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Published: October 1st 2008
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After lounging on beaches for some time, we decided we needed some physical exercise and booked for the Ciudad Perdida hike. Ciudad Perdida (Lost City) is an archaeological site of an ancient city in the forest of the Sierra Nevada. This city was apparently built in 800 AD and was only discovered in 1972. The hike takes 6 days in total and is about 40 km of walking (round trip). Our hike started on the 11th of September.
Our group consisted of the following: Us, 3 British people, 3 Irish lads, 2 Israelis, 1 Kiwi, 1 Swede, 1 American - a nice diverse group of people, all of them really nice.
On the first day we started walking around 12:30, and after the first hour we reached a swimming spot in a river. We all swam here, thinking that the hike would be a breeze if it continues in that way. Right after the swim, we started climbing a mountain for the next hour. This was relatively tough, but energy levels were still high, so nobody really struggled too much. A little later it started raining really hard, which made it significantly harder to walk, as the trail became
very muddy and slippery. It felt like one could just slide down the downhill sections. We reached the first camp after only 3.5 hours of hiking. The campsites are very basic, consisting of only a roof and some tables. Hammocks are strung up under the roof for the evening.
We started the second day by visiting a small demonstration cocaine factory in the forest. A guide demonstrated the process of making cocaine. This was quite interesting, apparently there are quite a few cocaine factories in the forest close by. We could take photos, as long as we did not include his face. Cocaine extraction is quite an affair and they add a whole bunch of nasty stuff like petrol, sulphuric acid, etc. Afterwards you are left with cocaine paste, which they dry and sell as pure cocaine base.
The third day of hiking was one of the hardest days as it consists of unending uphill climbing. We were lucky after day one and had no rain while walking for the rest of the trip. It would pour down every day just as we arrived at our camps. Afternoons were generally spent reading, playing cards and laughing a lot
at Ori, one of the Israeli guys.
We reached the Lost City on the fourth day, after crossing the same river about nine times. This last river is the biggest river that one crosses in the trip, but we were lucky that is was not raining, as the river can become quite rough.
After crossing the river the last time, you are faced with 1,200 stone steps to get up to the site. This was very intense and very steep. We finally reached the Lost City and were greeted by some soldiers that were posted there. There are always soldiers posted at Ciudad Perdida, as there is some Guerrilla activity in the area - some hikers were kidnapped 5 years ago. The soldiers are very friendly and let some people of the other group hold there guns for photos!
The camping sites at the lost city are built on some terraces in the site itself. There was an overbooking for the site, so we ended up being three groups in one site, making it a little crowded. As we did the six day hike, we had the entire fourth day in the Lost City. The city is
impressive for a few reasons, the primary one being that it is not overrun by tourists like at Machu Picchu. It really feels like a lost city and is mostly overgrown by dense jungle. There are something like 170 terraces, on which the original inhabitants built their round huts.
The trip back was uneventful and tough, as we hiked both the second and third days hikes in one day back. Generally, this was an amazing trek in very beautiful scenery, with many rivers and lovely, dense forest. We would have liked it more if it was slightly flatter, though. The toughest thing about the hike is the humidity - which causes you to sweat buckets the whole time. We were both constantly wet. Lastly, there are tons of mosquitoes and sand flies, of which the latter is by far the worst. Liza-Marie had about 40 sand fly bites on her right leg. These bites have little blood spots in them, itch like mad and last for about 6 days. Mosquito repellent does not deter the little buggers.
After the hike, we went back to Cabo San Juan for some decent rest and relaxation. We stayed another 3 days
and found a nude beach which we really enjoyed (when in Rome...). Sorry, no photos will be posted of this.
We left for Cartagena on the 21st, we will be posting something a little later for this.
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Donna
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thanks for sharing your travels. I love traveling vicariously.