Lost City trek

Ignoring previous warnings to give the Lost City trek a miss, due to the uncomfortable muddy state of the jungle, I booked a tour through the Drop Bear hostel. All guides are in a price fixing collaboration, so no matter where you book it will be the same 600,000 COP due a cooperative pricing agreement between the tour agencies. The Dropbear hostel did manage to find me a point of difference by booking trough Wiwa Tours who are the only company using local indigenous guides. There is no need to organise the tour in advance, I had no problems securing a spot the night before.

Unfortunately the hostel cook was having a day off on the morning of departure, so after an unknown but tasty breakfast from the major supermarket chain Exito, we were collected in a Landcruiser that drove us an hour out to the village to begin the trek to the Lost City (Ciudad Perdida). The 3 people in my car were later combined with another 4  trekkers, thankfully splitting off after the first night, separating the obnoxious other Aussie as they were completing the trek a day earlier than the 5 we had chosen. You have the option to complete the trek in 4, 5 or 6 days, all for the same price.

Luckily our group consisted of just boys, allowing us to keep a decents (not that all women are slow, it has been a common occurrence on this trip however) and we managed to sneak in to our first nights accommodation seconds before a serious downpour and crazy intense electric thunderstorm set in. Bedding for the 4 nights was in hammocks, the warm blankets combined with the inflatable pillow I brought made for a comfortable sleep. One thing that never ceases to amaze me on these sort of treks is the quality of the food provided, they also outdid themselves with fresh squeezed juice on arrival and hot chocolates once the evening started to cool down.

As our guide had set off earlier with the 4 day group, we were led by his 7 year old son who continually rode ahead on his horse, effortlessly manoeuvring the steep rocky path with ease. This kid was amazing as he kept us motivated and moving, so much talent at such a young age. We even got to meet his brothers and sisters who wanted to spend the whole evening being chased around the campsite by very tired trekkers.

Every day was spent strolling through a beautiful jungle landscape, its beauty kept us excited to push on to see what each new turn would surprise us with. Even though it was stinking hot, the reward of refreshingly clear water swimming holes made for an excellent reward for the hard work.

On the third day we woke up early to trek the last kilometre to the city that had been lost for over 300 years until recently discovered in 1972. The city consists of 169 terraces carved in to the mountainside, tiled roads and circular plazas can be reached by climbing the 1,200 stone steps through the dense jungle. Whilst it is not as impressive as Macchu Piccu and its standing structures, the local guide gave us a very good impression of what life would have been like for the inhabitants.

Upon atrival to the city, our guide led us around a circle of stones so that we could be blessed and gain entry to the sacred archaeogial site. We didnt even see a another gringo the whole morning spent exploring which was such a vast contrast to other ruins I have visited previously. Andreas gets a special mention for lugging his large old school camera in to the jungle to capture the perfect moment.

On our way out we almost trod on a highly poisonous snake, which this guide had to kill in case other groups came through that way, apparently it was the first one he had seen in over 3 months. He injured it with large stones and then chased it in to the bush to finish the job, later showing off the pictures to his family in the evening, in return they demonstrated a wooden device filled with bicarbonate soda as an activating mechanism for chewing cocoa leaves.

Tayrona National Park

A convenient door to door shuttle service transported us the 4 hours to Santa Marta, the perfect base for visiting Tayrona National Park, Taganga beach or the Lost City Trek. We couldn't resist helping out the amusing local who jumped on board to flog his Spanish Karma Sutra books, purely for the articles of course. Our chosen lodging was the Drop Bear Hostel (Drop Bears are a fierce Australian creature that waits in hiding amongst tree branches until unsuspecting tourists walk underneath), the recently opened hostel is a converted ex cartel house.

On Sunday evenings the hostel owner runs a tour starting in the bar which explains a very colourful history of the town, once used to transport mammoth amounts of cocaine up to the US on boats, the numerous secret walls and rooms inside the house used to hide cash, drugs and even people, the cellar which was used to execute participants in Marijuana deals before Pablo's regime kicked off and the frequent sightings of the wet ghostly figure of a little girl who drowned in the pool during one of the many parties held at the mansion(like a scene straight out of The Ring).

Conveniently located at the end of our street, a local bus drove us the hour to Tayrona National Park entry point. This is where you must be sneaky if bringing in any prohibited substances including alcohol, Maddy was not very creative with his rum hiding spot, much to the delight of the armed soldier who joyfully passed it around to his mates in the parked truck. A cheap ride in a waiting mini van saves walking 45 minutes on a paved road, dropping you in the jungle just behind the beach. After paying the entry fee we hiked the 3 hours out to El Cabo beach, famous amongst the backpacking community for its hammock accommodation tucked in amongst the trees on the shores of a beautiful beach. I was a little disappointed with the trail as it had been constructed with walking paths and rails at points, the scenery certainly made up for it though.

