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Published: December 6th 2010
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The company to go with is "Magic Tours"
No doubt about it, at least we had a fantastic trip!
We got picked up at our hostel and three hours later we were dropped off in the Sierra Nevada. Our 5 days hike was about to start.
At the pickup Thomas said to me that he didn't like our guide Jesus, because he seemed to be a fat little lazy slacker. All this because his lack of a firm handshake! Yes, it really matters.
But, sometimes appearances are deceptive.
We had a good group with good "walkers", but the round ball of a guide had a hidden talent. he didn't say much, but he could really lead the way!
When we met our first group of people on their way back, they told us not to take off our shoes. We would get wet either we wanted to or not.
And only 10 minutes into our walk we ran into our first river. So, I took notice of what they had said and strutted into the water.
Some, not to name names (Thomas).. Hmm.. decided to use time on taking them on and off at each crossing. Not worth it in my
opinion!
Anyways, our first ascent that day was a real eye opener, this trip was not going to be "a walk in the park".
Probably not what Jesus was thinking, he passed me like a little fireball in boots.. (Or so it seemed in the moment)
It was one of the longest hills I've ever walked and the sizzling sun didn't make it any easier.
Luckily the rainy season is unpredictable, and to our relief the skies opened and rain came pouring down.
At least it cooled us down and washed away some of the sweat!
When we finally arrived at the top, there was a little man greeting us with a tray full of melon, the best ever!
Our first day we walked for about 3 hours before reaching the campsite.
We were actually supposed to sleep in hammocks here, but the guide told us that there was a group of students from Bogota doing the trip as well. They were on their way back so we would only encounter them this one night.
Ok, is that gonna be a problem we thought?
Oh yes, they were a group of around 80 people!!
So, when all the hammocks were
occupied Thomas and I got told that we were gonna get a bed inside instead. Well ok, how bad can that be?
Lets put it this way, at one point of the evening we were asked to go to bed. This because the OWNERS of the house wanted to.
Ie. we had been given their private bed, and they were gonna sleep next to us in a tiny bed.
Very interesting!
The next day we walked for about three hours, which isn't all that much and we reached our campsite at around mid day. This gave us the rest of the day to take a swim in the cold cold river, play cards, reading books and getting to know the rest of the group better.
Also at this campsite, there were a lot of indigenous people "Koguis". At first sight it seemed really exhotic, but we soon found out that they are not so indigenous as one should think.
What gave it away?
First of all, they got drunk before the sun went down. Not only the "grownups", children down to the age of 12 were drinking beer and smoking sigarettes like there was no tomorrow!
A breathtaking beautiful kid
came up to me asking IN ENGLISH "do you have sweets"?
Not so much the beauty that was breathtaking anymore..
Our guide told us that this group of people had spent 20.000 COP (app. 100$) on beers that evening.
Besides, the clothing they were wearing was fabric made. In the old days they used to make their own, but now a days they travel into Santa Marta to buy clothes and other comodities.
Rural, yeah right!
We got up early in the morning the third day and walked for another 3 hours, to reach the last campsite before the ascent to Ciudad Perdida.
We asked if we could maybe do this the same day, but the guides warned us about bad weather in the afternoon.
And they were right.
We had a couple of lovely sunny hours at the riverbank were our campsite was, and were able to dry up some of our clothes before the rain suddenly started pouring down over us.
AGAIN.
But, yet another afternoon of playing cards, reading and recharging our batteries for the next days walk.
The "IT"-day was finally there, we were gonna reach the lost city!
It is believed to have been
founded 800 AD, around 650 years earlier than Machu Picchu, and were discovered in the 1970's.
We finally reached the main entrance by climbing up 1640 stone steps through dense jungle.
Ciudad Perdida consists of a series of 169 terraces carved into the mountainside, a net of tiled roads and several small circular plazas.
The archeological site of this ancient city in the middle of Sierra Nevada is without a doubt one of the most spectacular ruins I've ever seen!
It beats Machu Picchu any day!
Probably because it is so secluded, and the only way of reaching it is by hiking through the jungle. There are no shuttle buses, tons of tourists, people complaining about safety hazards and so on.
In fact, it was only our group and one other up there. And they had timed it so that we didn't bump into eachother.
Well done!
(In regards to safety, it can be a dangerous trek. That is if you don't pay attention and use common sence.
Stones are slippery, and there has been some tourists going over the hillside.
Just a couple of weeks before our trek, a guide ended up getting paralyzed from the neck and
Thirsty!!
This was taken seconds after arriving at the top of the very looooong first hill.. down. This because the dived into one of the rivers and hit his head in the bottom.)
I'm not gonna write about our way back, because it was all about walking!
What we had done in three days, we had to do in one and a half.
Just be sure to ask your guide if you can go swimming in the river nearby the finish line on the last day, such a treat!!
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