The Lost City

The is my last day in a Spanish speaking country, yikes! I´m certainly not ready to go back to struggling with Portuguese. I´ve just mastered enough Spanish to get across what I want or looking for. Also, that means that its back to Brazil and my flight home is soon enough. But enough complaining that I have to go back to Brazil, let´s finish the rest of Colombia!

I left Cartagena for my only bus trip in Colombia to Taganga, which is the small beach town just outside of Santa Marta. And it was hotter in Taganga than it was in Cartagena if you can even imagine. It felt like my face was melting off. The beach itself in Taganga isn´t that beautiful, but if you walk over the hill you arrive at a beautiful beach with really calm, warm bath water. I immediately jumped in as I needed to cool off and just floated the afternoon away.

The main reason to go to Taganga besides the beaches is that it is the starting point for the Lost City trek. Usually the trek is meant to go for 6 days, most people do it in 5, but myself and two boys decided we could do it in 4 days, very ambitious. We booked our tour to leave for the next day and I tackled the issue of packing everything I didn´t need for the trek in my big bag.

Sunday morning arrived and I woke up not feeling well, like the kind of not feeling well that doesn´t need to be described in detail and not the best way to start a trek. We were picked up in a jeep that took us about 2 hours to the starting point for the trek. Thank god for Cipro, or else I don´t think I would have even made it to the beginning. We started the trek after lunch in the hot mid-day heat and couldn´t be more excited after hiking for about a half hour to reach a river we could swim in. I was the only girl that jumped in and I felt a lot better after doing so. We had the hardest hike of the trek that afternoon in my opinion. That or it could have been that my medicine was making me dizzy from climbing up on the switchbacks. Either way, I happily handed over my backpack for the guide to carry, and that was the last time I carried it. We hiked for a little over 4 hours before arriving at the first campsite. There isn´t much to do in the campsite after dark and all of the people in our group forgot to bring cards, but we entertained ourselves with a few mind games and puzzles. We spent the night sleeping in hammocks with mosquito nets over them and I don´t know if it was from the hiking or it was really that comfortable, but I slept like a baby.

The next day we were up early because we were supposed to go all the way to the 3rd campsite, but found out there wasn´t any room there since a big group of school kids was a day ahead of us. So we had some extra time and we had the option to visit an area cocaine factory if we wanted. I decided not to participate, not because of safety or whatever, but because I don´t support or use drugs so why would I want to spend my money on something I don´t believe it. I think it would have been interesting and something you can really only see here, but not worth the $15 that was asked. Either way, we only walked to the 2nd campsite on the trail that day. We passed through many of the indegious villages in the mountains where people really live without moderm inventions, very untouched by society. It turned out we were lucky that we didn´t walk all the way to the 3rd campsite because as soon as we arrived at the 2nd site, it began to pour rain. We had most of the afternoon for free time, but nothing really to do so I took a nap. I think I could sleep in hammocks forever!

We were up early again on the 3rd day and had about a 4 hour walk to arrive at the 3rd campsite. We had to cross the river several times and the guide ended up carrying a few of us girls on his back through the water so we didn´t have to take off our shoes. Sometimes its really nice being a girl in South America when you receive special treatment like that. The walking that day was very different, we were climbing over rocks along the river and really in the jungle now instead of the farms fields we had been through the days before. Very hot and humid still, I don´t think I was ever really dry for the 4 days. We arrived at the 3rd campsite before lunch and ate before walking one kilometer more to the Lost City. Finally after 3 days of walking we had arrived! We had to cross the river another 5 times and then were at the bottom of 1200 stairs that we had to walk up to get into the Lost City.

The stairs were very narrow, steep and covered with moss and wet leaves. It wasn´t an easy climb to the top, but once we were up there it made climbing through the Green Hell as it is affectionately called, the city was spectacular. It also worked in our favor that we didn´t go all the way to the 3rd campsite the day before because then we would have visited the city in the morning with all the other groups, but in the afternoon we had the place to ourselves. Also, this was the only day of the trek that it didn´t rain in the afternoon, so I consider ourselves very lucky.

