24 - Ciudad Perdida (The Lost City)

Ciudad Perdida (The Lost City) was built by the Tayrona people in the years between 500 and 700 AD (before Macchu Picchu). Getting to Ciudad Perdida was a three day hike up and down and up and down and up the mountains of Tayrona National Park.

Here are some pictures of the hike...

Banana break

MoooooooOOOOooooooooo

Beautiful tree with the sun shining through. Check out all those epiphytes.

A rooster looking out over the land

Jose, our guide, found this giant river crab.

Every now and then we stopped to swim in natural pools along the river. These swimming breaks were amazing because the hike was so hot and sweaty and the refreshing water was just the thing to get my energy back.

We also stopped to see this beautiful waterfall.

I was pretty smelly at this point, so I went and got a waterfall shower.

On the third day of our hike we had to go back and forth across the river 8 times.

Every night we slept in hammocks. I wasn´t sure how comfortable sleeping in a hammock would be, but I soon found out that it is a great nights sleep (could have also been because I was exhausted every night).

Here´s the group getting ready for breakfast in the morning. All our meals were cooked by the guides. In the mornings we usually had eggs, for lunch we had sandwiches or big soups, and for dinner we usually had rice, beans, salad, and either chicken or beef. The food was delicious.

Some mornings I got out of my hammock early, grabbed my binoculars, and sat for a while watching the birds. I saw 15 species one morning (not counting the chickens).

Beautiful sky

One morning one of the girls put her shoe on and felt something weird moving inside. She took her shoe off and this giant scorpion crawled out. She was really lucky. If it had stung her then her leg would have been paralyzed for 24 hours and she would have been bedridden with a fever, headache, and chills. Que suerte!

The Kogi and Arsario are two tribes that live in the Tayrona mountains. We passed a lot of these indigenous people on the trails.

We also went to one of the Kogi villages. Their houses are made out of mud, sticks, and palm leaves.

An indigenous family lived in one of the places we stayed and I got to play with the kids. I loved making them smile and laugh. Playing with them was so much fun, and definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me.

After three tiring days of hiking we finally arrived at the steps leading up to Ciudad Peridida. But the hard part was still to come. To get to the main area of Ciudad Perdida we had to walk up around 1800 steps!

Actually 1800 steps!

This is believed to be a ritualistic site where people had to bathe before they were allowed up into the city.

Keep going up and up and up the steps

Keep going

Finally we made it to the top, and what a sight it was to see.

There were some army men stationed at the top and some indigenous people, so I pulled out my tourist card and asked to get a picture with them.

The area of Ciudad Perdida is mostly made up of thousands of steps leading to over 200 terraces. The Tayrona people were admirable engineers that built structures according to the environment. They took advantage of microclimates and resources at different altitudes. We walked all around Ciudad Perdida taking the steps from terrace to terrace.

Here I am sitting in the cheif´s chair pretending to be important.

Here´s a photo of the fountain of youth. Apparently swimming in it can knock off twenty years. I didn´t go for a dip because I think I prefer 23 over 3.

Making like Tarzan and swinging on the vines. WoooHoooo

After seeing Ciudad Perdida we headed back down all 1800 steps, recrossed the river 8 times, and hiked three days down and up and down the mountains back into town. It was another great adventure, and I'm so fortunate to have had the opportunity to see it.
Right now I'm in Barranquilla with my friend Rosita who lives here in Colombia, but we met my freshman year at Boston University. It's great to see her again. Tonight I'm off on an overnight bus to Medellin. Hope all is well in the good old USA.

23 - Cartagena, Santa Marta, Taganga

Just a couple days after my mom left me to return to the US I was joined by another traveling companion. I went to elementary school and high school with Lily Lotfy, but we didn´t talk much then, and we didn´t communicate at all since we graduated high school. But through the powers of facebook we were joined together in Colombia for a magical week of exploration.
We started out together in Cartagena enjoying the beaches and the beautiful old city.

Mmmmmm cotton candy.



Here I am posing in front of a sculpture by one of Colombia´s most famous artists, Fernando Botero. I spared you the nudity.

After a few days in Cartagena we took a 5 hour bus ride up the coast to Santa Marta (see the northern part of the country).

The area around Santa Marta is really cool because it´s just ocean, mountains, and valleys. In each valley there´s a small or big city depending on the size of the valley. My mom´s friend Laura´s daughter Carolina and her husband Alex were both in Santa Marta visiting Alex´s family. The two of them were really nice and gave Lily and me a tour of the surrounding valleys and the sites to see.


Alex and Carolina also took us out for a cebiche dinner. Colombian cebiche is a mix of different seafoods covered in a ketchup/mayonaise sauce and served with some crackers. I had a shrimp cebiche. I was curious to know how many shrimp were in my cebiche, so I counted as I ate. I don´t know if I would have eaten all of it because the idea of eating all that ketchup/mayo sauce kind of grossed me out, but my curiosity won over me and I ate away. By the end the total count was 45 shrimp. Wow! After eating the whole thing I took a deep/exhausted/slightly disgusted breathe, and said ¨Tengo 45 camarones en el estómago¨(I have 45 shrimp in my stomach).

Lily and I stayed in Santa Marta for a couple days and then took a taxi over two mountains to get to the town of Taganga.
Taganga is a beautiful hippie town known for cheap scuba diving and nice beaches.

I took advantage of the cheap scuba diving and immediately signed up for a four day, 8 dive, open water certification course. Before starting my course I thought I knew exactly what diving would be like. I´ve snorkled all over and dove down deep. I´ve seen the pictures and watched the documentaries. I knew scuba diving. Or so I thought. But going under and seeing and hearing and feeling everything was a completely new experience. As my PADI open water diver manual puts it, ¨Nothing on earth matches the sensations you experience- the thrill of being underwater, the freedom of ´weightlessness´and unique sights and sounds¨. It really was a thrill.


Here I am on the dive boat getting ready for a dive.

I saw some really cool things, but the highlight for me was seeing a school of cuttlefish.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ujRgSRYE9A
Cuttlefish aren´t fish at all, but mollusks like octopus and squid. Cuttlefish are sometimes known as the chameleons of the sea because of their ability to quickly change colors. They do this to camouflage and to communicate to other cuttlefish. It was amazing seeing a school of cuttlefish in front of my eyes all changing their colors in unison. Incredible!

As part of my diving course we had the opportunity to stay in a hut near our dive sites for one night. I stayed there with 5 other people from my course. The 6 of us consisted of an American (me), an Aussie, 2 Canadians, an Englishman, and a Scotsman. Quite the compilation of accents.


Here´s a picture of the hut we stayed in.

This was my bed for the night.


When I woke up in the morning I rolled over, grabbed my camera, and snapped this photo. Not a bad wake up.

There were also cliffs to jump off of into the water. Now that was fun stuff.

So my whole scuba diving experience was great. I just passed my written exam today, so now I can officially join the rest of my friends and family as a certified diver (Kendra, Dan, Mike, Kara, and White Mike... did I miss anyone?)


Throughout my time in Cartagena, Santa Marta, and Taganga I´ve seen some incredible sunsets. Take a look.













Well Taganga has been great so far, but the adventure isn´t over. In a couple of days I´m going to make like Indiana Jones to Ciudad Perdida (the Lost City). Hope you enjoyed this entry and more to come when I return from the Lost City (assuming I don´t get lost on the way back... hahaha).

P.S. Special thanks to Carolina and Alex for taking such good care of me, and to Lily for being a great travel buddy. Can´t wait to see you in Buenos Aires.