Trek to La Ciudad Perdida

When I first heard about this ‘Lost City’ hidden away in the northern corner of Colombia, I was immediately drawn to its air of mystery and knew that I must visit it on my trip through Latin America.

I was making my way north to Colombia from Argentina in order to attend my good friends Karen and Rafa’s wedding in Bogota and after hitchhiking aboard their honeymoon to the Caribbean Coast, waved goodbye and found myself at the foot of the Sierra Nevada Mountain range and ready to embark on possibly the highlight of my years travel.

I organised myself with a guide Luis who grew up in the area close to the Lost City and suspected I was being introduced to someone who, despite his very different past, would become a good friend of mine. Two lovely English boys, John and Paul, were also part of our little tour as was Luis’ 11 year old son Nelson employed as assistant cook, so with the group then complete, we set out on our 6 day adventure….

Luis, Nelson, Paul and John - my great companions.



The following are some excerpts I have copied from my diary...

Day I

Leaving Santa Marta meant we were leaving behind civilisation and armed with a small backpack where one could only fit in limited amounts of insect repellent, I was more than a little worried that I was going to be eaten alive in the depths of the jungle where we were about to enter into. We piled into the back of a small and incredibly uncomfortable van for the 2 hour journey to the bottom of the mountain range, where we then had to pile out and unpack the contents of our packs in front of the military that do the routine searches of everyone coming in and out of this area. What they were looking for I’m not 100% sure but suspect they were probably looking for weapons that could be taken to supply the guerrilla groups that I was told are thought to be in the jungle a few days walk from there (I made sure this was not in our direction however!). We then had an hours horrendous drive up the muddy and rocky mountain pass to reach Machete, a village that would be the last point at which a refrigerated beverage could be purchased and bizarrely a place which has the most amount of pool tables per capita I think I have ever seen. I think I counted about 13 pool tables in the 3 bars for a population of 50 people!

Having our bags searched upon entering the Sierra Nevada

The mule was packed up with our food and hammocks and away we started on our trek, only for the accident prone Steph to slip on a rock on one of the first of many river crossings and bang her knee causing swelling and thus a limp for the next six days of trekking. Typical!

It was therefore a long 5 hour trek that involved a horrendous hill climb, a harsh descent and a couple more river crossings (in the dark) before reaching our first nights accommodation at La Casa de Alfredo. No electricity here meant we were to bed by about 7.30pm after the typical Colombian fare for dinner – Rice, beans, avocado, chicken and my favourite; Patacons which is Plantain, fried, flattened and then fried some more. Yum!

Day II

My sleep in the hammock was surprisingly comfortable but not so comfortable was trying to bend the knee with it having stiffened up considerably during the night. Still, a bit of magic massage from the local medicine man Elibardo had me at least able to walk on it for the day and after a hearty breakfast of arepa con huevo with enough calories in it to get an army over the hill, off we went. This was a great days trek and not too difficult in retrospect even if at the time I felt like my heart was going to explode out of my chest!

Today’s part of the trek took us past a large Kogui (descendents of the Tyrona) settlement with about 10 huts scattered in this part of the jungle. A few kids were scattered around wearing their white (well quite a grubby grey really) tunics and occupying themselves whilst their parents were out tending the crops. We made it to our camp by mid afternoon in order to have a siesta in our hammocks, dinner by candlelight and another 7pm bedtime in order to be up early for the gruelling next day ahead of us.

Rosita peeping out of her hut

Day III

Am starting to find these hammock sleeps rather comfortable and love the safety that the mosquito net gives against the thought of mosquitos and other creepy crawlies lurking outside given that we are sleeping under wooden structures which consist of only a roof.

After another hearty breakfast we left the camp knowing that by the end of the day we would be reaching our goal of finding the Lost City. And boy was it tough. No sooner had we left the camp, we were boulder climbing, facing precarious drops, crossing rivers up to our waists (and this is the dry period!) not once but about 7 times until Luis indicated to us that we had reached the bottom of the couple of thousand steps to the top!

John and Paul with the first river crossing of the day

It was really quite exciting catching the first glimpse of the first step and one can understand why it remained ‘lost’ up until about 40 years ago. Having only been uncovered back then and with over 400 years more or less for the jungle to reclaim it, it is still very much ‘lost’. The steps up to the entrance, some 1,200 steps alone are very mossy and in places very slippery so the walking stick I had acquired was vital and breaks pretty regular.

After the exhausting climb up, we reached the first terraces and it felt like we were entering an enchanted kingdom where one would expect all sorts of phantasmal creatures to emerge. So green and so remote. There were a handful of other tourists around but the area is so big that it was easy to forget their presence and enter your own world imagining just what this place was like going back 500 years to before the Spaniards arrived.

The main terraces where the Chief and Sacerdotes were thought to have lived

We kept heading up, climbing up over terrace after terrace until we got to the terraces of the chief and sacerdote. I was really quite surprised to see how many soldiers there were protecting the area...rather a boring job I would imagine but still I could think of worse places to have to spend 2 months at a time.

The cabana where we were to sleep was to the left of the great city in amongst the bush but again up some pretty precarious stairwells and thus completing the 3,180 steps to our beds that day. Some of the soldiers joined us post dinner which was quite amusing with the Israelis in another group dismantling their guns and putting them back together as they use the same guns apparently and from my understanding supplied the Colombian army with these whilst helping in the training of their troops. Clearly these soldiers were missing the presence of women up here as they were more than a little persistent in trying to get us girls to go for little walks. With the pitch blackness, the threat of walking off a terrace to my death and of course the danger of being with a sex starved young soldier meant I did stay put however!

