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  • Richard Watts
  • Richard Watts

Latin America

An open-ended adventure by Richard Read more
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  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaTraveler

    Volcan Acatenango

    June 21, 2018 in Guatemala ⋅ 🌧 22 °C

    I tried booking in for the tour, and on a Wednesday, I was the only person booked in. On Thursday, there were 18 of us!
    Meeting at the Whico & Charlie’s tour place at 7:30, picked up some kit and had breakfast. Needless to say there was an Aussie couple on the tour, and a dutchie I’d met in Utila, so we had a natter while we waited to leave.
    We left at 9am and we walking by 10:10, off up the side of a sleeping volcano.
    Acatenango sits at about 3970m above sea level, and this is the best place to get a good look at Volcán de Fuego, the very active volcano which has caused all the trouble near Antigua. The bottom of the climb is 2300m, so a fair whack of climbing, and it would be the highest I would have been so far!
    The first half was pretty easy with some steep sections, but all pretty much a path of volcanic ash. We stopped half way to base camp for lunch and then plodded on. Not much to see apart from fur trees and a sandy path, but got chatting to some people and all was good.
    The nice surprise came about 45 minutes from the camp, we turned a corner onto a straight bit path and there was Fuego, blowing off some stream as if it knew we were coming. We had an awesome view of Agua too from here and everyone was get pictures of themselves up a tree. A dead sketchy tree on the side of a steep hill, I opted out!
    Basecamp was reached and everyone was pretty happy. The view was awesome and the last little goat trail patch was out of the way. That climb was easier than the Agua hike by a mile, but we hadn’t summited yet, another 400m of up to go!
    The guides decided that our best chance at a view was to go the same day, so everyone got ready to with warm clothes and torches, I had all the kit, but I was not quite prepared for the climbs to the summit!
    It started on some steep rough walking paths with the occasional exposed section. It then quite quickly turned in to open hill side of boot packed ash. The only thing I can liken it too is a mountain with snow on it. Very similar, except dark grey an a bit slippy. My vertigo was getting twitchy! About another 10 minutes of that and then it turned into a scramble. Everyone else had walking sticks, I was quite glad I didn’t at this point. The main panic cake for me when, in sight of the summit, we had to scramble along a ridge with a 100m drop off to the right. I couldn’t look and started to dread the thought of walking down. I think my long legs helped me, along with the adrenaline, a last push to the top and I was third up after the guide and someone else who wanted to see the back of the climb. The view from the top was pretty special and there were some high fives going round as the last section was nuts!
    On top of the sleeping beast, there’s a crater with an ash shelter, for if you get cause out. The peak is also the other side to Fuego, so walking around the crater is where the view was. The pictures speak for themselves, a awesome view of Agua and the clouds, and of course, Fuego. We spent about 45 minutes on the top before the dreaded decent back to base camp. Once again, I was not looking for to this! In reality, it was so much fun! We quite literally ran down the side of the volcano. It was a big ash field and was just like running down sand dunes. The 45 minute hike to the top was now only a ten minute run back to the camp before sundown, for hot chocolate and food.
    It wasn’t long before the evening turned to night and the storm started. The camp being perched on the side of a steep hill at 3500m, you are really up in he clouds. It was loud and went on all night till 5am when the sun started coming up. The best thing I saw, when everyone else had gone to bed, was three bolts of lightening all converging to hit the top of Fuego, at the same point. It happened twice, pretty spectacular! We also saw a very small eruption, a little lava goes anting way!
    In the morning, we headed aback down at 6:45 and it was all fairly dull until a couple of us decided to run down. The paths were slippy and it was just easier, and a lot more fun. There was also beer at the bottom 😋
    I’m glad I did, definitely something I’ll not forget in a hurry.    Read more

  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaTraveler

    Leaving Antigua, finally!

