I'm covering two day's worth here because yesterday resembled what I think of when I hear the words "death march". We hiked for eight solid hours, and it was just as painful as it sounds. Once an hour we would stop, drenched in sweat and panting to catch our breath, and minutes later hear that dreaded word: vamos! Brittany and I are polar opposites in the speed department, and we were both praying for patience the entire afternoon. I'm too fast and she's too slow...

We didn't know it when we set out this morning, but today was the day we would reach Tayuna, the Lost City. It was a long journey in getting there though, and the trail rewarded us again and again for all our *************ce you've accepted the physical misery and stop hoping for level ground at every corner you spend less time moping and more time engaged with your surroundings. Today was by far the most picturesque hike we've made, and while it lacked the ultra...

I don't know if it was my new-found friend the hammock or the four grueling hours of hiking up hill, but I slept like a baby, not waking up until the sun started to creep up over the mountains. When I was a kid my Dad had a set of nature CDs that played the sounds of the Amazon (the series was very creatively called "Nature", a true testament to the limits of human ingenuity). They got everything right with the gushing river, singing birds and chirping frogs but ...

Yes, the bus was late. But they actually called the hostel to tell us they'd be late, which was downright shocking. We've had a fantastic experience with our tour company so far. There are only four companies that do this trek so you're a little short on choice, but we played roulette and won :) This isn't our first jungle tour so we were ready for the two to four hour process of gathering everyone in the group, getting the food together, packing the Jeep, etc. ...

We both knew full well that the bus to Santa Marta would not be on time. But what if, just this once, it was? What if we finally succumbed to that casual coolness towards time and deadlines so engrained in South American life only to find that our bus came on time, left without us, and our vacation was ruined, scarring our Colombian memories for all time? At five minutes to nine we were on the street corner, sucking up car fumes and dripping in sweat. Guess what?...