Lost City Trek (Ciudad Perdida) - Ciudad Perdida, Colombia
Ciudad Perdida, Colombia
Where I stayed
Mosquito ridden hammocks
What I did
Stinging caterpillars, mosquitos, sweat, blood and tears.
We only have two weeks in Colombia, myself and Clare weigh up the idea of spending 4 of those days trekking across 47km of mountains to the Lost City to see the indigenous ruins, despite reading the description of stinging caterpillars, steep hikes and things that go bump in the night.
It will be fun, we said. A great adventure, we said. A chance to see the culture.... That`s one way of describing it.
Day One
After flying into Bogota we spent a night there before catching an internal flight up to Santa Marta and got picked up from the hostel at 9am by the tour guide (I also convinced Clare in this short period of time to hike up 2350metres to the top of Bogota). A group of us all collated in the tour office eyeing one another to see who were going to be spending the next few days with. We got put with an elderly American couple, a Canadian guy and an English NGO worker. I promptly asked if this is who we're going to be hiking with, noticing we had been separated from all of the younger crowd but was assured this was just for the drive to the base. We were actually quite lucky in this instance as we got a 4x4 rather than a truck.
We stopped for food enroute for a delicious plate of plantain, rice and sloppy beans, and of course some unidentified dark meat. It was then that I realised I wouldn't be eating a lot over the next few days, especially as my strategically purchased trek bars had been stolen out of my backpack. Once back on the road we then hit the dirt track, driving through thick black smoke surrounding the controlled fires (promising start).
2.5 hours later we arrived at the base camp, all clean and fresh, backpack in tow ready for a fun filled few days. The tour guide, who now emerged not to speak a word of English explained that it was just a 3.5 hour walk today - 'the easy day' to the first camp before our long 9 hour hike the following day. We began our hike, all enthusiastic, introducing ourselves to one another. We had a decent group, myself and Clare, an English couple from Clapham, a Colombian couple, a group of 5 Dutch, a guy who was wearing jeans and a long shirt (!), his partner and an older Canadian French guy.
We begin by the map showing us the 47km trek that lay before us, to be covered over 3.5 days, all vertical, no flat paths to be seen here for a while. Twenty minutes in and the flat terrain was no more, it was then that we began to realise how 'tough' this 'tough hike' just may be. Particularly in the 30c plus heat and humidity. Ignorance is bliss they say. The first day is somewhat of a blur, a dusty hot sweaty blur. Nevertheless we arrived at the first camp at around 5pm and were showed our beds, sorry when I say beds I mean hammocks, with mosquito nets, in a shed, with a corrugated iron roof, outside, next to the mules. Ah relaxing holiday. I braved the shower, which was a hose that spluttered freezing water in a filthy stall (this was the more appealing option than not showering). We all sat down for a dinner of rice, beans and chicken before being instructed that we would be awoken at 5.30am the next morning so then retired to our hammocks.
Once returning to my hammock (on the end of the shed, putting myself at grave danger) I noticed a large hairy spider in the corner of the 'shed' staring directly at me with its large beady eyes reflecting off my head torch. Sweaty hammocks I could bear, spiders I could not. I needed a man to remove this threat, the French Canadian wondered over, looked at it and asked me if it was a tarantula. A TARANTULA?! There's tarantulas out here?! Oh Jesus. A local came over and confirmed it was not poisonous, this would be reassuring, apart from the fact this meant it would not be removed. It was a miracle I fell asleep with my head torch shining directly at its reflective eyes, and furthermore I actually slept (relatively) well.
Day Two
Today was the long day. The big one. We had a breakfast of eggs, white bread and fruit. I nibbled at the eggs, pushed the bread around my plate and ate some fruit. It was then I noticed I had a friend in the form of a bird, a rather brave friend. He hopped down on to the table and ate the scrambled eggs off my plate, off my fork at one point, pretty sure that's cannibalism right there.
We were told that the morning was the easy part, then we would stop for lunch at Camp 3 and then continue on to Camp 2 with a difficult afternoon, but if we made good time we would be rewarded with beds, this seemed a good incentive.
The morning was awful, a lot of steep declines, with the sun beating down on our backs, and of course where there are declines there are inclines. All the while, all I could think was 'this is the easy part'. The morning went by in a blur of sweat and near delusion from the heat. As soon as we got to the camp for lunch we took our clothes off to dry in the sun (dry sweat is better than wet sweat) and jumped in the cold lake which was so very welcome. What wasn't so welcome was putting back on dried sweat clothes after being clean for a few moments and we then enjoyed a lunch of rice, sloppy beans and some form of vegetable soup. By the afternoon we had formed into smaller groups of different paces, I was at the front with the English couple and a few of the Dutch determined to get those promised beds! The afternoon was so difficult, the hills were so steep and the heat was so intense I was starting to question my sanity at times. I could literally wring out my hair from the sweat, this was no poolside holiday bliss. We then began to pass groups who were on their way back from the trek, far more upbeat than we were, channeling positive vibes towards our disgruntled murmurs.