The guide showed us around the city, which was protected by the military since tourists were kidnapped there back in 2003. He told us the story of how it was found by some local campers in the 1970s and how most of the city was looted for treasure. Its a sad story and many of the Colombians feel that the money that was made off of Lost City treasure is considered worse blood money than money from cocaine. The city was absolutly gorgeous and it was a very special moment for all of us to just enjoy the view from the top.

The way down from the Lost City was the only hiccup in the whole trip. I was walking down the steep, narrow stairs and slipped and fell down about 4 or 5 stairs and rock went right into my back. I picked myself up and carried on down the rest of the stairs, but I knew something was wrong. I had the guide piggyback me across the rivers to get back to camp and discovered how much pain I was in. Definitely a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10. One of the other guides gave me some painkillers, but told me only to take one at a time and I just wanted to explain that I am American and have a very high tolerance for painkillers, but I needed to save the other pill for the next day as we had to walk all 14 kilometers back to the beginning.

The 4th day was a struggle, I´m not going to lie. I slipped a few more times on the rocks back and did my best to keep up with the boys. I was never more than a few mintues behind them. The guide kept insisting that I rent a mule to take me back, but I had already spend enough money on this trek that I wasn´t going to spend more on something I thought I was capable of doing. We made it all the way back to the 1st campsite in a little over 5 hours! We stopped there for lunch for an hour before hiking the rest of the way in the rain. I took a big slide in the mud going down hill in the rain, but I was already so wet and dirty that a little more mud didn´t hurt. I could not have been happier to arrive back in the little village at the beginning. It took us a total of just over 8.5 hours, so about 7.5 hours hiking. And it started to rain again too.

Apparently the tour company did not realize that we wanted to do the tour in 4 days and forgot to arrange transfer back to Taganga for us. We ended up on the back of some motorbikes that took us down a dirt bumpy road to the main road for an hour. After all the walking, this was the worst part of the trip. I think it might have done more damage to my back than the hiking did. We then had to take a bus to Santa Marta and then a taxi to Taganga, finally reaching the hostel where our big bags were stored. At that point I was in some serious pain and could hardly stand up let alone carry my bag. I had to get a taxi back to Santa Marta because I was staying there to be close to the airport since I was flying to Medellin the next day. Luckily, my friends, taxi drivers, people who were in the hostel were able to help my lift my bag and help me as much as possible.

I couldn´t wait to get clean and dry and I struggled to repack my bag for the airplane. I left in the morning for the airport and had the most interesting taxi driver. He kept showing me videos on his cell phone, first of his family at the beach and then of music videos he had recorded from his TV. I watched them all just so I could avoid having a conversation and pretending to speak Spanish.

I had to fly through Bogota to get to Medellin so it was a very long day of travelling. When I finally arrived in Medellin, I couldn´t carry my bag out to the taxis and some guy helped me. Then I found out how much a taxi was to the city, very expensive and I couldn´lift my bag and I was in so much pain, I just lost it and started to cry. Immediately I was surrounded by Colombians ready to help me. Luckily the were able to get me into a collectivo taxi and I arrived at my hostel.

I went to bed early and decided the best thing to do was to go to the hospital in the morning. I took a taxi there and found someone who could speak enough English to explain how much pain I was in and why I needed to see a doctor. Everyone at the hospital was wonderful and very helpful. The doctor was talking to me and trying to explain that I needed some pain medicine and I thought she meant some IV meds and again I started to cry since I don´t think I could handle an IV. She went running out of the room for the nurse that could speak English and I felt foolish when I figured out that all she meant was a shot for the pain. The took some x-rays and didn´t see anything broken and gave me some painkillers and a gel to put on my back. I just finished the pain meds and my back is still really sore, still can´t lift my bag yet, but I am mobile and can still travel.

I tried to make the most of the rest of my day in Medellin. I took the metro to the downtown area and walked around a bit. Saw many of the scupltures for Boltera, he makes everyone really fat and big and they are a bit funny to look at. I did a lot of people watching before taking the metro to the cable car line. I took that all the way to the top and a fantastic view of the city. As most cities on the Andes, Medellin is built between the mountains and is beautiful. I went back to that hostel for the evening and signed up to play in the beer pong tournament. I know it probably wasn´t the best idea to have some drinks on painkillers but I craved some social interaction. I was paired with a guy from New Hampshire and we made it to the finals against two guys from England. We lost right at the end but it was very exciting and a great lead up to the World Cup game the next day.

