La Cuidad Perdida After our time in San Gil we were ready to head north to the Caribbean and spend some time lounging on a beach, but not before earning it. We arrived in Santa Marta early in the morning and settled into a hostel near the main market area. At first glance the city was pretty terrible: smelled of urine and rotting garbage mixed with thick black car exhaust, noisy vehicles, sketchy people, etc. I had no interest in walking around so after inquiring into “La Ciudad Perdida” (the Lost City) five-day trek through the jungle, I decided to relax and read a book for the rest of the day.
Santa Marta & DumPster Kitty
TINY guy Andrew went to the bank machine and for a little walk around our area. I had expected him to take longer but after 10 or 15 minutes he barged into the room panicking, with something tucked away in his shirt. At first I thought it was a mouse or a small rat, Andrew just mumbled that he had found it screaming on a sidewalk and could barely explain that no one seemed to care and someone made fun of him for picking it up! It was a TINY kitten. Couldn’t have been more than 4 or 5 days old, with eyes still closed and one of them swollen to half the size of its head. Its hair was thick with dirt and smelled like human urine! Our hearts broke and we didn’t know what to do. Feeling like this kitten urgently needed some food, we left the hostel in search of a veterinarian. It took us far too long to find one but we eventually did after wandering through nasty smelly sweaty streets and market stands. We bought a container of kitten milk powder that you just add water to and a syringe we could use to try and feed him. We hurried back to the hostel and sterilized the syringe. Using a damp towel I cleaned the kitten as best I could while Andrew mixed some milk. It took some time to convince the kitten to eat from the syringe, but with patience we got the job done.
Next we knew we had to find a home for the little guy. The veterinarian gave us a phone number of someone he knew that might be interested so Andrew went to make the call. The person did not have a lactating mother cat anymore so that idea was pretty much tossed out the window, but one of the cleaning ladies at the hostel mentioned that her mom had a cat with kittens! A little while later she confirmed that her mom would take the kitten and hoped that the cat mom would adopt him! We were so happy for little Charles, as we'd started calling him.
So for the whole day we hung out with Charles, feeding him every three hours and cleaning him again and again with a damp towel. We also learned, from Google (thank you!!), that kittens don’t know how to poo or pee by themselves, and you kind of have to massage their butt and pee hole to make them go. I didn’t really believe it to be honest but gave it a try and sure enough, he did both almost right away! So cool!
It was amazing that after just a few hours with us Charles started to become more energetic, his fur was clean and fuzzy and soft, and didn’t smell like piss anymore. Even his eye started to get better; when he napped his swollen eye was under his head, it must have pushed on his eye enough to squeeze so much puss out. So much. It was really gross but we wiped it up and tried to clean his eye with water and a towel, even more and more puss came out. So so much.
The cleaning lady had planned to take the kitten home that evening so we were patiently waiting and continuing to feed and clean him up when necessary, but when we decided to see what was taking her so long we found out that she'd already left! This wasn’t a good sign. The clerk at the front desk called her up and found out that she had simply forgotten but would for sure take him the next day.
It was amazing that after just a few hours with us Charles started to become more energetic, his fur was clean and fuzzy and soft, and didn’t smell like piss anymore. Even his eye started to get better; when he napped his swollen eye was under his head, it must have pushed on his eye enough to squeeze so much puss out. So much. It was really gross but we wiped it up and tried to clean his eye with water and a towel, even more and more puss came out. So so much.
The cleaning lady had planned to take the kitten home that evening so we were patiently waiting and continuing to feed and clean him up when necessary, but when we decided to see what was taking her so long we found out that she'd already left! This wasn’t a good sign. The clerk at the front desk called her up and found out that she had simply forgotten but would for sure take him the next day.
He opened his eyes! We postponed our Lost City trek until the following day and planned to take care of Charles the next day until the lady finished her shift and could take him home. That night we set the alarm clock for every three hours and one of us would get up and feed Charles, who was happily asleep through most of the night in a little cardboard box with some old socks as a mattress. In the morning he was as good as new! He was well rested and only wanted to climb everything! His good eye opened up in the morning as well and he spent a lot of time looking around trying to make sense of his surroundings. The swollen eye had shrunken to a completely normal size by now and within a couple of hours, it had opened as well! How amazing it was to see this transformation happen in less than 24 hours! He surely wouldn’t have made it very long on the street, but now he was thriving, though of course, still not as well as he would have been if he was still with his mom.
