La Cuidad Perdida

La Cuidad Perdida, or The Lost City in
English, is surrounded by many stories and myths.  It was the lost city of the ancient Tayronas. When the Spanish discovered Colombia they did not find the city hidden deep in jungle and therefore it stayed there, undiscovered, for many years until in 1972 when men  looking for gold and treasures stumbled across it and took many ancient treasures from the tombs they found.

This was when the government decided to take action to open the area up for tourism and sprayed the crops of coca and marijuana with herbicide in an attempt to remove dangerous drug cartels and paramilitaries from the area.

Someone told me you are constantly wet during the trek either due to sweat, rain or humidity and Ihave to say they were completely right! There’s nothing worse than putting a wet cold top on in the morning! But Jose, being the legend he is, sneaked our socks and shoes onto the burnt out fire each night to dry them! Mosquitos are another issue in this area and you need to be covered as much as possible at night and doused in repellant in the day in an attempt to minimize bites! (Avoiding completely is impossible!)

You can do the trek in 4, 5 or 6 days for the same price  I chose 5 as it is less hurried and also you can have an extra days bed and food! On day one we got a mini chiva for 2.5 hours to La Mamey or Machete as it was nicknamed after many of the population being killed by machetes in the past. We had a big lunch and begun the climb through wet sticky, slippery mud. It was a very difficult ascent with rain pouring down from above making each muddy step more difficult. We all struggled with this and had to do the last part in the dark to the camp as it took us a longer due to the weather conditions. We dried off at camp ready for a big dinner. The beds were covered with mosquito nets but smelt disgusting due to the humidity.

Day two we were up at 6am, breakfast was at 6:30 and we left at 7am. This was a big day for walking 4 hours in the morning,  a big lunch and time for a swim the river, then 4 hours in the afternoon. We went all shattered  Jose gave us a talk by candlelight about the traditions of the local indigenous people the Kogui and told us all about the lost city history and stories.

Day three we were ready at 7am again to climb the 1300 steps to the lost city and Jose showed us around everywhere explaining what things were. When we entered he asked us to leave any bad feelings behind and let mother nature into our souls. The city itself is hidden in thick jungle and has a really ancient, magical feel to it. I went to the top on my own and took a moment to take it all in and a 88 butterfly landed on me! I really wanted to see one of these butterflies with 88 on their wings so it felt very special l looking over the lost city.

After we saw the shamen and his wife’s hut. The shamen can have more than one wife when the others cant have children anymore he can have a younger one. The children live with the mother in the hut next door. The boys move in with the shamen when they are 8 years old.

After making it down the steps back, we had lunch at camp and a swim and walked for another 4 hours to return to another camp where another delicious dinner awaited us and a local Kogui man gave us a talk about their traditions and the chewing of coca leaves to make a poporo which symbolised the union between man and woman. The Koqui mix crushed seasnail shells with dried coca leaves to activate the coca properties and also to creat a calcium product to build rings round their poporo.

Day 4 was more relaxing.  We walked 3.5 hours to camp 1 and then whilst the 4 day people had another 4 hour walk befoew lunch, we went jumping in the river pools and hanging out in hammocks in the jungle  Elizabeth took Ricardo and Toby onto the end. Jose picked some lemon grass he found in the jungle and we had that and popcorn and played cards.

The next day 12 year old Dober took Anton and Ramona ahead as she had so many blisters and we headed off after a wake up swim!  We hiked about 3.5 hours with nice sunny weather which made the route a lot easier than the first day in the rain and mud! Our trip finished with another yummy meal and goodbyes.

Overall, an incredible experience that I will always remember. I trekked with the company Turcol who were professional and provided an excellent service at all times with a smile. I highly recommend Jose as a guide and it would definitly be worth asking for him.
http://turcoltravel.com/

For more historical information:
http://laciudadperdida.com/about-ciudad-perdida/history-of-the-lost-city/#.VISOmaNrnFp

Whilst looking for information about The Lost City I found this very interesting report in The Guardian about one of the kidnapped 7 and his return to Cuidad Perdida to meet his kidnapper.

http:// www.theguardian.com/travel/2009/oct/24/colombia-lost-city-kidnapping