The Lost City

Last up in Colombia, we headed to the Caribbean. We flew from Medellin to Cartagena, spent a few days there, bussed to Taganga, and I went SCUBA diving. We hung out in the HOT HUMID weather. Then we went to the Lost City and the small town of Minca.

Cartagena’s old town was really beautiful. Old buildings with colourful paint and flowers spilling over the balconies. It was lovely to wander around, although it was really warm. Taganga was not as nice but not due to the scenery. It is set facing west in a small bay, surrounded by mountains spilling into the sea and has great sun sets. Our hotel was 60m from the beach with a rooftop terrace overlooking the sea. We spent a couple evenings up there playing Dominoes and drinking cerveza (beer). Taganga smelled of trash and there were a lot of people trying to sell us tours into the national park so it wasn’t as nice to wander around, but it has great coral reefs nearby and I got to go explore underwater with two boat dives in the coral. I tried to get Adam to snorkel or try diving but he was content to sit on the boat and get slightly seasick as he waited for the divers to surface!

   

The next adventure was a 4 day trek in the jungle to Ciudad Perdida, the Lost City. We were on a tour with 7 other tourists from Germany, Holland, and the UK, an interpreter and an excellent guide. Our group was fabulous and we got on really well. The trek was quite challenging up some steep slippery mountains and down rough rocky barely formed paths. It was AWESOME. The scenery was incredible, with rugged mountains and dense jungle.

There were many swimming holes along the trail that reminded me of rivers back home, when not hiking, eating or sleeping, I was swimming. There were mules that carried the food and fresh fruit waiting for us at the top of the climbs. Our guide, a local man named Ariel was really knowledgeable about the local indigenous people, their culture and beliefs. The indigenous people have rather interesting culture from our *western * perspective. At 18, the men are given a poporo (a neat looking container used to store seashell powder) and they use the basic sea shell powder to activate the coca leaves that they chew constantly. The women and children are forbidden from using coca and they do ALL The work. Men chew coca, woman work. Quite the life! Oh, and the men can trade in their wife on a newer model whenever they want too!

The journey through the jungle to the Lost City was fabulous and when we arrived at the 30 hectare site there were only about 18 people to visit that day. What remains are beautiful moss-covered terraces built for every house. While it was abandoned about 400 years ago due to Spanish explorers, all the houses have long since rotted away in the humid jungle, but the stone terraces, stairways, roads and other infrastructure remain. It seems like it’s still lost from tourism, with seemingly untouched ruins open for us to explore. We felt so lucky to get to experience something like that.

When we re-emerged to civilization, a day of rest in Santa Marta was followed by a trip up into the mountains again to a little village called Minca. It was paradise. We stayed in a hostel way up on a hill with great food and breathtaking views. It was a couple of delightful rest days (except for the grueling hike up the steep hill to get to the hostel – I’m glad Adam was carrying our heavy backpack!)

And now… to Ecuador and the Amazon!