I had been looking forward to the start of the World Cup for some time and what a better place to be than South America. A big group of us ended up watching the USA game at Hooters of all places, my first time in a Hooters actually. It was exciting to watch it with an international crowd and while a tie is still a tie, its better than a loss.

I had to get up really early the next day to catch my plane back to Bogota so I didn´t fully enjoy the Medellin nightlife as most of the gringos do, but I was worried about my back too. The plane ride to Bogota was really short, like 20 minutes and I arrived at my hostel in the early afternoon. I used most of the afternoon trying to decide how to get to Brazil from Bogota, should I even try to go to Brazil since it was really expensive or should I try to go into Central America. I had a lot of trouble making the decision and finding the right flight and then the credit card woudln´t work. I was exhausted and had to give up for the day. I needed to get out and luckily there was a Boltera Museum just down the street for some light humor.

Before I arrived in Bogota, I had contacted Catalina, a local that was a foreign exchange student at Waunakee my senior year and we planned to meet up. She picked me up with her boyfriend and brother and took me to this really nice area of Bogota with some fancy pubs and clubs. They were really great guides and I was so thankful that we could all speak English together and it was really awesome to see Catalina after 8 years!


The next morning I finally booked my flight back to Brazil as the credit card was blocked since they wanted to know why it was being used in Bogota. A huge weight was lifted off my shoulders and I had the afternoon free. Some people in the hostel were going to go on a bike tour of the city and I decided to join. It wasn´t the best decision for my back, but I´m only here once! The tour ended up being almost 4 hours and we saw quite a lot of the city, more than I would have seen on foot. It stated to rain a little bit, but I really enjoyed seeing Bogota in this perspective.

Yesterday was also a big touristy day in Bogota. I went with some people from the hostel to the top of the mountain Monserrat where you can get a nice view of the city and there is a nice church up there too. Then we went to the Gold Museum which as all this fantastic gold artifacts that were found in Colombia over the last like 4000 years or something. Its only on the places to see before you die and it was an excellent museum. After lunch we did some souvenir shopping and I of course bought more things than I need. Its the American way...

I planned to meet up with Catalina again last night and I met her at her apartment. She drove me up to one of the hills that overlooks the city at night and it was amazing. Bogota is about 9 million people and the lights were endless. I love seeing cities at night, everything just looks so much better lit up. We drove around a bit more of the city and she showed me some more neighborhoods and nice spots and then we had some dinner. A very delicious curry and some sushi and I was able to fill her in on everything that has happened in Waunakee in the last 8 years! Not too much obviously. Haha. We picked up her boyfriend after dinner and drove around to some more places in Bogota before I went back to the hostel.

Today was also a busy day in Bogota. A couple of us went to the national police musuem and had a tour there. Most of it was really interesting and they have a lot of items that were Pablo Escobars and the other drug cartel leaders. There are also many different types of police divisions here and I don´t really understand the difference between the military and the police, but either way I feel safer when I see them on the streets.

Tonight I fly off to Salvador on the northern coast of Brazil. Very excited to have decided to go back to Brazil since I think they are going to do well in the World Cup and it will be very thrilling to watch it with the locals. Just about 3 and half weeks until I´m back. If anyone knows of a job or a cheap car, let me know, I´m looking for both. Now its off to the beaches, hopefully getting some color back after being in the mountains for so long!

Triple Trouble

OMG I cannot believe that it is already June! Time flies when you´re having fun and fun is exactly what we have been having. My apologies for not updating sooner, but we´ve been moving pretty fast and internet is not always the easiest to come by, so now I´m here and I want to update you on everything that I´ve been doing for the last two plus weeks.

