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Ciudad Perdida is an ancient city built around 600AC (earlier than Machu Picchu). The city was discovered in 1972, when a group of guaqueros (tomb raiders) found a series of over 1200 stone steps rising up the mountainside and followed them to an abandoned city which they named "Green Hell". When gold figurines and ceramic urns from this city began to appear in the local black market, authorities located the site of their origin in 1975. Even though it is called the lost city the Arhuaco, Kogu and Asario tribes have visited the site regularly for centuries but had kept quiet about it. Now we were going to walk through the rugged jungle to see this amazing place for ourselves.
On the Saturday 18th August the 8 of us left for a 46km walk (5 days, 4 nights) to the Lost City "Ciudad Perdida". 9Km a day might not sound like a huge distance but with the devilish uphills, 90% humidity, crazy walking ground and lots of other tricky factors it was a grueling and amazing adventure.
As we left the hostel we were met by a large woman in a red suit dress type out fit. We had to hand over our money to this lady before being aloud to get into the open sided truck that would take us to this start of the trek. As she shoved all the money in to her purse I was more suspicious of this well dressed lady than I would have been of the usual scruffy man you get who stuffs the money into his pocket, it´s just what you get used to I guess. After a bone shaking 1 hour drive to our start point we started the day with a nice big meal of make your own/all you can eat sandwiches. Once we had all finnished eating we went and met our guides Walter, Merucio and the cook (I never remembered his name!). They were all dressed in orange addidas T-shirts with Gia (Guide) written on the back, I´m not sure thay were official guide outfits but not much is official in Columbia. Walter was the leader of the group, he was an older chap at not far off 60 years but clearly a hell of a trecker. Even though Walter only spoke spanish I could tell that he was a good bloke and that he was going to make the trek fun. After a brief overview of the trek we set off to find the ´lost city´.
After only 30 minutes of treking we had to make our first river crossing. It was great fun and made me feel like this was going to be a proper trek not just some stroll through the jungle on well made paths. Most of the first day was unrelenting steep uphill, calfs were burning and after a while Sal was in so much pain with breathing that I was pushing her. The weight of our soaked clothes due to sweat and insane humidity made it really hard going. An Argentine couple in there late 40´s were also further behind the rest of the group kept giving Sal encouragement in Spanish, we didn´t really understand what they were saying but we new that they were trying to will her on. When we eventually reached the flat area at 1500m the cook had prepared us all some watermelon, I´m not sure if it was just that I needed some energy but it tasted like the sweetest and most amazing watermelon I ever had. After the stop Sal seemed to have regained her energy and was powering along for the next section until we reached a small plataue for our next stop. Everyone was pulling out snacks they had bought with them and catching there breath. Stuart, looking more soaked that anyone, pulled out a frisbee! So at 1500m after I don´t now how many hours of uphill treking a few of us lads chuck a frisbee about while the normal humans rested. I wonder how many people can say they played frisbee on the trek to Ciudad Perdida?
When we got to the first camp we dumped our kit in our hammocks and headed over to a natural pool where we could swim and wash off in the waterfalls. The only way/the easiest way to get into the pool was to make the 14ft jump off a rock ledge. There was a small makeshift ladder but this was hard enought to climb up let along get down. Naturally I had to spend the first half an hour just climbing back up to ladder so I could jump again. Sal on the other hand, with her fear of heights, spent the first hour standing at the top frozen stiff by the prospect of launching herself into the water. Night was falling and all but Sal, 2 Columbian sisters and me had left to dry off and get ready for dinner. After a lot of persuasion, some tears and a huge screaým Sal eventually made the jump. YAAAY! I expected her first words to be 'YAY! I did it´or ´That was amazing!´ but the first thing Sal said was 'Oh No! It gave me a wedgy!', classic.