At El Cabo the hammock hut up on the point overlooking the water was fully booked (made famous by being inside the cover of many travel guides), this turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the evening breeze made it quite cool even at our hammocks located further back. Food and alcohol inside the park was rumoured to be rather expensive, so I had come prepared with 3 days worth of meals, the menu prices however were actually quite reasonable. There is plenty of restrictions within the parks boundaries including a ban on fishing!

The next couple of days were spent exploring the beaches and clambering around the rocks to the northern point, apparently this is also not allowed but it was too irresistible, you even have to manoeuvre diagonally through a small bat cave at one point. There is a man who walks around late morning each day selling amazing warm chocolate filled buns, which lived up to the reputation, even being one of the last few squashed at the bottom.

Maddy and Lawrence left a day early so I made the journey out with Lilly who had hiked in an alternate route which ends directly at El Cabo, rather than a longer beach section passing other camp / hammock sites. This route was what I had been expecting at the start as it crossed lakes, ducked through caves, wound up over boulder laden hills and twisted through a lush jungle canopy. All the time monkeys would be swinging overhead and Leafcutter ants would march in hordes across the trail as they laid waste to entire trees.

Cartegena

With last minute flights from Medellin up to the coastal port town of Cartegena running at half the price of a 12hr bus journey (Avianca discounts their last minute tickets), I was glad to avoid another lengthy road trip across Colombia. Waiting for our luggage at the airport I met Maddy and Lawrence who were also heading to Mamallena hostel. I was game enough to split a cab with these pommy lads who reeked of trouble, it was Lawrences 25th Birthday in a few days and I was convinced to hang around for the festivities. The celebration coincided with the weekly Wednesday night roof top party across the road at Media Luna hostal, attracting hordes or gringos, it is recommended to get in line early if you don't want spend half your night waiting to get in.

After consecutive nights on the dangerously tasty Medellin rum, enjoyed at the lively square just around the corner from Media Luna street where our hostel was located, we made the debatable decision for an early morning trip out to Santa Marta beach. Having woken up too late for the bus/boat transport, we somehow ended up with 4 of us bundled in the back of a taxi for the hour long journey, tensions high until we finally reached the refreshing cristal clear waters that almost made the ordeal worthwhile. The beach itself while beautiful, is packed full of touristic restaurants, lounge chairs for rent and a never ending stream of locals trying to offload their tacky souvenirs. I was smart enough to leave my memory card in the tablet back in the hostel locker, rendering my camera was rendered useless.

Cartegena is a very active colonial port town on the northern coast of columbia with warm Caribbean waters lapping its shore. The UNESCO listed heritage site includes a high walled old city that has a maze of cobble stoned streets, lined with restaurants, cafes and brightly coloured fruit touting ladies who are all rather shy of the camera lens(unless your a customer). We were staying on Media Luna which has numerous hostel offerings just outside the old city, there are also many hostels scattered throughout the old city itself.

Amongst the countless  people watching nooks there are horse drawn carts dragging lazy tourists and romantic couples up and down the narrow streets, with very few cars inside of the city walls. One very unusual site was the dentist theatres with their glass walls, anybody walking past can share in one of the most terrifying experiences for most people.

A must do when visiting Cartegena is to enjoy a beer or cocktail during sunset at Cafe Del Mar. Located up on the city wall, the cafe has a spectacular view out across the ocean where you can sit amongst the turrets and relax to some soothing beats.

Medellin

Well I nearly missed my night bus from Bogota after some insane traffic, making it just in time to freeze my ass off for the overnight journey to Medellin, the home town of former drug lord Pablo Escobar. May Gringos find themselves stuck here for a lot longer than anticipated, very good things have been said about both Casa Kiwi and Happy Buddha Hostels in the touristic Pablito suburb.

Checking in to Geo Hostel, it felt more like I was walking in to a classy hotel than budget traveller lodging. The three story building includes a top floor apartment style common area with an astro turfed deck overlooking the street. Not far down the street a shake stand was set up with plenty of fresh looking Avocados and Bananas, a perfect combination!

A few of us from the hostel made the two hour journey on a train and bus out to Guatape. Here one of the countries largest lakes majestically winds itself amongst the shoreline and from the top of the 600 stair boulder you get a magnificent view over the surrounding areas. My decision to run up was worth the effort as I managed to escape just before the rains came rolling in.