Charles doing some exploring The cleaning lady came by around lunchtime and took Charles away. We had just fed him so they had a few hours to get him to his new mom. We were sad to see him go but happy that someone was willing to help him out. The lady promised that she would take good care of him and would let us know how he was doing.
The rest of the day was pretty boring; we packed our bags for the trek to leave the next morning, watched a movie and hung out. We were both eager to get out of the gross city.
The rest of the day was pretty boring; we packed our bags for the trek to leave the next morning, watched a movie and hung out. We were both eager to get out of the gross city.
La Ciudad Perdida
The trek was amazing! We left the hostel at 9:30am after a delicious breakfast of Shaskuka (a frikin delicious Israeli meal of eggs poached in marinara sauce) with giant jugs of fresh fruit juice. We were joined by five goofy med school students from England and one solo traveller, Stefan, from Austria. Jose was our hiking guide and Gorge was our amazing chef.
The Hike
Packing our gear on the landrover The drive to Machete, the town at the start of the trek, was probably the worst part of the trip: driving on a windy, hilly, bumpy dirt road while sitting crowded on the most uncomfortable crappy seats ever made. We arrived after the three-hour drive to a little diner that had lunch waiting for us. On one side of the restaurant, all the new arrivals were eating their sandwich lunches (us) and on the other side the people who had just finished the trek were eating their victory meal and celebrating with beer. You could tell who was in which of the two groups based on the stinkiness and dirtiness of their clothes.
Swimming hole #1 of 4578975 After lunch we began our trek. After just 20 or 30 minutes in we stopped at a swimming hole along the small river that we were walking beside. There was a deeper pool below a small cliff that we jumped in. Good fun! After an hour or so we got dressed and carried on. The next two hours were straight uphill, like straight up. The sweat was coming off of us like a water fountain!
At one point the group of English guys started screaming and running around ahead of us. When we caught up we found out that a snake had jumped straight at one of the guys from an outcrop beside the trail. Luckily, it had missed and hit the ground and then coiled up facing them ready to lunge, finally changing its mind and slithering away into the bush. Jose had his machete out and was ready to fight. He told us the name of it but I forget, but he did say it was a deadly snake. He told us that no one has ever died from snakebite on this trek, but people have been bitten. You have 8-10 hours to get back to Santa Marta if you get bitten, and he says they usually will put the person on a mule to get back to Machete pretty quickly where a vehicle would meet you and take you back to Santa Marta.
At one point the group of English guys started screaming and running around ahead of us. When we caught up we found out that a snake had jumped straight at one of the guys from an outcrop beside the trail. Luckily, it had missed and hit the ground and then coiled up facing them ready to lunge, finally changing its mind and slithering away into the bush. Jose had his machete out and was ready to fight. He told us the name of it but I forget, but he did say it was a deadly snake. He told us that no one has ever died from snakebite on this trek, but people have been bitten. You have 8-10 hours to get back to Santa Marta if you get bitten, and he says they usually will put the person on a mule to get back to Machete pretty quickly where a vehicle would meet you and take you back to Santa Marta.
Hammocks for the first night After that the guys were screaming like little girls at everything that moved, including a couple of armadillos that waddled across our path and later a leaky water hose at another section that, I suppose, could have sounded like a hissing snake. We arrived at our camp early, after maybe two or three hours of hiking. It was gorgeous! A shelter on top of a little hill overlooking a small valley with mountains on the far side, everything covered in thick jungle. Under the shelter were rows of hammocks and a hang out area beside a large kitchen that Gorge used to cook us up some delicious dinner over the rustic wood-fired stove. We all took showers and cleaned up before sitting down to relax and get to know each other. It was a very fun night of chatting and listening to the jungle sounds. We ate salad, rice, fried plantain, and boiled eggs – the non-vegetarians had chicken, and for dessert Jose gave us a delicious little chocolate bar. After the sun went down and conversation started to slow down we all realized how tired we were, and hit the hammocks. We had bug nets over the top, so it was a relatively comfortable night.
