Well, sleeping in a hammock is not the most comfortable thing to do. The biggest problem is that it's very difficult to sleep on your side in a hammock as the natural tendency is to roll on your back. And when I roll onto my back I start snoring, snoring to the point where I end up waking myself up. Well, last night was no exception. I guess I got onto my back and my snoring woke Todd up, and Ryan got so annoyed he got up and gave me a poke. And then Ryan went back to sleep and he started snoring. As well, the Israeli fellow (Michael) was having the same problem, he was snoring. The only ones who weren't snoring was Todd and (Michale the Israeli girl) they suffered the most.
We were awakened by Santiago (our guide) at 5:00 o'clock and had breakfast. We then started our 3-hour hike to a place called Wiwa, stopping for watermelon along the way. Well, this was a hard hike - up, up, up and down, down, down the sides of the mountain. I was really struggling and had to stop several times to catch my wind and relax my sore leg muscles. Todd was starting to think I was beginning to go a bit loopy and maybe I was, I don't know, but I was almost at my end. He offered to carry my pack and I accepted. But I think it was too late because I was done. Well, after a couple of hours we finally reached the place where we're going to have a light lunch and I could not move. I sat down but I was so worn out I could not eat. I just sat there and picked away at my fish, thinking, what am I going to do. Anyway, Santiago suggested that we could rent a mule to take me to the next village where we'd be sleeping (El Paraiso). This would be the last stop before the Lost City. So that's what we did, we hired a mule for me. However, I still had to hike one hour before I could get on the mule.
So after lunch we started out again and it was the same old thing - up, down, up, down, scrambling over rocks, trying to stop from sliding when going down and finally, in one hour we came to a bridge. The others were given the option to do a little bit of swimming, and while they were swimming I climbed a little further and went across the bridge and there was my mule waiting for me. I mounted the mule and carried on - up, up, up - then it started to rain. Well, it rainned cats and dogs, just poured something terrible. The trail was getting slippery and muddy and wet and I was amazed at this mule. He was the most sure-footed animal I've ever seen. He'd climb up these trails and go down the trails, stepping over 2-foot rocks along rock ledges, he'd climb over fallen trees that had trunks that were two to three feet wide. It was unbelieveable, I was really impressed. But the scary part was going down. I was sitting high in the saddle, the mule with his head down would step over a 2-foot rock ledge and the scariest part was that I could have easily been thrown forward down onto the rocks. What I had to do was lean way back in the saddle when we were going downhill and look up into the trees. I wouldn't dare look down as the weight of my head would have just added more forward motion to my body. So despite the fact that I was riding a mule, it, in turn, was difficult as well.
Finally, after another three hours of riding the mule we came to a point where the mule couldn't go any further and I had to dismount and make the last 1-hour hike up to El Paraiso on foot. By this time I was more or less rested from riding on the mule, at least my legs were, and although it was a difficult climb up to the El Paraiso, I was able to make it without much difficulty. The trail up to El Paraiso was insane to say the least, unbelievable, and what made it even more unbelievable was doing it in a torrential downpour. Anyway, by the time I got to El Paraiso I pulled out my camera and it was dead, it wouldn't even begin to fire up, it had the biscuit. It must have suffered more than I did. The last stretch of the trail from where I dismounted the mule, although I described it as a little easier, was insane as well. We were climbing up almost vertical rock walls, along thin paths that were maybe a foot wide along the mountain ledges, over and under massive fallen trees, the likes of which I could never imagine.
I did forget to mention that after about a 2-hour ride on the mule, the saddle became loose, the saddle slipped to the side of the mule and I fell off, down onto the rocks, and hit my head on a little stump. The assistant guide and the mule operator/trainer came running to my aid, grabbed my arms, picked me up and were really concerned that I may have injured myself. I assured them that I was fine. They put the saddle back on the mule, tightened it up and we continued on.
We had supper at El Paraiso and then we hit the sack fairly early because tomorrow morning we start on the final leg of our trip to the Lost City. The sleep tonight was more comfortable because we had a choice between hammocks and beds (regular kind of beds) so I chose the bed as I thought I'd get a much better sleep tonight. Both the hammocks and the beds were covered with mosquito nets. It's more of a dorm situation - open sides with a roof above and I would say there were about 20 beds in this open-air dorm.
