Viva Colombia - La Ciudad Perdida

Time to explore continent number six on this trip and it starts with Colombia. While not my first time in the country, there are quite a few things that I have on my list that I did not get to do last time. The first one being La Ciudad Perdida, or the Lost City. The Lost City was built in 700 by the Tayrona people and was abandoned in 1650, i.e. it is older than Machu Picchu.

So, once I arrived in the country and my hostel, I quickly joined a tour and on the 15th August, we were off to find and explore the Lost City. It is not an easy feat to reach as it requires a 4-Day return trek roughly 55km through the Colombian jungle in 36 degrees heat, 70-80% humidity and total elevation gain of 2400m (lots of ups and downs). There is no train, car or bus service to get there, so the only way to reach the Lost City is to walk through that jungle - a true adventure.

I am not gonna lie, it was definitely a tough hike with sometimes very bad paths, bridges that would not pass any inspections in Europe and hungry mosquitos. However, it was so worth it. Our guides (head guide + translator) were amazing as they brought the very interesting, bloody and drug-fueled history of this region and its inhabitants to life (farmers, guerrilla groups, drug traffickers, pirates, indigenous peoples). In addition, we saw all sorts of animals and jumped into natural pools or rivers whenever we had the chance.

My group consisted of 8 people (5x French, 1x English, 1x Costa Rican and me) and during the first 1.5 days, we walked 26km to reach Camp 3 located at the base of the Lost City.
While being a streneous walk, it definitely had some fun elements, as we crossed rivers on stones, enjoyed amazing viewpoints of the Colombian jungle and craved the delicious breakfasts, lunches and dinners that our chef prepared in the camps for us. Everyday, we woke up at 5am in order to take advantage of the cooler mornings on our hike.

On the morning of Day 3, it was finally time to reach the Lost City. To get there from our camp required a short 30 minute largely flat walk and then a total of 1200 (!) ancient steps up to reach the city. In other words, just before 7am on Day 3, we reached the Lost City.

Over the following 4h, we explored the ins and outs of it, listened to the fascinating story of its abandonment and re-discovery in 1973, took countless pictures and simply sat down at the highest point and soaked in the atmosphere.

It truly is a magical place. Yes, it might not be as spectacular as other famous archeological sites such as Machu Picchu, but imagining the history and everyday life in the city unfolding in front of your inner eye and getting a sense of the soul of the place was truly awe-inspring.

Sitting there at the top of the city gave me some inner peace paired with a sense of adventure. Experiences like these are the reason I travel the world. To get to know different cultures, different places and different lives.

What was also a very good idea by our guides was to walk the loop around the city in reverse order, which means we had most of the places within the Lost City completely to ourselves - not that there were many people in the first place given the tough way to get there.

After exploring the place in depth, it was time to walk this whole trek back - puta madre! I really did not feel that I have the energy to walk another 26km over two days through the Colombian jungle. But ah well, not that I really had a choice, I guess. We stopped in camp 2 for a night to break up the journey and on the last day jumped into a river to freshen up one last time before arriving back at the starting point. I was very happy, when I was back, but my legs were truly fucked - they continued to hurt 3 days later.

Anyway, I am incredibly happy that I did it. After all, the Lost City had been on my list for several years now and after having done it I would recommend it to everyone that longs for a different type of adventure.Read more