Door-to-door service. Got to love that! We never use this kind of service, because it costs a lot, but for once, we did it. Because we were all in a weird mood maybe. Or because of my weird mood maybe, that was affecting my friends mood...whatever.
We stayed at La Guaca hostel, just outside the historical center, but only at 15min walking distance. Perfect! After a 'partyhostel' like El Viajero, I was glad with this quiet one. But, the downside it such type of hostels is that you don't really meet new people. I don't know how come but it maybe attracts a different kind of travelers, that don't really like interacting with other travellers.
On day 1 me and Liesje, did our own walking city tour. It's quite small so you can get around by foot. We asked around in different travel agencies about the 'Lost City' trail,but they were all offering the same thing.
We visited Geena & Benny, our Swedish friends, in their hostel and went eventually to travel agency 'Expotur' to book our adventurous trail. We booked for 5 days, strting the next morning.
To end the evening in style and to treat our body to a decent meal, we had dinner in this lovely vegettian place called "IKARO". You can find this place in Calle 19, the most trendy street full of bars and restaurants.
I had a yummy Sri Lankan curry, but all dished looked amazing! I am certainly coming back to this place!!
La Ciudad Perdida
Day 1
Started with delay...
Jelle gave his laundry to the hostel but the laundry guy was way too late. We missed our organised transport to the travel agency and had to take a cab somewhat later. But, no harm done, we still got there on time!
In the office we met the rest of our fellow hikers: two German couples, a German journalist, an American, an English lady (we shared a former employer!), a Cololbian couple, a Swedish cook and 3 Belgians (us). Our tourguide was Jhon, who was only speaking Spanish.
After a bumpy 2h ride uphill, we got to this place where we had a typical Colombian lunch: chicken, rice, patacon, veggie salad. From this point on we would start to walk.
We walked and we climbed, but mainly the latter. I didn't knew I could sweat so much, seriously! It was pretty tough sometimes, but since we were all still pretty fresh and rested, we did good!
I'm not exagerating when I say that I was ecstatic when we arrived at our first camp! In the camp, there was this natural pool, where we could jump off a high rock and refresh ourselves. I was so proud of myself for jumping from so high, but once I was in the water the height didn't seem so daredevelish any more...
Our camp was basic, but good. There was a good atmosphere around the dinertable. We talked, played games and had a good laugh. We learned lots of new fruits and got a refresher on the world capital cities.
By 9pm everyone was getting tired and went to bed. I carried my mosquitonet with me "in case of", I preferred to have a double protection. Not agains mosquitos actually but against the big ugly spiders! Luckily all beds had decent mosquitonets, so I didn't ised mine. Nor was I afraid of any intrudors entering my personal space!
Day 2
5.30am - Jhon was knocking on every bed and saying "buenas dias" to wake us up. We had 1h before departure to get ready and have breakfast.
Today we would pass an indigenous village, Mutanzhi, where the Kogi tribe lives. Jhon told us a lot about the history and traditions of the indigenous people.
Here are a few facts:
- every family has 2 huts/houses: one for the man and one for the woman, the children would live with their mother. When the boys are old enough (varies) they start living with their father so they learn the men's tasks and the girls remain woth the mother to learn how to run the household
- all indigenous people have long black beautiful hair! When they commit a felony, their hair is cut short.
- children all kind of look the same, boys or girls. The only way to destinguish the boys from the girls is a shoulderbag, which the boys carry. Girls usually wear a necklace. When the boys are old enough - when they start living with their dad - they turn in their tunic for a pair or shorts and a shirt. They all wear white (men, women, children).
- at the age of 18, all boys undergo a ceremony with the shaman, where they are taught about life, relashionships, etc.
- after this ceremony, after which they are seen as adults, they receive a "poporo" a wooden carrier that is filled with a white powder. (This is not what you think!)
The white powder is actually shells that have been burned and crushed. All men use this device at all times, even when walking. The bigger the yellow part of the poporo is, the older the man is. The yellow part grows over the years because they continuously are building it with their saliva and the shell powder.
- men continuously chew on coca leaves and they always carry coca leaves in their bag. When they meet, they salute each other by exchanging a handfull of coca leaves.
- a man can have multiple women in his life, but not simultaneously. When his first wife stops menstruating, the sexual relationship immediately stops. He is then entitled to a younger woman who can still produce children. Sexual intercourse is also only allowed for reproduction purposes. The older woman is still in the picture and she is being consulted for important matters. She is seen as a type of Mater Familiae.
This second day was the harderst - or so it seemed during that day. By the end of the day, an hour before reacing our second camp, it started raining. We all took our poncho or some of us were wearing garbage bags that Jhon was handing out. Liesje was hilarious! She had pulled a garbage bag over her head and body, but she had only made a hole for het head, so no arms were sticking out. She was looking like Spongebob Squarepants, but way funnier! To bad it was raining so hard, I couldn't take a picture. I would have loved sharing tht with you!
But enough laughing with Liesje. Karma stroke me for this...somewhere in the middle of this wet journey, I slipped and fell on my butt. I was full of mud!
Day 3
Only one hour walking from the camp, was the entrance to La Ciudad Perdida. In that first hour we had to climb 1200 very steam and narrow stairs. Going up was less of a problem, but getting back down was extremely painful for my knees! (I'm becoming an old lady...)
Once up there, we forgot about all the pain and effort it took us to get there. The view was breathtaking!
These ruins seem to be even older than the Machu Picchu ruins! A few times a year, the leaders of all 4 different tribes, get together for a ceremony in La Ciudad Perdida. They once used to live here, but with the Carib invasion they fled into the Sierra Nevada mountains.
After seeing this magnificent place, we immediately started our return journey.
Up 'till here we walked 23.3kms! So in total we walked 46.6kms during this trail!
And another thing worth mentioning: we skipped the last day, we did it all in 4 days! 5 is for pussies! (No offence 😉)
Day 4:
The last part of the last day, around noon, was the hardest. The sun was shining, it was boiling hot and we had to climb a very steep hill for a long time! It was at that point that for the first time during the trail, I started asking myself "why?!" Why the hell am I making myself go through all of this?? I didn't have an answer back then. But it was all worth it! Sometimes you just have to go over your limits...
Labels: adventure, Colombia, Travel