Kogi girl picking fruit outside of the villiage Our second camp was very nice and included actual beds! Well, not like the beds you sleep in at home, but a nice plank of wood with a decent mat and a good bug net around it. The shelter was comfortable and friendly. Right before we arrived at the camp we passed by a village of Kogi people (the local indigenous group) and a lot of the people from there spent time at our camp, helping with cooking and cleaning. We found out later that some of the fee we paid goes to these groups. It was fun to hang out with the people and learn a little bit about their lifestyle. We really felt comfortable and welcomed by the Kogi people, much the opposite feeling that we got when we visited the Circopia people in Ecuador. One little boy, Ari who was six years old, hung out with us the whole time. He got the English guys to play football (soccer) with him, swing him around in the air, ride on their shoulders, all day long. He had a blast but I think the English guys were getting very worn out by the end of the day.
Ari harassing the English guys We hung out, some people swam, I had a nap when I tried to read for a while, and eventually we were summoned for dinner. We ate fish, rice and plantain and of course, had another little dessert treat afterwards (a little chocolate bar thing). Again we hung out for awhile and played "noventa-y-nueve" (ninety-nine) a great card game for practicing our Spanish numbers.
Jose (left) and another guide from the Kogi group The next day we got up at 7ish and slowly ate breakfast. We left probably at 8:30 or 9:00am for another short, three-hour hike to the camp closest to La Ciudad Perdida. It was a fairly easy day but with a couple uphill sections. We stopped and ate some cacao seeds from a tree along the path and filled our water bottles in a stream half way. We arrived at the camp pretty early again. We had lunch almost right away and had the rest of the day to ourselves. We washed some of our clothes and hung them to dry, I went for a swim in the river, and we read our books. A couple of hours before dinner we randomly all gathered to the hang out area and decided to take Jose up on his offer to find us some doobies. We bought a much too large bag from one of the other guides for about $10, but we didn’t have rolling papers. Stefan had the idea to empty out some cigarettes (which you could buy at the tiny store at the camp) and replace the contents, and I had an idea to use a papaya that I grabbed from a tree. I cut a little bowl area in the side and cut the top off. It was hollow so it worked very well! I used a piece of banana leaf for the bowl and poked some holes in it with a toothpick. I used toothpicks to hold the leaf onto the papaya. It was amazing! We smoked a bunch together and then made fun of each other for a couple hours. Dinner was delicious again, for the vegetarian I had a stew of soy protein and veggies with rice and plantain. Everyone else had chicken, I think.
Starting our 1200 step climb to La Cuidad The next morning we woke up early, at 5:00am, had breakfast, and were back on the trail by 6:00. We hiked about half an hour to the start of the climb up to the city. We climbed for about an hour up the 1200 original and incredible stone steps.
La Ciudad Perdida (the Lost City)
The greeting area before the final climb up When we got to the top I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! There were circular structures built of rock kind of stacked on top of each other, forming foundations for houses back in the day. Jose explained a bunch of stuff in Spanish, and Andrew and I translated into English since we were the only ones with any Spanish (how fun!). I am sure we missed some things, but I think we got the gist of what he was saying. He told us:
 Living areas The area of La Ciudad Perdida was first inhabited by indigenous people around 400ad. They stumbled upon the land probably from the south and found that it had everything – fruit trees, water, it was warm. So they decided to stay. By 500ad structures started being built at La Ciudad Perdida by the Tairona people. By 900ad the city was becoming pretty well established with over 2000 inhabitants in 200 houses, and other villages in the area started forming. La Ciudad Perdida became the main trading, cultural, religious and political center of the Santa Marta area. Pathways were built all throughout the jungle leading to other villages and to the ocean. To this day people are still discovering these pathways that have become overgrown as well as other towns in the jungle. La Ciudad Perdida was a booming tribal city for hundreds of years until the mid 1500’s when the Spanish first came to the area (one of the Spanish Conquistadors' first stops in South America). The Tairona people first thought that the Spanish sailors were gods – they came from the sea, they carried strange guns and instruments, wore fancy outfits, etc. The Spanish took advantage of the peoples' generosity and essentially stole a bunch of gold from the Tairona people, who used gold, as we learned at El Museo de Oro in Bogota, mostly for decorations and jewelry. They didn’t think that gold was any more important than their clay pots or nice stones also used in their jewelry. The Spanish recognized this and began to trade their “garbage” (or things that weren’t worth much) for gold. Once the Tairona people started to catch on that the things they were getting in return were crap, they realized that they were being taken advantage of, and closed themselves off. The Spanish left and came back soon after with boatloads of African slaves whom they sent into the jungle to retrieve the Tairona people and their gold. The Tairona people were unable to defend themselves from the number of people sent in after them, and so, just like that, they were gone. The Spanish killed all of the men and children on the beach, and sold the women in Spain. |
