Woke up around 7:00, starting packing everything we would need for the next five days into our small packs for the hike up to the Lost City (Cuidad Perdida), with the plan to leave the big packs at the hostel. We had our breakfast then went down to the front desk for our 8:30 pick-up only to find out there was a change in pick-up time to 10:00 which was great as it gave us more time to relax and organize ourselves a little better We were picked up 30 minutes late at 10:30. The tour company sent a couple of young girls around to the hostel to round us up; we followed them for six or seven blocks to the downtown area of Santa Marta to the tour company office (Wiwa Tours). We paid for our tour and found out that we are also being joined by an Israeli couple on the trek. We were taken to a van for the 3-hour drive to the start of the trek, the last part of the drive on a very narrow dirt and rocky road. Our guide is a local guide from one of the tribes in the mountains. They are of very short stature, they struggle to reach five feet in height. They are almost mini humans. Very dark skin and black hair. The men wear their hair fairly long and down their back. Our guide's name is Santiago. We had a light lunch before starting the hike.
We started the trek in nice weather and it was easy going for the first hour and a half. We have a 3 to 4-hour hike to our first night's destination. We came across a pool. Todd, Ryan and the Israeli guy jumped off the rock into the water and they were having lots of fun. I ended up crossing the river; I slipped, getting my one foot and shoe soaked. After about an hour the hike started to go UP- steep, steep switchbacks on rough and muddy trails, poor traction, stepping over boulders, stepping over tree trunks, etc. It just kept going up and up and up and I'm getting tired and exhausted. The Israeli couple and Ryan and Todd were fine but for myself, I found it hard going. I just plugged along slow and steady, up, up, up, trying to keep up with them but knew that it was impossible and I needed to insist that I take my time. Either Todd or Ryan would hang back with me and encourage me on. About half way up to our first destination and our first night's sleep it started to rain and all of our clothes got soaked but it really didn't make much difference because my clothes were absolutely soaked with sweat. We finally made it to our sleep point around 4:00 p.m. and by this time I was totally exhausted and my clothes soaked with perspiration. I felt everything would be fine for tomorrow once I had a good night's rest. The boys changed into dry clothing. I just kept my clothes on until near bedtime and then slipped into my bathing suit and a dry tee-shirt. At this point there was some discussion about whether we would do a 4-day hike or a 5-day hike. The Israeli couple had booked a 4-day hike so we set about to see what the difference would be between the 4 and 5-day hikes. After some consultation, we decided that we would also do the 4-day hike.
Our guide and the family running the 'overnight rest', didn't speak any English so it was difficult to get more information on the differences between the 4 and 5-day hikes. Mike is the Israeli guy's name and Michal is his wife's name. Michal did take a little Spanish and she was able to do some translating for us.
We had a wonderful meal of potatoes, rice, chicken and salad made by the family where we were staying. After supper it was dark (gets dark between 5:30 and 6:00), we chatted a little bit and watched the fireflys flitting through the rainforest and then hit the sack around 8:00 o'clock. We were sleeping in hammocks, suspended between the posts of the building and over the hammocks was mosquito netting to keep the bugs off which is much needed as once the sun goes down the mosquitoes like to come out. Tomorrow is going to be our big day. Before going to bed we took some photos and when I took out my big camera, I heard a snap and a pop inside and a funny odor coming from it. Anyway, it settled down and starting working fine but I did note that the camera was covered with my perspiration from the hike up and I'm wondering if some of this perspiration didn't get into the workings of the camera.
Today's hike was roughly around four hours, tomorrow we're looking at an 8-hour to 9-hour hike and we'll be hitting the trail at 6:00 a.m. This is going to be tough.
We started the trek in nice weather and it was easy going for the first hour and a half. We have a 3 to 4-hour hike to our first night's destination. We came across a pool. Todd, Ryan and the Israeli guy jumped off the rock into the water and they were having lots of fun. I ended up crossing the river; I slipped, getting my one foot and shoe soaked. After about an hour the hike started to go UP- steep, steep switchbacks on rough and muddy trails, poor traction, stepping over boulders, stepping over tree trunks, etc. It just kept going up and up and up and I'm getting tired and exhausted. The Israeli couple and Ryan and Todd were fine but for myself, I found it hard going. I just plugged along slow and steady, up, up, up, trying to keep up with them but knew that it was impossible and I needed to insist that I take my time. Either Todd or Ryan would hang back with me and encourage me on. About half way up to our first destination and our first night's sleep it started to rain and all of our clothes got soaked but it really didn't make much difference because my clothes were absolutely soaked with sweat. We finally made it to our sleep point around 4:00 p.m. and by this time I was totally exhausted and my clothes soaked with perspiration. I felt everything would be fine for tomorrow once I had a good night's rest. The boys changed into dry clothing. I just kept my clothes on until near bedtime and then slipped into my bathing suit and a dry tee-shirt. At this point there was some discussion about whether we would do a 4-day hike or a 5-day hike. The Israeli couple had booked a 4-day hike so we set about to see what the difference would be between the 4 and 5-day hikes. After some consultation, we decided that we would also do the 4-day hike.
Our guide and the family running the 'overnight rest', didn't speak any English so it was difficult to get more information on the differences between the 4 and 5-day hikes. Mike is the Israeli guy's name and Michal is his wife's name. Michal did take a little Spanish and she was able to do some translating for us.
We had a wonderful meal of potatoes, rice, chicken and salad made by the family where we were staying. After supper it was dark (gets dark between 5:30 and 6:00), we chatted a little bit and watched the fireflys flitting through the rainforest and then hit the sack around 8:00 o'clock. We were sleeping in hammocks, suspended between the posts of the building and over the hammocks was mosquito netting to keep the bugs off which is much needed as once the sun goes down the mosquitoes like to come out. Tomorrow is going to be our big day. Before going to bed we took some photos and when I took out my big camera, I heard a snap and a pop inside and a funny odor coming from it. Anyway, it settled down and starting working fine but I did note that the camera was covered with my perspiration from the hike up and I'm wondering if some of this perspiration didn't get into the workings of the camera.
Today's hike was roughly around four hours, tomorrow we're looking at an 8-hour to 9-hour hike and we'll be hitting the trail at 6:00 a.m. This is going to be tough.
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| Relaxing before start of hike |
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| Lost City sign |
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| Santiago, our guide |
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| Discussing 4 or 5-day hike |
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| Swimming hole |
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| Typical native stove |
please tell me it's not SK roughriders shirt that Ryan is wearing!
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