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Published: November 28th 2010
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Roberts Hotel
Will be fabulous when its finished but it has a long way to go! We set off on the trek to the Lost City knowing what to expect even less than we had done for the rest of our trip! We met the group at 8.30 and were driven off to a small town about an hour east of Santa Marta and an hour along a terrible road in a Jeep. Our group was only 7 which was less than a lot of the others we saw, and our guide was a very knowledgeable local man called Juan-Carlos with two helpers. The three of us were joined by Yurgi a Slovakian, Marcell a Swiss national and Marley and Ross an Australian and Colombian couple who had recently got married over here.
The trek was to take 5 days, our things were still a little wet but we were glad that we managed to fit everything into the small rucksacks that zip off our main bags as it meant there wasn't much we could carry! The first afternoon we walked for 4 hours to a camp that was basically a roof with a load of hammocks hanging from it and a small kitchen / eating area. This was fairly typical of the places we stayed.
Bed first night
Our first time in Hammocks was very comfortable! They all had running water but no electricity and either hammocks or roughly made bunk beds. The walking was hard work as it was almost all up hill and muddy. It was very hot and sweaty in the sunshine but there were regular breaks for water or oranges. In the evening we had a very tasty and welcome meal and went to bed early (again!). The food was excellent all trip as our guides would rush ahead and have something ready almost as soon as we got there. One problem was the very heavy rain that inevitably came down at some point in the day, if you were lucky, not until the afternoon. We all had black bin bags over our rucksacks to keep water out and everything was wrapped in plastic bags. It was impossible to keep boots and cloths dry though. It was a fantastic feeling to get to the camps and change into dry cloths after a swim in the river or a cold shower.
The second day we only walked for 5 hours from 8.30 so had plenty of time to get to know the group with a game of cards and a swim in
the river in the afternoon. It was also a chance to try and dry some things out. The plan was that on the third day we would walk to the base camp by lunchtime and be at the city by the afternoon, and back down to sleep at the final camp. The good thing about that was that it meant we didn't need to take our bags with us just a camera. We were on track after starting to walk at 7.00am and had reached the old city by 3pm when it started to rain, Juan Carlos gave us a talk about life in the city. It had been hard to get there, we had to cross the river a lot of times, once in a metal cage suspended above it. There are 12000 steps to get up to it and they are small and slippy! The city was an interesting place, abandoned only when the Spanish got too close to it around 200 years ago. At its peak 12000 people lived there. It was hard to get an impression of the scale of the place as the trees are very grown up around the foundations (which is what is
Militia
It is 8 years since a kidnapping on the route! The army keep a close eye on the area. left of the timber buildings). The rain got more and more heavy and eventually we had to make the decision to leave to get back to camp in the light. We all got absolutely soaked as the roads they had built turned into rivers. It was like walking through a fast flowing stream and had got quite cold. When we got to the bottom the river had swollen so much that it was too dangerous to attempt to cross. We were then forced to race back up all the steps and seek shelter in the city for the night! We got to a hut right at the top where we sat with two rangers in charge of the place trying to dry out and get warm. It was all a bit unnerving, we thought that we were going to have to sit there in the dark all night with no supper. As it turned out eventually they were able to make us some supper of rice and lentils and there were tents that we could sleep in inside a different hut. Very relieved and having walked for 11 hours we all had excellent nights sleep! The advantage to staying in
the city was that we got to see more of it first thing in the morning with an extended tour around. It was the first time our guide had had to stay there in 5 years of guiding but by the end we were all delighted that it had happened.
The final night was spent at the camp where we had stayed on the second night and then we walked the first two days distance on the final day. We made much better time going downhill and being more used to it. Also we had stopped bothering to take our shoes off for the river crossings (they couldn't get any wetter!) which saved a lot of time.
We met quite a few different groups of indigenous people over the five days, they were respectful but not very friendly except a few who were happy to have photos taken. The trek and city are on their land and go past their villages so it is good that they are a part of it but it felt a little bit like they were being exploited and we didn't take many photos of them.
After the trek we went to
the coast for 3 nights on our own in a little hotel by the beach. We walked and went horse riding in Tyrona national park, washed clothes and had beers by the sea. It was a very beautiful place, typical of the Caribbean coast and we felt we deserved to rest for a while. The satisfaction of having completed the trek was great though and we thoroughly enjoyed it. We are looking forward to the next one in Peru now (though going to Machu Pichu on the train was mooted as we were walking in the mud and rain of the trek!)
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