Colombia - a little wander in the jungle

After our quick stop in Bogota we jumped on an internal flight up to the Caribbean coast - finally all those summer clothes that we'd packed would suddenly become appropriate.

And it was hot, very hot! Our destination - Santa Marta. Our purpose - to trek for five days through the jungle to the hidden city of Ciudad Perdida - think Machu Picchu except different country, different hidden city, bit more off the beaten track, bit more chance of kidnapping. So not really that similar at all.... As soon as we landed we were off to the offices of Magic Tours to book our tickets to mosquito hell. That done, we headed to hostel Jackie for a swim, had a quick shifty round the gold museum - much smaller than the one we didn't get to see in Bogota - and packed our small bags.

In the midst of this, Vic had to shop for a man's shirt. I'd already picked one up in Bogota and Sarah had got one from her dad. I was not quite sure whether this was to trek in or to sleep in - we just knew that we needed one.

Here's some artefacts from the gold museum that will break up the text with some pictures:

And here's what our normal day's snacks/dinner/breakfast looked like - they love a bit of deep fat fried goods in Colombia:

It was early to bed and anticipation of a fun few days. Little did we know that it would be fun but also sweaty and challenging and that we'd meet some of the coolest people known to man. Here's the first look at our group, it was a pretty big group considering that this trek was supposed to be quite a rare thing to do:

And here's a look at your typical Colombian petrol station - we had a quick stop to get some gas for the drive to the start of the trek: 

We set off in the sweltering heat on a pretty big, wide, easy path. Vic and I were lamenting how easy it was and our hope that the walking would get more challenging. It did. After a stop off at a natural swimming pool - there were lots of chances to rock out the bikinis and jump in a river - it was a pretty gruelling schlep up a rocky mountain. Yes, i'm sure it was a mountain because it was up, up, up non stop for HOURS! 

But we reached our hammock camp, had another swim and some dinner. Hats off to our guides who cooked up substantial meals each day for all 17 of us. And this is where a very strong look was born - the shirts that we had bought were, Sarah informed us, to wear in the evenings and to bed to prevent mosquito bites. I'd been on holiday with Sarah before and I knew how much the mosquitos loved to eat her. However I was still bowled over with her amazing repelling regime. Full clothes, 100 percent deet and hairbands for the sleeve and trouser ends to make sure they could not get in. 

This is what this typical "jungle in the evening" strong look looks like: 

And this was the night we started to get to know our fellow trekkers through several games of cards and then random "guess the famous person from just one gesture". Maria, Melanie, Tara, Danni, Doctor Dan - who would conduct morning, lunchtime and evening surgeries when necessary. It is very useful to have a doctor on a trek with you - Olivier, our impromptu translator and guide - the Colombian guides only speak Spanish and don't really account for the whole group at each stopping point - the cool Americans Kristen and Noam and others. The whole group was full of humour and everyone was up for the games and getting to know each other. 

OK, enough gushing - everyone on our trek, you are amazing - back to the trek. There was another long day of walking through the jungle, crossing rivers and MORE uphill. Here's a look at some more of the strong looks that were produced as a consequence of 8 hours of jungle walking:

Me - the socks pulled up and looking as if I have wet myself look due to damp bikini under the outfit: 

Vic - busted shoe fixed with tape. Then busted shoes replaced with my oh so glam walking sandals:

Well done Vic - some very strong looks going on there. You will also note that we are all trying to pose a la celebrity with one foot forward. Adds a bit of sparkle to the shots....

Sarah - who actually looks good in all my pictures - was wearing this white vest top and shorts for the full three days up to the city - what you can't actually see is the very special brown tinge to the top from all of her repellants and it was all pretty wet by the end. you will note I am in a different top for the walk up to the city - everyone else apart from Sarah gave up on having one hideous walking outfit - she was the only person who managed to keep putting on the damp clothes each morning for three mornings.

And here's a little peek at the hidden city - I won't put up too many in case you go yourself. It's around 100 steps up there but it's worth it. A pretty magical place. 

After getting up there we simply turned around and started walking back. We'd changed to the four day trek as that seemed what most people were doing. The way back was punctuated with a game of Horse. You pick a category - the films of Robin Williams for example - and then each person has to come up with something in the category. If you fail, you get an "H" and so on until you are a HORSE. Some were better than others and the game became horse rider motherf**ker to ensure it kept going for long enough. 

One of my favourite moments was during one of the evening sessions of the game with the category "birds". The answer given by a Frenchman who shall remain nameless was "Batman". Which he then changed to "bat". It took a while to debate why that was not allowed. 

Eventually we made it back to the start where everyone got a lovely meal of..... meat/fish with rice and plantain. It tasted pretty good after all the walking though. 

Email addresses were exchanged and several of us met that night for a meal in Santa Marta. And our first Colombian clubbing experience. Alas, I am without pictures of the night - I believe there are quite a few somewhere, there were glow sticks involved, there was a lot of rum involved. 

