Ciudad Perdida- Lost City founded by Grave Robbers

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: Find out what DEET is really and how it is apparently utterly useless against the mosquitoes in the Sierra Nevada National Park.

“Oh Shit”

I mean that both the figurate and the literal. It rained the night before and the Colombian Red Clay has caked my hiking boots almost making effort to gain any traction useless. The only thing that is keeping me from falling on my ass and sliding off to unknown depths of the dense jungle is my trekking pole. It looks like shit and thanks to the mules that transport various things from foods, equipment, lumber and Gringo luggage there is literal shit covering various points on the trek. I guess if it has to carry our load, mule is free to drop his load wherever he wants.

Ciudad Perdida is located in Northwest Colombia by the Caribbean coast in the Sierra Nevada National Park. Currently, the trek needs to be done with a tour company, all with the current fixed price as of 2012 600,000 pesos. The amount of days that you trek is up to you varying from 4 days to 6 days. It takes about 2-3 days to hike up to Ciudad Perdida and the rest of the time is hustling back to the start point. The trek is about 52 Km long but it is not 52 Km on a nice flat plateau, it is more like up and down hills and trails that vary from rocky to muddy or the combination of the two. The trek is visually stimulating as you pass through farms, valleys, hills (plural) and through the dense jungle and over and through rivers. This trek is not the most gringo friendly trek as there are so questionable safety areas for those that are clumsy and a lot of uneven footing. It is not dangerous, just the clumsy need to pay attention a bit more. More After the Jump!

Eating In Santa Marta and Ciudad Perdida

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: I find that the more beans I eat, it does not lead to more gaseous release.

Our last meal on the trail- Steak, rice, beans, plantains and coleslaw.

Colombian food is not really something that pop ups on anyone’s culinary radar really. Besides Arepas, no one really has a set idea of what Colombian food is and that same idea goes for any country in Americas. It usually gets bunched together with the idea that it is basically what most Americans think when they think of Mexican fake ass Mexican food food. Meaning rice, refried beans and tortillas which yes, it is composed of a lot of rice but not what it is obviously. The food in Colombia is what I call utility food. It is food that is meant to fill you up and keep you going for the rest of the day because either you may not eat again till tomorrow or late or doing physically laboring stuff or all of the above. So rice, beans and stews were a common thing here which is not to say that the food cannot taste good. But if you are expecting for a light salad or a Lean Cuisine vegetable medley, you are out of luck.

One of the places I ate it my first day in Santa Marta was this random place I found on the side streets by my hostel in the Historic Center. I do what I usually do when I am hungry, walk around aimlessly until I see a place that has an ample amount of locale clientele that seem like they are enjoying their food (this method is quiet successful but can be time consuming). Actual food after the Jump!