Between our fruit and water breaks, change in scenery from red dust to white dust we eventually got to a river crossing, guide nowhere in sight (this became a regular occurrence) we decided we could cross via the stones without getting our feet wet, given that we were in dry season and the water level was low. However, it's only mid crossing that you realise the stones disappear and it's too late to turn around without causing a huge commotion so you do some pitiful 'run quick as if you can walk on water' move which results in now wet trainers, the one part of my body that was not wet with sweat (who am I kidding). We then tried to continue our navigation, only to end up scaling some rocks up some rather dangerous terrain which we were convinced can't possibly be right. Another ten minutes and the guide caught up with us, explaining we had gone the more difficult way. Thanks for that.
More time and hills and delusion passed until we finally reached the camp, we upped our pace to reach the land of beds only to promptly to have our hopes dashed by 'Head Hammock Man' who pointed towards a even larger sheds of hammocks. A short investigation revealed we were too late for the beds, in fact reaching the beds in time wasn't actually a realistic incentive as the 5 day hike guys arrived there in the morning to secure their luxury. At this point tempers start to rise, 'Head Hammock Man' won't even let the hammocks down so we can get settled until our guide arrives, our guide arrives and then refuses to cooperate and help our group. Eventually the hammocks get released and then we realise the true extent of the evenings sleeping conditions. My previous night sleep now seemed a luxury. These hammocks were placed so closely together they were almost under one another, and yet they were still putting more up. At times, as they were so 'overcrowded' they removed some of our groups belongings to free hammocks to others. We suddenly became very protective of our sweaty cloth / net hammocks and formed a protective circle around them.
Once we felt assured our hammocks were safe, still deflated from our destroyed incentives, we headed to the river armed with a bottle of multi purpose soap to wash away the days sweat and hang out our sweaty clothes to dry for the next morning. We then played a few games of cards in the dining shed in the darkness with our head torches, whilst being served a delicious (heavy sarcasm intended) rice, sloppy beans and deep fried fish complete with eyes. The highlight to this was our desert of a Gol chocolate bar, similar to the classic Lion bar and one I was becoming increasingly dependent on. We then returned to our hammocks at approximately 7.30pm, at which point I felt I was in a refugee camp and still questioning my sanity, particularly as I had feet from either side of me kicking me in the head as I tried to drift off into a peaceful sleep. I know the guide book said there were things that go bump in the night, but this was not what I had in mind.
Day Three
After falling asleep by 8pm and then waking up every hour from 12am onwards due to limbs being shoved in my face we merrily woke up at 5am to have a breakfast of fruit, eggs and bread. This day I was actually looking forward to. From here we had a steep climb of 1200 steps to the top of The Lost City, 3 hours to explore and then back down to the camp for lunch before trekking back to Camp 3. The best part was that we could hike without our backpacks in the morning, what a huge difference this made. Of course in those few hours without a backpack I managed to get extremely sunburnt shoulders which would torture me further over the next day and a half, but hey - peaks and troughs. The climb up was steep on very narrow and slippy rocks but we got up there in 45 minutes and were one of the first groups up there, so got to have a great look around people free. The guide caught up after a while and gave a brief tour in Spanish, at this point the Colombian guy in our group had taken to translating for us, a true life saver. Even though at one point the guide accidentally revealed he understood English when answering a question addressed in English, Oh how we laughed.
The Lost City has only had 16% uncovered and it really is magnificent, the views were incredible and it made the last couple of days worth it. I bought a selfie stick especially and attached it to my belt like a pro, only to realise at the top that I left the phone attachment in the camp. Great work. We spent a few hours up there taking as many photos as ones storage can hold before starting the climb back down, which was actually harder than the climb up. We walked in silence all concentrating on our steps ensuring we don't slip. I should probably add at this point that I had already fallen through a tree about an hour before, grazing my arms and legs and tripped over flat onto my ass 4 times in the previous two days. There's often a breakdown in communication between my body and my large feet.
We got back to the camp and had a lunch of chorizo, rice and beans. This meal was actually edible and I cleared my plate as if I hadn't eaten in days (almost true). We then loaded our backpacks onto our sunburn (okay maybe I was the only one to make that error) and began our walk back to the previous camp where we had lunch the day before. I have to say that this day was relatively easy and went pretty quick. As we had scaled vertical inclines the previous afternoon, we had a mainly downward walk, albeit a steep one. We had even learnt from our lesson of wet feet and found a different route across the water, and avoided the 'difficult' rock terrain climb to instead scale rocks across the river. Neither of which i would wish to do in the rainy season. Back at the camp we were given beds, actual beds, only six of us, but as we raced there I managed to secure one. No politeness of offering it up here, it was mine. At this point Clare's feet were in blistered shreds and she was forced to walk in socks and sandals, which I couldn't help but laugh at, especially when combined with her ever stylish sun hat. But her feet were really bad, the hiking shoes were not kind to her and we all spent some time throwing medical equipment at her to try and pop / heal the blisters, watching with great fascination as there wasn't a great deal of alternative entertainment provided. We then all had showers, of the same dirty stall / hose standard, played some cards and had a dinner of rice, sloppy beans and unidentified dark meat. We were all fast asleep by 8pm again (I felt like a child at this point not being able to stay awake any longer), and although I was on a top bunk made from dodgy wood on the outside of a shed by a hill rolling into the river, I slept through the night in an incredible fitful sleep. That's what a hammock does to you.