We left Lima after Sarah´s birthday and headed up the coast to the city of Trujillo, but we didn´t actually stay there. Instead we took a taxi out to the surf village of Huanchaco. We were very excited to finally be on the beach after spending the last month or so in the mountains. Unfortunately, our excitement was short lived because the weather there turned out to be cloudy, chilly and a little windy. We filled our time there though. A man at the hostel we were staying at told us about a local cerviche place that we had to try. It wasn´t on the map and we had to follow his very vague directions and asking the locals who eventually led us right to the door, we enjoyed Peru´s best cerviche. The only disappointment from the day was that the man who told us about the restaurant told us not to take our cameras for safety and now I have no documentation of this delicious meal. I also do not have docmentation of the events that followed including Sarah learning to juggle with the rastafarians on the beach or me getting one of those dirty traveller braids put in my hair. There is even a shell on the end of it. It wasn´t all fun and games as we did experience a little culture in Huanchaco too by visiting the Pre Inca site of Chan Chan.


Continuing up the coast we made our last stop in Peru to the surfer hot spot of Mancora. We decided here to Loki it up. Loki is a chain of party hostels in Bolivia and Peru that we had heard a lot about but had never stayed in one. This Loki was like a resort, a big pool in the center surrounded by the rooms on one side and the massive bar on the other. Needless to say we had a really excellent time at the Loki. Oh and its also right on the beach. Our first day there I enjoyed breakfast at a nearby restaurant that actually had french toast with real maple syrup, I could not have been happier. I am starting to realize right now that a lot of my blogging is about food. I love to eat and really I just love food so bear with me. Mancora was intense and the Loki was great, but its a vortex I´ve decided. They want you to eat, drink and not sleep at the Loki and once you get in you can´t get out. We did get out but Sarah and I were happy to extended our stay there since Amanda was very sick and didn´t get to experience the Loki in all its goodness.


Ready to move on to Ecuador we boarded a bus to take us to the border. I was a little nervous about crossing the border since its meant to be the worst border in South America. It turned out to be fine, it took a little longer than some of the other border crossings, but no questions asked. Our first stop in Ecuador was to the colonial town of Cuenca. We arrived at night not having a hostel booked and just went with the first one we saw at the bus station. It was alright, no one else was staying there and that gave it a haunted like feel. Cuenca the city was beautiful. The architecture was stunning and very well preserved. The whole city was named a UNESCO World Heritage city a few years ago and you can tell why. We spent most of the day wandering the city and adjusting to using the US dollar as the currency. The highlight of the day was when we went into this shop that makes and sells Panamaian hats. Turns out they are really from Ecuador and were misnamed a century ago. In this shop this little old man shakes all of our hands and takes up stairs to his little shop filled with the hats. He measures our heads to find a hat that fits us and knows exactly which hat will look the best on us. The only thing I could relate it to is in Harry Potter when the wandmaker helps Harry choose his wand. Yes, I´m that cool to make a Harry Potter reference. Anways, it was a totally awesome experience and I couldn´t walk away without a hat and obviously I look good in it.


We left the next day for Baños, but first stopping at the largest Inca site in Ecuador, Ingapirca. After Machu Picchu nothing really holds the coin, but it was great to see the Inca face craved into the side of the mountain. We´ve seen them before, but were never able to get this close or to see one with Inca eyelashes.

We had an interesting bus experience trying to get to Baños. Instead of going to the bus station or terminal, we stood on the side of the road waiting for a bus to go by that said Quito since that was the right direction and just get on that. It reminds of older movies where people just get on and off at random stops. The bus ride itself was terrible, very curvy and very fast in the mountains. I could not have been happier to arrive in Baños in one piece.

I have to giggle a little bit every time I think about that I was in a town that is called bathroom. Obviously there is a reason for it, there are thermal springs under the city from the area volcanos. Speaking of volcanos, in case you missed it, the Tungurahua volcano just outside of Baños erupted last Friday and guess who was there to see it. This girl. It was amazing. We took a taxi up to a viewpoint at night and just stood there watching it. We could see the red lava pouring down the volcano and sparks shooting out of the top. Luckily, the ash didn´t really cover Baños and we did not have to be evacuated from the city as we feared.