Next up on our agenda was some serious beach relaxation - the area we were in is a National Park and famed for its beaches. However we had not counted on Doctor Dan becoming an integral part of our group - indeed he was now in the fourth bed in our hostel room. He had ideas of a very special beach that Vic was also harbouring a secret desire to see. It was just going to be tricky to get to. 

More on that next time. 

To finish, here's a pic of our lovely guide Edwin aiding Vic and Sarah across a river. Edwin was great. I especially enjoyed his story of the time he had done the trek and his group had been kidnapped. For 100 days. It was a comfort.

Colombian adventure

Given that so much amazing stuff happened on my recent Colombian adventure I thought I would blog it up so that I can remember everything that happened years from now and so that people can read about it before I have a chance to bore them in person.

It also means I can share some of the 300 pictures I took - I work with the "take loads, one will probably look great" method since the invention of the digital camera....

My travelling partners were Vic and Sarah - they'd travelled together ten years ago through South America but had skipped Colombia. This trip was an anniversary for them and I managed to tag along after drunkenly meeting Vic at Sarah's birthday. 

Here they are rocking a "strong look". Strong looks became a big part of our trip and I will be featuring a catalogue of them here - ranging from the goggles+sunglasses look to the walking boot with adhesive tape look. I will be pointing out any strong looks as I go. 

Before I begin the first instalment, a word of advice for anyone transferring via the States. Contrary to what you might think and what seems logical (you are not actually entering the country) you DO need an ESTA (USA visa) and they will fingerprint you even when in transit. 

As you may have guessed, we did not realise this until we were stood at the check-in desk at T5. Certainly made for an exciting start to the trip..... but I'm not elaborating as this is a blog about the amazing stuff that happened.

We did manage to get there though and arrived at our hotel in the capital, Bogota (apparently the third highest capital city in the world) circa 1am. We'd booked the first couple of nights in a fairly nice place with a pool and sauna to give us time to get our bearings. 

And get our bearings we did - we'd been informed that the roads in Bogota were closed on Sundays for cyclists and that a great way to see the city was on two wheels. We made our way to the local bike shop to rent some cycles. Here's a look at the hot bikes and helmets we got:

The tour started off pretty well and we got to see some cool graffiti project by the local school kids. However, things then took a turn for the worse and it started to rain. Lots. Now, I am a keen cyclist commuter in London but a good downpour can make me run pretty quickly for the tube. This, dear reader, was not just a downpour - it was a hurricane mixed with a typhoon. probably.

The guide didn't really seem to mind and just issued us all with some highly ineffective ponchos - think Alton Towers log flume style. However this might have been one of the earliest strong looks of the trip:

A sort of rainbow KKK if you like. This is of us near the end of the tour - in a cemetery.  Sarah had sensibly decided by this point to stay sheltered at the entrance - she did miss a random blue grave where apparently "the misfits come to hang out and rub 20,000 peso notes on the stone" according to our guide (in the green). 

We also took in a fruit market:

A bar where you chucked heavy weights into clay whilst drinking a lot of beer - we also discovered in this bar that one of the guys on our tour was the acting ambassador to Panama!! Pretty useful: 

A second hand market. I got excited before I realised it was more junk metal rather than vintage clothes: 

A bull fighting ring - the current mayor has banned bullfighting so this fairly new stadium is now used for, errr, bike tours...

And finally a coffee factory!! I don't drink coffee but Sarah and Vic seemed to be big fans. I did try one cup here but I have to say it made me feel a bit queasy. I'm sure it's good quality though - the beans felt really nice:

And that was the bike tour - pretty fun but pretty damp. Unbeknownst to us, this would not be the first time on our trip that we would be damp for the majority of the day with no real means of getting dry. More of that later. 

The day ended with our first Colombian dinner - we tried to find the Tequila museum and failed after a long walk so ended up having.... lasagne. 

No matter, the next day we had a proper feast, traditional style. Meat/fish with rice and plantain. YUM. The first time round. We had this exact same meal quite a few times before the holiday was done. 

We also tried to get to the gold museum on our second day. No one told us that the museums all shut on a Monday. Added to this fact was the weather - it was not raining. A bike tour would have been ideal...

Next up was the big mountain in the midst of Bogota - accessible by a cable car or a funicular railway. Sadly the very steep, scary looking railway was shut so it was up the orange line:

to the top for amazing views: 

And down again for sight of our first llama!!!!! SO CUTE: 

And a traditional hot chocolate with cheese. I don't think it's supposed to look like this but it was tasty. A note - if you don't like cheese, South America may not be the continent for you - they love cheese. And deep fat fried maize. Both together is also a standard. 

That was pretty much Bogota done. Inbetween the above, we did also spend an obscene amount of time shopping for Colombian jeans and Masglo nail paint - both recommended by a beauty therapist as must haves. 

Up next was our trek in the jungle up on the Caribbean coast - that will be the focus next time and where some really strong looks came into play.