Cuchilla Caracas

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