Ciudad Perdida

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Day 1
early start for a 7.30 pick up, made easier with the help of jugo de mango for breakfast from a street stall. After our very colourful truck broke down mid way to the start we were kept entertained with fresh watermelon, pineapple and the Colombian Military which passed the time.

The toughtest day by far which we are still feeling the effects of 6 days later........ it was hot, hot and had a really steep ascent up to our first camp for the night......... hammocks!!!! The trek took 4 hours and we were all relieved to see our camp and take a swim in the river, after a fab dinner (we even had oreo biscuits for afters) we were sleeping by 8pm..... or at least we were trying to sleep to the sounds of frogs, flowing water and other random creatures of the night including a mystery snorerer in our group.

Day two was not as tough a trek, took us about 3 hours and the sceneary was very green and beautiful though our mums would not have appreciated some of the fear factoresq climbs we had to make. The camp this time had beds which was a relief and dinner was shared with monsoon rains and about a million mosquitos, we both had to run for cover under our mosquito nets over our bed just to avoid eating them as they kept flying in to our food...think our last count of picking them out of our rice was about 27.....yak!

Day 3 was they last part of the trek up to the Lost City, and as it always is, was a tough day as we had to climb mountains, cross 9 rivers and walk up 2000 steps while being helped (or harrased) by the Colombian Military who were walking with us and acted like they had not seen another female in all of their 23 years they had been on earth.... Naila now has several colombian military lodgers wanting to come back with her to London.......lucky for her she isnt retrning for a few months yet , much to there dissapointment. Our beds were very cosy and intimate, as we had 5 beds side by side for 7 people..... The toilets and showers did not have much privacy (or many walls even).......... so you never stayed in them too long especially as the water was freezing cold. That night the whole group crashed as soon as the sun went down and we were all sleeping by 7.30 again......

Day 4 we walked around the lost city and our guide explained the history and information about the indiginous people. Many of the group got sick and hardley anyone got much sleep that night. We then started our way back down the 2000 steps to head back.

Day 5 we decided to complete our trek in 5 days and not the original 6days as planned. This meant we had to start walking at 6.30am and walk for 7 hours back. It was tough and we pretty much did it on our own with our guide always ahead, just out of sight so Lou could relive herself in the middle of the rainforrest as the sickness had finally caught up with her. We were motivated by the fact we would not have to spend another night in hammocks and would have very toned legs by the end of it which helped.

Despite the pain, sickness, lack of sleep and mosquitos it was worth it.....we felt like extras in an indiana jones film.

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