Baños was a really great city with many adventure activities to choose from. I choose to rent one of this buggys and drive up the ´waterfall road.´ It was awesome! I rented it with this Australian guy and we had a blast. It was raining for a little bit while we were driving, but that made it more fun. We stopped at one waterfall and took a cable car across the river to get closer, it was a little scary to be suspended over the river but it turned out to be really cool. We visited another waterfall that we had to hike down to that was called something about the devil. I´ve never seen such powerful water. Both of us were very impressed and stared at it for about five minutes just in awe. We were having such a great time on the buggy we ended up returning it an hour later than we were supposed to have it!

In Baños, we were trying to decide where to go next in Ecuador and how to plan the rest of our trip and when to fly back to Brazil. After much discussion, Amanda, Sarah and I decided to split up for a few weeks before meeting in Bogota mid-June to fly back to Brazil. Amanda and Sarah went into the jungle in Ecuador and I decided to keep moving north into Colombia. First though, we had to go to Quito.

I arrived in Quito before Amanda and Sarah traveling with two Danish girls that had been with us since Huanchaco. Quito the city is massive. Its built between the mountains and the length of the city is unbelievable. The main thing that I wanted to do in Quito was visit the middle of the earth, the equator. We had to take a few buses to get up there and it was super touristy when we actually go there, but now I can say that I´ve been to the equator. Also in Quito, one of my friends from high school, Audrey Raemisch, has been living there for the past two years so we met up for lunch one day. It was good to see here and get in a little Waunakee gossip.

I saw a little more of the city too in Quito. The old town of the city is really cool and Sarah and I spent the afternoon there. We went to the top of the Basilica overlooking the city. We had to climb these really steep steps to get to the top, but the view was worth it. We also tried to find a local handicrafts market but instead ended up in a dodgy area and then got caught in the rain on our way back to the metrobus. Its really always an exciting day for us!

I left the next day for Colombia while Amanda and Sarah stayed an extra day in Quito before going into the jungle. I decided against taking the bus to Cali in Colombia by myself and instead took my first internal South American flight. It was only an hour flight, but it was really bumpy and I was happy to land in Colombia. I feel like a real badass being in Colombia too since its the only country in South America that the US State Department has a travel warning against. So far so good though. I arrived at the hostel in Cali and it turned out I had a four person dorm for myself. Very exciting to have a room to myself after three months of sharing. Some friends that I had met before were staying there too. I´m so glad that I flew into Colombia too after listening to their 26 hour bus journey!

In the morning, we spent the day walking around Cali. It not that exciting of a city, but we tried some local food and drink from the street and just absorbed the new country. It much more developed than Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador and kind of reminds me of Brazil except they speak Spanish. It was really hot in Cali and it looked like it was going to rain so we decided to go to the movies and saw Robin Hood. About 5 minutes into the movie, the older couple next to me starts talking to each other and realize they are in Robin Hood and they thought they were going to see Prince of Pershia.

The main reason I wanted to go to Cali was that its supposed to be the salsa city of Colombia. Everyone wanted to go out, but it was a Tuesday night. We tried. The first place we went to was full and the second place was very lame and the third place was alright, but at that point we were tired and decided to call it a night after a bit. When we arrived back at the hostel, the woman working behind the desk had had a few drinks and decided she would just teach us salsa in the courtyard. It was fun, but I still don´t think I have the hips for salsa.

I had to get up early the next day to get on my plan to Cartagena. I arrived without a hitch and met another girl who I had met in Baños. We walked around the Old City that is all walled in to protect the city from pirates. It is sooooo hot! I´m so lucky that I have a room with air conditioning, seriously I don´t think I´ve been this hot since Thailand!

Today we went to a volcano that instead of being filled with lava is filled with mud. At the top you go into a mud bath and these old men massage you while you are in it. Super strange, but really fun. Then after the mud bath you go down into the lake and women help you clean the mud off. Surprisingly the men are very gentle and the woman very rough. On the way back to the city we stopped at a beach and swam in the Caribbean Sea, it felt like bath water, so nice. We had a private walking tour tonight around the walls of the city with a man who we think works at our hostel, but we aren´t sure. It was nice to see the city at night, very romantic!

Anyways, I´m getting kicked out of the internet cafe. I´m taking a bus tomorrow to Santa Marta and then wherever I can in the next 2 weeks in Colombia!