That evening dinner was rice and chicken followed by a chocolate bar. I never expected the food to be as good as it was on the trek so it was happy days. After dinner there was a lot of bonding with the group over card games. We were teaching everyone the games we had all been playing on the boat and some of the guys were trying to teach us new games. The best game we learn was called 'Yanif' taught to us by two friendly Israilies named Omer and Dor. It was a bit of a complex game but we all loved it. Another game I was trying to master is called 'two player solitair'. It was Elien who was trying to teach me and I just couldn't beat her! I ended up keeping Elien up until 12pm (most people were in bed by 8!) trying to notch a win that never came but it was great fun. Around 7pm walter gathered everyone around the table and explained how we were now becoming a family and how he could tell that we were going to be a great group. Walter explained what that plans were for the next day using maps to show us where the tough sections were. It was all a really nice touch and it was great to know what lay ahead of us.
The next morning we were awoken at 6am by the sound of 'Niño´s, niñas' (Boys, girls) in Walters friendly voice. Due to the humidity of the jungle all of our clothes and shoes were still soaking wet and also cold because the temperature drop in the night. I soon learnt that getting your clothes on as quick as possible to start warming up the moisture in them was the best way to go. The first section of trekking in the morning was not under the jungle conopy. At first this was great because the sun was baking our clothes dry but a short while later were all praying for the jungle to close in on us again to protect us from the heat. The first 2 hours was also pure uphill so Sal was struggling with her breathing again and now she has some big blisters forming on her feet that looked really painful but she walked on like a trooper. Near to the top of the incline we reached a hut owned by the native kogi tribe. The hut was used for extracting sugar from sugar cane. Walter explained the process while the Colombian sisters translated for the group, it was all very interesting. When the longest section of uphill in the sun was over the cook prepared pineapple slices and oranges for everyone. We really needed it so it was perfect timing. The rest of the days trekking was in the protection of the forest and the only really tough section came at the end where we were scrambling up rocks with water flowing through sections of it. That evening we arrived at a camp that had big tall bunk beds, a corrigated roof and open sides looking out over the river, it was a beautiful place. They had a couple of very cheeky cats at the camp so I spent the first few hours playing with them before falling asleep on the camp wall with both of them curled up on my stomach. The ginger cat was particularly cheeky at dinner time, we would just be sat there minding our own business and suddenly this ginger head would appear trying the get at our food. When we pushed the cat off the bench he managed to whip out a little paw and hook some food off the plate, he was very well practiced at it! The camp had no electricity so Papa Walter gathered us around the candle lit table with the usual call of 'niño´s, niña´s´ for our bed time story like brief of the next day. On day 3 we would have our first encounter with the Kogi tribes people. Walter explained that the Kogi believed that taking pictures of people stole their souls, however for 5 paso´s they were more than happy to have a picture taken, so their soul only cost 5 paso´s! Throughout the talk there were fireflies floating around the camp so after the usual card games, one of which Barry got so excited when he though he had finally won a game of Monopoly only to realise moments later that in the dim light he had mixed up his pinks and reds, poor chap, Franky, Elien, Sal and I went around the the shower block were you could see out into the jungle to watch the fireflies blinking like little green stars everywhere. As we were sat out a huge booming lightning storm rolled in. It was a stunning effect with rumbles like earthquakes, flashes that lit the jungle up and fireflies twinkling all the while. The 4 of us must have been sat there for at least 2 hours in awe of the nature that surrounded us. The only interuption was usually me saying 'Oooo there´s a bat', after about the 5th time of me saying it the guys were laughing at how easily I was entertained by such a simple thing. I think it was about 12pm when we all eventually climbed into the big bunks to get some rest.
