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First of all I can`t get over how safe I felt in Colombia, everyone hypes up its dangers and were shocked to hear Hayley and I were starting here but in all honestly we didn't feel threatened once. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming, the locals make a real effort, and the country is beautiful and has so much variety. I am so glad we chose to start in Colombia.
We flew into Bogota and arrived at a very quiet hostel where they only reallyspoke Spanish, it was good though as it gave us a bit of a shock at the reality of the little Spanish we spoke and that we would need to get our arses in gear pronto. The weather was quite miserable and grey and both of us don't really like spending lots of time in cities when we are away so we headed up north after 2 days. The bus journey was meant to take 16 hours…but one of the bridges collapsed the night before so they were rebuilding it and we had to wait for them to finish it, as you do. I was slightly s***ting myself when it was our turn to cross it again! So the journey took 25 hours in the end, Hayley and I were the only English speaking and westerners on the bus, but we pulled out our phrasebooks and tried to engage in conversations with the locals it was fun. And actually a lot more comfortable than I imagined! So much leg room, we took our sleeping bags on and mini pillows, we had our iPods and guidebooks and travelled through many villages and towns so time passed a lot quicker than I imagined.
But we were happy to arrive in Santa Marta, we loved it here, a small town with a Caribbean feel, fresh fruit stalls everywhere, a great way to start the day. Lots of cute restaurants down cobbled alleys and we soon found favourite spots to indulge in 2 4 1 Happy Hour Mojito cocktails…Rum is so popular here it would have been rude not too. The hostel was great here too for around 7 quid each a night we had our own huge private room with ensuite, not bad! Not to mention the cute turtoise who lived in the hostel and kept trying to hang out in our room. We decided it would be best to get exploring early on so we booked on the Lost City Tour to start at 7am the next day.
Ciudad Perida- The Lost City Hike
Definitely one of the best things I have ever done, a 5 day trek through the jungle in Northern Colombia, it was an amazing experience. It was so intense but we are so glad we threw ourselves into this after just a few days in the country as it has really set us up for other hikes we have done since. 2 hour uphill climbs through mud and rocks in 30c plus heat…and of course it was so humid being in the rainforest. it took only a few minutes every morning for us to be sweating buckets…none of us smelt too good on this trip. We slept in hammocks on night, camp beds another and then a tent. Each camp was near lazy rivers and waterfalls so we could relax in the afternoon after the hard morning treks. There were 5 of us doing the trek, plus two guides. Father and son, they were so lovely. They only spoke Spanish, again this was good, we understood half of what they were saying. We had to wade through waist deep rivers, passed through local indigenous families living in huts, we paced through deep jungle on barely made on paths for 3 days before we finally came to the peak of the journey…arrival at Ciudad Perida…the Lost City. It was only discovered 30 years ago. It`s not actually a city but a interesting formation of architecture in the middle of the jungle symbolizing the way of live the locals had, there were 1200 steps up to it and it was an amazing feeling when we got to the top and looked over it after 3 days of crazy jungle hiking to even find it! There were army guards who set up camp there, to protect it, from what these days I am not sure but this team had been there for 5 months…absolute madness. Nothing to do at all, and as the tour is still fairly new and not commercialized group sizes are still small so they probably only get about 12 visitors a day. I am not sure how else they fill their time. Also funnily enough there were stray cats and dogs there…we were in the jungle I was expecting tigers or monkeys not cute dogs and cats! It took 2 days to get back, we were really lucky not to have heavy rain when we were hiking though it did rain a lot so the tracks were really muddy. It was pitch black by 6, and we went to bed everyday around 7, and were up again at 5 with daybreak. The guides cooked our food it was great and plenty of it. Also during the day we would have quick breaks and they would give us lots of fresh fruit. When we got back to Santa Marta that night, muddy, smelly and COVERED in mozzy bites (which we would go on to scratch and completely destroy our legs over the next few days) …there was an amazing sense of achievement and I will never forget the 5 days in the jungle!