    June 23, 2018 in Guatemala ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Antigua is a cool place, a bit expensive, but nice. After three weeks, I was ready to leave!
    The plan was to head to The Driftwood Surfer in El Paredon, and that’s what we did!!we booked a shuttle, but it was over sold, so 3 of us ended up in a car. Legroom for days, pretty happy about that. Although, the car needs it’s front breaks looking at, they were dodgy!
    Got to the beach and went out body surfing. Nice.
    The hostel is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, right on the beach. They do a family style dinner in the evening, it’s all you can eat, so suits me! The beach is like a big long version of Perran Sands. A beach break with tonnes of rips and okay surf.    Read more

  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaTraveler

    El Tunco

    July 2, 2018 in El Salvador ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    Heading back to the beach was great! This place has a point break and that’s about it. Super crowded as it’s quite mellow, but nice to get in the water all the same.
    El Tunco means “the pig” and it’s because there’s a rock out the front which apparently used to like a pig looking up at the sky, we couldn’t really see it, but you judge for yourself!
    I travelled down with Will and Ted, but saw some familiar faces as soon as I got off the shuttle. Ben, who Id originally met in Caye Caulker, then Antigua, showed us the best place to stay. The next day another couple of people of Ozzie girls from school turned up and we had a nice crew here for five days or so. Nice!    Read more

  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaTraveler

    Volcan de Santa Ana

    July 6, 2018 in El Salvador ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Another volcano, yay!
    As a group, we decided to get a tour and go to Volcán de Santa Ana, just outside of Santa Ana, from El Tunco. I didn’t know too much about it, apart from the green sulphur pool on the top and a great view, as there were no clouds finally!
    A good little walk down from the car park, which could have been England from the trees n foliage. I turned my ankle over, which was a real ball ache, and meant I could surf on it. I still hiked the rest of the volcano, but knew it was going to stiffen up once we got back to the mini bus. It did, and I knew I’d have to find something else to do for the next week.    Read more

  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaTraveler
    1

    Santa Ana

    July 9, 2018 in El Salvador ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Knowing that most of my crew here at El Tunco were leaving, I woke and decided to pack. Everyone was out on a hike to see some waterfalls, but I couldn’t go due to my ankle, so when there returned back, I told them I was tagging along.
    The plan was to get Chicken busses over to here, only two, but it meant that we were spending $2.50 rather than $20 on a shuttle.
    We had some breakfast and headed off. It was all really easy!
    This was gonna be my rest from surfing and would give me a fun crew for watching the football.
    As I’d already climbed the volcano, and hostel had an awesome kitchen, I really didn’t have much to do. Still, the day the rest of the guys went and climbed it, myself and a guy called Niall set off on the Route Flores by chicken bus to see what it was all about. We left quite late and ended up rushin to Juyaua, but it was good, dark some good coffee in the heart of the plantations. It were good!
    Through weird connections, Alex, my housemate from Antigua Spanish school, showed up with his car. So when the guys headed off to Utila, I hitched a lift back to El Tunco as my ankle was better. Rl Salvador surf round two!    Read more

  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaTraveler

    Last night in El Tunco

    July 16, 2018 in El Salvador ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    This is it, all people I know have gone and I’m heading to the airport in the morning to fly to Costa Rica. The problems in Nicaragua are just a bit too much to chance now, it’s still all quite dodgy!
    I had two surfs today, the first was okay, the second, well. As I was paddling out, I started feeling a not nice, sharp pain in the bottom of the right set of ribs. Something is telling me it’s good to be leaving!
    That said, it only takes one wave to make you day, and as I arrived in pain at the point, i paddled into the best wave I’ve caught n rode in the past 3 weeks! Happy days! I think I’m finally getting it back, it’s taken long enough! Fingers crossed pain settles down over the next week, I think I’ll be in land first, so time to heal! 🤕    Read more

  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaTraveler

    Do you know the way to San Jose? Ues!

    July 18, 2018 in Costa Rica ⋅ 🌧 25 °C

    So I flew in yesterday to Costa Rica and got a cheap place to stay in San Jose for the night. A nice little place next to the park. The park is very 70/80’s and use to be the old airport. I dropped my bags about 10:30 and went off to have a look around. Considering I didn’t want to fly or go to a capital city, this was my only exception so far.
    San Jose appears to be quite modern and really multi cultural with a lot of different people walking around. The city centre is pretty standard, busy, lots of places selling meat and some veg places on the street. I think I’ve hit the Avocado stash, saw a guy selling big avos, 5 for 1000 colones. About £1.30! I also saw some avos as big as a guinea pig, I don’t know what type they are, but they are huge!
    I headed back tot the hostel and dropped off all the stuff I’d bought to make guacamole. It came to about £2, which is awesome as CR is supposed to be expensive!
    I then headed to have a little look around the park. Not much to report, kind of a poor mans run down Albert Park. The swimming pool was closed. Yawn.
    Now, I’m sat on a bus waiting to leave San Jose to La Fortuna in the north. I don’t know what to expect apart from more volcanos and some hot springs, maybe a sloth or two!
    Just arrived and it seems biblical rain is standard every afternoon    Read more