Day IV

It was quite an incredible experience awakening in the Lost City and whilst I didn’t have the pleasure of having the sun wake us up, it was fantastic to step out of the cabana to the view of the top terraces right in front of us.

Another of the guides took us on a tour of pretty much the whole uncovered part of the city which first had us climbing further up to get the typical panoramic shot of the city and to get an impression of just how big yet remote and hidden this place is. The guide was able to fill us in on a few interesting facts along the way but what most interested me was the living situation of the original inhabitants. The men would all sleep in one hut and the women in another and when they want to sleep together they have to head to the caves! Apparently the bat is the symbol of love for them so when bats fly out of caves it means they have been disturbed!

Another interesting fact I found was the manner in which women give birth. Once they feel the onset of labour they will literally leave the safety of the village and head into the jungle by themselves to give birth. They will generally rest a few hours before heading back with the new baby in tow. Once girls have their first period they are ‘given’ to a boy who has just turned 18 and undertaken his manhood rituals. Therefore a girl can often start reproducing from as young as 12 or 13. I met one indigenous woman who wasn’t sure of her age as they don’t keep count, however we thought she would have been around 25 and with her 7th child on the way...pretty tough going!

So we had a really interesting few hours wandering up and down over and above many different terraces and getting a feel of what this place was like all those centuries ago. There are loads of remnants such as maize grinders just lying about as through the people just disappeared really quite suddenly.

What amazes me is the thought that there may be many more cities that are similar that exist in the Sierra Nevada. At the entrance to the city there is a huge stone and on it are carved hundreds of lines which are supposed to represent the mountains, rivers and maybe the settlements in the area. The mamo (chief) of the indigenous in the area is said to know what these lines mean but only 2 have been revealed by the old mamo to President Betancourt when the city was discovered back in the seventies. It’s amazing to think what might be out there to be discovered at a later date.

Tyronian map of the Sierra Nevada

Before leaving the city (in truth I could have stayed up there so much longer as it really feels like such a magical place), we found the pool where the chiefs wife would bathe when they needed to pray for something such as rain, fertility, good harvests etc. We took a dip ourselves in the freezing water and then descended the thousands of steps once more to retrace our steps back to the cabana where we had our second night. We were absolutely shattered by the time we got back so it didn’t take much of a second thought to climb back into our hammocks once we had eaten.

Day V

I awoke this morning more than a little depressed at the thought that the trek was winding down and that we were on the downward side of our 6 day adventure. I really did feel quite deflated and couldn’t quite work it out until I figured that I really didn’t want to return to civilisation and leave this magical countryside. Maybe this was why my legs felt like lead in the climb up.

A bit of excitement was felt however as we were packing up when John reached to get his pants that had been drying from the rafters above us. On closer inspection a baby scorpion had nestled in so John was rather grateful he checked before putting those on!

The baby scorpion found in John's pants.

We passed a couple of indigenous settlements including one who were quite friendly with Luis. We chatted for awhile as they were building a small hut next to their larger family one. We thought they were building this for their ever expanding family (the wife was onto her 6th child) and was most disappointed to find out it was to be a small shop so they could sell coke, beer and other snacks to the tourists as they walk past. Very sad that up until 30 years ago these people had no idea that any other world other than their own existed and now all of a sudden they are cottoning on to commercialisation and the need to make a buck or two!

Shop Ciudad Perdida going up ready to sell Coca Cola and lollipops

However, in general it is good to see that they have still maintained pretty much their way of life and all their traditions that have been practiced for thousands of years. One does wonder though for how long this will last considering the amount of contact they now have with the outside world. >

The girls selling me a couple of necklaces they had made

The next village was pretty deserted but there were a few signs of life and upon getting closer I saw the cutest little face peer out of one of the doorways of the huts. I managed to get a great photo upon presentation of a small chocolate bar which he then proceeded to get all over his face. I am just so fascinated by these people and they certainly are a beautiful race.

That night we returned to Alfredo’s cabana knowing that the next day we’d be out of there so the ambience was a bit sombre. I had really become great friends with Luis over the course of this trek and found chatting to him so fascinating with his wealth of knowledge of the area. It was also great practice for my Spanish so we would chat for hours and hours and I came away learning so much of the life here, in Colombia in general and its fascinating history.

Day VI

So our last day in the Sierra Nevada and I was most upset, almost dragging my feet up the hill over to Machete. I really felt as though I was leaving such a special place and really wanted to prolong the trip as much as possible.

At the top of the horrendous last hill climb, we walked past what looked like a school. Suddenly a thought came into my mind and completely on a whim I asked Luis if by chance the school would like an English teacher for a month or two. He thought it was a great idea so on the descent back to Machete we were chatting about how this could be made possible and little did I know that I would be back up there in a week and really embarking on probably one of the most incredible experiences of my life.

Upon getting to Machete we had the most refreshingly cold bottle of Coke and took part in a local day that the Army were putting on for the local kids. It was a great atmosphere so we joined in and got our t-shirts and faces painted with the Colombian flag. I now will never forget what the colours stand for – yellow for the natural wealth of the country, blue for the two seas that surround Colombia and red for the blood spilt by those fighting for its independence. There was a photographer from the local newspaper snapping away so we may just be famous in El Districto de Magdalena.

Getting amongst the clown and facepainting action for the kids day that the Colombian Army put on.

We hitched a ride down in a far more comfortable fashion than the ride up, had our bags searched to make sure we weren’t removing anything from the city and then hopped back on the bus to Santa Marta. One adventure over but another soon to begin......