This post almost did not exist. We were very close to bypassing The Lost City Trek in order to make more time for other cities. Thankfully, two of our friends we met on our sailing trip convinced us otherwise upon their return from the trek.
La Ciudad Perdida is hands down one of the most special places on earth. The first obstacle was faced was deciding on whether to do the 4, 5, or 6 day trek. Thankfully was chose the second option which ended up being perfect.
We were picked up from our hostel at 10:30 am by a more than sufficient off road vehicle which was already filled with 5 other Trekkers who we would get to know very well over the next 5 days. We arrived to the beginning of the trek three hours later and after a quaint lunch we were off.
It had been rumored that the first day was the hardest, and if your definition of hard includes hiking straight up hill through a muddy dugout with 6ft muddy walled views on both sides for over an hour then you would completely understand. Fortunately we only hiked for about three hours that day until we reached our first campsite. After each challenging interval of the hike we were rewarded with freshly cut fruit and safety meetings which usually left us more relaxed and loose than before. And all of the blood, sweat, and future blisters were definitely worth it once we reached our first camp.
Arriving at our first camp was more than surprising. Expecting rugged camping we were given a beautiful setup. A “room” with a pool table connected to a swinging (swung a bit too much!) bridge over the running water (which also housed natural swimming holes), connected us with the nice wooden shelter that held the near 20 cocoon-like, mosquito net covered hammocks. Settling in, we caught up with some others for an exploration of the surrounding land. Following some signs through this remote spot we found ourselves at “la pisina”- the natural swimming hole. Well, the only way to get into the pool was a 25 foot jump from a jagged rockface. Of course we all plummeted immediately. This camp was beautiful. Besides the unique set up with the colorful hammocks and swinging bridge, was the smell. The whole place was decorated with flowers and lush green that smelled amazing. We slept in surprisingly comfy hammocks and woke up at 6 am for the second day of hiking. This day mainly consisted of rolling hills for 4 hours until we reached our second camp. The second camp was based next to a big river. We also had nice beds to sleep in covered with Mosquito nets.
Again, for the third day we woke up at 6 am and hike another four hours to the base of the lost city. Each day after hiking about 4 hours we reached our camp around noonish. We had a lot of time to kill, but honestly after the massive portions of incredible food our guides served us combined with the soreness creeping into our legs after intense hiking, all we wanted to do was lay around and relax.
The next morning we awoke at 5:30 and began our assent to the top of the mountain where the 1400 year old ruins lied. Supposedly there were 1200 steps from the base to the first plateau according to the guides, but after an intense inspection (I counted every step on the way up and made sure to announce to the group how far we had gone in 10% increments) it turned out there were only 1057 steps.
The ruins themselves were breathtaking. At first, the first plateau was not impressive at all. Honestly, I’ve seen more impressive Lincoln log works of art, but after 200 more steps the beauty and grandeur was revealed. The lost city is actually huge. The pictures do not do it justice. Every 100 meters or so there is another path that leads to another plateau where more ruins existed. After 3 hours of exploring the lost city we hiked down to our base camp than began our journey back to the very beginning of the trek.
The hike out was definitely the most intense/difficult. Mainly because we covered the same amount of ground in 2 days that we originally covered in 3 days. For some reason, it seemed as though the trek in was mainly uphill, which sparked a bit of hope in our minds because logically we assumed that the trek out would have been mainly downhill. Unforgivably for us, we found out that the once thought urban myth that our parents hiked to and from school, uphill was actually possibly true now. The hike out seemed more uphill than we remembered the hike in being.
My favorite part of the trek was the authenticity of the Tayrona people. Traveling through Guatemala and others I’ve experienced authentic clothing, but not to the extent of the Tayrona. They dress in all white dresses representing purity. Nobody cuts their long, silky, black hair because they believe its representative of the rivers of the land (because of this girls wear necklaces and guys a side satchel to differentiate between the sexes and also seemed tayrona men naturally grow perfectly groomed mustaches). They never wear shoes because they believe that the earth sends them energy through the soles of their feet. They also live in circular huts representing the sun. Belief in giving back to the earth as it does to them hoods big importance to their life. After showering in the river or cutting a tree for their hut, they would give some sort of payment (usually grounded seashells or some type of stone). At the age of eighteen they were given a spouse, and the men an instrument called a poporro. The poporro was a miniature gourd with a coca collar. There was a stick placed into the gourd that would pick up some of the powder in the gourd that the men would constantly rub in their mouths. The powder consisted of finely ground seashells that were believed to be sacred. Tayrona would carry their thoughts and feeling in their poporro so when sick the chief could look into the poporro being able to diagnose and treat the sickness. Women and men always slept in different huts, including the children. It was amazing to not only hear of people living like this, but to be able to see them in their community. Unfortunately, they were not fond of being in pictures, but some solid mental photography was definitely captured that should stick around forever.
All of this being said, I didn’t believe it. For example on top of the circular huts there were two sticks poking out of the roof that were rumored to be representations of the two tallest mountain peaks of the region. Coincidently, the two “peaks” very closely resembled antennas that often appear on top ships equipped for space travel. The huts themselves looked like spacecrafts. (see pictures). The Tayrona people obviously were doing their best to recreate something they saw hundreds of years ago. It shouldn’t be long until the critically acclaimed hit TV show on the History channel, Ancient Aliens, gets their hands on this material and makes it available to the world. (Michael obviously wrote this paragraph!)
note: after reaching the top of the lost city, I was convinced I was dropping out of law school to pursue a career in astro-physics, history, and archeology.
All in all, the lost city trek has been the highlight of our trip. La ciudad Perdida truly is a special place. The trek itself is absolutely amazing and by itself worth it. The ruins are just the cherry on top.
Items lost:
iPhone 5 – 1
Sweet Ray Bans – 1
Colorful Muli-purpose headband – 1
Nalgene – 2
Skin from feet (blisters) – 16 square inches
Right pinky toenail – 1
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