Day Four
5.30am start again, this time awoken by Captain Maria, one of the Dutch girls, as it appeared our guide wasn't awake yet. At this point we were all raring to go as we knew a hot shower and hostel lay on the other side of us and the 13km hike ahead of us. The guide warned us of the 3 steep inclines that lay ahead, something few of us remembered despite only taking the same trail the days before, that's what heat exhaustion does to you. We should of realised just how difficult it was going to be when he continued to ply us with extra food for breakfast. Huge piles of scrambled eggs, a sight I could not bear at this point.
We began our trek, the first hour or two we were fortunate enough to have the shade, but my god were the hills steep. Is was never ending, unforgiving, steep terrain. All I could do was look at the ground focusing on one step at a time, I couldn't look up as it seemed never ending and extremely demotivating. Maria was convinced it was longer than it was so it was a huge sigh of relief when we reached the top after a couple of hours. We had a rest at a fruit stop at which point we started to meet people coming the other way, at the start of the trek and found ourselves becoming those arrogant and smug 'Not far now, you can do it, we're so experienced' hikers. At least we could laugh at ourselves.
The second part of the morning only got worse, the shade had disappeared, we were now in the unforgiving 30c heat towards the main break stop. At one point I lost everyone to go at my own pace, only to be caught up by a random Colombian who wanted to exchange life stories. Excuse me if I'm not in the most chatty of moods in these circumstances, particularly with your 'We have at least 3 hours left yet' chants. We made it to the main break spot, which was our first camp and soon became reunited with the cannibal bird who now took a shining to our watermelon. It's the little things. After being refuelled with juice, fruit and all sugary related snacks we began to consider our final hike. What lay before us was an even steeper and longer vertical hike. My energy was draining and the sun was zapping all remainders of life out of me. We began the walk and one step at a time I thought this may be my opportunity to shed a tear and throw a strop. I didn't know if I would make it to the top, I began to picture news headlines, mauled by animals after passing out of heat exhaustion, or perhaps more realistically a mule coming to my rescue. One miraculous footstep at a time, each taking the last of my dignity and self belief I made it to the top where some of the others were waiting. That was it, the steep incline finished, the hardest part over. We did however, now have the steep decline, as many know is misconceiving on how difficult these can be, particulary on your knees.
It was tough, especially in the thickness of the dust, and I was slightly shocked that we all made it up this hill a couple of days before in one piece, it was so steep. We then got lost, the trail sort of disappeared, as had the guide (shock), all of the group caught up and yet he was nowhere to be seen. After lots of umming and going back and forth we decided we would continue down as we had no energy to climb back up the hill. The guides wife finally caught up (on the back of a motorbike!!) to tell us we had gone the wrong way and would miss the swimming pool / river we were all craving. The alternative was to turn around and hike 20 minutes back up the hill, we weren't that desperate and tempers were dangerously high at this point. The dust was so thick that we were covered in dirt (and sweat) head to toe, my socks were collecting it as if it was some precious substance.
We made it to the river. A joyous moment. Yet we were only 20 minutes from the end, so I had no intention of stopping to get clean to put on sweaty clothes and trudge through further dirt. A few stayed to clean off and myself and a few others trekked to the top of civilisation to the finishing stop, listening to music and the sound of laughter we made it to the end. What a feeling. Guide still nowhere to be seen of course. We ordered some ice cold beers to celebrate and boy did they taste good. Victory, that's what they tasted like. I found a room to scrub the dirt off my legs and take those damned (but excellent - thanks for no blisters) hiking shoes off. Pleased with my bathing tub I found I went to tell the others of my discovery, only to learn very quickly that it was a urinal I washed in. Yes, I had just washed in a men's urinal. That's what my life / holiday had come to. At this point everyone had arrived back, two people had been sick so far and more were starting to turn. New hikers started to arrive in jeeps, all clean and fresh and enthusiastic for their trek ahead of them. If only they knew.
We clambered into the jeep to start our 2 hour drive back to Santa Marta. More people were starting to turn towards the sick side, myself included. It wasn't a fun journey but we made it back, all broken one way or another.
It was a great hike. A great experience. Would I do it again? Not even if you paid me. Would I recommend it / Was it good? I keep saying ask me in a weeks time, but I'm not sure I could ever give a definitive enthusiastic yes. I'm glad I did it and it was truly one of the toughest things I have ever done, I think largely due to the heat and humidity. That night a large portion of us were very sick, cramping stomachs and all the joys that accompany it. Whether this was due to the water, food or torture we put our bodies through I'm not sure. What I am sure is that I still can't face the thought of eggs, dark meat, rice, beans, Gol chocolate bars, fish or chicken thighs, and I'm not sure if these are going to be permanently struck off my diet. What an experience though, just don't show me any hills for a while.