  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaTraveler

    La Fortuna, no bueno!

    July 19, 2018 in Costa Rica ⋅ 🌧 24 °C

    Not had a good day. Woken up early by two seppos leaving and packing every plastic they’ve ever owned, into plastic bags, and not whispering quietly.
    Then went out to see the town, between the really rain storms, to find out that people here are just plain rude! If you arnt giving them money, they are rude. If you are giving them money, rude! Way too many seppos here too. I have to call them that as my term Oosa’s (USA’s) hasn’t caught on and although they like to call them selves Americans, everyone on his continent is American!
    It rains here waaaay to much to do anything, and I haven’t even seen the volcano yet, which you can’t climb.
    Anyway, book my way out at 8:30am. Done.
    This is all on top of the fact that I have pulled two or three intercostal muscles and won’t be able to surf for at least 2-3 weeks, which was my whole reason for getting excited for Costa Rica. I just hope it’s not a broken rib! I have no idea how it happened, but it was whilst surfing.
    Bummed 😕    Read more

  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaTraveler

    Monteverde

    July 22, 2018 in Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    This by far a nicer place than La Fortuna. A nice little mountain town, still really touristy, but a lot nicer vibe.
    I got via a bus and a boat, then another bus. The boat went across part of a lake, it was raining and not too warm, but mildly intresting all the same. The other side, I went to get on my bus and was told no. I found out, only as they were calling the name ‘Ricardo’ that I was in another bus. It was a guided tour and, by now, as they been calling my name, everyone greeted me with a “Hola Ricardo!”. Turns out they all spoke English, but thought I was Spanish, including the tour guide who spoke to me in Spanish. I waited half an hour before I broke my cover, it was quite funny.
    I got to my hostel and started to think what I should do in Monteverde and the rest of my time in Costa Rica. I thought I should just maw a run for the board, seeing as though I cilantro surf, and get in to Panama where I knew people would be going to a party. An hour later, someone I knew walked in an that plan got changed. Funny how things happen. I had met Syarda in Utila, then again in Antigua briefly, and now!
    The hostel turned out to be very social, so two became seven and we had a little crew!
    The next day, we went for a walk in the Santa Elaina cloud Forrest, looking for wildlife. We saw pretty much nothing until we got back to the car park and saw a Coatapi walking around. In the arvo, everyone else went zip lining, I stayed in and learn a song on guitar. Nice.
    Next day, 5 of us went for a walk up the hill to find the chocolate and cheese factory’s, also some cafes. The chocolate place was shut, the cheese factory was crap, but I did drink an awesome affogato.
    That night, three of us planned to leave early and head to Tortuguero! 4:45 start.    Read more

  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaTraveler

    Tortuga Town!

    July 23, 2018 in Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    So I only knew of this place from the Lonely planet and knew from someone in the hostel in San Jose that it had a lot of rain. So much that they had been stuck for two days as the boats couldn’t get up the river.
    It took us three buses and a taxi to get to the boat to take us to Tortuguero. The last bus from Cariari took us through some big banana plantations and farmland which was under a lot of water. It had clearly been raining a lot! We got on to the boat and it was instantly obvious that the river was swollen (coming back the level had dropped 2m) and there were crazy Eddie currents everywhere! Me and Diamaid (Irish bloke) were in a boat with all of the luggage. We hit a tree very soon and at that point the transfer boat took on a new guise as an unexpected adventure tour. Nice!
    We got to the dock after about an hour of crazy boat ride, just in time for the heavens to open and soak us! Great news when you have to walk around and find somewhere to stay!
    Found a hostel, booked a canoe tour for the morning, eat and hit the hay. Long day and another 5:30 start in the morning.    Read more

  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaTraveler

    Turtles!!