The next day I moved over to Happy Buddha and locked in one of the citys controversial Pablo Escobar tours. A mini van picked us up from the hostel on what was coincidentaly the 20 year anniversary  Pablo's death. Our guide put on very interesting movie 'The Two Escobars', a documentary on the countries violent past and the attempt to win the soccer world cup, I was blown away that children of the star players were kidnapped in order to encourage them to play better.

This guy was totally insane, he actually imported animals from Africa to make a zoo on one of his many propertes and pretty much ran the Cocaine trade, sending 80 tonnes of the drug from Columbia to the US every month. Apparently the expenditure on rubber bands to contain his bundles of cash was estimated at $2,500 per month. Pablo ended up waging a war against his own country!

We visited the cemetery where Pablo Escobar is buried, the crowd of followers is not uncommon as he still remains a hero among some of the lower class, who replenish the flowers daily and morn the death of their hero. A few media vans were around waiting to capture and interesting moments.

Last stop was to Roberto's house, the brother and accountant of the drug lord. Here we saw pictures of lavish purchases Pablo used to spend some of his pocket change on. The house had been recently raided in the belief that money was buried on site, Roberto was lucky enough to hide in one of the secret rooms behind a false wall. I managed to snap a picture through a bullet hole as he walked past outside. Roberto's face showoes signs of disfigurement after a letter bomb made it through all the security checks to his prison cell while he was serving time.

One last stop which had been suggested as a must do was to ride the train out to the cable cars, from here you can ride a car up over the mountain with fabulous views of the city and the favela style living quarters below. I hopped off half way to visit the Sprain library, its striking design helped it to win an award in Lisbon in 2008 for for architecture of the year. After gliding over the forest for what felt like ages, well and truly outside the hustle and bustle of the city, we arrived at Arvi national park. A huge bag of Gooseberry's took my attention and I unsuccessfully tried to demolish the lot before stumbling off feeling very sorry for myself. Unfortunately the food section was the highlight of the park as I only managed a short walk, the free bikes which are a must can only be borrowed in exchange for a passport, which was conveniently in my locker back at the hostel.

Bogota

After hearing mixed reports about the countries capital Bogota I was in two minds on whether it was worth a visit. Stepping off a long bus ride at the wrong city bus terminal resulted in a very expensive taxi ride to the Sayta hostel which had very good reviews on trip adviser. It turned out the hostel was dead, the weather was cold and the city did not appear to have much happening, so I decided on the spot that one night would be plenty for this destination. A friendly local who had married a Russian bird and opened a restaurant just down the strep served me a delicious Borsch soup, Colombian street food would have to wait until the morning.

The one must thing to do if you only have one day in Bogota is the bike tour, run by mike and costing $35, it lasts around 6 hours and checks out some of the city's highlights. We started with another run down of the city's violent history, namely the attack on the Supreme Court of Justice in 1985 in which members of Pablo Escobars funded guerrilla group in an attempt to destroy evidence of an extradition order and a following military raid left half of the 25 Supreme Court Justices dead. The city also boats a thriving collection of local art works sprawled across previously blank wall space.

We the pushed on to a colourful fruit market where they had the biggest avocados I have ever seen! We got to sample plenty of the local produces, opening my eyes to a whole variety of fruits that I had never heard of let alone got to try. A hasty ride through an area of drug and alcohol abuse where we were reminded to keep very close eye on our belongings and to ride fast (to avoid people surrounding you) we made it to the legal red light district, just in time for a massive downpour.

The only thing left to do for the remainder of the wet afternoon was to reside in a local coffee store, complete with its own roasting room out the back, where we sampled one of Colombia's specialities.

Tatacoa desert

Not wanting to endure another full day of bus travel I decided to make the short journey up to Neiva and then take a Collectivo to the nearby village of Villaviaja, followed by a tuk tuk ride out to the desert. The scenery looks like something right out of a western movie with its rolling red hills and cactus's, albeit on a much smaller scale. Tatacoa Desert or the "Sadness Valley" is the second largest arid zone in Colombia and occupies 330sqm of land.

I really wanted to visit a decent astronomical observatory somewhere on the trip so ended up staying at one of the few basic accommodation options. It was a blissful afternoon rocking in my chair with a good book until the sun dipped below the horizon. A few of us made our way up to the observatory just before the 7pm start time to find out the volunteer guide was 'sick', apparently quite a common occurrence here. It was still a lovely evening to drag the rocking chairs out under the stars and rock gently as we admired the sky show.