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!
