Colombia Day 8-11: Ciudad Perdida

The Lost City trek, what an amazing 4 days. As usual my preparations were so-so and I didn’t really know what to expect. But I’m so glad I’ve done this trip. With 510€ for 4 days it’s not the cheapest adventure. And the hike is definitely not an easy one. But all of it so worth it. But let’s start at the beginning. 

It’s Tuesday morning and I’m at Santa Marta. My tour provider is about to pick me up, but I’m still waiting for my breakfast. The guy had said that the avocado mushroom sandwich can be ready in 15 minutes. Well, those 15 minutes are over. So I ask for a to go sandwich. Sure, no problem. I just have to wait another 10 minutes. At this point I’m 5 minutes late, which really doesn’t fit to my Germanness. Finally I get my sandwich, meet my driver and am on my way to the tour operator office. And by the way: mist of it went into the trash, as it was more a garlic sandwich then anything else…

We pick up some other people and first I was afraid I would be with only Spanish speaking participants. But then luckily a Dutch and two Belgians join, phew. At the office a couple formalities are handled and we meet more people. Then we get introduced to our guide Yuranis and our translator Natalia. They give us a short intro in what to expect and finally we are on our way to the start of the trek with 2 cars. In my car there’s two German girls (Lili & Tanja), the Dutch guy (Daan) and the Belgian couple (Rani & Yoram) I had met on the way to the office and a Colombian father with his 15 year old daughter (Diego & Maria-Jose). It turned out they were big bird lovers and that the trip was the girls 15th birthday present. They brought binoculars and a book and at any time during the trip you could see them look for birds. We had a good chat with everyone in the car, a bit less with the Colombians due to the language barrier. But there was a good click with everyone immediately. The first hour was a nice ride, the last hour a very bumpy ride. 

Then we arrived at the lunch place, where we meet the whole group. Next to the two Colombian girls that I had met in the morning (Natalia and Lau) there was another Colombian girl (Cindy) and 4 Canadian guys (Ed, Morgan, Jeremy and Tyler). After a last bit of civilization we are off into the mountains. No signal or Wi-Fi for 4 days. After just a couple of minutes we make the first stop: a little stall where you could buy some gear you didn’t bring. Actually all stuff from decathlon. I could even have gotten shoes here!!! Some bought a rain cape and me and some others rented a hiking pole. I’m so glad I did, it really helped a lot. 

And then we are finally really on our way. As briefed by the guides, the first day was tough. The hike wasn’t super long, but it was quite steep and most parts without any shade. I really was wondering what I had gotten myself into. And after just a couple minutes the old game: as soon as it gets a little steep I’m falling way behind everyone. Normally I’m used to it, but combined with the heat I was really starting to doubt myself. But what can I do? So I just kept on going. Step by step, slowly, steadily. On the way there were plenty of stops where you could buy drinks or snacks. Wait, is Diego really buying a beer? I couldn’t believe it! 

After about 2,5 hours we finally made it to the highest point. From here on it mainly went down and I was able to keep up with the group. After in total 3,5 hours, 9,3km and 520m up and 200m down we finally arrived at the camp for tonight: Casa Adan. The camp was basically a long row of bunk beds with mosquito nets, a little kitchen and tables with benches. The best part: the camp was right next to a river and so everyone went right away there for a little swim. You could climb via stairs into the pool or jump off the rock. After the first 3-4 jumped I got my courage together and jumped as well. It was lovely refreshing and the only annoying thing were those little fishes that kept on biting me. I know people sometimes pay for that, but they kept on surprising me. So I tried to stay active so they wouldn’t bite me. Soon it got a bit chilly and we left the pool. Once I’ve learned that the showers are the same water, I decided that I wouldn’t shower. There were two groups: the ones that believed the addition of soap made the shower worth, the others believed in the power of deodorant. Our guide quickly informed us that she’ll make us shower the next day ;-)

What I forgot to mention: next to our guide & translator, our crew had 2 more members: assistant guide Isis and cook Ani. As we had a crew with only ladies, our group name quickly became “chicas super barassas” - I think… the last word I never really understood, but if it’s correct we were the super cool ladies ;-)

After dinner we played a couple rounds of cards (shithead), but soon we were all ready for bed. And that was also good as the next day we were supposed to get up at 5am, leaving camp at 6am. 

The night wasn’t the greatest for me. Next to the super loud jungle noises (frogs, crickets, who knows what), I soon had to pee. And I really didn’t want to go out of my safe mosquito net and to the toilet… when at 5 the first started to get up, I felt like I hadn’t slept a lot. 

Day 2 started similar like Day 1. A steep climb, however this time with a lot more shade. I again was very slow. After 2,5 hours we’ve reached the first stop. A camp of the Wiwa tribe. There the indigenous tribe member explained to us their ways of living and spirituality. What I took out: women in the wiwa tribe work very hard (making threads and weaving bags all day), while the men do close to nothing. Except of chewing coca leaves. 

After the story time we continued our walk. Although it wasn’t the hardest part, I struggled due to motivation. We walked past the wiwa “conference center” - a place with plenty of huts, that are only used when they all get together for gatherings. 