We then spent a couple of days exploring Tayrona National Park. The beaches looked beautiful and it seemed a perfect rest to the intense hiking we had done. Thank god we had just done the jungle hike otherwise we would have struggled hiking through this park, unlike National Parks we had typically visited in other countries, the paths here were not clear, there were barely any signs or warnings and you didn't see people for hours at a time. We even crossed crocodile-infested waters without realizing, it was only on the walk back we saw them hanging in the muddy swamp we had to cross to get to the nice beach! We nearly got lost on the way back as we took what seemed like a shorter route on the map but once we got going it seemed as though no-one took the route, we had to climb and throw ourselves up rocks, signs were sparse, we had no food left, little water, it started to thunder and darkness was approaching and we hadn't seen anyone for hours…we thought we were going to have to camp out in the jungle and get eaten alive by bugs and spiders…we were s***ting it in all honestly. Then we finally passed a couple, who also were relieved to see us, there was still 2 hours to go they told us and confirmed, to our great relief we were on the right track (as many times we had come to splits in the path and there were no signs so we had to go with our gut instinct) it was crazy…we finally found the exit with ten minutes to spare before total darkness. We almost cried with relief. It was mental! We were totally jungled out by this point and made it clear we wanted to stay clear of jungles and deep forests for a long, long time!
Next stop was Cartagena, we LOVED it here. It is a small colonial town surrounded by the remains of a stone wall, it was a port and used for protection from the enemy years ago. It was really colourful, the people were so friendly and we took this time to unwind and soak up the café and restaurant culture here as in Colombia it was so cheap to eat out. We found some great places and sampled their `Menu Del Dia` daily specials and could sit for hours talking, playing cards and people watching! We met a fun group at our hostel too, it was recommended to us and the first place we got dorm rooms (before it had been cheaper to just get a private) but it was really clean and spacious and I was already impressed with the standard of everything out here. We loved being ladies of leisure for the week!
The next adventure was a 2 day trip to Playa Blanca, arguably the best beach in Colombia, we couldn't resist a visit. It was on the Caribbean coast and took 2 hours to get to. It was perfect, crystal clear warm waters, white sand and palm trees. Most tourists only come for a few hours but we decided to stay overnight as there were hammocks you could rent for a few pounds. Once the final boat left for the day we realized there were only a handful of people staying on the island, it was truly paradise. We walked along the beach, it was so peaceful, we found a little old man guarding his little `resort` so we bartered a bit and settled here for the night. It was just us two. There was a table right on the seafront, he cooked us dinner, Hayley had fresh fish caught that day, and I had eggs and veg. Another local passed by with his cart and made us fresh cocktails. We witnessed the most amazing sunset and there was nothing to disturb the view except a random herd of cows that passed at one point. We got a massage on the beach…this was surely the life! We hardly felt like backpackers it was amazing. We felt like we could have spent days there…however our minds soon changed after we had one of the worst nights sleep ever! We had been warned about the sandflies and we weren't even recovered from the jungle bites so we were determined not to get bitten so despite the heat we coated ourselves in repellent and covered up head to toe…but it was so hot, we ended up sharing a tent on the beach but we couldn't sleep at all as it was so hot but we didn't want to take layers off as we would be bitten as the flies get everywhere. We were dripping with sweat , so restless and once we ever dropped off to sleep for a second a stray dog would come pass and rustle the bags or the chickens would start clucking. It was a nightmare. At one point we opened one layer of the tent to try and get a breeze and in the darkness I could make out a big figure staring at us…Hayley I said…is that a COW outside our tent? She looked out…Mate there`s a whole herd!! It was so freaky…out of the whole stretch of beach, the herd of cows had chosen to sit outside our tent…we weren't sure if they wanted to protect us or if the bull was going to charge! We were still dripping with sweat, itching our previous bites and now freaked out by the surroundings…needless to say, the minute the sun rose we got out of the tent and jumped in the sea. We had had enough, it was so beautiful but we didn't want to comprise more sleep so we decided to get the boat out of there that afternoon! A shame, but still a really fun experience.
Back on safe ground in Cartagena, we were lucky enough to experience Carnival when we were there, we got a great spot and sat up high on the edge of the road and were able to watch all the amazing parades full of beautiful costumes, local dance and music, it was great! Then all hell breaks loose and the crazy Colombians turn the carnival into a big street party, a mad foam party! Everyone from young kids to grampas buy these big cans of spray foam and everyone just goes crazy spraying each other. At first we thought we would just watch or try sly away from it, then some little kids battered us so we wanted our revenge! It was so much fun; we dropped our valuables back to the hostel and then just went crazy coating everyone in sight. Everyone was covered head to toe in foam it was crazy. Then we went to the famous square and carried on the party as there was live music and more dancing. A great last day in Colombia!
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