Ciudad Perdida

From Bogota I got the bus overnight to Santa Marta with three English guys I had met in the hostel, Simon, Eli and Tom. We went to stay in Hostel Miramar which had a nice vibe but it a world away from the Cranky Croc in quality. There we met up with an Aussie called Chris who the guys know from previous travelling.

The next day we booked up the Lost City trek and went to Tganga, a near by fishing village to book accomodation for Christmas and chill out on the beach. It´s nice to be near the Carribean Sea and it is seriously hot weather here. It was a chilled out day, lots of food, sun and sleep.

On the Wednesday we started our trek to Ciudad Perdida. It´s 3 days walking up there, a bit of time there and 3 days back again. 5 nights in total. We stayed in hammocks at make shift camps where they cooked amazing food on fires in tiny kitchens. It was really good fun. The walking wasn´t too hard and there were lots of rivers to swim in and cross which broke it up. We were twinned with another group of 3 Korean girls and a swiss guys. The girls couldn´t really speak english or spanish so communication proved difficult so I can´t say I got to know them at all. The Swiss guy, Rafael, was cool though and hung around with us. The scenary was awesome, trekking through the mountains in jungle and passing by indigenous communities - all good. It´s better explained with some photos...

First Day, first swim. From left to right, Pedro the cook, Missiel the guide, Simon, Eli, Chris, Tom, Me and Rafael.

Pineapple stop after a massive hill, very sweaty photo!

Oranges and swim stop!

Indigenous village with not a soul in sight, they are very shy.

The whole group on day 2.

The boys on one of many river crossings

Missiel, me and Eli having reached the lower tear of the Lost city

The top!

The Lost City is protected by loads of army guys to stop the tourists being kidnapped. Chris had the balls to ask one of the solders if we could pose with his gun. It was funny because this solder whipped out his own camera because he wanted photos of me with the gun as well!

We had a tour round the lost city on the evening of the 3rd day and morning of the 4th day but only stayed there one night which was good because the accomodation up there was cramped. There isn´t actually that much to see there because most was destroyed by the founders when the stole all the gold etc but it is pretty amazing anyway and the trek was good fun.

Me swinging on the vines.

View at the top. This area was also used as a helicopter pad when one of the girls from another group dislocated her knee...!

On our way back down we had a free afternoon so Missiel took us to a waterfall he used to play in as a kid. We followed a track to the top of the waterfall then climbed down the waterfall itself to swim at the bottom and stand under it. Only Chris and I went with the guides, it was like a little undiscovered paradise, really beautiful and inaccesable.








Unfortunately on the 4th day (still two days to go) Tom fell over and badly hurt his ankle. He was treated by the indigenous people which was very interesting and is doing quite well now but at the time he couldn´t walk. Missiel carried him to the camp and then he spent the next two days on a donkey!








The last day. Rafael, Chris, Simon and me.

After the trek we came to Tganga and got our apartment and had a crazy night out playing games and swimming at 2am etc. It was fun. This isTganga...

It´s not the most beautiful of places actually but the vibe here is really good and everyone is really chilled out. Had a random day yesterday, ended up on a boat trip with 2 English guys, Mark and Michael, 2 English girls, Chrisy and Jenny, a girl from the beach called ranie and Chris. It was fun and random, we went to deserted beaches and drunk rum! Even more randomly Mark knows my brother!

Today is Christmas eve so I am going to go swim before the big party kicks off!!!