    July 24, 2018 in Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Went on a tour last night to see some turtles. We saw three massive green turtles! One laying eggs, one come out of the water, head up he beach and then go back, think it was scared; and one just coming out of the sea.
    It was an awesome experience as they are really big!! Probably about 4’ long by 3’ wide. As with all these things, it seems a bit wrong, but the $15 park fee dose go towards protection them and numbers have been going up steadily. Sadly, no pictures are allowed.
    A highlight indeed!    Read more

  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaTraveler

    Tour time!

    July 24, 2018 in Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    We woke up late am rushed out. Got a cinnamon roll for breakfast, massive!!
    We had booked a canoe tour for the three of us, although Syarda was the only one who could paddle. Good job the guide did, but he was still in bed when we got to the tour place, so he had to wake up pretty quick!
    The hope was to see a sloth and some toucans, anything else was a bonus!
    We headed off into the jungle on the waterways, which were quite busy with people doing the same, but it didn’t feel like a merry go round. Hopefully the pictures came out okay, I’ll upload them in a bit, but we did manage to see quite a lot. Only saw a Toucan flying quite high, but it was there, and no sloths, but we did see quite a few wild camen, makaws and big lizards. I also got a camen in the face when the (possibly slight hungover) guide took the canoe slightly too close to where one was sat conveniently at eye level for a seated Watts. I had my paddle at the ready to give it a jab!    Read more

  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaTraveler

    Puerto Viejo

    July 27, 2018 in Costa Rica ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    It’s a nice little surf town with some good place to eat and waves! It’s a bit out of season for surfing, but you can see it’s potential.
    A lot of the businesses here are run or owned by expats, so it obviously has a way of keeping people! Our hostel was run by a German, Cafe Rico was owned by an english dude who’d been there 17 years. We hired bikes from an Australian and I had the best espresso ever from a French cafe.
    It’s got a real Caribbean vibe here, like most of this coast, and it’s a total mix of local people.
    It was pretty much raining the whole time we were here, I think we got the only good day in Tortuguero.
    We hired bikes and cycled up the coast to Manzanillo, had some food, had a play in the sea, drank hot chocolate on the way back at a cacao farm and had a couple of beers. We saw some capuchin monkeys in the trees too! All good.
    The next day we went to the Jaguar sanctuary. They didn’t have jaguars, but they did have loads of sloths and monkeys. This was the best run rescue Center I had been too and it was all funded by the tours. The woman running it was a primate specialist and most of the people working there were volunteers. Our tour was with a girl from Manchester who was really good. She has the worlds first PhD in Sloths, so really knew her stuff. I am now full of all the facts and happy that I’d seen enough sloths. On the cycle home, we saw a couple of wild ones too. All good fun    Read more

  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaTraveler

    Crossing to Bocas del Torro

    July 28, 2018 in Panama ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Getting up late, had a an awesome coffee and then had breakfast in Puerto Viejo at a place called Cafe Rico! We then jumped on a bus to head to the boarder.
    It wasn’t long before we were at the bridge that crossed from Costa Rica to Panama. To get into Panama, you have to have an onward ticket. We didn’t, but luckily Syarda had a plane ticket layout pdf, so she forged a couple of tickets over breakfast. Win! People get turned away all the time for this or have to buy a bus ticket. It’s a good job we had them as it was the first thing they asked for at the boarder!
    It was all quite painless and as it was later in the day, we jumped on a shuttle to take us to the water taxis, which would then take us over to Bocas. The boat did not hang around, it had some big outboard motor and it really shifted!
    It took about 45 minutes at full chat!    Read more

  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaTraveler

    Bocas

    July 31, 2018 in Panama ⋅ 🌧 29 °C

    Bocas was a nice start to Panama. The first day we chilled and the weather was awesome!
    The next day we went on a tour, the weather was far from awesome. On the tour we saw a load of bottle nosed dolphins, snorkelled on a shallow reef, which was good. We stopped in an island for two hours, the first hour and a half it was cold and raining, it cleared a little by the time we were leaving, luckily I took a six pack of beers, so at least there was a bit of a break from the rain. On the way back, we stopped by Sloth island, where we saw about 5 sloths. Then on to the so-called Hollywood where there were loads of starfish. All in all, not a great day, but something to do.
    Later I bumped into more people I had met before and four of us headed for some food n drinks.    Read more

  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaTraveler

    Panama City, 3 days , 3 hostels!

