enjoyed it. That night Markus, my German ultra-marathon running friend that Roh and I met in El Bolson in April, arrived. We went out for dinner with him and some other girls we’d met from Switzerland and Spain.

Farewell Santa Marta dinner at Lulo with Emma, Claudia and Charlotte

Another great waterfall, outside San Gil

Emma bathing herself in the cold, muddy goodness

The next day we decided we would go paragliding. This is something I’ve been meaning to do all trip after missing the chance in Rio and again in Cordoba. Markus wasn’t interested in doing it himself but came along to watch and play photographer for the day. We went up to the top of a mountain just out of San Gil which overlooked the suarez canon and waited around for our turn to go up. I’m scared of heights and so thought I might freak out a little bit but actually got less of an adrenaline rush than expected. It was fairly peaceful and relaxing up in the air with my guy taking me up to around 300m above the ground. Unfortunately Emma didn’t enjoy it quite so much experiencing some motion sickness. Brilliant photos below are mostly courtesy of Markus (http://runssel.tumblr.com/).

Sufficient wind for paragliding

Emma, pre paraglide

Prior to take off

Coming in to land

That night we went and played Tejo with a group of people from the hostel at a local Tejo hall. Tejo is one of Colombias national games and involves throwing a metal Tejo ball at a clay board which has two explosives attached. The aim is to blow up the explosives or land the Tejo closest to the metal ring in the middle of the clay board. Judging by the crowd in the Tejo hall it’s a game played mainly by men, over a few beers. I like to think I’ve got pretty good throwing and catching ability but I stunk at Tejo. Although she was better than me, Emma won the prize for worst throw of the night lobbing the Tejo out of the arena over the fence.

A Tejo montage

We spent our final day in San Gil chilling out and swimming at the local pool. Emma tried to get us to do synchronised swimming routines and the pool session ended abruptly when Steve, an English guy who had come with us, split his head open on the pool wall attempting to set a new record for distance travelled under water without taking a breath. That night we had a BBQ steak dinner and a few beers back at the hostel. We’d been wanting to eat hormiga culona (ants), a local delicacy, since arriving in San Gil and fortunately a couple from Denmark had bought a packet for tasting. The ants were crunchy, having been toasted, and didn’t have a strong flavour tasting a little bit like potato chips but with a slightly acidic tinge.

San Gil swimming pool

Edible ants

We took a full day bus from San Gil to Bogota, which felt like a continuous game of ‘corners’ winding around mountains the whole way. It was made slightly more unpleasant by the fact that the Colombian girl sitting next to me was vomiting into a plastic bag for the first part of the trip. I’m going to be in Bogota for a few days before continuing on down to Cali for a music festival. Nine days left in Colombia.