Day 1.
After listening to an angry, old Israeli man with no spanish language skills argue with the tour agency, we eventually boarded our brightly colored jeep for a three hour drive, which was half on highway and half on rough jeep trails. At the end of he road we had a quick lunch and hiked for a couple of hours to our first camp. While we had a great swimming hole, and mosquito nets, the shower was a hose into a garbage can, and we were awoken in the night by local dogs and cats who were arguing over garbage and escaping the rain in our shelter.
Day 2.
A two hour hike to our second camp. Fortunately this one had a better swimming hole, real showers and bunks. Kadie and I hike faster than everybody else, and we´re rewarded with about 8 really dull hours sitting in camp. Kadie begins to legitimately feel substanial effects from her allergies.
Day 3.Another two hour hike, again rewarded with hours of idle time in camp. Unfortunately, the swimming hole here sucked almost as much as the camp. Because regulations recently changed we were unable to camp at Ciudad Perdida and instead are forced into a tiny camp, totally overcrowded. I managed to secure a hammock for the night, while Kadie was forced to spend the night awkwardly sleeping in a rainbow colored tent with a very unfriendly, silent Spanish couple who was part of our group. Although Ciudad Perdida is only an hour away, persistent rain keeps us from visiting the site in the afternoon. One highlight was watching some locals almost destroy the camp shelter while cutting down a large tree, and watching the same locals pour gasoline on a dog in an attempt to clean it´s plethora of open mange sores.
Day 4.
Kadie feels downright sick from allergies. Despite this, we hike and ascend the 1200 stairs quickly to the Ciudad Perdida and are rewarded with having the place to ourselves in the morning sun. By the time the other groups arrive it is cloudly and raining. After 3 hours at the site, we return for lunch and hike back to the day 2 camp. Highlight: watching a guide chasing a squealing Armadillo, and watching another guide have a banana throwing fight with some Kogi children. Day 5.
Longer hike out, retracing the same path we took in. Jeep ride in pouring rain back to Santa Marta. Highlight: clambering onto the hillsides for safety as cows stampede down the trail, followed by two bulls fighting each other along the trail.
All in all the trip was great. It wasn´t as tough hiking as anticipated, but our tour company and the individuals in our group left a little bit to be desired as far as conversation and food are concerned. The site itself was actually quite large, but indigenous groups have succeeded in limiting future restoration work and tourist expansion at the Ciudad Perdida. For the jungle and the Kogi, this is very good news. As it is, the trail is a tourist highway, complete with trash, declining water quality in the rivers, absence of wildlife and severely eroded trails with virtually no maintance to preserve their integrity or protect the surrounding area. Despite all this, I'd recommend the trip but I hope the current efforts to clean up the trails and the area are successful for the sustainability of the area. The regulations against camping at the Ciudad Perdida are definitely a step in the right direction. (Travel Advice: use Magic Tours, not Turcol, and do the hike in 4 days not 5)
Mompox.
Again we returned to our hostel in Santa Marta for a day of rest with Tigre (the resident kitten) before leaving for Mompox. Mompox is known as being notoriously difficult to reach and it is at least partially off the major tourist circuits. However, with its reputation as being the Colombian equivalent to the American Bayou, it was one spot we wanted to reach.
Fortunately Mompox is not as hard to reach as people make it sound, however it did require 12 hours in a bus to travel the relatively short distance from Santa Marta. After arriving in Mompox, any difficulty we had in reaching this town was well worth it. The town is definitely rural, reached only with ferries as it is surrounded by rivers on all sides, but it is a Spanish colonial town constructed in a similar style to Cartagena. For me, it has all the Colonial beauty of Cartagena, but it is cheaper, has friendlier people and the backpackers are few. A party destination Mompox is not, and this is exactly why I love it. The pride of this town lies in its laid back atmosphere, its beautiful locally made rocking chairs and cheap platinum and gold jewelry. Walking around this morning during commute hours I saw one car, but seemingly hundreds of bicycles (both children and adults) and motorcycles. Other than the 6 colonial churches in town, the most interesting thing around is definitely its cemetery. Inhabited by a dozen or so ferral cats, the cemetery is extremely spooky and is a fantastic representation of all the macabre beauty of Latin Catholism.
For now we´re just hanging out in Mompox, drinking watermelon juice, checking out rocking chairs and looking foward to the nighttime outdoor food market outside the biggest church in town. Tomorrow, we´re tentatively leaving to make our way to San Gil for our first dose of river rafting.....
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