Wednesday, November 17, 2010

La Ciudad Perdida, Alterna-trekking.

Let me ask you a few questions: Do you like hiking? Do you like jungles? Tired of the `regular` Machu Pichu with its 3,000 visitors a day? Well, I have the answer for you, and it is The Lost City.

So we´re in Colombia, its fabulous, Shakira Shakira all around. Colombia is home to pretty much every kind of adventure sport you can  possibly imagine. Paragliding, horseback riding, diving, white water rafting, the list goes on. Its also where the Tayrona indians, who were erradicated by the conquistadors in the 1500´s/1600´s built their spectacular city. The city which is perched on top of breath taking mountains and surrounded by jungle from all sides, has become known as La Ciudad Perdida or The Lost City.

Why the ominous name? Well, the only way to reach the Lost City, is mans oldest form of transport. There is no short way around, no back door entrance, the only way up is using the old fashioned way, your two feet. Potentially you could do what we did which was get a donkey to carry the heavy stuff, while we carried ourselves, but I´ll tell you more about that later.

So we were settled into the sea side fishing village of Taganga met up when we met up with our travel buddies, the wonderful Nath and Mel. Reunions over, we decided the time had come to wander off into the Jungle to see where the Tayrona indians built their fortress!

Day One:
Our first day was pretty relaxed. Archie, our guide to the Lost City picked us up in an aging 4X4 and we started out. 2 hours by regular road, and then another hour and a half on a dirt track that was more river than road in most places.


Where is the road I hear you ask? Well, I asked myself the same thing once or twice also.

We reached the end of the line for the 4X4, which is a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. Everyone knows each other and driving through the town took nearly as long as the drive there as we had to stop and say hi to everyone as we passed through!

After a dignified lunch of sandwiches and the sun high in the sky overhead, we were on our way. We had been told that we would have to walk through rivers and mud and that we were going to get wet. But I honestly didn´t expect to get so wet so soon. Within the first half an hour we were at our first river, wading through it, the water well past our knees in places. I, being the princess that I am, refused to get my good hiking boots wet as I wanted to wear them in the evenings. So I held everyone up at every river to change into my sandals for the river crossing. I didn´t feel bad about it in the evenings when everyone else´s shoes were wet and mine were lovely and dry.




After about an hour of walking through jungle and fording rivers, we came to our first stop. A watering hole where we were able to jump into the river to cool off. Which we were all happy to do as the heat was definately on. When we continued our walk, we were signifcantly slower than when we had started. We were climbing up up up a hairpin trail where the mud was the colour of rusted iron. We had to weave our way up the trail letting the occasional donkey pass us by as we trugded along, pretty much in silence. (The donkeys had the thankless task of carrying the food.)



Now, Archie our fearless leader, was there when they first started excavating the site in the 1980`s, and he`s been a guide up to the Lost City for a long time now. Which means, not only does he know his stuff and every indigenous person along the way, he´s also not as fit as he once was. Archie, is slowing down a little. We were pretty happy about that though, because the trail was tough.

When Archie sat down outside a house with a beautiful garden, we all greatefully followed his lead. The owner of the house was a little old lady who couldn´t have left her garden in at least 15 years, there´s no way she would have make it back up the hill without bringing on some kind of heart attack. The lovely lady gave us a big smile and a bag full of oranges from her trees, personally, I´ve never been as happy to see an orange before. The wonderful thing about having a guide who´s soft around the middle, is that you can be pretty sure you´re going to be well fed.



We continued up the winding trail that was growing redder and redder. Every so often I´d look behind and wonder how we´d made it up this far. I could never bring myself to look ahead in case I got disheartened by the sight of the mountain above us that we had to climb. After three hours of up and down (with mostly up) we arrived at our first camp sight, sweaty, disgusting and happy! Our bed for the night, was a hammock. Our entertainment, was cards by candlelight. Our spirits, were high. We had made it through the first day and we were still alive!



Just before dinner, a conspiratorial Archie came and asked us if we wanted to learn about cocaine production. He said that there was a chico who would show us for the low price of 30,000 pesos (11 euros).  Myself, Ian, Nath and two dutch guys decided that when in Rome, learn about cocaine. Which meant getting up at 5.30am the next morning to see what all this cocaine jazz is all about anyway.

Day Two:
Up we get with first light and follow a friendly looking Colombian guy further down into the jungle. He takes us to a little tent by a river that would be absolutely impossible to find if you didn´t already know where it was. Now, he wouldn´t tell us his name, and he wouldnt let us take pictures of his face, but he did show us all about the first stage of production of cocaine. We sat and watched as he added chemical after chemical to a pile of leaves that was smouldering. Everything from water and petrol to caustic soda and sulfuric acid went into this concoction.

It reminded me a little of a cookery show, after showing us how they mash up the leaves, he produced a bottle with some already made up saying `here´s one I made earlier´. 20 minutes later the paste is ready to go. The smell from the whole production would burn you nose, the leaves that were still smoking ten minutes later leave you questioning some people´s sanity for actually putting that up their nose!




