April 19, Santa Marta, Colombia

Similar to the other mornings...it was an early start. We were supposed to leave at 6 am but ended up leaving about 6.30. Heading back to Santa Marta. By 7.30 we had spent 40 minutes walking up a very steep hill! Exhausting....tired, sore muscles and all this so early in morning! What a start to the day! But made it! Mostly down hill for there, at least the ups were no where near as difficult as the start. Took about 6 hours today to get to the car for the 1 1/2 hour drive back to the city.

Nice to get back to the hotel and shower in water other than river water. Very tired and sore! But very satisfied...that I made it!

April 19, Santa Marta, Colombia

Similar to the other mornings...it was an early start. We were supposed to leave at 6 am but ended up leaving about 6.30. Heading back to Santa Marta. By 7.30 we had spent 40 minutes walking up a very steep hill! Exhausting....tired, sore muscles and all this so early in morning! What a start to the day! But made it! Mostly down hill for there, at least the ups were no where near as difficult as the start. Took about 6 hours today to get to the car for the 1 1/2 hour drive back to the city.

April 18, 17, & 16, Sierra Nevada Mountains, Colombia

Just finished a 4 day trek in the mountains/rain forest/jungle. What another amazing place and to top it all off, being able to walk around the Ciudad Perdida (Lost City) where construction started in 700 AD and was finished about 1000 AD. The trek was 45 km with many ups and downs, but was up to 600 m at one point and then the city itself is about 1200 m and 1200 steps to get to. Overall about 25 hours of walking in hot and humid weather, and also a rain storm! Exhausting but great.

The area used to be occupied by the guerrillas which controlled the cocaine trade in the area but in about 2002 the military moved in and chased them out, after they had fumigated the land to kill the coca plant. Interesting that coca leaf trees are illegal in the country now except for the indigenous people can still grow and use. This destroyed the livelihood of the local people and most agriculture in the area. Now the people are mostly involved in the tourism industry. They provide the housing and the restaurants and snack shops along the trail as well as being guides in the area.

The area is dense jungle with a maze of trails to various houses in the area. There are also 3 or 4 indigenous tribe villages. Small but interesting. The huts are wood and thatch, and each family has 2 houses, one for the males, and one for the females and children.

During the trek there were toucans, spiders, big flies, butterflies, a snake, flowers, and the lulo plant (juice). I have been drinking the juice all the time being here. It is orange like, but not as acidic.

The accommodation was interesting. They have built rows of bunk beds with mosquito nets for each bed. Each place has a restaurant. In one place I am sure there had to be 100 beds! The other 'camps' were smaller. Each camp had flush toilets and showers! Amazing since we are really in the middle of no where. Nice as well as there were natural pools in the river for swimming, a great way to cool down after a hot day of walking. The tour had 2 cooks along who created some amazing lunches and dinners. Chicken, beef, fish, pasta!

All but the pasta came with rice, patacones (plantain pancakes, fried), salad of lettuce cucumber, onion and tomato. Breakfast was huge with eggs, bread, or cheese sandwich and fruit. Ate lots! On the breaks there was always fresh pineapple, oranges which tasted amazing! Very fresh and local!

The city is constructed on the side of a mountain. It has 4 areas, entrance, market, housing and ceremonial. They used circles of stones for the foundations. But under the centre they buried the dead. Interesting. The area was rich....they had lots of gold but the valuable things were the food they grew as these were used for trade with the other tribes in the area.

We also were able to visit with the local shaman....the healer. Funny as he had a mouth full of coca leaves and he asked for rain 2 weeks ago and as he predicted it was going to rain! It did....within about 20 minutes of talking to him....so we got soaked!

The military has a permanent base at the top of the city, a position that overlooks the area. Interesting to have them watching you with the binoculars!


April 15, 14 & 13

Relaxed, drank coffee, walked on beach, swam, and talked to German woman. Very nice!