 Gold figure now at the Gold Museum in Bogota La Ciudad Perdida was found only in 1973, by two brothers who were known robbers and hunters. They stumbled upon it randomly, during a time when the larger area was being used for marijuana crops and people were desperately poor. The brothers were looking for crops or people to rob and they found La Ciudad Perdida. They found gold artifacts just laying around, and figured out that many were buried as well. They took what they could and sold it all in Santa Marta that year. They became rich and famous, but they would not tell anyone where they had found their treasure. Of course, the next time they returned to La Ciudad Perdida they were followed, and slowly word began to spread about how to get there. Groups of two, three and four would set out to find La Ciudad Perdida (at the time known as “Infeirno Verde" (Green Hell). Groups of cousins, brothers, and friends would make the trek in, and after they'd gathered a bunch of gold, clay artifacts and gems, greed would often turn them against one another, leaving the last one standing to take everything to Santa Marta and cash out. This went on for several years until 1981 when the Colombian Government was finally able to claim the site and prevent further theft and death. They cleaned up the many dead bodies from the area and sent in archeologists to study and repair the site. The first tourists visited the ruins later that year. Unfortunately by the time the Colombian Government claimed the site, over 80% of the artifacts had been looted and a lot of damage had been done. The other 20% of artifacts recovered by archeologists have been brought to El Museo de Oro in Bogota but by far the nicest and most interesting things have been long gone and will probably never be found. (I wonder if any of those archeologists kept anything for themselves? I mean, no one would know…) |
This was all very interesting and crazy to think about. Jose was telling us all of this while we stood there looking around, imaging how it was back in the year 900, and then when the Spanish came in 1550, and finally when the robbers first found it in 1973. So much human history here. As we wandered around a little more, Jose explained a few more things.
 Rock map(?) - no one knows what it means Archeologists found that a lot of the round rock foundations had multiple levels, built over time. Investigations lead them to believe that when a man had died, he'd be placed in his hut and anyone living with him would have to evacuate. Gold, pottery and gems would be placed in the hut with him. They would let time go by and nature run its course, decomposing the body and the hut. When enough time had gone by they would simply build a new level on top for the next generation to live in. Men and women had separate huts and they NEVER went into each other’s. Whoopie happened out in the jungle (as god intended). Men’s huts had entry and exit doors while women’s huts only had one door for going in and out. When a woman died, they would leave her body outside the hut, without gold or pottery or gems, but I am sure they had their reasons. Human sacrifices to the gods were practiced. It was usually sick or disabled people or if a woman gave birth to twins, one of them (I don’t know how they would decide which) would be considered evil and would be sacrificed. We visited the rock that this was believed to take place place at. |
We wandered around the main meeting area a little bit more.
| If people from surrounding towns came and wished to talk to someone important who lived in La Ciudad, they would be required to bring a gift of food, gold, pottery or gems. The receiving people would decide if it was sufficient and would let them pass on up the main stairs. |
From the centre of La Cuidad looking farther in The main stairs that lead to the center of the city were very elegant. We walked up to a larger open area that was very well designed. It was kind of on top of a hill overlooking a gorgeous valley! We saw the Shaman's throne and the main meeting areas. Further ahead the hill rose higher and a few more steps took us up to overlook the main meeting area. At the top of this hill was a military base. I took a photo with Alberto the guard and chatted with him for a few minutes. He was stationed out there for 4 months and was about 2 months in now. He enjoyed being out in nature like this, but also sounded like it was a bit lonely; it is very far from everything. I gave him a piece of my snack cookie and sat down to enjoy the view. Later I found out from our cook, Gorge, that a portion of our payment goes to the FARC (one of the main drug gangs) in a form of a tax, which is meant to keep them out of the area and allow the military to stay there and look after tourists. We also heard a rumour that the most recent tourist abduction had only taken place eight weeks ago – but I’m not really sure I believe it. Regardless of whether that was true or not, I did spend a moment realizing that we were in the middle of nowhere, Colombia (but it is a tourist area), and things like that could definitely happen. I made sure to stick to the group and not wander off by myself, even though at times I really wanted to do just that and explore.