Not only did we talk about how its made, but our friend also told us about the effect its had on the local people. About how they had nothing else and so had to grow coco leaves, make paste and sell it to paramilitaries. He told us how the government has basically bought out the local growers and paid them to grow anything else, banana´s and coffee being the most usual replacement crops. But our cocaine guide here wasn´t the only one to tell us about the effect that drugs have had on Colombia. A Colombian friend told us that only in the last six years is it possible to travel overland to the capital from the coast. Any buses making the trip were likely to be shot to shreds either by paramilitaries or terrorist organisations. Can you imagine not being able to drive from Cork to Dublin? Colombia is a much safer place, and probably the friendliest country we´ve been in, but the drug trade has a lot to answer for here.

Enough about the evil of drugs in Colombia, so after our mornings lesson in chemistry, we headed off for camp two. This was a two and a half hour hike, more ups and downs, and not terribly horrific. When we got to camp two, we couldn´t believe it had only taken so little time. I myself was just delighted that I wasn´t stiff and sore from the previous day.

Camp two was pretty much the same as camp one, hammocks and candles all around with a few small differences. Camp two is actually run by an indigenous family, so there were kids walking around in potato sacks and everyone has a handbag with them at all times (they don´t have any pockets). Their clothes are cream cloth that are either worn in a giant t-shirt fashion, ala sack of potatoes or the men have pants under the potato sack. The indigenous people are paid for each person that passes through on the lost city trek, so they actually do quite well out of it. The people themselves also don´t normally live in the type of camp that they run in camp two. Normally they are nomads, but they have 250 bronze age style huts scattered around the jungle for religious ceremonies and business purposes. There were a few times that they would power on past us as they were on they way to one place or another. There is no keeping up with an indigenous person in the jungle, its just not possible.



The other thing that camp two had that camp one didn´t, was a big river where you could go swimming and jumping off rocks. Well, we swam in the cold water and jumped off rocks to cool down from the hike. The only thing about it, is that you can´t really go after half two in the afternoon because once the rain comes in, the river becomes dangerous and you can´t swim. As it was, I walked to far into the middle of the river and found it very difficult to get back out to the edge!

After our refreshing dip in the icey cold river, we headed back to camp, for tea, hot chocolate and dinner. By the time 7pm came, everyone was ready to crash. It was pitch black outside and your body was telling you it was past midnight, even though your watch was telling you its only tea time. Everyone went to bed early, becuase everyone had to be up early!

Day Three:
On day three, we had our first really big hike. We walked for 5 and a half hours up and down hill, across rivers, through the jungle (again, it was mostly up!). In total we had to cross 5 rivers to get to the base camp. In some places there was a rope tied across the river that you could hold on to to get you across. In other places, there was a cage that could be pulled across using a complicated system of levers and pulleys. Archie said it was only used when the river was so high that it was too dangerous to cross on foot. Personally, I think he didn´t want to have to pull us across. And still, I refused to get my good hiking boots wet, and I took them off at every river.

On the way we passed through the villages of the indigenous people. When we finally got to the base camp and saw the sign that said ´Ciudad Perdida 1km´ we were pretty excited. The next day would see us at the top of the mountain actually in the Lost City.



Day Four:
This was a tough day actually. We got up at 5ish, standard for the lost city trek really. Crossed the river at least 6 times, again, standard lost city trek. (Mel actually hitched a ride across the river on the shoulders of one of the guides.) After walking up the river for little over a half hour, Archie pointed out where the stairs to the Lost City began. It took me a while to be able to see where he was pointing though, because the stairs are a little overgrown.

We bravely began the final part of the trek up to the Lost City, climbing a total of 1,200 steps to reach the top. It takes a good 45mins, and I think the term ´steps´ is a bit loose really considering some of what they call steps are more boulder than step. Once I saw that first section of wall and I knew I was there, I ran the rest of the way up. Getting to the top, I was pretty happy with myself. I was there, I had made it and it was worth it. As we walked through the parts of the city that are open to the public, Archie would explain a little bit about the history of the city, about the culture of the Tayrona Indians who lived there, and about the excavation process.



As you walk from one part of the city to the next, the sense of awe grows. You start off climbing the stairs that are closed in with jungle all around. When you get to the first section and the jungle opens up a little, you see the first of the circular structures that are sprinkled all around the city. As you press further into the city, the areas open up even further and you can see jungle covered mountains and valleys on all sides. The sight of the waterfall on the mountain behind the highest of the circular platforms with the High Shamans chair at the base is breathtaking.




When you look up to the highest platforms, you can see something moving. Its only when you stare for long enough that you can make out the camoflagoued figures of the Colombian army staring right back at you. They have big guns, I wouldn´t risk looking at them the wrong way. Ian tactfully stole one of their guns... well actually, the guy lent Ian his gun for a photo op. At this point I´d just like to mention that aside from our military entourage, there were 8 of us at the ruins and that´s including the 2 guides.

After thoroughly exploring the ruins, we headed back to camp for lunch before making the 5 hour hike back to camp 2. The next day was equally long with another 5 hour hike all the way back to the starting point.



All in all, the Lost City is specatular. Never will you have an entire City to yourself and never will the journey there be as rewarding. It was without a doubt one of the best things we´ve done while we`ve been away.