About 1,5h later we finally arrived at the lunch place, which again had a beautiful swimming spot. The water was refreshing and crystal clear. After a little splash we had lunch and 45 minutes later we are back on the track. To be honest, the path now starts to get a bit of a blur. It was probably another mix of 1h steep up and “Colombian flats“: a constant up and down. When we finally arrived at the camp for the night I was very relieved. The camp was similar to the one from day 1. As it was already quite late when we arrived - 4:30pm - and it gets dark around 6pm, I decided to skip the swim and go directly for a shower. Which was ice cold, brrr. But still worth it. After dinner we played one round of cards, but soon everyone was ready to go to bed again. 

I don’t have the full stats of the day, as my watch batteries died during the morning part. But it must have been around 17km and 900m up and 400m down, including breaks of about 2-3 hours a 10h day. 

After another soso night of sleep we start day 3. Today we’re going to see the lost city! It started with 40 minutes of Colombian flats with some nice bridges across the river. Then we get to the 1200 steps stairs to the lost city. They were quite tough. Not even stairs like we are used to and at some parts very steep. So again, step by step, I can do it. I tried to count the steps, but it was impossible. Some steps were super small, then there were alternative paths… I still tried to guesstimate the steps I’ve done. And it seems I didn’t do too well as after around 800 stairs I was there :-)

At the first area of the lost city we’ve got the briefing about the story of the lost city. Here what I remember:

The lands that we walked through are belonging to 3 groups. First we walked through farmers land , then the land of the wiwa tribe and then the Koi (?) tribe. The lost city had been abandoned about 400 years ago by the Teyuna tribe as they thought it was cursed - which it kind of was. People were dying of the diseases that the Spanish had brought. The farmers, who were looking for an alternative income to the weed and coca (cocaine) plantations that brought violence to the region, started to search for the city due to the gold that the Teyunas buried with their people. In the late 20th century the city was found and looted by the farmers. When the government found out, the farmers were asked to help restore the place as they were the only ones who saw it in the original state. Nowadays only the stone circles that marked the spot of a hut and the paths / stairs still exist. When the farmers found the city, everything was overgrown. Nowadays only 40% of the original city have been restored and are available to the public. The local tribes insist that the rest remains hidden and not accessible. 

After the history lesson we spent about 2h walking around the city. One stop was at the spiritual leaders hut, where you could buy a bracelet for protection. Mine is yellow and green, which represents the moon and mountains. After many, many photos we left the lost city and returned to the place we slept the night before. After lunch we collected all our stuff that we had left there and started our way back. So from now it’s backtracking everything we’ve done the last 2,5 days. The total of day 3 was about 5h pure walking time, 17km and again about 600m up and down. 

We arrived at the camp that we had lunch the day before and went for another swim in the river. It wasn’t as nice as during lunch time due to the lack of the sun and we all went to the showers soon. I decided to wash my hiking clothes, as they were getting a bit nasty. Now let’s hope they get dry until tomorrow morning. We all met at the dinner tables and somehow we all felt like celebrating. So the beers started. And then Diego got out a bottle of rum. He distributed several rounds of rum in the bottle cap 😃 after 2-3 beers and 2 rum I stepped out. After all the last day is one of the hardest days. The evening was slightly longer than the other ones, with the group trying to build a pyramid of empty beer cans :-)

But soon we all went to bed again. One more day of hiking in front of us.

The last day I’ve hiked in my long pants, which was not as bad as I had expected it. And a fresh shirt, how nice. My clothes I had washed were half dry… but luckily for socks that doesn’t really matter. 

It was a tough hike. We went back to the camp of day 1, had a short break there and a snack and then climbed up the last steep incline. It was very tough, especially as some parts were in the full hot sun, without shade. At this moment I sometimes questioned my decision to not take a mule or motorbike for the last part of the track. But no one of our group did. At least I was able to give some of my stuff into the backpack of the German girls, that had paid to get their backpack brought back via motorbike, so my pack wasn’t too heavy. 

Once on top of that hill, it’s another 2,5 hours downhill. Again, with quite few shade. The Canadians had decided to have a beer at every stall from the top down. I would have loved to join, but I don’t think I would have been able to finish the hike then… and luckily for them a lot of the huts seem only to open in the afternoon, when the new hikers arrive and do the climb. So I think in total they only had 2-3 beers on the way down. The group was going very fast and as most was downhill I could keep up. We already arrived at the finish line - the lunch place - at around 11:30. I was so exhausted! the last day was a total of 5:20h with 18km and a lot of up and down, I think about 600m down. 

So that’s it. We all get in the cars again and drive back to Santa Marta. A short goodbye with everyone, and off we all go. For me it meant a taxi to the bus terminal and then a 5h bus to Cartagena. There I’ve booked a small hotel room for the night. While in the bus I also booked a diving trip for the next two days. But more about that tomorrow. 

To summarize: the lost city trek was amazing with beautiful nature and beautiful people. I struggled as usually during hiking, but it was definitely worth it. Teyuna Tours was a great tour operator and there was nothing to improve about the organization or the services. I can highly recommend them. My only little regret is that it sometimes felt we were two groups: the Colombians and the foreigners. I really need to improve my Spanish to feel more comfortable chatting with the locals!