We were up bright and early again next morning. Sal had her food bandaged by Walter to try and protect the hugh weeping blisters she had developed. There were a few large rivers we needed to cross during the day and at each point either me or one of the guides would have to piggyback sal across so that she wouldn´t get her bandages wet. It wasn´t an easy task when some sections of the river were almost thigh high and fast flowing. When we eventually got to the tribe town it was facinating to see how traditionally they lived. The buildings were thached and mud brick made, everyone wore pillow case type clothing and the men had coca bags full of caca leaves and a gourd with a stick in it that contained lime powder made from the burnt remains of certain plants. Walter explained that to become a man you were nominated a mature woman, who may already have a 'husband' and children, chosen by the chief, this woman would teach the boy about sex. After 2 years the Chief would then select a life patner for you. If you were to become a chief you had to live in the chiefs hut in a room with no light for 9 years where you would be taught about the wonders and magic of the natural world among many other things. The reasoning for this was that you would have no outside influences to effect your perceptions of the world. We got some pictures with the kids of the tribe and Barry kindly gave one of them a bracelet, as soon as the brecelet was strapped to the kids arm he walked off without another word, cheeky b*****! It was a great experience to see such another different way of life. The next camp we arrived at wasn't as nice as the previous 2 because we were all essentially sleeping in 1 giant bunk bed together which wasn´t a problem but the beds were damp with humidity and bed bugs had been spoted in the vacinity! I went to bed that night dressed up like a ninja to protect myself from bites, this made Jennifer almost wet herself with laughter as I climbed up the ladder to get into bed!
The next day I woke up bite free. It was an exciting morning because it was the final leg to get to the lost city itself. It was a pretty tough trek but the real killer came at the end when we had to climb up over 1200 ancient steep, slippy steps to reach the first set of terraces. It was such a great feeling to have finally arrived. After another 500 or so steps we reached a huge terrace with and incredible panoramic view of the Jungle, a waterfall and other terraces. As we climbed higher still we could see the large terrace with the beautiful jungle backdrop behind, stunning. At the top I managed to get a picture with a member of the Colombian Military who patrol the site due to kidnappings of tourists in the past! The Foreign Office still recomends travellers do not visit around the Sierra Nevada, including Ciudad Perdida, but I don´t think it´s dangerous at all. After walking around the site for a couple of hours and taking our photo's of the magical surroundings we headed back all the was to the second camp we stayed at (The fireflies and lightning one).
On our final day of treking we had to cover all the ground that we had trekked on day 1 and 2. This was a lot more down hill travelling but this time it was the distance that made it tiring. Once we got back to the 1st camp we had stayed at for a break people were starting to fall appart a bit, Eliens knees were completely gone from pounding downhill and poor old Sal's feet were in bits! From the point there was the option of hiring a mule to get to the bottom, Elien couldn't walk another meter so took the mule. We were all telling Sal that it would be best if she did the same but she outright refused. Sal wanted to say she had walked the whole way even if it meant she didn't have any feet by the end! At this point Franky, Stu and I still felt like we had some energy so we agreed we would try to run/jog the rest of the way back. We were heading uphill in the sun for the first section and we lost a panting Stu after about 5 minutes. Franky was ahead of me and we were making good time but we both kept having to stop due to heat, altitude and the gradient. After about an 2 hours we heard the clip clopping of a mule then from round the corner came Elien with a huge grin on her face thoroughly enjoying her mule ride. We let them go passed but after a 5 minute break we decided that we wanted to beat Elien back to the start of the trek. After 10 minutes we were ahead and running down a steep hill at a pace that meant if we needed to stop quickly we wouldn't be able to but it was great fun. Right at the end just a couple of 100 meters away from our destination we came across a river crossing that we had forgotten about. For us it was slow going but Elien strode through on her mule no problem and beat us to the bottom. In the shelter of the hut we congratulated each other and threw out bags and shoes off before collapsing into a chair. Around 40minutes later came Stuart and Carly. A further 10 minutes later came Barry and Jen. Now it was just going to be the long wait for Sal to arrive...................... to our huge surprise Sal came in only 10 minutes later! Turns out she though that no matter what she did it was going to hurt so she decided to jog, well jog as well as someone with huge infected blisters can jog. We all had a beer and some food and said our thanks and good byes to the brilliant guides. Then it was back into the truck for a bone shaking ride before total relaxation for the evening :-) I was really going to miss trekking the jungle.
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