One of the many pathways between "towns" After enjoying the view from the top we came down a different path to the main meeting area, passing by some of the residential areas where more round stone foundations were laid out, some very overgrown in jungle and a few cleaned up so we could see. It was a pretty cool experience. I only wish we could have explored a bit more.
The Hike Back
Two Kogi girls hiding from the rain We were back down at our camp for lunch and a quick swim before heading out on the trail for three hours, back to the camp spot from our second night (with the beds). Ari was waiting there ready to hang out with the English guys again but as soon as we arrived, it began to pour and pour and pour! The rain was so loud against the tin roofs over the beds and kitchen. We were all ready for a rest at this time anyways, so after a quick swim before the river rose too high, I came back to find most people resting or napping. I did the same for the next hour or two.
We had another delicious dinner and then Jose sat down and told us some stuff about the indigenous people that currently live in the area, and also explained the process of making cocaine since we'd asked a few days before. Again Andrew and I translated to English for the group, but we’re pretty sure we understood most of what Jose was saying.
We had another delicious dinner and then Jose sat down and told us some stuff about the indigenous people that currently live in the area, and also explained the process of making cocaine since we'd asked a few days before. Again Andrew and I translated to English for the group, but we’re pretty sure we understood most of what Jose was saying.
The Very Interesting Kogi People A Kogi villiage The Kogi people that live in the area now are probably descendants from the Tairona people. They still have fairly strong culture, though of course, some of the more contacted tribes have been slowly losing some of theirs. Women are the hardest working gender in the Kogi communities. They do all of the fruit and vegetable harvesting, cooking, weaving of baskets and clothing, and they crush seashells and dry coca leaves for the men. The men essentially just chew coca leaves all day long with the crushed seashell powder, meditating to communicate with mother nature and contemplate life. They carry around a pouch (called a "poporo") that contains crushed seashells and a stick they use to get powder out of the pouch. After every use, the stick gets a little bit of saliva on it and to clean it off, the men rub the end of the stick onto the outside of their poporo (which is made out of a dried vegetable kind of like a zucchini). Over time the outside of the poporo gets coated in a greyish-whitish layer of old saliva and seashell powder. It is considered the man’s personal diary, and he never leaves home without it (see Badass Bogota blog post for more on this). The men are responsible for meditating with "the mother" (mother nature), finding a plot of land before the age of 19, and planting fruits and vegetables. By the time women have their first period, they must start bearing children. Many women have 10-15 children. It is normally one man and one woman in a family, however Mamas (respected men of power, similar to Shamans) can have two or three women (but they have to spend their first 9 years of life in a dark cave being conditioned to become a Mama). The Kogi people mostly eat vegetables and fruits, but occasionally if someone hunts something they will eat meat (monkey, sloth, armadillo, caiman) or fish. I asked how many children typically stay in the communities and how many end up leaving the tribes for the city and western culture. Apparently not too many leave, but occasionally some will to attend universities, but once someone chooses to leave, they may never return. Of all of the indigenous people in Colombia, only 30% live traditionally. It was nice to hear that not too many are currently tempted by Western Culture anymore (though 70% is very high). |
There are two documentaries done about and by and about the Kogi people where they urge the Western Culture to heed in the destruction of Mother Earth. The first one is "From the Heart of the World - The Elder Brother's Warning" - I enjoyed watching this one as it delved into some of the interesting belief systems of the culture including their view of themselves as the harmony keepers for the whole world. The second one, "Aluna", currently being produced, as the Kogi Brothers' final warning to our culture and I am sure will be interesting and maybe a bit scary. We should probably all watch these!