    August 5, 2018 in Panama ⋅ 🌧 30 °C

    Headed to the big smoke alone after not enjoying the Lost and Found hostel much.
    Checked into a hostel on the first night, it wasn’t a great area, but luckily there were some people I knew there. They left early the next morning, so I did after breakfast.
    Hostel number two was in the older area of Panama City, which is supposed to be somewhere to see. It was okay. 😂 I went for a run along the sea front, which was good, and my various injuries didn’t bother me. The hostel was nice-ish, but had a bar playing shite music till 3am under my dorm, so I left the next after breakfast.
    Checked into the third hostel, not expecting much, but it was a better location. I was sat contemplating what to do next as this hostel was quiet, when Rob and Emily walked in. A couple I had been in my Spanish school home stay in Antigua! Good news!    Read more

  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaTraveler

    San Blas

    August 13, 2018 in Panama ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    So there’s basically a couple of ways to get to Colombia from Panama, one is to fly, the other is by boat. The Darién gap with its jungle, mosquitos, para military and cartels, stop you from going by land.
    I choose to go by boat, sail boat!
    After a 90 minute shuttle from Panama City to Puerto Lindo, I met everyone else that I was going to be with for the next 5days and 4 nights. I met a fair few in the bus, along with Niall and Rich who I already knew.
    We hung out in a small cafe for an hour waiting for a few others to arrive, then we transferred by boat over to the ‘Wildcard’ the 20+ birth boat which would be home for the next 5 nights.
    After a briefing, we sent off at 1pm, and given our beds, everyone on Dramamine, to our first island where we’d more for the night. We arrived after sunset, ate some really nice curry and everyone cracked on with the booze they had brought. It seemed like everyone was on the same level, some backpacking, some on a long holiday an a couple who had surprised the captain from home in South Africa. It was going to be a fun week!
    The Wildcard had 22 beds, all a little cramped, but comfy. I was in the stern with 8 others and two toilets. Luckily I was under two ventilation fans and was actually cold on a couple of nights, everyone else found it a bit hot, especially when moving.
    The next morning we woke up surrounded by 3 idilic looking islands and a couple of other boats. I swam over to a reef before breakfast, just because. There were 4 meals a day of you wanted them. First breakfast at 7:30, second at about 10, the lunch n dinner at normal times.
    Once everyone was up and fed, we set off to the island where we’d spend the first day. It took about an hour, so everyone just chilled under the canopy on deck.
    Once we arrived, everyone got straight in the sea, it was hot, making use of the diving platform off the top of the doghouse. Once cooled down, we all were give snorkelling gear and we all swam off to the nearest island. The San Blas islands are inhabited by he native Chuna Indians, some islands more than others. This first one had a very small shack selling beer and a seating area where we’d have lunch. Much volley ball was played and fish watched. There were a few lobsters hiding about and the odd starfish. Later that night, we’d head over to another island next door for a kinda naff fancy dress contest and a fire. It wasn’t amazing, but everyone got involved and more importantly, drunk! On the other side of the island was a lagoon which had some bioluminescent going on, not loads, but something to look at. Later though, back onboard, jumping off the boat proved a lot more entertainment and we got some crazy effects going on! Good fun having stars buzzing around your limbs!
    The next day we had another hour to the next island to chill on deck. This time we had some spinner dolphins come and keep us company for about half an hour which was great fun. This next island was totally uninhabited and we had all day her to ourselves. More volley ball, drinking, snorkelling and I showed the boys how to crack open coconuts, so we went off collecting them to make cocoloco’s back on the boat. Another fun night on deck with good food.
    The following morning we headed to our last stops before the big 40 crossing to Colombia. More of the same today, chilling, drinking, fish and jumping off the boat. We had another stop that afternoon at a sandbar. Some cool snorkelling and had a game of wolves and villagers. A kind camping type game, but good fun with a big group. We all got back onboard, sea sick pills in us and the deep water crossing began.
    It’s 40 hours from the last island to Cartagena, so it was just chill time all the way. It would be the rest of that day and night, then a full day over deep water and we’d more early the next morning. The stars at night were awesome and there was the odd lightening storm. We had the company of some grey bottle nose dolphins, about 12 of them. You could see them bouncing over the water to get on the bow. They stayed with us for about an hour before shooting off.
    The next day, more of the same, but there would be a chance to jump in and cool off in deep water, so the idea of whales and sharks got people talking. We got to about 2pm and over 2km of water depth, about 35 miles off land. Charlie the captain stopped the boat and let everyone know the score. There was a tanker near to us, so we had to move to get out of its path. Then, one of the girls spotted something. Shark!!! Really big. Turned out that we’d found a whale shark, probably about 5m, just flopping along on the surface, it didn’t hang around long, but for many, that was the end of the idea of swimming! About 10 minutes later, a few of us jumped in, me first, and stayed really close to the boat just in case. The colour of the sea was an amazing deep blue, not a cloud in the sky and beams of light were shoot off into the depths. Awesome!
    We sail the rest of the day under full sail and into the night. That evening most people went to bed, but 3 of us figures that you could sit on the leawood side of the boat, legs over side, and the waves would crash up over us, great amusement for about an hour, then we too headed to bed.
    The next morning we woke up in Cartagena after arriving at about 2am, we had breakfast and then headed to shore to check in to our hostel. We’d have to get little passports later that evening, at a bbq.
    An awesome experience and a highlight of the trip so far!