That's it for today. Riding the mule certainly helped but I've got a long difficult day ahead of me again tomorrow.
We were awakened by Santiago (our guide) at 5:00 o'clock and had breakfast. We then started our 3-hour hike to a place called Wiwa, stopping for watermelon along the way. Well, this was a hard hike - up, up, up and down, down, down the sides of the mountain. I was really struggling and had to stop several times to catch my wind and relax my sore leg muscles. Todd was starting to think I was beginning to go a bit loopy and maybe I was, I don't know, but I was almost at my end. He offered to carry my pack and I accepted. But I think it was too late because I was done. Well, after a couple of hours we finally reached the place where we're going to have a light lunch and I could not move. I sat down but I was so worn out I could not eat. I just sat there and picked away at my fish, thinking, what am I going to do. Anyway, Santiago suggested that we could rent a mule to take me to the next village where we'd be sleeping (El Paraiso). This would be the last stop before the Lost City. So that's what we did, we hired a mule for me. However, I still had to hike one hour before I could get on the mule.
So after lunch we started out again and it was the same old thing - up, down, up, down, scrambling over rocks, trying to stop from sliding when going down and finally, in one hour we came to a bridge. The others were given the option to do a little bit of swimming, and while they were swimming I climbed a little further and went across the bridge and there was my mule waiting for me. I mounted the mule and carried on - up, up, up - then it started to rain. Well, it rainned cats and dogs, just poured something terrible. The trail was getting slippery and muddy and wet and I was amazed at this mule. He was the most sure-footed animal I've ever seen. He'd climb up these trails and go down the trails, stepping over 2-foot rocks along rock ledges, he'd climb over fallen trees that had trunks that were two to three feet wide. It was unbelieveable, I was really impressed. But the scary part was going down. I was sitting high in the saddle, the mule with his head down would step over a 2-foot rock ledge and the scariest part was that I could have easily been thrown forward down onto the rocks. What I had to do was lean way back in the saddle when we were going downhill and look up into the trees. I wouldn't dare look down as the weight of my head would have just added more forward motion to my body. So despite the fact that I was riding a mule, it, in turn, was difficult as well.
Finally, after another three hours of riding the mule we came to a point where the mule couldn't go any further and I had to dismount and make the last 1-hour hike up to El Paraiso on foot. By this time I was more or less rested from riding on the mule, at least my legs were, and although it was a difficult climb up to the El Paraiso, I was able to make it without much difficulty. The trail up to El Paraiso was insane to say the least, unbelievable, and what made it even more unbelievable was doing it in a torrential downpour. Anyway, by the time I got to El Paraiso I pulled out my camera and it was dead, it wouldn't even begin to fire up, it had the biscuit. It must have suffered more than I did. The last stretch of the trail from where I dismounted the mule, although I described it as a little easier, was insane as well. We were climbing up almost vertical rock walls, along thin paths that were maybe a foot wide along the mountain ledges, over and under massive fallen trees, the likes of which I could never imagine.
I did forget to mention that after about a 2-hour ride on the mule, the saddle became loose, the saddle slipped to the side of the mule and I fell off, down onto the rocks, and hit my head on a little stump. The assistant guide and the mule operator/trainer came running to my aid, grabbed my arms, picked me up and were really concerned that I may have injured myself. I assured them that I was fine. They put the saddle back on the mule, tightened it up and we continued on.
We had supper at El Paraiso and then we hit the sack fairly early because tomorrow morning we start on the final leg of our trip to the Lost City. The sleep tonight was more comfortable because we had a choice between hammocks and beds (regular kind of beds) so I chose the bed as I thought I'd get a much better sleep tonight. Both the hammocks and the beds were covered with mosquito nets. It's more of a dorm situation - open sides with a roof above and I would say there were about 20 beds in this open-air dorm.
That's it for today. Riding the mule certainly helped but I've got a long difficult day ahead of me again tomorrow.
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| Trail hazard |
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| Muddy Trail |
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| Making our way across a suspension bridge |
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| Trekking through the mud |
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| Exhausted! |
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| Crossing one of many streams |
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| Village huts |
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| At El Paraisio before the final trek to the Lost City |
I think you bit off more than you can chew. juan
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