The Very Interesting Cocaine Making Process Coca plant with ripening seeds The Cocaine process went something like this: You take 12kg of coca leaves, place them a hard surface with some salt, and dance on them for 40 minutes while wearing special leather cowboy boots. Put the leaves in a big barrel and add calcium powder, which draws the drug out of the leaves, and a little bit of water. Next you add something like 20L of gasoline and mix for another 30 or 40 minutes. The cocaine is now dissolved in the gasoline. The leaves are filtered out and the liquid of gasoline with cocaine is left. Next add a bunch of sulfuric acid – this makes the mixture explosive – and mix for another 30 minutes. By now the gasoline and sulfuric acid separate into two layers. The cocaine is now located in the heavier water and sulfuric acid layer. The gasoline layer is syphoned off and discarded (you cannot reuse this gasoline as it has been consumed and changed in the process). To get the sulfuric acid out of the solution, potassium permanganate is now added, and then three more chemicals that I forget the names of are added. Now the cocaine has precipitated into a cloudy lumpy gray sludge. The water is filtered out of the sludge and only 20g of pure coca paste are left (no gasoline or sulfuric acid is left). From the paste three things are made – cocaine, crack (the cheaper by-product of cocaine) and anesthetic. Apparently street cocaine is dangerous because of the things it is cut with to make it look like more. Drug dealers use anything they can get including aspirin, veterinarian or other cheap drugs, or even baking soda or rat poison. Crack is the kind of lower quality left over stuff after cocaine is made and of course there is a market for it because it is cheaper. Anesthetic is used in hospitals and by the medical industry in general. Jose said he knew about all of this because his dad had a coca farm (which he said was only for making coca tea, mmmhmm...), but that his dad learned the process by word of mouth. Apparently it takes at least seven years to become a cocaine master, it is a real career option for some people in Colombia. |
Thank you, Mules, for carrying our food! Phew, that was a lot of information to take for one night, we hung out for a bit longer and after awhile started making our way to bed. It would be another 5:00am morning so we were happy to get some sleep.
In the morning we woke, ate and left by 6:00am. We were hiking all the way back to Machete (the first two days put together) by lunchtime. There was much more downhill than up, however two of the uphills were very very big! I was doing alright the whole time, finding the pace fairly comfortable. But Andrew and three of the English guys were struggling with bad, muy malo diarrhea They were absolutely miserable. Near they end I stuck back with Andrew while the rest took off ahead, I started thinking I might have to carry him, but he was doing alright, considering he'd had the shits since the morning we left Santa Marta. We arrived by lunchtime after a quick stop in the swimming hole 30min out of town. Lunch was good for me but only half of the people could eat. Everyone was pretty exhausted though, including me. We were now the stinky people on the other side of the restaurant watching the new people arriving and getting ready for go.
In the morning we woke, ate and left by 6:00am. We were hiking all the way back to Machete (the first two days put together) by lunchtime. There was much more downhill than up, however two of the uphills were very very big! I was doing alright the whole time, finding the pace fairly comfortable. But Andrew and three of the English guys were struggling with bad, muy malo diarrhea They were absolutely miserable. Near they end I stuck back with Andrew while the rest took off ahead, I started thinking I might have to carry him, but he was doing alright, considering he'd had the shits since the morning we left Santa Marta. We arrived by lunchtime after a quick stop in the swimming hole 30min out of town. Lunch was good for me but only half of the people could eat. Everyone was pretty exhausted though, including me. We were now the stinky people on the other side of the restaurant watching the new people arriving and getting ready for go.
The drive back to Santa Marta was even worse than the ride there as we had two more people crammed in the back than on the way to Machete. It was windy and bumpy and sweat and stinky. I was soooo glad to arrive finally, three hours later. We grabbed our bags at the hostel and headed to a room for a good long sleep. Andrew was very dehydrated and ill so he didn’t really move after he’d lain down. In the morning he would find a doctor and get some anti-parasite pills that would do the trick. We talked to the lady at the front desk and asked how little Charles, the dumpster kitty, was doing. She said he was doing well but didn’t elaborate much. I assume this means that the cat mom had adopted him after all. Such nice news.
Hint: This is why he recommended it We packed up our bags the next morning and set out for a new adventure. Rancho Relaxo was next up – we didn’t know what to expect, it had been recommended to us by Shawn, an interesting guy we'd met in Quito, Ecuador in January. I couldn’t remember why he recommended it, but we'd quickly find out...
Thanks for sticking through my long post! Until next time, keep bein' chili!
~Chelsea
Thanks for sticking through my long post! Until next time, keep bein' chili!
~Chelsea
Photos from the Lost City Trek
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