    Crew list
    Captain Charlie
    Cook Natalie
    Their son ...
    Me
    Ricky
    Niall
    Mickey
    Maddison
    Sam
    Becky
    Zing
    Dan
    Taz
    Steve
    Jess
    Carrie
    Eva
    Nikki
    Rebekka
    Tyler
    James
    ...    Read more

  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaTraveler

    Catagena,Colombia!

    August 19, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    The first night in Colombia was always going to be big, especially with 20 people who had been getting on for the past week.
    After the BBq, we all got on the beers and headed off into Cartagena. It was a big night, with much beers n dancing. A fitting end to the week.
    The next day we had a look around, some more beers and food. A really nice fortafies town with lots of character, if not a little touristy.
    The forts are here because of Drake and his gold stealing expertise. This was the main port the Spanish established to store the gold before transporting it back to Spain. We stole loads!    Read more

  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaTraveler

    Taganga

    August 21, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    This was meant to be a bit of chill time after the sea crossing and the big nights in Cartagena. It was good, big quite hostel, pool, Netflix, air con, all good! After a day or two, we all decide that we’d go on the Lost City trek and use this place as a base.
    In the mean time, me Ricky and Rebekka went and did a couple of dives, which was cool. Other than that, we just ate pizza and chilled!    Read more

  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaTraveler

    Minca

    August 28, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Went to an eco lodge. Got the trots, was okay, apart from all the food being vegetarian.
    It was a 20 minute moto taxi ride to the top, basically a motorbike up a dirt track. Met a Toucan.

