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:
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.
awesome!!! :-)
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