The Lost City and Santa Marta



 The setting for the trek to the Ciudad Perdida

The Lost City trek (or Ciudad Perdida as it is locally known), up near the Caribbean Sea in the country's far north eastern edge, is Colombia's more modest alternative to the Inca Trail in Peru. We were trepedatious to learn that back in 2003, several tourists on the trek were kidnapped by the FARC, marched for several days through the jungle, held for around 3 months before release. Although the situation has improved a lot since then, Colombia still has an insurgency around the fringes, which was underlined by the ambush and killing of five soldiers by FARC rebels who attacked a patrol in a rural area of western Colombia the day we started the trek.

With children from the local tribal community who are
 descendants of the Tayronas. It is estimated that the
Tayronas constructed the lost city in 800AD

Regarding the 2003 hostage incident, a documentary called 'My Kidnapper' was released in 2010. One of the British hostages found himself contacted by one of his kidnappers a year after his release. This developed into him and a couple of others from the group going back to Colombia to meet the kidnapper and to complete the remainder of the Lost City trek. Wowzers. Talk about facing your demons...









Ready for the 1,200 steps that take you up into the city

Anyhow, luckily we didn't get kidnapped on this five day adventure through true jungle, wide rivers and dirt trails to a Tayrona archaeological site high up in the mountains, only rediscovered by locals in the 1970s. Don't get me wrong -  it's not quite Heart of Darkness - probably 200 people are on the trail a day (though you will only see the 20 or so in your group and maybe 50 who pass you coming back the other way) and you are never more than 30 miles away from Santa Marta (a big city of five hundred thousand people along the coast from national park).





One of many river crossings on the trail

But it is a pretty challenging walk - we had a couple of French soldiers on the trail with us and they said it was no piece of cake - lots of steep climbing and descents, fast flowing river crossings and the heat of the jungle to contend with. You walk for 5-8 hours a day depending on your itinerary and whether you chose to do the walk over 4, 5 or 6 days. You really do feel like you are a loooooooonnng way from civilisation.

One of the bunkhouses we slept in - a normal bedtime was around
7.30pm ready for the 5am starts

Everything is so humid that nothing dries, you sleep in bunks wrapped in mosquito nets, are passed on the paths by the local tribal folk in their traditional white tunics and charming black wellies, or a pack of mules carrying supplies to the bunkhouses and swim in crystal clear pools along the route.

The most iconic of the city's 169 terraces

While there were no kidnappings that is not to say we had no drama. An unfortunate gentleman was struck down by what was thought to be appendicitis, which can be deadly without surgery, on the evening before we were to make the final ascent to the 'city' and - unfortunately - the furthest point away from civilisation. After several hours of excruciating pain a decision was taken to helicopter him out at first light. We found out few weeks later that it turned out to be kidney stones (less fatal but very very painful without treatment....) and luckily for him the ancient Tayrona had the foresight to design the main temple complex as large circles which double excellently as a helicopter landing pad! The guides got him up there the next morning and the insurance company flew him out.

Casa Moringa's rooftop pool at night

After the trek we ended up spending Christmas in a small beach village called Taganga situated just round the headland from Santa Marta. A few friends we had made on the hike, and a friend from London who amazingly happened to be in the area, came and met us in the most outrageously impressive hostel we have ever seen. Welcome to Casa Moringa! It had hammocks with a view of the ocean, a swimming pool on the roof, two Jacuzzis and a well stocked bar. It was recently opened by a Swedish traveller, Maria, who happened upon the empty property while looking for somewhere to base a new hostel. It was once lived in by the now ex-governor of Santa Marta who was currently under house arrest for corruption. It seems that one thing these Colombian' bad guys' have in common is their obsession for pimped up bathrooms - we learnt that this was a major fetish of Escobar's and always a sure way to identify whether he had been using somewhere as a hiding house when he was on the run from the police. Not bad for nine pounds a night.

Christmas Dinner

We did a big shop on Christmas Eve and after an early morning swim in the ocean on Christmas Day, followed by our exchange of gifts (beer for me, tequila for Sal) we set to work on preparing something that would hopefully resemble a traditional British Christmas Dinner. Turned out pretty well, we even achieved homemade cranberry sauce and stuffing, albeit with somewhat modified ingredients and a slightly unusual yet pleasing taste... Only problem was the chicken (turkey was sadly beyond the backpacker budget) which I managed - through cooking in the fat at the bottom of the pan - turn into a carapace with the resilience of a tortoise shell.... Our fellow travellers from around the world didn't seem to mind...or perhaps they were just being polite.

Our home for the night - Cabo San Juan beach in Tayrona
National Park

We rounded off the festive period and our time in the Santa Marta area by visiting the stunning beach of Cabo San Juan in the Tayrona National Park. We spent the day sunning on the golden sand and the night sleeping in hammocks, on a rocky outcrop in the Caribbean Sea.