  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaTraveler

    The Lost City

    August 28, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    I didn’t know much about this place until I was on the San Blas crossing. Rich seemed very much the one driving everyone else to go, and it turned out to be an awesome trek.
    We signed up for it whilst staying in Taganga with the same company we went diving with and then spent the next day wondering what we should be taking. We’d be leaving our bags at the hostel and only taking what we need. Luckily, I knew some people who had done it a couple of weeks before, and I had just about the right kit. Happy days. One other reason for doing the trek pretty much right after the sea crossing was that the route closes in September so that the local tribes can have their yearly festivals.
    So, we all got our stuff together, Rich got his yellow fever jab which was a drama; and we piled in a van to Santa Marta to the main office. There we found a fair few other people we’d be on the trek with. We paid, loaded into a 4x4 and headed off.
    When we arrived at the start of the trek, we had lunch and a small briefing and then set off up a hill, it was hot and sweaty, but something that would continue. I was told by some friends to take a set of close to walk in and wash each night as nothing would dry, they were not wrong!
    After walking for about 4 hours, we got to our first camp just in time to join a big queue for the cold showers, which was over looked by a very large spider on the wall. Rich was to wake up with a scorpion in his bed, lucky that wasn’t me! The accommodation was bunk beds with nets, all under a roof. There was about four different companies trekking at the same time, so around 100 people all in. Once everyone was sorted, we sat down to eat and a good chance to meet everyone. The food was really good and there was no need for seconds. Each group had their own cooks, so it’s quite a frantic thing, but a very practiced process! There were also two macaws living in the dining area, which no one noticed until the next morning.
    After dinner our guide, though a translator, told us about what we’d see over the next few days. She told us about the 4 indigenous tribes and their customs, wildlife and the terrain. The walk goes up and down a lot, so there were some big hills to contend with.
    Next morning, we were up at 4:30am for breakfast and walking by first light at 5:30am. Wet close on and heading into the jungle. The track was pretty much all dried mud, so really glad it wasn’t raining, and had a river crossing thrown in. Constantly walking gave us a chance to chat shite about whatever we liked. There were 5 Dutch guys in the group who all walked quite quickly, so I mainly hung with them as the group was quite quick, but we were faster. We had a good laugh! We reached the lunch stop around 12pm and had a chance to swim in a river, a very nice thing as it was straight off the mountain and pretty cold. Fast flowing and nice to mess around in, it had a waterfall in a cave too! Lunch was ready for 1pm, too much food to be walking on and that afternoon would be a challenge for a while on a full belly!
    We ready the next nights camp as the sun was going down, a similar set up, but spread over a few bunk sheds. Some had to sleep in hammocks and the mozzies had a bit of a party! I think I drank some not so great water and the worst thing happened, there’s not much you can do, but get on the Imodium and get on with it! Good food again that night and a couple of beers. Early nights all round as we’d be heading to the Lost City early the next morning. The idea would be to get there as the sun was coming up, have a few hours there, then head to the final camp. The last day would be the longest day at 16km.
    We all got up at 4:15am for brekkie and a sit on the toilet and off walking by 5am. We headed off along the river this time, there was a rope bridge crossing and two river crossings before we would get to the bottom of the climb up to the Lost City. There’s 1200 steps up to the start of the city and when I say steps, it was almost climbing in some parts. Quite a task for someone with vertigo and the thought of the climb down was at the back of my mind! When we got to the top, it was mozzie Armageddon! We had to wear our rain jackets and cover everything they could bite. There, we were given a history of the place for about an hour, then we were free to walk around and have a good look. The sun was up and it was a lovely day! I had tonnes of pictures of the whole trek, but I’m only limited to 6 here. The place is really fascinating and basically only really exists because of the local tribes trying to get away from the Spanish. They got to them and their gold in the end, and the place had been lost, found and looted obese the next 400 years. The four local tribes are thought to be direct decedents of the Lost City tribe and there is a definite distinct genetic look to them and the way they live.
    We descended back to the river and headed back to the camp at the river for our last night. Another swim in the river was very much welcomed! We had a good last night, but everyone was quite tired, so it was a good night, but quite an early one.
    The next morning we headed off early for the final 16km back to the start for some more food! There were some big hills to go up! One of 25 minutes and one of 45 minutes, killer in the heat!
    There were about 6 of us who decided to run a lot of the last 8km back, which reduced to 4 and the row of the Dutch guys got ahead of me and Rebekah. We got back to the restaraunt over an hour before he last people, so quite happy with that! We had a celebratory beer and had a well earned sit down. As we were getting ready to leave, the heavens open and the rain was biblical! We saw two groups heading off and really felt for them as we were so lucky with the weather. We loaded into our 4x4 just in time to watch lightening strike the lamp post 15m from us! It hit a transformer and sparks flew everywhere! Good fun! Everyone had an awesome time and we’re glad to be heading back to Taganga for a warm shower and a beer! We dropped Rich off at the hospital to get his arm looked at as he’d been bitten and it was possibly a Botfly, it wasn’t in the end, but he was teased for quite a while, especially as he was heading back to the UK two weeks later.
    This is a more than brief account of the trek, but I hope you got the idea!    Read more

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